Dreaming, our nightly warm-up rituals?

In Benedict Carey's article A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain, featured in the New York Times, there is discussion that dreams may be our sleeping brain's warm up in anticipation of waking.    Anyone out there practice lucid dreaming? 


 There is even mention that as fetuses, our dreaming minds, "see" before the eyes open.  The developing brain may draw on preprogramed models of space and time in preparation of life outside of the womb.   


Fascinating research on REM activity is being conducted right around the corner by Dr. J Allen Hobson at Harvard University and Dr. Llinas at MIT. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10mind.html

Dreaming of slumber

This weekend I had a dream that I slept for 124 hours.  It was a night of deep slumber. 

I wish all of you pleasant dreams!

Dream Harvester at Artbeat!

Thank you to everyone who participated in Dream Harvester at Artbeat in Somerville.  The festival was a huge success and my box of dreams is overflowing.  Here are a couple of photos of the day.

 This young man spent over an hour on his dream drawing.

Please feel free to post a dream as a comment to this post.  The blog is setup so anyone can leave a comment or a dream and your anonymity will be maintained.

thank you and looking forward to your dreams!

~ariel

Studio Views at ArtSake

Here is the latest on new work in my studio and Dream Harvester featured in Massachusetts Cultural Council 's Blog: www.artsake.massculturalcouncil.org

http://bit.ly/oDAU78

Dream Interpretation

If any of you are looking for a useful website to help decipher your dreams, I recommend http://www.dreammoods.com
Of course, when interpreting your dreams, your perspective is always the most trustworthy.

Dream-sharing, the new American dream?

I came across an interesting dream researcher in Psychology Today.  Ryan Hurd, has a certificate in Dream Studies from John F. Kennedy University's Consciousness and Transformation Studies Program. Hurd has similar ideas to Carl Jung’s Theory on dreams and dreaming. Hurd, like Jung, believes that slumber’s narratives can unlock important elements for our waking lives.  Below Hurd cites his wish to make dreaming and dreams part of the American discourse.  Maybe all we need is a new reality show devoted to lucid dreamers. 

"My big goal is to make Western culture into a dreaming culture. The United States is anti-dreaming, because dreaming is irrational. We're fighting the Enlightenment on this issue, but dreams bring out all these ways of knowing that are just as valid" as those of which society approves. He cites a centuries-old Iroquois ritual during which tribes people acted out their unnerving dreams - even if those performances entailed breaking tribal taboos, expressing violent urges, or revealing untoward lusts. Such rites served to "air the dirty laundry in order to reduce its charge and prevent unconscious acting-out that could escalate if left unchecked," Hurd writes. "I wish dream-sharing was a mandatory start before every meeting of the United Nations, by the way. Hey, I'm a dreamer." (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stuck/200909/field-dreams)

Miranda July's Bed Dreams

New images for Dream Harvester 

The new logo for Dream Harvester!