Waking Dream Therapy The Waking Dream Therapy approach was first described by Dr. Gerald Epstein, and springs from the work of Mme. Colette Aboulker-Muscat of Jerusalem and Dr. Epstein's own work and studies. A waking dream is a guided exploration of one’s inner reality through the media of imagination. The purpose of the waking dream method is to give people the opportunity to travel willfully and sensorially through world of the embodiment of their belief systems, which they discover as images. The experience of moving successfully through the challenges of this inner journey alters one’s beliefs and the significance of the past events, and creates new ways to meet experiences yet to happen. The waking dream experience “not only permits the seeing of possibilities but also the doing of possibilities,” the effects of which are brought back to concrete reality and are actively used to shape one’s existence. Just as a night dream, a waking dream is a spontaneous flow of the events of appearance within the inner realm of human experience. And just as a short correction exercise of a dream, a waking dream offers the freedom to make changes. And yet, a waking dream is different from the night dream because of the added advantage to journey through various places at will. And it is different from the short correction exercise of a dream, because the correction exercise is a re-entry of a dream with a particular predetermined intention of making a change, while a waking dream is an exploration of “what is” within the realm of one’s inner life. A waking dream in a linear time lasts forty minutes to an hour and a half (as oppose to a short imagery exercise or a dream correction exercise which last no longer than 45 seconds). A waking dream originates directly from the night dream of the patient at a particular chosen segment. The choice comes as a result of patient’s “working the dream” with the help of the therapist. After the patient describes the dream the therapist asks the patient to see everyone in the dream as a quality oneself. The therapist also asks if an analogy can be seen between the events in the dream and in the waking life. Often one gets insight into one’s life and into what needs to be changed through a correction exercise and/or voluntary will exercise. If a patient cannot find any analogies or simply has difficulties with the dream and yet finds the dream disturbing, or feels that it's "something important" - the waking dream technique is utilized. A patient is instructed to sit comfortably in an upright position, a 3-4 minute light relaxation is induced, and a person is offered to use any important point of the dream as a starting point of the exploration. What will happen during the journey is unknown either to the therapist or to the patient, since the images that appear after the patient enters the dream are a spontaneous flow of the “what is” of the patient’s inner life. In this work the therapist acts strictly as a guide and nothing more. The therapist is there only to listen to the report about the journey and to assist the explorer with any frightening or difficult predicaments. An understanding of the symbolism of colors, numbers, and directions in space helps the therapist to be aware of when and what support the “explorer” might need. Because the events of a waking dream are very real to the “explorer”, the emotional challenge of the experience can often overwhelm one’s will in making constructive changes. The therapist reminds the "explorer" that one has the power to protect oneself and to make the needed changes. With the therapist's guidance, the patient confronts, overcomes, and resolves the problems that emerge in the narratives. As Francis Clifton wrote: “Guided waking dreams are birthings, assisted by the midwife (therapist or guide), which take place in the emptied, at times terrifying realm of becoming which is the imagination." The process of de-construction of old forms of existence in a waking dream creates the “window” of openness to new ways of existence in one’s waking reality.