Books by Amy and Arny Mindell

Recommended books for the frequently asked question:

Question:

“ Which of your books do you recommended to learn about process work?”

Answer:

We answer; “We can’t be objective and suggest first seeing the work of our colleagues work (and our own) at the
Lao Tse Press www.laotse.com.

From our own books, we suggest the books listed below and in particular:

For the general reader, a beginner about process Riding the Horse Backwards.
work

For feelings skills in therapy Metaskills

For ideas about creativity The Dreaming Source of Creativity
For shamanism The Shaman’s Body
For symbolic background to process ideas Rivers Way
For beginning body practice Working with the Dreaming Body
For connections with Jungian Psychology Dreambody
A good beginner in Comawork Coma, A Healing Journey
More connections between psychology to Quantum Mind
physics
For Dreamwork The Dreammaker’s Apprentice
For Lucid Dreaming Dreaming While Awake
For Relationship work The Dreambody in Relationships
For Group and Political Work choose one of the following;
The Year I, The Leader as Martial Artist,
Sitting in the Fire, and The Deep
Democracy of Open Forums.
For psychological interventions in psychiatry City Shadows
For connections between Aboriginal Earth- Earth Based Psychology
Wisdom, psychology, and physics

Books by Amy Mindell

2005
The Dreaming Source of Creativity: 30 simple ways to have fun and work on yourself.
Lao Tse Press.

Harold and Big Blue are enjoying

this book very much.

From her experience and knowledge of process oriented psychology and creativity, author, therapist, and artist
Amy Mindell takes you on a journey to discover the hidden creativity and inspiration in your body, in material
objects, in the environment, and even in your day-to-day work. Her book THE DREAMING SOURCE OF
CREATIVITY, shows how dreaming and imagination are essential aspects of a fulfilling life.

Filled with stories, easy to follow exercises, and over 100 pictures, THE DREAMING SOURCE OF
CREATIVITYoffers simple and easy ways to creatively enjoy and work on yourself by sensing the “ intentional
field”, the dreaming source of creativity that is always present within and around you.

You discover how creativity arises from almost nothing and is hidden even in the most mundane parts of life. You
will tap your deepest nature using art, music, puppets, movement, relationships and other amazing worlds. The
creative methods in this book are also helpful for those therapists who would like to bring a creative and artistic
dimension to their work. Process oriented psychology offers a unique, mind-expanding approach to creativity
based upon dreams, body experiences, and overall life situations. This is the first process oriented book
exclusively devoted to creativity. Using the “intentional field” as the source of creativity is a new and unique
perspective in art therapy, acting, and dance.

Available from Amazon Books

2002
 Alternative To Therapy : A Creative Lecture Series on Process
Work.
LaoTse Press, Portland Oregon.

The magical figures in this book make learning how to work with yourself and others an enjoyable experience.
From 18 years of studying the situations arising in the practice of therapy and in the supervision of
client/therapist interactions, a core group of imaginary figures (from Amy’s dreams) reveal central issues and
principles in therapy. (350 pages.)

Available from Amazon Books

1999

Coma : A Healing Journey :A Guide for Family Friends and Helpers.

Lao Tse Press, Portland Oregon. http://www.laotse.com.

“COMA” guides family and health care professionals in contacting people in deeply altered or comatose states of
consciousness. Coma work attempts to raise the awareness or even awaken people in these states-- regardless
of the origin of these states—by assuming their experiences are potentially significant and meaningful.

Download an excerpt

Available from Amazon Books

Review from www. Amazon.com, , by Linda J. Thorlakson Independent Publisher January.1999 Mindell's
revolutionary guide paves the way for an exciting journey through the depths of human experience. It renders a
diagnosis of coma anything but a dead-end road
1994/2001

Metaskills : the spiritual art of therapy.

Tempe, Arizona. New Falcon 94/Lao Tse Press

Metaskills, the feeling attitudes behind personal therapeutic talents, are the alpha and omega of healing. Amy
breaks new ground in a theory and practice of the most ancient of all arts. http://www.laotse.com.

Available from Amazon Books

Books written together by Amy and Arny Mindell

1992

RIDING THE HORSE BACK-WARDS, process work in theory + practice.

New York + London. Penguin, Lao Tse Press, 2000. http://www.laotse.com.

An overview of Process Oriented Psychology based upon a seminar given while they were scholars in
residence at the Esalen Institute in California.

Available from Amazon Books

 Books by Arny Mindell

2007

E A R T H-Based Psychology
in Shamanism, Physics and Taoism

PATH AWARENESS : in the teachings of Don Juan, Richard Feynman and Lao Tse

The Yaqui Indian shaman, Don Juan, says “align yourself with the powers of the
earth”. The Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman tells us that elementary “particles sniff all paths and
take the one with least action”. The mystic Lao Tse says, “the sage follows the way, and everything benefits.”

Arnold Mindell now combines and updates these various teachings from shamanism, physics and Taoism to
create what he calls earth-based “path consciousness”, a fundamental, human spiritual experience linked to the
nature of the planet earth.

By connecting quantum physics with aboriginal mythology, Mindell develops new methods to guide us and
determine the best momentary psychological direction through inner turmoil, relationship trouble, and community
issues. By connecting “path awareness” to the inner experience of the earth as well as the real physical universe,
he develops elementary methods that can be learned by anyone and applied just about anywhere.

In the 22 chapters, 9 appendices and 114 pictures and diagrams, you find ca. 250 pages of Earth based
Psychology describing new “directional methods” for dreamwork, relationship awareness and organizational
development. In the appendices you can catch up on the basics of quantum thinking and vectors.

Now available from Amazon Books and Lao Tse Press!

