Online (Class will also be recorded)
7 Tuesdays, September 9 – October 28, 2025 11:00am-12:30pm
Eastern (New York) Time
“A dream is alive.” Eugene Gendlin
In re-reading Gendlin’s little book of 40 years ago, I have discovered so many gems, and so many ways to work with my dreams or client dreams that are now considered essential. I am excited to share the process of rediscovering this embodied approach to dreaming with you.
Deepening into the embodied experience of a dream, treating the dream as alive, and embodying helpful elements of a dream — all of these are essential aspects of the way I practice and teach dreamwork. All of these are learnings from Eugene Gendlin, the founder of the gentle yet profound embodied practice of Focusing. I have the privilege of sharing Gendlin’s writings about dreams with you in a unique way.
I am thrilled to announce a group reading of Gendlin’s ground-breaking book, Let your body interpret your dreams (1986). In partnership with The International Focusing Institute (TIFI), we will be meeting 7 times this Fall to read and discuss the book together.
There are some interesting features to this book, including a reliable method for understanding your own dreams. And an appendix that contains one of the most accessible entries into Gendlin’s philosophy of the implicit. I will share updates in this approach that have arisen in the 40 years since the book was published –yet so many of these respectful ways of loving and enjoying our dreams have stood the test of time.
I am an internationally-recognized expert in dream and nightmare treatment. My contribution to this topic is to adapt Gendlin’s ideas into a protocol for treating nightmares, and to integrate Focusing into a clinical dreamwork practice I have come to call Embodied Experiential Dreamwork.
As we read Gendlin’s seminal book together, I will inform you about Gendlin’s latest thinking was on the topic. I will incorporate experiential dreamwork exercises to bring this material to life from the inside.
Our discussions will encompass a couple of clear additions to this topic from Gendlin himself: both the article ‘Three Learnings Since the Dream Book’ and a telephone course (before we had online programs) that was offered by Ann Weiser Cornell. In reading this book, I will give you my sense of what ideas Gendlin treasured, and which ones he de-emphasized over time.
I am very much looking forward to this deep dive into embodied dream exploration, led by Gendlin, guided by me and, I expect, richly augmented by the discussions and experiences we have as a dream book club. I do hope you’ll join me.
TIFI offers a tiered pricing structure to ensure this session will be accessible to all. It will also be recorded to so you can listen to sessions you missed, or if you join late, you can catch up.
To register: https://focusing.org/event/let-your-body-interpret-your-dreams-appreciating-gendlins-dreams-book