#59: Lucid Dreams and the Stages of Insight with Daniel Ingram

Fariba Bogzaran is an artist, scientist and pioneer of dream studies. Between 1986 and 1989 she conducted scientific studies on lucid dreams at the Lucidity Institute at the Stanford Sleep Laboratory.Fariba mixes psychology, art, contemplative practices, shamanism, Taoism, and more. Her artwork is inspired by her deep connection with nature and her collaboration with the hypnagogic and lucid dreaming states of consciousness. She coined the term Lucid Art, which views art as an epistemology, or a way of knowing.Fariba is co-author of Integral Dreaming and Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them. Our far reaching conversation explores themes in those books, including precognitive dreams, telepathic dreams, and mutual dreams. We dive deep into lucid dreams, including their multi-dimensionality and what Fariba calls hyperspace lucidity.We also look at how dreams inform déja vú, why physicists resonate with lucid art, experiences of light, voidness, and the non-dual, and why knowledge and realisations from dreams must translate to lucid waking.

Claudia Barfoot is a psychotherapist, Ancestral Healing Practitioner, and founder of the Land of Possible, which merges western theories of the psyche with indigenous systems of knowledge to facilitate growth and healing.Claudia’s cross-cultural approach combines psychology, psychoanalysis, dreamwork, sacred plant medicines, and ancestral traditions. She is informed by perspectives from the Toltec and Maya peoples of Mexico, as well as the teachings of the Mamos and Sagas from la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Her expansive wisdom provides an insightful perspective on dreams. We discuss: visitations from ancestors, emotional landscapes, the dream body, astral travel, visiting different realms,’ what colours represent, prophetic dreams, why certain traditions see dreams as shared experiences, how dreams prepare us for death, nightmares and encountering ‘dark beings,’ spiritual protection, dreams’ sacred communication, and much more.

Daniel Ingram returns to the show following our first conversation, Awakening and the Search for Meaning. Daniel is best known for his cult classic Mastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha, within which he maps the stages of insight. He is also an emergency medicine physician and part of The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC) which aims to integrate spiritual, mystical or energetic experiences into healthcare systems.Continuing the dream series, our conversation explores how Daniel integrates dreams into the stages of insight. He shares his definition of standard, symbolic, lucid, and hyper-lucid dreams. We look at a host of intriguing spiritual experiences within dreams, including: vivid sense perception, out of body experiences, guru transmission, kundalini awakenings, meditating in dreams, ego-transcendence, no-self dreams, and the continuum between dreams, imagination, and the dreamlike nature of “waking” reality.

I’m joined by Lisa Marchiano, an award-winning author and certified Jungian analyst with a private practice in Philadelphia.Lisa is the author of Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself and The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire. Her latest book, Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams, is written with Deborah Stewart and Joseph Lee, her fellow co-hosts of the popular depth psychology podcast, This Jungian Life.Our conversation focuses on making sense of dreams. Topics include: understanding imagery and symbols, unlocking meaning, working with setting, characters, and unfolding storylines, the dream ego’s perspective, “dreaming on” through active imagination, learning from emotions, encounters with the Self and the “God within,” dreams as life-changing religious experiences, and practical tips for dream recall.We join the conversation with Lisa and I discussing the application of the “keys” identified in Dreamwise…Lisa's Website.Dreamwise Book.This Jungian Life Podcast.

Welcome to episode 57 of the MindThatEgo Podcast and the first of a new series on dreams. I’m joined by David Bedrick, the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-based Studies, where he trains therapists, coaches and healers, and offers workshops for individuals.David graduated from the Process Work Institute and has been adjunct faculty for over 15 years. He studied under Arny Mindell, the founder of process-oriented psychology. Mindell was a student of Carl Jung, who integrated physics and the body into Jung’s work. David also taught psychology and philosophy courses at the University of Phoenix.His latest book, The Unshaming Way, is the focus of today’s conversation. Topics include: common misconceptions of shame, trauma-based and cultural origins of shame, the healing power of an unshaming witness, the intelligence of bodily experience, unshamed views of madness, depression and mental illness, expressing and learning from big emotions, the “dreambody” as a metaphor for inner processes, and why dreams naturally provide an unshamed view. Enjoy.---David's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david.bedrick/?hl=enDavid's YouTube: https://youtube.com/@davidbedrick3872?si=o1WhsyD64qPnh4KT---