Book Review From Independent Book Reviews, Trade Show 2007 issue
Although a highly credentialed Ph.D., Dr. Arnie Mindell is not difficult to understand. What is hard to fathom is
why no other psychologist has seen these connections before. Most psychologists provide insight, therapy, and
personality adjustments based on the assumption that individuals must adjust to society and culture. How can
we ever become well-adjusted if that which we are seeking to adapt to is itself somewhat out of balance?

If we look to nature and physics for a model of relationships between matter, particles, and movement and how
they interact, we can align our psychological inner work to mirror the way all things involving matter and energy
perform.

Sentient awareness involves not just the everyday adjustments we accept to function in civilization, but also a
welcoming of the noetic, the ineffable, and the dream-like, among other subtle pressures from forces in the
Universe.

Lest the reader think that Mindell is giving us science lessons, they need only apply themselves to the 22
chapters and the many exercises that are simple to practice, but that have profound "aha" consequences. For
example, chapter 11, "The Physics and Aikido of Least Action," includes exercises involving Snow White, the
Tao Te Ching, and waltzing with a chair. The net result: a respite from using guile to cope with stress and a
reliance on"whistling while we work."

This wonderful follow-up to Mindell's series that covered dream-bodywork and quantum healing practices has its
chapters divided into four parts and includes intriguing headings such as "The Universe's View of Body
Symptoms" and "Where Relationships Come From," the latter of which includes the insightfulness found in the
geometry of love. Earth-Based Psychology has 11 short valuable appendices such as "Quantum Mechanics in a
Nutshell." It also has 16 pages of endnotes, a six-page bibliography, and a helpful nine-page index. This is a
groundbreaking and delightful way for 21st-century seekers to think about and use psychotherapy, whether as
an individual or therapist.
Reviewed by; Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific Northwest Group, Lopez Island,
Wash.

Thanks to the www.newageretailer.com -800/463-9243 for bringing this review to our awareness.

2004

THE QUANTUM MIND AND HEALING: How To Listen And Respond To Your Body's
Symptoms
Hampton Roads. www.hrpub.com

With many practical exercises, this book explores how and why dreams influences your biology, and how
emotions are linked to invisible, (quantum) dimensions of symptoms. Awareness training and examples make the
theory a living experience connecting psychology, biology and physics. There are chapters on anti aging, music
therapy, and symptom oriented relationship-work in which symptoms are influenced by non-local aspects of
relationships with individuals and communities. For professionals and clients focusing on symptoms, for students

of the life sciences and physics, The Quantum Mind and Healing:

• Integrates alternative and allopathic medicine attitudes creating useful symptom approaches
• Shows how physics, biology and psychology come together
• Explores the quantum and dreaming dimensions of symptoms

• Suggests why + how community problems effect symptoms

• Show why and how music can be medicine
 • Uses awareness as an time-bending factor to explore the origins of life and death.

Available from Amazon Books

On the back cover: By Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D. Author of Cheating Time, Matter into Feeling, Mind into Matter,
the National Book award winning Taking the Quantum Leap and many other books.
Dr. Arnold Mindell's latest work goes farther than his previous Quantum Mind and lays the ground for 21st
century healing. Anyone practicing medicine or needing healing today will find great value in reading it.
Mindell, taking up where Carl Jung left off, has emerged as the leading expert in the uses of metaphors and
concepts from quantum physics to heal the mind and psyche. This book is both an opportunity to learn
psychology and how quantum physics notions offer new hope as well as a manual of operations for the psyche
filled with new processes and imaginative insights

Book Award; 2004 New Age Retailer Narcissus Award Finalist (from over 4,500 entries)

Book review of June 12, 2004 by Thomas Peter von Bahr; of the Pacific Northwest Group.
Download

We are thankful to the United States NLP Magazine, “Anchor Point” and to the reviewer, Charles Levine for
the following reviews of Arny’s books, The Dreammaker’s Apprentice, the Deep Democracy of Open Forums,
and The Quantum Mind and Healing.
Download .pdf file

Book Reviews - Sept 2004 Today’s Books; PNS Publish 500

“ !!!! Exceptional - Adult Nonfiction –for Consciousness/Alternative Healing; Quantum physics. Chronic illness.
Guided exercises. “
(From ForeWord Magazine, Volume 7, Number 5, September/October 2004)
“ Mindell offers an original, level-headed exploration of human psychology, physics, medicine, spiritual traditions,
and the importance of awareness, so as to develop “greater understanding and relief from physical pain.”

From Shirley Maclaine: “Despite his many achievements, it is not a stretch to say that The Quantum Mind and
Healing is quite probably Mindell’s most important and best work yet. In it, Mindell explains that you can use the
discoveries of quantum physics to access your body’s own intelligence and self-healing abilities. Embracing both
conventional and alternative medicine, he shows that to truly heal you need both medicine and your own natural
wisdom.”’

2002

THE DEEP DEMOCRACY OF OPEN FORUMS: How to Transform Organizations into

Communities : Practical Steps To Conflict Prevention And Resolution For The Family,
Workplace And World, Hampton Roads. www.hrpub.com.

The focus of this organizational and group development book is practice; the deepest feeling skills and essential
linear techniques needed to facilitate small and large groups. This work is adaptable to any known group or
organization. Process-oriented Open Forum methods create less stressful and more creative transformations
through inner and outer awareness work. The concept of the psycho-social activist is introduced together with
insights into the resolution of severe organizational conflicts and war.

Available from Amazon Books

Review quote: on back cover by Daniel Bowling, JD, CEO, Duke University Dispute Management Center,
Durham, NC. "Repression of conflict destroys countries, communities, organizations, relationships, and love.
Unless we learn to use conflict to develop awareness, we will ultimately destroy our world. Dr. Mindell brilliantly
and clearly teaches us how to follow the Tao of Conflict, the path of paradoxical awareness."

