The Radical Intelligence of Dreaming

Why dreams may be one of the mind’s most powerful processes for emotional integration

In a nightmare that haunted her, Carol dreamt she was walking beside a river carrying a newborn baby. The setting is lush and peaceful, with apple trees gracing the riverbank. She proudly shows the baby to her mother. The baby’s father (who, oddly, she does not know) and his father are there too. They are conferring on what to name the child. The atmosphere is warm, almost ceremonial: a new life is being welcomed and given a name.

But then her mother notices the baby has stopped breathing.

Carol looks down and sees the infant gasping desperately for air. Panic surges through her as she runs to find help. The baby tries so hard to breath her head pops off! The dream ends there, leaving Carol shaken by the image and left with the desolate sense that something precious has been lost.

Carol offered this dream during an embodied experi…