Dream Sharing as a Healing Method: Tropical Roots and Contemporary Community Potential

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel K. Morgan

Comparing the healing experiences reported by members of indigenous dream groups such as the Senoi of Malaysia and others to those reported by members of American grassroots dream appreciation groups, and considering the views of previous researchers who have studied these groups, it is seen that there are many aspects of dream sharing in the community that have potential healing capacities. There are critics who claim that the lack of a professional group leader will put group members at risk. But problems can be avoided with proper communication, education, and appropriate dream group leadership. The experience of healing by dream sharing in community is qualitatively unique depending on the cultural context and worldview. There are many forms of dream sharing and healing that have been reported by those who have shared dreams in various world communities. In Western societies lack of interest, fear, and safety concerns have influenced the paucity of dream sharing. Many forms of dreamwork in groups have included both healing and education as potential goals. There is room for new ideas to be implemented and built upon that could creatively help nourish those parts of the world that are suffering from social and cultural dream-impoverishment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lifshitz ◽  
T. M. Luhrmann

Abstract Culture shapes our basic sensory experience of the world. This is particularly striking in the study of religion and psychosis, where we and others have shown that cultural context determines both the structure and content of hallucination-like events. The cultural shaping of hallucinations may provide a rich case-study for linking cultural learning with emerging prediction-based models of perception.


Moreana ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (Number 209) (1) ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Phélippeau

This paper shows how solidarity is one of the founding principles in Thomas More's Utopia (1516). In the fictional republic of Utopia described in Book II, solidarity has a political and a moral function. The principle is at the center of the communal organization of Utopian society, exemplified in a number of practices such as the sharing of farm work, the management of surplus crops, or the democratic elections of the governor and the priests. Not only does solidarity benefit the individual Utopian, but it is a prerequisite to ensure the prosperity of the island of Utopia and its moral preeminence over its neighboring countries. However, a limit to this principle is drawn when the republic of Utopia faces specific social difficulties, and also deals with the rest of the world. In order for the principle of solidarity to function perfectly, it is necessary to apply it exclusively within the island or the republic would be at risk. War is not out of the question then, and compassion does not apply to all human beings. This conception of solidarity, summed up as “Utopia first!,” could be dubbed a Machiavellian strategy, devised to ensure the durability of the republic. We will show how some of the recommendations of Realpolitik made by Machiavelli in The Prince (1532) correspond to the Utopian policy enforced to protect their commonwealth.


Author(s):  
Mary Kay Gugerty ◽  
Dean Karlan

This case explores two common challenges facing organizations around the world: how to collect the right amount of data, and how to credibly use outcome data collected during program monitoring. Health promoters at Un Kilo de Ayuda (UKA) in Mexico use regularly collected health data on more than 50,000 children to structure their work, track their progress, and identify at-risk children in time to treat health problems. In this case, readers will assess the tradeoffs between actionability and responsibility that UKA faces in determining how much data to collect. They will also examine the challenges of monitoring data on a program’s outcomes instead of outputs, particularly when it comes to asserting a program’s impact on those outcomes. Finally, readers will propose ways to generate credible data on one of the organization’s programs when plans for an impact evaluation fall through.


Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Anna Bartosiewicz ◽  
Edyta Łuszczki ◽  
Małgorzata Nagórska ◽  
Łukasz Oleksy ◽  
Artur Stolarczyk ◽  
...  

The metabolic syndrome, also known as syndrome X or the insulin resistance, is defined by the World Health Organization as a pathologic condition characterized by abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Both all over the world and in Poland, there is a shortage of nurses; most of those employed are in the pre-retirement age. However, the requirements in this profession and the patient’s right to care at the highest level remain unchanged and do not take into account the poor condition or age of working nurses, so special attention should be paid to the state of health in this professional group. There is an emphasis on the importance of the adopted attitude toward health and the resulting behaviors, such as regular weight control, following dietary recommendations, regular physical activity and participation in preventive examinations. The aim of the study was to assess the frequency of the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome, its individual components and determining the factors influencing its development in Polish nurses. The research conducted among the nurses in question included DXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) measurements, assessment of glucose concentration, lipid profile, blood pressure and a questionnaire survey. Almost half of the surveyed nurses have metabolic syndrome, which significantly increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. After multivariate analysis, it was found that being overweight and obesity were significant factors influenced the MS (metabolic syndrome) occurrence among Polish nurses. Being overweight increases the chances of MS occurrence 8.58 times in relation to BMI (Body Mass Index) <25, obesity increases the chances of MS occurrence 8.085 times in relation to BMI <25, and obesity class II/III increases the chances of MS occurrence 16.505 times in relation to BMI <25. Preventive and supportive measures for this professional group are needed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104837132110262
Author(s):  
Jui-Ching Wang