From Shirley Maclaine

“You can take the subtlest of signals and use them to transform impossible problems”

2002

The DREAMMAKER’S APPRENTICE; The Psychological and Spiritual Interpretation of

Dreams.
Hampton Roads 2001/Lao Tse Publishers 2008 http://laotse.com.

“DREAMMAKER’S APPRENTICE uses “Heightened States of Awareness to Interpret Dreams." It is about the
psychological and spiritual Interpretation of dreams. It’s been 100 years since Freud, and this is a beginning of a
new process oriented dreamwork based upon perception of subtle signals. The new method includes analytical
and gestalt techniques yet gives the dreamer a sense of the origin of dreams.

Available from Amazon Books

— From the book

I bring forward exercises and experiments that give us access to that invisible Dreammaker's mind and the "tug"
we feel from subtle, usually forgotten, altered states of consciousness and mystical experiences that occur
continuously throughout both day and night. This book is about learning to experience these altered states, and
using them to understand the meaning of dreams. In this way we can each know, in our own way, the thoughts
of God and the meaning of dreams—the Dreammaker.
It is my belief that without the experience of the source of dreams, we cannot properly understand dreams. The
aspect of dreamwork I stress in this book informs you about how to live your life better by living closer to that
virtual source of dreams, the experience of the Dreaming and thoughts of God. Also, when you live closer to the
source of dreams, you sense and understand your everyday life as arising with all those things you call your
problems and symptoms. When you know the Dreaming behind everyday life, problems no longer seem like
frozen states, but are experienced as streams of creative power. You feel rooted in an awesome, unfathomable,
but deeply enriching universe.

2001

DREAMING WHILE AWAKE, Techniques For 24 Hour Lucid Dreaming.

Charlottesville, VA. Hampton Roads. http://www.hrpub.com/

Life is depressing without access to the Dreamtime, to the world of Aboriginal Australia, and to its connection
with the Quantum Mind. The soul like essence of events is presented as the central issue of all meditation
procedures, and reveals the resolution to many issues in everyday life. A pioneering work connecting quantum
physics with Aboriginal Dreamtime Thinking, ancient Buddhist philosophy of the Abhidhamma and modern
psychology to form a new awareness work. Written with cartoons, this easy to read book has been described by
some “as the missing basis to a truly transpersonal psychology.”

Available from Amazon Books

From the Book Review Section of the Institute of Noetic Sciences:

“ Reading the book is much like taking a step into the Dreaming, stepping outside of time and rigid thought
patterns in order to notice that we are truly not separate from “sentient reality,” but rather one expression of that
same Dreaming reflecting back on itself. (Laurie Simpkinson is on the staff of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
Her previous dream research includes work with Stephen LaBerge and Amit Goswami….) See the entire review:
…Link to review from Shift magazine.

2000

THE QUANTUM MIND, Journey To The Edge Of Psychology And Physics.

Portland OR. Lao Tse Press. http://www.laotse.com.

This book connects, in a step-by-step, and elementary fashion, psychology and dreamwork with math and
quantum physics, to create the basis for a new integrated science. Topics from the psychology of numbers to the
creation of the universe and the origins of reality are considered.

Available from Amazon Books

Comments From Dave Stein, Joint Staff (Defense), Pentagon, Washington DC. Quouted from his book review,
Frontier Perspectives, a Publication of the Temple University, Philadelphia, Volume 10, Number 1,
Spring 2001

Quantum Mind is at the forefront of a paradigm shift that may be unprecedented in scope. In large measure, the
book was possible because of Mindell’s brilliant insights and his rare capability to identify relationships among
several areas of knowledge – relationships that escape notice (in CR) by many others. He communicates
concepts from diverse fields in an effective, exciting, and reader-friendly way. For example, he uses metaphors
that will help some readers appreciate nature more – Alice in Wonderland to compare CR with NCR, a juggler to
illustrate shuffling symmetry, highway speeding to illustrate the uncertainty principle, and athletic fields to explain
mathematical fields. One chapter presents a historical perspective, discussing the marginalization of the spirit
during the Renaissance, in which “objective science” replaced Church dogma as the repressor of personal
experience. Nuggets of perennial wisdom, familiar to many people on paths of self-development, come alive as
Quantum Mind relates them to mathematical and scientific principles. The book is a must-read, not only for those
who want to explore the exciting new possibilities in the sciences but also for anyone on a path of self-
development (as is everyone, in a sense). Complete with its practical exercises, this book can be not only read
but also experienced.
Download the full review .... (50Kb Word file)

Comments from Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., author of "The New Alchemy," "The Spiritual Universe," "The Dreaming
Universe," and the national book award winning "Taking the Quantum Leap."

What Mindell accomplishes is breathtaking in its scope, and in its ability to communicate difficult ideas easily in a
friendly teaching manner. Using his notes from the course taught for years to students of psychology, his
experience as a therapist and physicist, and his clear writing ability makes this book a must-read for students
and lay persons interested in the ever-growing field of depth psychology. Mindell sprinkles psychological
exercises throughout the text providing the reader with imagined experiences of entering a black hole, appearing
in parallel universes, taking the mind boggling quantum leap, and many, many others. It is at once a physics text,
psychology text, and a friendly popular read. I highly recommend it.

Review by Midwest Book Review, from Oregon, Wisconsin

In Quantum Mind, Arnold Mindell takes the reader to the common root underlying both physics and psychology
to reveal physics as the basic pattern for understanding psychology, and the psychology of perception as the
basis of physics. Mindell offers a wealth of practical guidance backed by theoretical insight. He brings quantum
awareness to such everyday matters as difficult relationships, physical symptoms and life-threatening illness,
spiritual emergence, and the complexities of community life in a world of human diversity. Starting with the
psychological foundations of numbers and counting, Quantum Mind takes the reader on a fascinating tour of
mathematics, quantum physics, relativity, and cosmology -- showing at each point the myriad levels on which
human consciousness and the physical world intertwine and co-create one another. The reader comes to know
the universe and individual consciousness as two sides of an interactive mirror reflecting one another. Quantum
Mind is a seminal, ground-breaking, enthusiastically recommended, completely accessible survey and analysis
that will engage, inform, and challenge students of psychology, psychotherapy, physics, and the symmetry
between the mathematics of physics and everyday perceptual experience.
1997

SITTING IN THE FIRE: Large Group Transformation Through Diversity And Conflict.
Box 40206, Portland, OR. Lao Tse Press. http://www.laotse.com.

