Do you believe that your dreams serve a purpose, even when you don't remember them? Do dreams help you, even if you don't "work" with them? Katherine Bell believes so, and she's read research studies to back that up. A scientist herself, Katherine blends her curiosity about the data around dreams with her deep respect for the experience of dreaming. You'll hear her talk about how dreamwork helped her shift from habitually dissociating from her feelings (even physical pain), to being able to feel. Dissociating from her emotions was especially present on her mind when we had this conversation, having just returned from evacuating from her home for 2.5 weeks due to local wildfires, and still sitting under a smokey sky. She shares one of her recent dreams that relates to these themes. Katherine affirms that our dreams are working for us behind the scenes, and we don't have to ever "understand" the dreams in order to benefit from them. In fact, trying to understand them with the prefrontal cortex of our brains might get in the way. She encourages dreamers to hang out in the emotional, embodied space of the dream itself, allowing it to do more of its work: bringing forth what we're not conscious of while we're awake. Before the end of this episode, we talk about other dreams related to the local fires, as well as the Fire element within Chinese Medicine. Show notes: www.thedreamersden.org/13