Into the Spotlight

[Hotkafka]

Hello, new to the forum so I'm doing the typical intro primer. I'm a Psychotherapist practicing in CT, USA with interest in treating acute emergent spiritutual crisis, as well as your typical range of emotional and psychological issues. In short, I love what I do. As for dreaming; i've been an exceptionally vivid dreamer throughout my life, excellent recall, and the occasional LD, mostly directed/controlled dreams, however a few spontaneous LD's and one assisted through binural beat (this one happening just yesterday!) I've researched and read a good range of material on the subject, from the esoteric to the parapsychological, to those who could be seen as the bellweather figures like Monroe and Moss. I have kept a journal for over twenty years. On another note; last night's LD was probably my longest and clearest. There were a few figures there that could've been cross-over types: one proclaiming herself to be Teeny (?) from Texas. If anybody knows of such a person, I'd appreciate the assist. Looking forward to taking advantage of the rich resources here. Grace and speed in dreaming, Hotkafka

[Linkzelda]

Welcome to Dream Views Hotkafka! Enjoy your stay here, you can find a lot of gems here if you look deep enough. Wish you luck in your endeavors!

[gab]

Welcome to DV Looking forward to your posts from professionals side of view. Just last night I had a lucid, in which there was a dream character that reminded me to stabilize. I had a feeling he was more than just a DC. But then, before bed, I was reading a post from someone about his DC taking charge of situation and possibly being more than just a DC. And in my mantra I was giving thanks for my lucids and I also asked for more, long and stable ones. So I never know, what is just my minds creation and what is something else.

[Robot_Butler]

I look forward to learning from your experience. I hope you share some of what you have learned over the years.

[melanieb]

<<<Waves Welcome to DV! I too would be interested in hearing from a profesional on the subject of LDs, as well as anonymous material presented to you, if you are able to share non-specific details like that, I'm from Texas but no idea who Teeny would be. Sounds like a porn name.

[Mancon]

Hey Hotkafka! Welcome to Dreamviews. I think you will enjoy this community. Your job sounds neat. Your journal must be huge if you have kept it for over twenty years. Anyway, hopefully you will start to get more lucid dreams . I'm from Texas but no idea who Teeny would be. Sounds like a porn name. ROFL!!!

[Arch]

Welcome to Dreamviews, Congrats on your last lucid

[Suck4Luck]

Welcome to Dreamviews! Nice to see a proffessional here

[Hotkafka]

Sincere thanks for all the well-wishing, all of your kind words certainly makes me feel welcome. As far as anything I might be able to offer in regards to my professional insights, I would have to admit I'm a little hesitant. From my perspective, I don't want muck up what seems to be a pretty organic, self-contained healing process. From my view, LD'ing in some sense mirrors a similar trajectory as good psychotherapy, as as anyone can begin an utter mess with all the wrong intentions, but achieving true gains requires a a certain degree of authentic participation. In my case, LD'ing was born as a natural byproduct of aware dreaming. It just emerged and I've since transitioned to explore the LD'ing community. From what I've seen so far is there is considerable divergence in the perspectives of dream process and interpretation from that of the cognitively-rooted LD'ers and the Depth Psychology community, but that's alright by me. Personally, I can get beyond this and see a whole heap of potential in using the LD state as a both a supplement and healing super-catalyst to psychotherapy. Not to get ahead way, way ahead of myself, but I actually could see an entirely new mode of psychotherapy based on this utilization of this process, both from the client and therapeutic delivery side of the coin. Imagine therapists who could utilize the benefits of the dream environment to recreate treatment situations and develop psycho-systemic interventions, and clients who could actively participate in issue resolution from the LD side?... You see where I'm going with this. To some degree, I think non-western, Shamanic and esoteric traditions may have been doing this all along, and the recent resurgence of the neurobiological approach in understanding dreaming is now putting the power of this process in the language a Westerner can understand. For me, I've found my personal progress in dream interpretation and process has required a surrendering of my concepts, as any attachment to them turns out to be a barrier I just have to work through in the end. Psychotherapy essentially works this way too. I've got to drop any notion that I can treat a person to really treat them. Only then can you really see a person for whom he/she is. They're not there to be "treated," which is a popular cultural misunderstanding, they're there to be "seen." I think Carlos Castaneda says something to this effect in his book The Art of Dreaming. He said that his teacher described dreaming as seeing, as you have to see beyond your preconceptions to truly participate in the dream. As for the potential pornographic moniker "Teeny." Funny enough, I did have a similar thought, and who knows, it could be accurate. Perhaps this DC was reflecting a barrier to participating with feminine energy. I have seen that the Self in dreaming is not above taking potshots at the Ego. Or perhaps my insight into the active dreaming process is still "small." Once again, thanks for the warm welcome. I'll look forward to learning from all of you as well.