A dramatic text filled with examples about how to deal with abuse, revenge, anger and rage in multicultural
settings. There are methods for developing eldership as well as process work views on revolutions, and
racism.

Available from Amazon Books

Review From Caduceus Magazine Book Review.2002

This work goes beyond current theories of group dynamics to create a new perspective known as “Worldwork”.
Worldwork is aimed at hearing all that needs to be represented in the group; transforming the patterns of abuse
and domination, which permeate most cultures and groups, through paying attention to the effects of power,
rank, revenge and abuse.

Sitting in the Fire is a thought-provoking study of the humanness which pervades all groups and somehow
organizes their interactions; those dynamics which seem to overtake us and give us the feeling that large group
interactions are unsafe and difficult to deal with. Dr. Mindell explains how this happens, outlines strategies for
staying aware and techniques to facilitate the transformation of situations beyond our known comfort zone. In
order to transform our beliefs around community, this book informs us about how to:
* study notions of rank and privilege and their effects on personal interactions;
* learn how to recognize revenge and hear the story of hurt behind it;
* notice the signs of abuse and how to support those who have been abused, or have abused, in their healing
processes;
* honor the importance of eldership in the transformation. (eldership is the ability to be able to support both the
sides of the conflict at the same time.)

Review from Bookshelf: 1993. Book Review of the Month

Mindell, a well-known psychologist and author, prescribes deep democracy and effective leadership for many of
the troubles of our time. His arena is not limited to organizations, but includes communities and even nations in
all areas of the globe, many of which he has attempted to work in. He calls us to 'worldwork,' a method that helps
small and large groups of people to live, work, and grow together within their environment (p.3). This approach
unites psychology and the other social sciences with physics and spirituality -- but is not limited even to these
widely divergent fields.

1996

THE SHAMAN’S BODY. A New Shamanism For Health, Relationships And Community.
San Francisco. Harpercollins. http://www.amazon.com/.

An psycho-shamanic exploration of the teachings of Carlos Castaneda’s Yaqui Indian teacher, Don Juan Matus.
This book is both a passionate spiritual text, filled with practical exercises showing the shamanic underpinnings
of everyday reality.

Available from Amazon Books

From Booklist , November 15, 1993

Mindell's is one of the most sober-minded and informed recent books on the subject. He warns us, for instance,
that shamanism is not an individualistic search for peak experience but a form of psychic community service. His
is an unsentimental, unsensational view of shamanism that emphasizes its challenges rather than its ego-
gratifying power. Using the vocabulary of Carlos Castenada's Don Juan books, Mindell discusses shamanism in
many aspects of Western life--for instance, in therapy, medicine, and partnering. His strong, mature voice merits
wide hearing. Pat Monaghan.

Read an excerpt from Chapter One. (PDF format, 84 KB)

1994/2007

COMA, KEY TO AWAKENING: Working With The Dreambody Near Death.

New York + London. Penguin-Arkana.//Lao Tse Press, to be

republished. http://www.laotse.com.
How to work with dreams and the body in near death experiences. A first book, showing that working with
comatose people especially near death, reveals ultimate human experiences.

Now available as a free pdf file download (file size is 4.3MB). To open the file please use the
password ltpcoma1. Note: The first letter of the password is l for letter.

Also available from Amazon Books.

Reprinted April 2004: Arny's Coma, Key to Awakening:Working With The Dreambody Near Death. New York
+ London. Shambhala/Penguin-Arkana./Lao Tse Press available from Amazon.com.

With examples of comatose people near death, "Coma" indicates how some people in these and related altered
states of consciousness communicate intelligent, ultimately human and often transpersonal information. This
book suggests ways of working with comatose states that can be applied by health care providers and
"untrained" family members. Aspects of this book appeared internationally on stage, produced by the London
based "Improbable Theatre", in 2001. NBC's TV "Unsolved Mysteries" aired comments from this book in 2002,
and December of 2003.

Comment from Stephen and Ondrea Levine

“ We cannot recommend this book highly enough.”

1992/2000

THE LEADER AS MARTIAL ARTIST, An Introduction To Deep Democracy, Techniques And

Strategies For Resolving Conflict + Creating COMMUNITY.
Harper Collins, San Francisco. Lao Tse Press. 2000. http://www.laotse.com.

A book about the practice of dealing with large, multicultural groups, with global theories and applications
to business and politics. Definitions of Field and ghosts, connect leadership with the martial arts.

Available from Amazon Books

Comment from Michael Murphy, founder of Esalen Institute

“ This book shows how the deeper layers of human nature can be engaged in large and small groups, and how
capacities for leadership can be brought into play during many kinds of social situations. The Leader as Martial
Artist is unique, groundbreaking work.”

Comment by Angeles Arrien

“ In the twenty-first century this book will become a classic guide for leadership that empowers and preserves the
ecological well being of human beings as well as Mother earth herself.”
1991/2000

WORKING ON YOURSELF ALONE, inner dreambodywork.

New York and London. Penguin or Lao Tse Presshttp://www.laotse.com.

How to work on your symptoms, dreams and relationships alone, using channels of awareness, including seeing,
hearing, feeling, body movements, and the environment.

