▪Abstract Index    ▪Conference Home Page

Awakening the Dream Within: In-Sight Processes through Music and Imagery 

Chris Brewer, MA, FAMI, is a trainer, musician, and author of eight books. She holds degrees in Music Therapeutics and Ecology, is certified in Music and Imagery, and is a trainer of Mandala Assessment. She teaches brain-based learning methods and has conducted vibroacoustic music research. She is a Board Member of the Association of Music and Imagery. 

Abstract

Workshop Outline:

• This workshop correlates the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) with dream theory and practice and introduces the technique as a tool for expanding dream interpretation. History and concepts of the method will be presented in an overview.

• Participants will experience a group music-evoked imagery session to demonstrate a way of accessing and working with dream material using a trained guide to assist in exploring the dream material more fully with greater recall.

• Following the music and imagery session, we will explore the insights attained through a drawn mandala and dialogue about the use of the process.

• Similarities between BMGIM and dreamwork will be presented, including case studies and research that demonstrates successful experimentation with music and imagery to deepen understanding of dream imagery and explore dream meaning more fully. The use of this method as a “training ground” for lucid dreaming will be discussed.

• While BMGIM requires a trained facilitator, there are ways to use music that draw on the power of music to access non-ordinary states and access personal images. A simple technique which uses music to access dreamlike imagery will be suggested to participants.

GIM is often referred to as “waking dream” in which essential dreamlike images and sensory information are obtained in a controlled music-induced non-ordinary state. Clarkson (2002) compares it with Gestalt dreamwork methods recognizing that both focus on what is happening in the present moment and that in both the client reports body sensations, emotions and images that often become figural. Like dreams, the process can evoke archetypal symbols and has been hypothesized to facilitate connection to the holographic field of consciousness (Goldberg, 2002). BMGIM has been defined as a music-centered psychotherapy, a form of transpersonal psychology, a spiritual process and a vehicle for personal growth. Among the psychological philosophies which correlate with BMGIM are the works of Ken Wilber, Roberto Assagioli, Stanislov Grof, Abraham Maslow and Carl Jung.

The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music was founded in the early 1970’s by Helen Bonny, PhD, after initial research of imagery using music to evoke a non-ordinary state in which individuals could receive insight and inspiration. Bonny’s landmark research in collaboration with Walter Pahnke (Bonny and Pahnke, 1972) studied the potential of psychedelic drug use in psychotherapy. Following government restrictions of psychedelic drug research and Bonny’s preliminary findings that demonstrated fundamental challenges with the usefulness of psychedelics in psychotherapy, Bonny turned her efforts to understanding and developing the use of music to facilitate non-ordinary states to access revealing imagery. Research of the BMGIM method of music and imagery has been ongoing and the method has evolved into an internationally-accepted methodology. The Association for Music and Imagery serves as the international certifying organization. 

References 

Bonny, Helen L. 1980. GIM Monograph #3: Past, Present and Future Implications.

Bonny, H. and Pahnke, W. (1972). The use of music in psychedelic (LSD) psychotherapy. Journal of Music Therapy, 9 (2), 64-83. 

Clarkson, Ginger. “Combining Gestalt Dreamwork and the Bonny Method.” In Guided Imagery and Music: The Bonny Method and Beyond, (eds.) K. Bruscia and D. Grocke, 245-256. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers, 2002. 

Kasayka, Roseanne. 2002. “A Spiritual Orientation to the Bonny Method: To Walk the Mystical Path on Practical Feet,” In Guided Imagery and Music: The Bonny Method and Beyond, (eds.) K. Bruscia and D. Grocke, 257-272. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers, 2002. 

Ward, Karlyn. 2002. “A Jungian Orientation to the Bonny Method.” In Guided Imagery and Music: The Bonny Method and Beyond, (eds.) K. Bruscia and D. Grocke, 207-224. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers, 2002.