Episode 56 of the MindThatEgo Podcast features a panel discussion on synchronicity with Bernie Beitman, Joanna Bauer-Savage, and myself, which took place in early November in Berlin. To evoke meaningful coincidences, we asked the audience to contribute questions to a lucky dip. The resulting conversation is nuanced and diverse, including practical guidance and philosophical frameworks. We discuss the relationship between intuition and coincidence, feeling the pain of a loved one at a distance, the nature of the higher Self revealed in dreams and synchronicities, discerning when to follow signs and when to step back, magical thinking and confirmation bias vs. true synchronicity, and contemplations of the “higher order” of meaning. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Paul Levy is a creative artist, a pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, and a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for more than 35 years. He is the founder of the Awaken in the Dream Community and the author of several books, including The Quantum Revelation and Undreaming Wetiko. Our conversation dives into the murky depths of the so-called mind virus popularized by Indigenous author Jack Forbes, who in his book Columbus and Other Cannibals, refers to wetiko as “the sickness of exploitation.” Paul is a gifted oracle whose description of subtle and hidden forces of wetiko illuminates how the mind virus influences our world, relationships, and inner processes. Together, we explore how our quantum reality mirrors a waking dream, and how the universe communicates through symbols. We discuss synchronicity, shadow projection, archetypal patterns, and four-valued logic or paradoxical thinking. Paul also shares profound insights on awakening from mass hypnosis, the dangers of totalitarian psychosis, and the weaponization of technology. Plus, why critical thinking and our creative spirit is the ultimate superpower in undreaming wetiko and navigating these turbulent times. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources: Awakening in the Dream.

Welcome to episode 54 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. This episode features my presentation, Quantum Self-Compassion, for the Mystics and Scientists Conference in April 2024. The theme was Love, Forgiveness, and Compassion: Where Spirituality Meets Science. The first half of the talk introduces self-compassion as a thread across past, present, and future. I share common barriers to self-compassion, uncover misconceptions, and look at the damage of self-dis-compassion, which includes self-rejection, self-judgment, and self-criticism. I introduce the notion of the True Self as outside of time and the Source of compassion, love, forgiveness, and higher qualities we can extend toward the small self or Ego. To bring these insights to life, this is followed by a guided meditation, through which you will, hopefully, get an embodied sense of the nature of self-compassion. Just a reminder to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

Welcome to episode 53 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. Roderick Main works at the University of Essex, where he is Professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies and Director of the Centre for Myth Studies. His research focuses on religion, mythology, literature, and, of course, synchronicity. His books include Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal, The Rupture of Time, Breaking the Spell of Disenchantment, and Revelations of Chance. He is also a fellow co-author on the Playful Universe. To honor the purpose of that book, I was keen to approach synchronicity firstly from Roderick’s personal experience, understanding how he interprets and unpacks their meaning, before moving into theoretical explanations. The result is a dialogue that provides practical ways to participate with synchronistic events, such as deciphering symbols and intuitively linking relevant associations. We look at different forms of synchronicity, including the personal, archetypal, and collective, and the nuances of discernment. How do you tell genuine synchronicity from delusions or magical thinking? What are pathologies of meaning or dark synchronicities? What are the religious and philosophical implications? And what truly is the power of myth?  All that, and more, coming up. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Roderick's Bio The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness (Amazon).

Welcome to episode 52 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. Jane Clapp returns to the show to explore depression in the context of the alchemical stages of psychological development or individuation. Jane is a distinguished Jungian analyst who formed Jungian somatics from over 20 years of clinical experience. Exploring the interplay of body and psyche, she specializes in developmental and complex trauma through a mythological and embodied lens. Our dialogue covers how developmental trauma blocks the psyche’s self-regulating function, anti-life energy and the collective shadow, the spiritual battle of becoming, self-deceit and identification with suffering, the need for support, anchoring into glimmers of hope, finding positive symbols in dreams and synchronicities, and prayer and surrender as powerful allies in humility, faith, and relationship to a higher power. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources: Jane's Website. Jane's Instagram.