WHY DO I VALUE DREAM GROUPS SO HIGHLY?

The most efficient and heart-warming way to learn DIM is in small groups. Learning and practicing with 3-4 Dream Partners is a grand luxury; one that you will never forget!

There is nothing as convincing as seeing a group member ask a key question backwards, or without using the most useful word “Like.” For example, in the description question, “What is a Car? Will elicit a response that is very concrete such as a place to live, with a foundation and studs with walls, etc.  But when you ask, what is a house like? And follow up with, “What is the house in your dream like,” you will get a description rich in feeling, and connections to the dreamer’s impressions or history that describes the house with feelings, judgments, and particular characteristics that trigger a metaphoric recognition in the BRIDGE step. All my books recount interview examples of this sort.

There are so many subtilities to posing and creating interview questions for different personalities and different dreams! Group work in which you can observe the effects of different phrasing is the fastest and most enjoyable way of learning good interview skills that will be useful to you not only in dream work, but in therapeutic sessions, and in all your relationships in which it pays to recognize that what you think about, a movie, a person, or a situation is not necessarily the same as your client, colleague, or sweetheart thinks!

And, let me underline how tremendously satisfying and rewarding it is when you see the dreamer’s eyes open wide as she suddenly can BRIDGE her once bizarre dream to her waking life and understands her insights drawn from her interview process.

HOW DIM DREAM GROUPS WORK?

IN our groups, one person tells the dream, and the other 3-4 dreamers take turns playing the interviewer. Gayle is there in person or on a screen and guides the interviewers by demonstrating useful ways to interview and suggesting tips for coming up with helpful questions if the interviewer gets stuck.

Why did I say dream group work is ‘heart-warming?”  Well! Over five decades, I have found that working with even a very irritating person who nevertheless is seeking insight, trying to learn about his or her inner workings, I am able to see and feel the person more fully. I can’t help but like and admire that person for his or her courage in the quest for insight!  It really can be very moving.

The dream groups are scheduled weekly or monthly for 8 pre-paid sessions. Like dance lessons, if you miss a session, because Grand Mother is visiting, or you have baseball or opera tickets, the group will go on and you will miss one of your classes.  This may seem too strict, but the biggest problem in our wild cat world, is inconsistency in attendance and commitment.  A good group requires both, and I have found that when people pay in advance, they almost never miss a class, but find they can trade the opera tickets, and switch the 2-3 hours of the class time for another time slot with Grand Mother. Once, with the approval of all group members, the group invited a member whose mom was visiting to bring her mom with her to observe the class! It opened new doors in their relationship, and everyone was happy!

Almost all my groups are formed by one person who chooses 3-4 compatible people who are nearby each other, or able to attend remote meetings lasting from 2-3 hours. Email me on the contact page about what. You would like to do, and we shall set up a phone call to determine the details!

DIM TRAINING IN PAIRS

I want to encourage people to study dreams and the Dream Interview Method (DIM) together, because this really does speed perfecting your dream skills, not to mention how beautifully it deepens and enriches your relationship with your dream partner. If you are working with me individually, you can bring your partner to you online or in-person sessions to observe and help reinforce your learning of the process and the insights you find at no extra cost.

Pair sessions that include two active dream partners cost 50% more than a single session, but the benefit, in my opinion is about 150% to each dreamer.

When two dreamers study together, they find it much easier to practice over the phone for say one hour a week.  They usually rotate turns presenting the dream and acting as Interviewer.  During the time between our sessions/classes.

I encourage both dreamers to record and review their and our sessions because the benefits therein are astounding!

PAJAMA PARTY RETREATS!

WE CAN’T WAIT to hold Dream Pajama Party Retreats of 4-6 days at our huge house on two lakes in Florida.  We have just nearly finished FIVE , yes FIVE years of rehab in our house, and we can’t wait to share the very warm pool, the hot tub, the lakes on three sides, the kayaking from the lake shore, table-tennis, indoor gym and sauna, with plenty of pace to read , reflect and study your dreams, or to watch the Pelicans and Blue Herons on the deck, and dance in the ballroom with hardwood floors.  Our house has a name: Villa dei Sogni d’Oro.

Sounds like: VEEL-AH DAEE SON-YEE DORO.

Translates as: VILLA OF GOLDEN DREAMS

This is the sweet wish Italians send you off to sleep with:

“Sogni d’Oro, cara!” (May you have golden dreams, dear one!)

We live ½ way between Orlando and Tampa and envision having 4-8 dreamers at our PJ parties about 3 times a year! More on these dream plans when we can be sure the house really is ready…at last!

In the meantime,

Sogni d’Oro, Cari!

(Sweet dreams, dear ones!)