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London event: Dreamwriting and creative lucid dreaming!

April 13th, 2013

Imagine sitting in a room with a few hundred others, all of you relaxed, all of you flow-writing like mad. All you can hear is the scratch of pens. All you can see is your own inner dream imagery morphing into surprising things as you try to capture it on paper. This is a creativity technique I developed, Lucid Writing, so called because it’s like a waking version of lucid dreaming, where dream imagery is focused on and guided while in a light trance. It’s a highly creative state, and a great way of connecting with original ideas, metaphors and visions as they emerge from your unconscious.

Sound like fun? Then come and join me in London, November 9th-10th, at the Gateways of the Mind immersive event, along with some of the world’s leading dream practitioners.

Here are the details; hope to see you there!

ClareGateways logo

 An Immersive Exploration Of Lucid Dreaming & Out Of Body Experiences

Bringing together leading global teachers, authors and practitioners for dialogues, discussions, meditations, practicals, music, art…. Gateways is an experience!

Featuring:

William Buhlman, leading expert in out of body experiences.

Stanley Krippner PhD – humanist psychologist presenting ‘Shamanic dreaming from around the world’

Tim Freke, author of ‘The Mystery Experience’ presenting Lucid Living

Michael Winn, Taoist Master presenting ‘Taoist Dream Yoga’

Clare Johnson PhD, Author of Breathing in Colour and Dreamrunner, presenting ‘Creative Lucid Dreaming’

Martin Duffy, Shamanism Ireland, presenting ‘Shamanic Dreaming of the British Isles’

Luigi Sciambarella of the Monroe Institute presenting Altered States & Belief Systems

Charlie Morley, Gateways Host and London’s finest lucid dreaming teacher.

Check the website for full presentation & speaker info plus tickets.

www.archetypeevents.com/gateways-london

 

Dreams & Creativity – Call for dream reports!

January 13th, 2013

It’s the start of a new year and time for a change – although I’m still writing my third novel, I’ve also recently begun a non-fiction book! After the IASD dream conference in Bern it suddenly dawned on me that it was time to write the book I’ve been building towards ever since I did my PhD on lucid dreaming and the creative writing process. So there it is – I’ve started this book on the connection between dreams and creativity, and so far it is such fun to write, ideas flying towards me from every corner and a strong sense of enthusiasm and purpose which reassures me that I’m doing the right thing (I hope!).

I’m at the stage where I need reports of dreams which have specifically led to creativity. If you think you can help, and would like to see your own creative dreaming experience in print (you can be anonymous or not, as you wish), please get in touch. You can write to me here, or email me on phdcasestudies@hotmail.com with ‘Dreams and Creativity’ in the subject line and include a brief description of your dream and the way it helped you creatively. I’ll be in touch – thanks!

Your dream might be lucid or non-lucid, you might consider it an out-of-body experience (OBE) or a hypnogogic/hypnopompic experience (where vivid imagery, noises, or sensations such as dropping or swooping occur either as you drift off to sleep or just before you wake up), it could take place in the ‘void’ or ‘black winds’ of lucid dreaming, or in the state of sleepwalking… The important thing is that your dream has led to some form of creativity in the waking state, such as an idea for a new project, a new way of understanding a problem or situation, the improvement of a skill such as swimming or ballet, physical or psychological healing, or the creation of a piece of artwork, poetry, or music.

Clare

Dreamwriting… and the Lucid Artist

September 2nd, 2012

What happens when lucid dreaming is introduced to the artistic process? After years of working with lucid dreaming scientifically as part of my PhD and also on a personal and artistic level, I believe lucid dreaming and the ‘waking lucid dreaming’ of the artist’s trance can be powerful tools for artistic transformation.

The dreamer is surrounded by the equivalent of a film of her unconscious mind at play – an unquestionably stimulating artistic resource – and being able to say, ‘I’m dreaming this’ opens up further possibilities for exploration and experimentation.

One thing I love about lucid dreams is that, as Kelzer observes, ‘lucidity does not seem to act as an inhibitor of the unconscious’ (1987). Even in the most determinedly controlled lucid dream, there are always uncontrollable elements, so that the spontaneity of the dream shines through – the sky turns a defiant lime-green, or a novel character melts into a puddle of warm vanilla custard. It’s this spontaneity that gives us our most original creations, the brightest, boldest ideas to take with us back to waking reality and turn into art. So lucid dreaming seems to be a naturally creative state which can facilitate artistic endeavours irrespective of whether dream control is used, but it can also be drawn on as an actively creative space where lucidity enables the conscious, in-the-dream performance of artistic acts such as sculpture or musical composition.

If you’re an artist, when you become lucid you could get stuck in and draw a picture/throw a pot, or announce your intention to find the ‘magic box’ of images, ideas, and inspiration. Mine turned out to be a treasure chest lolling open behind a tree (I had to shoo away two big guard dogs to get at it though) and to my surprise it was bursting with material – scraps of silk, twines of coloured wool, armfuls of slippery saris, thick ribbons all in a sumptuous tangle. Soon after this dream, I did my largest collage yet, ‘Spiral Energy’, using all of the above materials.

‘All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up.’ – Pablo Picasso. Solution: start lucid dreaming while awake 😎

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