October is Dream Awareness Month

October is the time of year when days are getting shorter and darker and the perfect time to talk about sleeping and dreaming.  Join Dream Designs in celebrating its first annual Dream Awareness Month in October 2019.  To bring attention to the importance of dreaming and dreams, Dream Designs has created an educational symposium for the public titled "Dream Salon", featuring world-renowned dream scientists, psychologists, and an esteemed First Nations storyteller. 

Dreams are crucial to our physical and mental well-being.  Recent studies have found that we dream typically during REM (rapid eye movement) stages, especially our most intense dreams.  When deprived of sufficient REM sleep, people are not only susceptible to physical diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, but also mental issues such as stress, depression, anxiety, and memory loss.  Scientists have identified dreams as a key component of brain functioning.  According to Dr Matthew Walker, director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at University of California, Berkeley, dreams help ease and heal emotional difficulties experienced during waking times and promote creativity and problem-solving.

During Dream Salon, the panellist will present a range of topics, including:

1. Case studies of well-known artists, scientists, and athletes who used their dreams for creative problem-solving. (by Dr Deidre Barrett, Boston-based Harvard Medical School faculty known for her research on dreams, hypnosis, and evolution psychology, a Past President of The International Association for the Study of Dreams and of the American Psychological Association’s Div. 30, The Society for Psychological Hypnosis)
2. How "big dreams" can lead to greater self-awareness, humility, empathy, and creative vitality (by Dr Kelly Burkeley, Portland-based dream scientist and author, director of the Sleep and Dream Database, and Senior Editor of the APA journal Dreaming)
3. How spiritual connections with oneself and others can heal psychological traumas (by Joseph A. Dandurand - Vancouver-based poet, playwright, the Indigenous Storyteller in Residence at Vancouver Public Library, and the Director of the Kwantlen Cultural Center)
4. Stopping the Nightmare: How to work with dreams that terrify us (by Dr Leslie Ellis, Vancouver-based psychotherapist, teacher, and author of A Clinician’s Guide to Dream Therapy: Implementing Simple and Effective Dreamwork)
5. The Jungian dreamwork technique of active imagination (by Dr Ana Mozol, founder and director of Dreamwork Theatre, and author of A Re-Visioning of Love: Dark Feminine Rising)

Dream Designs (dreamdesigns.ca), is a longstanding Vancouver company that specializes in organic natural healthy sleep. “The best part about sleeping is dreaming,” said Bei Linda Tang, Owner/Creative Director of Dream Designs, "Dreams are not random meaningless entertainment.  They are highly relevant to the dreamer and contain vital knowledge." Tang recently published a memoir based on her personal dreams and how they impacted her career and family life.  It is titled Navigate Life with Dreams: A Guide to Happiness and Peace by Working with your Own Dreams. ” Tang will emcee the Dream Salon event.

In addition to Dream Salon, Tang is also hosting a series of free monthly Dream Salon socials in the Greater Vancouver area for people to share their dreams in person.  Sharing dreams with others allows each participant to gain insights into their dreams and connect with others in meaningful and in-depth dialogues.  There are now close to 70 members in this group.

For the entire month of October, Dream Designs will hold a contest for the “Most Intriguing Dream” on its Facebook post page. The dream that garners the most “Likes” by October 31, 2019 will win its dreamer two front-row VIP tickets to Dream Salon, which will be held on Nov 2, the day before Daylight Saving time ends.