About the Book

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To read excerpts from the book, click here for the Table of Contents, Introduction and a sample chapter.

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Ancient and modern sages alike have shown us that mindfulness is the direct path to emotional healing and spiritual awakening. So many of us long for a teacher or guru to guide us in our efforts. Now Mindful Dreaming helps you to find that guru in your nightly dreams. 

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In this highly practical and easy to understand guidebook, psychologist David Gordon, Ph.D. shows how every dream corresponds to one of the four universal stages of healing and growth that Joseph Campbell called the Mythic Journey—our “search for bliss.” Throughout the Journey our dreams urge us to learn ten perennial lessons in mindfulness taught by spiritual traditions in every era and culture.

A breakthrough in the field of mindfulness practice and dreamwork, Mindful Dreaming teaches you the simple metaphorical language of dreams and how they promote mindfulness in our everyday lives. Dreams prompt us to practice mindfulness of five core habits of thought or ego strategies at the basis of our everyday suffering —one of which predominate in each dream: Distraction; Control; Judgment; and Attachment and Impatience. Abundant examples demonstrate how each of these thoughts creates its own unique quality of suffering in the dream that is parallel to our suffering and unhappiness in waking life.

 

Each dream narrative also offers the possibility of embracing a healing corrective experience in the form of five perennial nondual values--Silence/Stillness; Humility/Surrender; Compassion; and Grieving/Letting Go and Presence—that can dissolve the painful emotional contractions that correspond to each type of ego strategy. 

 

Dreams present these healing qualities to the dreamer via a Dream Mentor—persons, animals, or elements in nature that embody those qualities. Thus, dreams are experienced as frightening or peaceful to the degree that we resist or welcome the presence of the Mentor.

In sum, when understood correctly, dreams provide a non-judgmental and compassionate mirror that reflects your ongoing progress on the Journey to mindfulness. 

Relying on thought-provoking exercises and compelling examples from the life-changing dreams of the author, his clients and friends, Mindful Dreaming demonstrates how dreams help us overcome the emotional blocks that keep us feeling stuck and conflicted in love relationships, frustrated in work or stagnating in our creative goals.

Above all Mindful Dreaming provides the knowledge of a profound spiritual map—the Mythic Journey—ten sacred principles in mindfulness by which to live and the gift of nondual dreamwork to guide you in daily life and relationships, embrace each phase of the Journey, and awaken to the energy of the Divine in your everyday life.

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Praise for Mindful Dreaming

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David Gordon, Ph.D. (past Membership Chair for the International Association for the Study of Dreams) presents Mindful Dreaming: A Practical Guide for Emotional Healing Through Transformative Mythic Journeys, an insightful blend of Buddhist wisdom, spiritual practice, and mindful dreaming techniques. Mindful Dreaming explores what nightmares as well as happy dreams have to teach us, and offers techniques for constructing dreams of apprenticeship, embrace and mastery, embodiment, and being (witnessing consciousness). "The mood of each dream, and in particular, the mood at the end of your dream, are great measures of whether you are in alignment with your Calling and acting with wisdom and compassion for your own needs - or not." A welcome supplement to Buddhist studies shelves, as well as a certain help for anyone seeking to better understand and control their own dreams.

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--From Amazon.com 5.0 out of 5 stars: May 12, 2007
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) 

 

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"The level of artistry demonstrated in David Gordon, Ph.D.'s Mindful Dreaming is unique. To merge a deep understanding of dream work with the mindfulness techniques of Buddhist practice brings a new light to bear on each of these subjects.  Exercises and examples make Gordon's writing accessible even to the novice in one subject or the other, while providing a blend that augments each.  Bravo!"   

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-- Jean Campbell, president, The International Association for the Study of Dreams.

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"Mindful Dreaming gives us both depth and practical advice about how to use our own inner wisdom to traverse the landscape and arrive home.  A must-read for all those who are going about the pursuit of awakened consciousness."

-- Kathleen Brehony, Ph.D., author of Awakening at Midlife, Ordinary Grace, and Living a Connected Life

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"Dr. Gordon provides a framework in which dreamers can become 'mindful' of changes in their outer and inner lives, while discovering and nurturing those values that are necessary for survival in a world that has become seriously out of balance."

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-- Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author of Extraordinary Dreams and How to Use Them

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"David Gordon illustrates how dreams speak directly to our unique daily experiences in the broader context of life's mythical journey.  A truly unique guidebook to your waking and dreaming life's journey -- highly recommended."

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--Robert Hoss, M.S., author of Dream Language, president of the DreamScience Foundation

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