Available from Amazon Books

Review from BoMi (Body Mind in association with Amazon.com)

In Working On Yourself Alone, Arnold Mindell applies the insights from Process-Oriented Psychology to
meditation and personal awareness. You will find him drawing heavily on Eastern traditions and wisdom, as he
makes the case that through following our own inner process we can discover our natural meditation practice
that will at times include proprioceptive (body) work, auditory focus, artwork, breathing, etc. I found the book very
practically useful both as a student of meditation and as a student of process work. I liked it because it gave me
insight into HOW TO burn my wood and trusting my own process (even becoming conscious of what wood there
is for me to burn). In contrast to Leader as Martial Artist or Sitting in the Fire, Working on Yourself Alone focuses
much more narrowly on personal applications of PW.

1990

THE YEAR I, Global Process Work. Community Creation From Global Problems, Tensions and
Myths.
New York and London. Penguin-Arkana.

A first book about the mythic background to world problems, and descriptions of new methods for dealing with
large groups.

Available from Amazon Books

1988/2009

CITY SHADOWS, Psychological Interventions In Psychiatry.

1988. Penguin-Arkana, Lao Tse Press 2009. ( New York, London, Portland Or.)
A first book defining “extreme” states including psychotic experiences and how to deal with them with and without
the use of medication.

From the back cover: “The city shadows are the repressed and unrealized aspects of us all., lived openly by
the so called ‘mentally ill.’ In this compassionate book, the Swiss analyst Arnold Mindell, ... presents mental-
health professionals of all kinds with new and exciting challenges in their work. Process-oriented therapy does
not see patients, a priori, as sick, but as people experiencing, extremely, states with which we are all familiar to
some degree; and they are best helped by connecting and working with the language of their bodies and interior
worlds.”

October 2008: Arny’s Rethinking Extreme States

The medical paradigm has relieved much human suffering. But the allopathic medical basis, still makes people
feel “sick,” and may contribute to isolating us from one another. One of Jung’s gifts to the world was his
understanding, for example, that dreams are meaningful. He called them teleological, that is meaningful, not
pathological or only problems.

We need a more teleological view of unusual mental states as well. That is why I called statistically unusual
forms of consciousness “extreme states” instead of “illnesses.” The medical paradigm and approach are
important, but the larger view, that all human experiences belong to the total picture of who we are as a human
race, is important at well. Someone with unusual mental experiences, someone in an extreme state, is not just
ill, but a “city shadow,” a part of our larger collective, a voice that is usually marginalized.

My book, City Shadows, written twenty years ago, was meant to initiate and outline methods for understanding,
working with, and integrating people suffering from unusual states of consciousness instead of only isolating
them from the rest of the world. May the future pick up this initial direction and move forwards in appreciating the
vast diversity in our human nature.

Available from Amazon Books

1987

THE DREAMBODY IN RELATIONSHIPS.

New York and London. Penguin. http://www.laotse.com.

New paths in relationship work, based upon training and studies of signal exchanges and myths. Filled with
examples of using space, dreams, and postures as signals.

Available from Amazon Books

1985

RIVER'S WAY, THE PROCESS SCIENCE OF THE DREAMBODY.

London and Boston. Penguin.

A renewed definition of therapy, based upon Taoism, connecting mythology, divination, and modern physics.

Available from Amazon Books

1984

WORKING WITH THE DREAMING BODY.

London, England. Penguin-Arkana//Lao Tse Press, 2000.http://www.laotse.com.

A popular and practical book about how to work with sensory channels, the body and dreams. Makes
dreambodywork accessible.

Available from Amazon Books

1982/1998

DREAMBODY, The Body's Role In Revealing The Self.

Portland OR. Sigo Press, 1981//Lao Tse Press.//Lao Tse Press 2000. http://www.laotse.com.

The cornerstone connecting somatic experiences with dreams and myths and fairy tales, describing the author’s
transition from Jungian Psychology to process work.

Available from Amazon Books

National Theatre Play Bill Magazine July 11, 2004on about what is happening with Dreambody at Sundance
Theatre July5-25th 2004.
“ Dreambody (working title) written and directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, "a new piece adapted from the
writings of Arnold Mindell to be directed by Warsaw-based theatre artist, Krzysztof Warlikowski. Utilizing case
studies and other text from Dr. Mindell's work, Warlikowski and his actors will create a play that addresses the
body's role in revealing the unconscious. Drawing from Grimm's fairy tales, as well as other sources, Warlikowski
explores the field of mind/body connection." "

Link also to article : The Dreambody: A New Integrative Approach to Illness by Pierre Morin, MD, Ph.D.

Creativity : quantum mechanics, music and psychology

Amy’s Hyperspaces:
Creativity, the Bird of Paradise, and the Doorway to Parallel Worlds

by Amy Mindell

Download a print friendly copy

Introduction

Am I dead or alive? Awake or asleep? Is this happening now or in the past? Am I a reincarnation from an earlier
time or is it a reincarnation of me? Questions like these preoccupied me as a child. They especially haunted me as
a teenager when just about everything about the world stopped making any real sense. Why can’t the world just
stay still for a moment? Why can’t my experiences be simple and clear?
I tried to put these questions aside and simply do my life. Wasn’t that what everyone else did? People went to
work. They drove their cars or took busses. They went to school or to their job, went home, ate, went to sleep, and
got up again. So, what was wrong with me? Why all of the extra stuff in my head? Why couldn’t I be an ordinary kid
growing up without all these unruly thoughts?