Music cannot be separated from its historical, geographical, and cultural context; therefore, it is important that students be taught music from a variety of genres, cultures, and historical periods relevant to the music to which they are introduced. In this article, I introduce an interdisciplinary approach through contextualization of the content of music, using it to lead to the study of related works in various disciplines. Using a song inspired by Indonesia’s Solo River, a lesson sample demonstrates teaching strategies that motivate students to engage in integrative thinking. By exploring music’s connection with relevant subjects to teach about the natural environment, this contextualized lesson presents a global learning experience to broaden students’ knowledge of the world. Contextualizing the content of Bengawan Solo illustrates how history and culture shaped the song and demonstrates how this work can be used as a springboard for students’ exploration of its history, geography, and ecology.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1326365X2110096
Author(s):  
David Bockino ◽  
Amir Ilyas

This article uses an examination of journalism and mass communication (JMC) education in Pakistan as a case study to explore the consequences of increased homogenization of JMC education around the world. Anchored by a qualitative method that relies heavily on actor-network theory, the study identifies key moments and people in the trajectory of five Pakistani programmes and explores the connection between these programmes and the larger JMC organizational field. The study concludes by questioning the efficacy of the current power structures within the supranational JMC organizational field before discussing how these influences could potentially be mitigated moving forward.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 530
Author(s):  
Giovanni Granati ◽  
Francesca Cichella ◽  
Pia Lucidi

Raptors are some of the most at-risk groups of birds in the world and saving these top predators is essential for maintaining the health of many ecosystems. After hospitalization, raptors are often released when muscular recovery is still unfitting when they are unable to hunt efficiently and are at risk of dying from starvation within a few days. On the other hand, if a convalescent bird is trained with the only use of classic falconry techniques, it is likely to remain dependent on the caretaker/falconer even long after the release, so unable to hunt independently. To overcome these problems, a new training method was conceived, which could improve raptors’ muscular strength while limiting habituation to humans. This has been possible due to the combination of classic falconry techniques and modern technologies, such as the introduction of specific workouts with drones. Three falconry raptors and one wild Eurasian hobby were trained through high-tech falconry to develop the ability to catch, grasp, and airlift their prey at a different speed, altitude, and resistance. The main findings of this study were: (i) The rapid increase of the raptors’ speed; (ii) the muscular growth and endurance, and (iii) successful reintroduction of a wild bird.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Blagrove ◽  
Julia Lockheart

There are many theories of the function of dreams, such as memory consolidation, emotion processing, threat simulation and social simulation. In general, such theories hold that the function of dreams occurs within sleep; occurs for unrecalled dreams as well as for dream that are recalled on awakening; and that conscious recall of dreams is not necessary for their function to occur. In contrast, we propose that dreams have an effect of enhancing empathy and group bonding when dreams are shared and discussed with others. We propose also that this effect would have occurred in history and pre-history and, as it would have enhanced the cohesiveness and mutual understanding of group members, the fictional and engaging characteristics of dream content would have been selected for during human social evolution, interacting with cultural practices of dream-sharing. Such dream-sharing may have taken advantage of the long REM periods that occur for biological reasons near the end of the night. Dream-production and dream-sharing may have developed alongside story-telling, utilising common neural mechanisms. Dream-sharing hence would have contributed to Human Self-Domestication, held by many researchers to be the primary driver of the evolution of human prosociality, tolerance and reduced intragroup emotional reactivity. We note that within-sleep theories of dream function rely on correlational rather than experimental findings, and have as yet untested and speculative mechanisms, whereas post-sleep effects of dream-sharing are easily testable and have mechanisms congruent with the social processes proposed by the theory of Human Self-Domestication.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Amadéo ◽  
Moerani Rereao ◽  
Aurelia Malogne ◽  
Patrick Favro ◽  
Ngoc Lam Nguyen ◽  
...  

The World Health Organization <em>Suicide trends in at-risk territories</em> study is a multi-site regional research program operating first in French Polynesia and countries of the Western Pacific, then extended to the world. The aims of the study were to establish a monitoring system for suicidal behaviors and to conduct a randomised control trial intervention for non-fatal suicidal behaviors. The latter part is the purpose of the present article. Over the period 2008-2010, 515 patients were admitted at the Emergency Department of the Centre Hospitalier de Polynésie Française for suicidal behavior. Those then hospitalized in the Psychiatry Emergency Unit were asked to be involved in the study and randomly allocated to either Treatment As Usual (TAU) or TAU plus Brief Intervention and Contact (BIC), which provides a psycho-education session and a follow-up of 9 phone contacts over an 18-months period. One hundred persons were assigned to TAU, while 100 participants were allocated to the BIC group. At the end of the follow-up there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of number of presentations to the hospital for repeated suicidal behaviors. Although the study could not demonstrate the superiority of a treatment over the other, nevertheless – given its importance – the investigation captured public attention and was able to contribute to the awareness of the need of suicide prevention in French Polynesia. The BIC model of intervention seemed to particularly suit the geographical and health care context of the country.


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