The Dreamtime Experience

Time and Space

In the West, our focus is more on time and less on space. We wake, work, eat, sleep and
play according to the clock. We celebrate days, and schedule events and vacations by the
calendar. We mark memories by the year and talk about them in time frames. In essence,
we experience time as a ‘one-thing-after-another’ kind of sequential event. Another view
is the one held for thousands of years by the Maori of New Zealand, called Dreamtime.

The Maori believe that time happens “all-at once” and this has influenced their values and
traditions, as well as their perceptions. The certainty that time happens “all-at once” has
given rise to rituals that actually create the experience of “time outside of time.”
Transcending time in this way causes the perception of time to slow down and the mind’s
eye to open.

Expanding Consciousness

The Dreamtime Experience induces a light naturalistic trance through a series of questions
that stimulate the unconscious to produce a dream like state, though awake. Usually we
use half of our mind at any given time; the conscious half while awake and the
unconscious half while asleep. The Dreamtime Experience utilizes both. This powerful
method uses more of the “whole mind,” opening doors of perception to an ever present
world we rarely, if ever see.

This is accomplished by asking questions that bypass the logical, linear left brain and “turn
on” the innate, healing circuitry of the right brain. The right brain is a storehouse of
knowledge, qualities and abilities long thought to be lost or missing, and offers a vast
untapped potential for solving problems and resolving emotions. The right hemisphere
can only register and process space, and cannot register time. Without the restraints of
linear time, things can happen that normally wouldn’t occur...the first being a window into
the unconscious.

The Observer Effect

Though we’re not aware of it, the unconscious mind is always present and always active.
Made up of only one thing, pictures, these inner images form the basis of our reality,
reactions and decisions. As the pictures become visible to consciousness, they become
more malleable to change as they are brought out in the open, into the light of day.

A staple of physics, the “observer effect,” refers to changes the act of observation will
make on the phenomenon being observed. That means that the simple act of observation
causes change! During the Dreamtime Experience, like watching a dream, we observe the
imagery and goings-on of the inner world within. Importantly, the act of observing an
unconscious image makes it malleable to change just by being observed.

As the process unfolds before our eyes, pictures attached to negative feelings are brought
to light and convert into new images called “emotional antibodies.” Emotional antibodies
are permanent, healing resources that have the power to finish up memories, extinguish
unwanted feelings and resolve long standing problems. For example, in one process, the
vision that came to mind for lack of confidence was soft, mushy clay. When that image of
clay permanently transformed into a WW II Battle Cruiser, a natural inner strength and
confidence flourished, producing a significant difference in affect, behavior and goal
achievement.

Negative Feelings

When conflict, tension and stress are reduced, the mind quiets down. A quiet mind can
more easily enjoy the benefits of being in the here and now. So what most obstructs the
experience of the now? While thoughts of the past and concerns about the future keep us
out of the now, the biggest block to staying in the moment are the ‘fractures’ that occurred
during times we were overwhelmed by abuse, trauma, neglect or loss. When an action,
event or feeling overwhelms us, parts of self ‘split’ and get lost in time. It may be the
nature of time to move forward but there are moments we get stuck in. This loss of self is
often the basis of vague feelings of uncertainty and can diminish self-esteem and spur
codependency.

When a fracture causes a part of self to freeze in time, persistent uncomfortable feelings
develop from a ‘hole in the soul’ the loss brings on. This fuels depression, anxiety, phobias
and compulsions and can make it uncomfortable to be within one’s own skin. Unwanted
behaviors are frequently an attempt to manage the negative thoughts and feelings that
emanate from the loss of self. This progression is called dissociation and is not a function
of the conscious mind. Dissociation is an unconscious process, so exploring unconscious
imagery allows the lost parts of self to float to the surface of consciousness.

Freedom to Respond

Once found, dissociated parts of self can reintegrate back into an individual’s psyche /
emotional economy. While most cognitive solutions are linear and bound by time, this
method focuses on the healing attributes of space. For example, a woman dissociated
when molested by her date. During the assault, she went “up to the ceiling to avoid the
whole thing.” Recalling the memory of that time didn’t help, but finding the space in the
ceiling where she hid and was still hiding was the beginning of her journey back to self.
When the lost parts of self are found and restored, the uncomfortable feelings (that absence
fueled) can then diminish or dissolve.
Viktor Frankl said “Between a stimulus and the response there is a space, and, in that
space is our power to choose how to respond or not respond. Growth and happiness relies
on the freedom to have that choice.”

Dreamtime explores the space between the stimulus and response and expands it,
empowering the choice to act rather than react. Seeing beyond the eyes, we explore the
inner space of self and the outer space of the collective unconscious to discover
possibilities not available under ordinary circumstances.

Change at the root automatically changes thoughts, feelings and reactions at the surface.

Richard H. Siegel, Ph.D. LMFT dreamtime.experience@gmail.com