The Many Worlds of Quantum Physics

You can imagine the relief I felt many years later when Arny began to discuss and teach about the concept of
parallel worlds in quantum physics. Now, quantum physics is about as far from my early artsy education in dance
and theater as possible and I must admit it scared the hell out of me. But, Arny explained it in easy to understand
terms that relate to our psychologies and experiences. (See Arnold Mindell’s Quantum Mind: The Edge Between
Physics and Psychology, Portland, Oregon: Lao Tse Press, 2000). And when he began to talk about parallel worlds
in this way, it was as if consensus reality and modern scientific thinking suddenly opened their arms to me and
said, "What you have been feeling and thinking all along is natural. This is the stuff the universe is actually made
of!" Imagine that! Modern quantum physics became an ally rather than a dreaded science that I would never
understand!
Referring to the famous "collapse of the wave function" in quantum physics in which something exists in many
states but then collapses into one state when observed (I would never dare, or attempt, to truly explain this –
please see the reference), Irwin Schroedinger, one of the parents of quantum mechanics, apparently agonized
over the mind-twisting thought that his cat could be both alive and dead before it is observed. I can relate, Irwin!
Hugh Everett interpreted the collapse of the wave function with his many worlds theory in which he postulates that
these parallel worlds do not actually collapse but that you slip into, or participate in, one of the states while the
others continue to exist simultaneously.
In everyday terms, Arny explained this idea of "many worlds" by saying that when we begin to focus on something
we see its most probable state, the one that fits into our culture and consensus reality. Yet, in each and every
experience there is a multitude of other experiences lying in wait, though in Arny’s interpretation, we choose one
and marginalize the others. To say it very simply, the moment we call something "a" or "b" we have marginalized
all of its other possible states (c,d,e, etc). That doesn’t mean that the other states do not exist, it just means that
we are not focusing upon them. In other words, we are both alive and dead, awake and asleep! We
need secondattention as the Yaqui shaman Don Juan (See Carlos Castenada’s Journey to Ixtlan. London:
Penguin, (1974) and The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. London: Penguin, 1970) described,
to stop our ordinary world and to focus upon, and open up to, the many parallel worlds.

We are Walking Parallel Worlds

In any case, I suddenly began to see consensus reality as if it were a closed fan that, when spread open, revealed
layer upon layer of parallel worlds that were always there, but unseen. It was as if there were a thousand playful
elves all around and I was now going to meet them all!
Of course, the idea of parallel worlds is fundamental to process work as a whole. The concept of process structure
reveals that I have a primary process that I identify with and a secondary process that is beyond that identity. The
idea of double signals reveals that I can have one body signal that is related to my identity
and simultaneouslyanother, separate signal, that is related to my more unknown, secondary process. Double
signals are natural phenomenon. There is always something that is closer to our momentary identity and
simultaneously a dreaming process that is further away from our identity and which expresses itself in incongruent,
incomplete body signals and experiences. In fact, all of us are walking parallel worlds! We just normally try to force
our personalities to identify and act as if they were one single entity. That’s fine, but we usually do it at the cost of
marginalizing all of our other experiences that don’t go along with our primary identities. For me, the notion of
parallel worlds put the icing on the cake…or is it cakes, assorted pastries, and cake-like worlds?
Creativity and the Doorway to Parallel Worlds
As a child I played guitar and piano, sang songs and danced, made lots of weird crafts objects, and found myself
spiraling deeper and deeper into other worlds. I realize now that I was touching on parallel worlds that were
simultaneously present, yet marginalized in my everyday life. When I went to school, I went to school. When I
sang, I sang. In fact, my family could never understand why I always closed the door to my room whenever I
started to play the guitar and sing. I went into another universe that just didn’t fit the reality outside the walls of my
room.
I remember a song I wrote a couple of years ago. It came to me one day when I was operating a marionette that
Arny had given to me as a present. It’s a children’s song and I now realize that it’s actually about parallel worlds:
the worlds of the puppet, the puppeteer, and the dream that moves them both. Here are some of the words:

Oh, I’m a purple unicorn

and I’m here to do a show,
I’m the one who that does the dances
and the one who makes me go,
An invisible conductor, is pulling on my strings,
Is it me or is it IT that makes me do these crazy things?!

…You see we’re all things in one,

and that is really such fun!
We’re not what we seem,
we’re all joined in a team,
We’re the puppet, the puppeteer, and the dream.

Today I realize that, for me, the creative process hangs heavily upon the doorway to parallel worlds. If I am able to
go through that door (and often it is quite a struggle!) I know there is an immense amount of energy and creative
potential awaiting me. The ability to embrace a multiplicity of worlds and their potentially contradictory nature, `a la
Schroedinger’s cat, has been recognized by some researchers as a central key to creativity and the discovery of
new insights. For example, this attitude contributed to the physicist Niels Bohr’s discovery of the "principle of
complimentary" which states that light can be seen both as a particle and a wave, and to some of the original
insights of such artists and musicians as van Gogh, Picasso, and Mozart (See Michael Michalko’s, Cracking
Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius, Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 2001, p.183.)
The ability to open up to parallel worlds has also been crucial to my work as a therapist. The earliest dream I
remember when I became interested in psychology was about a group of shamans dancing on a mountaintop and
I have realized ever since that my path as a therapist has to do with relating to ordinary consensus reality as well
as opening up to parallel worlds with my clients. This makes therapy a very creative process for me. I notice that
when I become too ordinary as a therapist, too stuck in one world, I don’t feel well; something is missing and my
work does not have its creative spark.
I have experienced parallel worlds during many of my creative meanderings. I remember one evening a few years
ago when I had just begun to compose music. (See Lane Arye’s, Unintentional Music: Releasing your Deepest
Creativity, Charlottesville, N.C.: Hampton Roads, 2002 for much more on process work, creativity and music, and
the use of mistakes as pathways to the creative process. See also Maurie Shaw’s article "The Music that Dreamed
me Today," The Journal of Process Oriented Psychology, Spring/Summer 2001, on music and Process Work and
Jan Dworkin’s article "The Daemon Creativity: My 800 Year Old Soul," on the creative process in the Journal of
Process Oriented Psychology, Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press, Winter 1994-95). I was frustrated and wanted to write
a song but it just wouldn’t come out. I thought, "I wish I could write a song that sounds like Joan Baez singing in a
synagogue or a church!"

