Working with the Dreaming Body

by Arnold Mindell

Drawing on a large number of case studies, practical applications of the Dreambody theory are described, instructing how to unfold symptoms and other somatic phenomena to reveal the dreamlike and mythical experiences that we usually discount in everyday life. These symptoms may not be merely sickness in need of treatment, but guides to meaning and fulfillment.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Alchemy

145 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 1985

Reviews

[marianina]

It just sounds so weird that this is a medical professional who encourages his patients (and is being paid!) to intensify their pain or has the authority to announce to someone suicidal that as a matter of fact dying is his only solution at this point. I understand the idea of this stable flow of one's life to one direction, but shouldn't it be able to change? And cancer being an embodiment of daddy issues? I don't really know about all that. It's an interesting theory (at least some parts of it) but reading real persons' experiences and all those theatrical examples seems absurd.
Anyway, I won't be rating this, because, objectively, I have not tried his method of banging my head against a wall until I start hallucinating or something similar whenever I have a headache, so I can't speak of its actual effectiveness.

[One Cool Cat]

I absolutely do not understand the good reviews of this book. Mindell describes harmful philosophies and practices for a therapist. He questions science while recounting endless anecdotes that rely on a very questionable author. It's never clear at all that any of his patients improved, or if he just decided that he was satisfied with his own psychological prowess and declared each case as resolved.

Maybe I'm just not really a fan of Jung, since I mostly associate his modern legacy with self-important social media pop psychology gurus. But basically encouraging a deeply mentally unwell patient to commit suicide seems like grounds to have any licensing revoked and should have triggered some self-reflection on method instead of justifying it all with nebulous claims of reincarnation or purposes beyond this life.

Did I still read the whole book? Yeah, though it took little effort since it was just a dozen chapters of navel gazing disguised as psychology. There were interesting ideas that clearly the author took to an extreme that robbed his credibility for me entirely.

[Nandes]

No sé si hi crec al 100% o no, però el què planteja em sembla revolucionari.
Això sí, un avís important: haters gonna hate...

[Olivier Goetgeluck]

Als de man zijn drang om te beheersen loslaat, heeft hij meer beheersing... Een risico nemen is meestal de veiligste weg!

Ik oefen op niemand druk uit. Hun lichaam, ziel 'weten' de dingen.

Het droomlichaam is een soort multi-dimensionale seiner die visuele, acoustische en proprioceptieve seinen geeft. Het is je totaliteit die probeert te verschijnen en die je vraagt haar informatie serieus te nemen.

Een chronische ziekte is vaak een probleem dat het hele leven lang speelt en deel uitmaakt van iemands individuatieproces.

Probeer je pijn te voelen, je vreugde, je moeheid, beleef die gevoelens, geniet ervan, lijd eraan, werk ermee!

Vaak is pijn de eerste aanzet tot bewustzijn.

Hij had zijn ziekte willen genezen in plaats van te zien dat die ziekte hem had willen zeggen dat hij totaal anders moest gaan leven.

[Alyssa Turnbull]

Make no mistake, this book explores ideas that are somewhat absurd and pushes beyond the limits of what is reasonable or plausible at times. To our society, implying that cancer could be due to unresolved childhood trauma is a pretty ground breaking (and maybe even triggering) claim. I often found myself fascinated, but taking it all with a grain of salt…especially during the transcription of an actual therapy session. Some pretty odd stuff there lol.

It’s always refreshing to hear the “devils advocate” to modern day assumptions. I do think that there’s more connection between our bodies and subconscious than we give credit, and I certainly have had insightful and moving dreams. All in all, I learned, my perspective was expanded, and I was entertained.

[Gala Kuzyakova]

Interesting cases of Mindell's work in process therapy. In this book he is paying more attention on a body's work.

[So Yeon]

A meaningful finding about human psychosomatic issues

[Sole]

It was the best psycholgy book I've ever read

[Panagiotis Poutos]

Θα το αγαπήσουν όσοι πιστεύουν στα ζώδια και το ξεμάτιασμα.

[Joe]

Mindell describes his work as a Process-Oriented therapist. This work includes delving into clients' dreams and how those dreams are expressed through their body into diseases, lumps, etc. Mindell believes that there is a dreambody that we are all connected to, much like the collective unconscious, and that by working on ourselves and our own process, we heal the world too.

Writing these thoughts much later, I'm struggling to remember my thoughts about this one. I remember thinking that a lot of this was very fascinating, but I was still very skeptical overall. He makes some wild assertions here, some of which intuitively make sense to me, but some are just way too indefensible to take super seriously. I'm interested to see how much, if at all, these concepts and scenarios come up in my practice. Maybe when working with people in similar situations, my opinion will change, but right now, some of this is a little too far into "woo-woo" even for me.

[Taylor Ellwood]

In this book, the author explores the concept of the dreaming body in conjunction with how a person expresses his/her psychological dysfunctions through everyday behavior, as well as the dreaming body. What I like about this book is that the author builds on previous work and shows how various physical symptoms can be related to psychological disturbances as well as how to use those symptoms to uncover and work with those disturbances. He also explains how a personal can use the symptoms that s/he experiences to come to an understanding and make with him/herself. The case studies that he provides also demonstrate the techniques he uses and provide further insight into working with the body holistically. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn how to work more with your body and your mind as a unified unit.