In all cultures around the world, night-time dreams, in concert with coincidence and imagination, have resulted in artistic productions, scientific discoveries, political turnarounds and spiritual breakthroughs. The workshops explore and define a few simple strategies to work with information that we access during our dreams.

Andrea Traldi will give two Active Dreaming for Empathy Workshops in the Pixelache festival week-end.

Workshop Schedule
Saturday 24.5. at 14 - 18
Sunday 25.5. at 14 - 20

Interviewer from Pixelache: Agnieszka Pokrywka

How do dreams relate to our waking life?

In many cultures for hundreds of years, humans have used information from 'reality when we dream' to make sense of information about 'reality when we are awake'. Military commanders received indications for important decisions at war, kings would consult their oracles to access information about the consequences to a specific course of action; inventors and scientists found crucial inspiration from dreams and 'daydreaming'. Information that can be accessed in dreams is instrumental in healing rituals and it is still commonplace to refer to information received in dream when making decisions on ordinary situations: Is this the 'man or woman of my dreams'? What about my 'dream job'?

Some interpretations on how to access information about dreams refer to a Dreamspace that is connected to a Wakespace. It is possible to access information about waking life while we dream, but it is also possible to access information about dreams while we are awake. In recent years there has been renewed interested in emotional intelligence, instinct, and perception strategies that can help gather information one cannot access when using only logic or the rational mind. Exploring strategies to access Dreamspace provides a useful paradigm to understand information available in all other liminal spaces.


What exactly is the Active Dreaming method and what is its origin?

The Active Dreaming protocol was developed by Robert Moss after many years of exploration among native tribes all over the world. Robert is a modern shaman who explored Dream techniques since childhood when he was growing up with aboriginals in Australia. In recent years he received information from his dreams that it was necessary to create a simple technique for people in Western societies. This is how the Active Dreaming protocol was born.


Where is the information that we receive during the Becomebecome Active Dreaming workshop coming from? From within or rather from outside us?

Active Dreaming is a perception strategy that allows to access information about dreams. It also allows to explore the idea that our dreams include a form of collective knowledge that extends beyond the person who is dreaming. This idea has been made famous in the Western world by the psychoanalyst Carl Jung at the beginning of the 20th Century when he proposed the concept of the 'collective unconscious'. This is also a widespread notion found in most shamanic traditions around the world. The Active Dreaming technique provides simple steps to map out the journey across the dimensions of the personal_collective and the conscious_subconscious_unconscious.


How are dreams related to empathy?

The idea that the collective unconscious influences individual consciousness has direct relevance to the idea of empathy, understood as the capacity to comprehend or feel what another person is experiencing. I would go as far as to propose that empathy can also be defined as the capacity to transform feelings coming from the same collective space into unique individual experiences.

The practice of Active Dreaming has positive impact on the creation of empathy too.

As a consequence of dream explorations during our sessions, we discover that the subconscious and unconscious worlds are spread across a contiguous space that goes beyond the differences created by the rational mind of single individuals. It becomes an exciting adventure to discover points of connection between dream journeys among the participants. It is an activity that promotes self-esteem by revealing qualities of the experience that can be accessed only with intuition and lateral thinking. The Becomebecome Active Dreaming workshops are an opportunity to appreciate that it is possible to rely on one another while having fun; they create the possibility to recognise exclusive insight triggered by empathy and group-dynamics.

To whom would you recommend to participate in Active Dreaming for Empathy workshop during Pixelache Festival?

Any person who wishes to go beyond the limits of their rational thinking to receive information about a topic dear to their heart. Artists. Healers. Educators. All those who happen to be attracted by the idea and do not understand exactly why..


What are the benefits of participating in two days of the workshop? Or maybe just one day is enough to fully appreciate the Active Dreaming technique?

One day is enough to want more. ;)


About Andrea Traldi

Andrea Traldi has been organising successful full-immersive retreats, workshops and regular short gatherings for several years. As it pertains to work with dreams and the subconscious he received a full degree in Clinical and Community Psychology from the University of Rome, La Sapienza with a final thesis entitled: The Temporal Dimension and The Construction of Reality. He is now a PhD Candidate Researcher with the Faculty of Arts and Media at University of Plymouth, where he continues research on the same subject.