I mentioned this to Arny and he said encouragingly, "Why not listen to

her singing there and just notice what happens?" Instantly, I started to hear "her" humming a tune and before long
my instrumental song, Sounds of the Old World was born. I realize only now that just saying, "I wish I could…" was
already a parallel world that I could step into.
On another occasion, I was feeling a bit stuck and down. I let myself go into that feeling and felt as if I were
decaying and dying, letting go of who I am. As I went deeper, the very core, or essence, of this experience was the
sense of being utterly free in a world in which there was no time, endless space, and no physical boundaries. In
that moment when I touched the essence, I felt a surge of creative energy and out of that experience came my
song Sittin’ in a Rain Barrel.

I’m sittin’ in a rain barrel

Listening to the tides
I’ve already started to decay
I’m dreaming of the moment
When I turn to dust
And success and failure fade away
How long will it take me to die?
Like a plant slowly crumbling down?
I was once a great vision in the sky
But I’m vanishing, melting to the ground

Without a sound.

That was the beginning of a very "earthy" period in my life!

Sometimes, the doorway to another world appears when I play and create with fabric and string. Instead of only
staying with a particular idea of what I want to make, I allow myself to veer from my conscious plan and notice a
flickering image that emerges from the fabric, or a form that beckons to be filled. Out of this process have come
unusual, woven paper baskets, a statue of a green lady who has become my teacher about nature, and a whole
host of weird and unwieldy puppets.
When I choreographed dances in my late teens and early 20s, my dance pieces usually emerged from inspiration
from a particular piece of music. I would suddenly see the music in dance form. The most exciting aspects of my
choreography were often connected with the mistakes or strange motions my body made when I wasn’t paying
attention!
If I followed these anomalies, they always led to interesting movements that were outside of my conscious intent. I
was delighted, of course, when I discovered years later that process work focused on these "mistakes" as the
seeds of the dreaming process, other worlds poking their heads out and wanting to

be noticed and unfolded.

Pathways to Creativity and Parallel Worlds

There are times when a surge of creativity unexpectedly breaks through our conscious will and presents its fruits.
And, at other times we can use any one of a multitude of methods to enter into and gain access to our creative
processes. For me, the whole of process work provides a repertoire for this journey. As I study my own process
just now, I notice two particular pathways that have helped me open doors to parallel worlds and their creative
harvests.
1. Parallel Roads: In this method, you begin by walking down one road and then become aware that another road
is running along next to you. You then step outside of your original road and explore this second parallel pathway.
A few methods come to mind for this method:
Click for larger image

• Notice Double Signals: This is one of the most familiar and simple process work methods. Here, you
notice the signals you are making which are congruent with your momentary identity and then
noticeanother signal that you are making that is not congruent with your momentary identity. Focus on
this doublesignal and allow it to unfold. This was the method I used in the choreography mentioned
above when I noticed the "mistakes" in my movement..
• Listen for the past or future: While speaking, listen for the use of past or future tense, or imaginations
of "what could be" and go deeper into them.They are doorways to other worlds. (See
Arny’s Dreammaker’s Apprentice: The Psychological and Spiritual Interpretation of Dreams, Hampton
Roads, Charlottesville, NC, 2001, for discovering what he calls "dreamdoors" into the dreaming process
by listening to the way that we speak). This was the method for finding the song, Sounds of the Old

World.
• Noticing flickering experiences. Think about your conscious identity and problems. Then relax and let
your mind and eyes become a bit foggy and unclear and look around and notice something that quickly
catches your attention like a color, a shape, a flash of light, a crack in the wall.

Crack in the Wall

Then let this thing that caught your attention unfold further and express itself. (See Arny’s Dreaming While Awake:
Techniques for 24 Hour Lucid Dreaming, Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, N.C., 2001, for more on catching, flirt-
like, flickering experiences). This is the method I mentioned when I worked with fabric and string.

Changing Channels and Modalities. Notice what channel you are in and then continue with the same experience

but switch channels. This is the method I used in my

choreography when I heard the music and then saw it visually in dance form.
You can also switch "modalities". For example, I have sometimes created a song on piano and then imagined how
it would sound if it were played by a violin or a trumpet or it was sung by a bear!
2. Worlds within Worlds: Another pathway involves noticing my momentary identity or mood and then
going deeper into it in order to discover a parallel world that lies imbedded within it. This pathway has the
advantage that you don’t have to do much to begin with! You simply start with whatever mood you are in! Here are
a couple of methods that have emerged from Arny and my recent seminars:

• Find the seed or essence of a momentary mood. Notice/feel your momentary mood. Make a motion
that goes along with it while feeling that mood. Now make the motion a bit less while feeling the same
intensity and ask, "What is the seed or root of that experience before it became so big? What is its very
core?" If you stay with this essence you will discover that it is a spot full of spontaneous, creative
potential. (See Arny’sDreaming While Awake: Techniques for 24 Hour Lucid Dreaming, Hampton Roads,
Charlottesville, N.C., 2001, for more on catching, flirt-like, flickering experiences). This method led me to

the song Sittin in a Rain Barrel.

 • Make a tone and an overtone: Feel your momentary mood. Make a sound that goes with it and imagine
a story that goes with that sound. Then find the overtone. That means the tone an octave higher than the
original sound. Imagine a story that goes with that overtone. Let these two sounds and stories interact to
form a third, creative and spontaneous sound/song (We experimented with this idea in our seminar in
2001 entitled "Stone Songs" and more on this will appear in Arny’s upcoming book, Big Medicine ).

