Event recording
Event description
Foreshore Dreaming grows out of the established practice of Social Dreaming and is further inspired by the tradition of ‘centring down’ in Quaker Worship so that the Meeting can become ‘gathered’. The process of Foreshore Dreaming creates a ‘thin’ space, where we set aside our ego bound and conditioned minds to better pick up on communications coming from the greater intelligence of Consciousness. Rather than tuning into the collective unconscious (as in Social Dreaming), in Foreshore Dreaming we are freeing the collective unconscious to tune into communications from Consciousness.
The task of Foreshore Dreaming is to bring forth dreams which may evoke liminal free associations and further dreams. As participants in Foreshore Dreaming, we serve the process and the dreams brought forth are not ‘ours’ but ‘of the Foreshore’. The task is akin to gathering flotsam and jetsam on a beach and the dream gathering process has nothing to do with the participants or their psychology. It is likely that participants would offer contributions in the following terms – the third dream reminds me of a dream from last night, ooh that brings to mind a dream from ages ago that I had forgotten about, that dream makes me think of such and such a film/poem/story/event, ah, that association reminds me of a dream about..., etc
After a short introduction, the Foreshore Process will be open for 50 minutes, during which time the host will gently nudge participants who slip off task. There will then be a short comfort break followed by half an hour for taking stock of the dream elements and associated material and for a conventional conversation about what has been deposited on the Foreshore this time. Exploring the gathered themes and images we sift for new thoughts and ideas which may have been brought through to us and formulate hypotheses from this Foreshore Dreaming process.
Ruth Jones originally trained as an Art Therapist (1994), Ruth went on to become a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist (2002-8). Subsequently she developed a particular interest in Psychoanalytic Energy Psychotherapy and is a Diplomate member of the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP). She is also a professional member and supervisor with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). In 2015, Ruth took a sabbatical to follow the 3-month residential retreat developed by Tarthang Tulku at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, CA. In 2017, she ran Foreshore Dreaming structures every morning at The Scientific and Medical Network’s Continental Meeting in Poland. Inter alia, Ruth has written about her clinical work in Foreshoring the Unconscious – Living Psychoanalytic Practice, 2010, and co-authored the ‘London Dreaming’ chapter in Long & Manley’s 2019 compilation called Social Dreaming, philosophy, Research, Theory and Practice. She has been following the explorations of the Scientific and Medical Network with interest for over a decade.