Levels of Parallel Worlds

There are different levels of experience hinted at in the methods described above. Arny developed a map for these
levels, which are parallel worlds for one another.( Dreaming While Awake). One level is called,
Consensus Reality which includes the doings of the ordinary world.
Underneath that is a non consensual realm (meaning that experiences here are not agreed upon in consensus
reality) called,
Dreamland. This is an area that includes such things as our dream images and figures, non consensual body
experiences, the messages of our double signals, overtones, the future and the past, etc.
And there is another non consensual level called the Essence. This is a non-dualistic level in which there is a
sense of oneness and unity. From this level, dreamland and consensus reality emerge. In this level, we find the
seed or root experiences before they appear in material form. When the essence begins to express itself, we
notice it as flickering experiences that are quick and subtle, slight tendencies or "flirts". When it further unfolds it
expresses itself in dream images and non consensual body experiences and then finally unfolds into the things of
everyday consensual reality.
The Essence level is akin to the "Dreaming" of Australian Aboriginal peoples who say that it is from the Dreaming
that the material world is born. It is also close to the concept of the quantum wave function in physics, which
describes the very basis of all matter. And in Taoism, the essence level would be called "the Tao that cannot be
said." The seed of creative energy can be seen as the flow of energy that moves up from the level of the essence
to the various other levels.
In order to get in contact with this creative stream, we can begin at any point. By going deeply into our consensual
mood, we can discover worlds within worlds. Noticing our double signals and body experiences can help us step
into parallel universes. By getting in contact with the essence level we notice how it generates flickering, flirt-like
experiences and is the mother of all other experiences.
Hyperspaces
The art of moving from one parallel world to another and discovering creativity therein is analogous to the concept
of hyperspaces in physics. Stated very simply, and in a layperson’s terms, if you are unable to untie a knot in one
dimension, that is, if you are stuck and blocked in one dimension, you can untie that knot or difficulty by adding
dimensions or what are called hyperspaces (To find out more about hyperspaces in physics, see Arny’s, Quantum
Mind).

If you have a problem in three dimensions, add a fourth. Psychologically, if we go deeply into our consensual mood
or switch to a parallel path, we are gaining access to a hyperspace that has its own sense of space and time,
contains solutions, and creative potential. There are countless stories about scientists and artists who are stuck
with a problem, go to sleep, and then dream the solution! In fact, simply letting go and relaxing (as mentioned
above under "Notice Flickering Experiences") is one of the most useful methods for going into a hyperspace. The
ordinary mind gets out of the way momentarily and clears the space so that something new can emerge.
What is it about this process of shifting into a hyperspace that is creative? I believe it has to do with two things.
First, we get in contact with the flowing of generative energy that seemed static from our "one-world" state of
consciousness. This is Arny’s original idea of process, that is, the dynamic energy hidden within seemingly static
experiences. And secondly, by doing so, we gain access to another world, a hyperspace, full of its
own concepts, feelings, and images that we did not have contact with before.
Seeking out hyperspaces is something all of us do unconsciously by using addictive substances, going to the
movies, going dancing, etc, in order to get a breather from our three dimensional worlds. However, for better or for
worse, many of these experiences remain split off in this other world and are not brought back in such a way as to
positively influence and transform our everyday lives.

The Bird of Paradise

To close, I’d like to mention something that has troubled and preoccupied me for
years. It would seem a simple thing to go from one world to the other, to shift to a hyperspace. However, the most
surprising thing about parallel worlds, from my own experience, is that from one viewpoint, when I am solidly
locked into my ordinary mind there is definitely only one world, the world of consensus reality! From this
perspective, everything else either does not exist or is impossible to reach. In this mood, I feel frozen into my
consensual world. If a parallel world indeed begins to emerge, I either slough it off and stay with the superiority of
my present state or feel that I am standing at the edge of a gaping abyss that is utterly impossible to cross. The
distance seems immense.
Let me turn to one of my own songs, a mini opera called The Master of Gloom, for some guidance here.
In that opera, a woman who has been locked and bound into an endless miserable relationship with a nasty critic
(the master of gloom), sings of her longing for another world that she is unable to find:
Why must I wait in the cold?
Dreaming of the day?
Where is the land that I know?
Oh, so far away?
For her, this other land is somehow known, it is even like her home, yet it feels as if it is in another country that is
extremely far away and unattainable.
The paradox for me is that, from a very different viewpoint, parallel worlds are really just a breath away. All it takes
to shift worlds is to notice a flickering vision or sound or movement and to let it unfold. It takes almost no energy.
But from consensus reality viewpoint it seems practically impossible! Each world has its perspective and the
difference between a million miles and a simple breath has always baffled me.
How have I dealt with this? I am not sure. Sometimes I have sat on the brink of something new and have felt it is
just too far away to attain and at other times I have simply shifted my attention and in a moment’s time, I have
landed in a new world.
Perhaps the Master of Gloom can provide some hints about this difficulty. There, a bird of paradise comes along
and teaches the woman and the critic to fly and shift worlds. She makes it all seem quite easy by enticing the
characters to simply notice flickering experiences. She sings:
So come on in to my lovely room
See all the jewels that gleam
Don’t waste your time, it’s getting late
Come on and join the dream!
The bird seems to be saying, it doesn’t take much energy, just notice those experiences that flirt with your
awareness (the jewels), climb into them, and you will be free! In the song, the characters become interested in
what the bird is saying and the bird of paradise finally helps both figures to step out of the conflict that has
possessed them, and to travel to a new world:
So fly away to paradise
Think of the beauty to come
Spread out your wings and let them glide
To the ends of time
Finally the bird sings about the fine crack between parallel worlds:
So we will glide between the worlds
Finding our faith and our fears
No turning back, we’ve found the door
And we’ll wait and watch what appears

The Crack Between the Worlds

Who is the bird? I think she is that part of us who is familiar with the map between our many worlds. She is
theloving nature of our metacommunicator; that part which can stand back and notice all the facets of our
experiences. She is the part that is fluid and who can support our fullness, who can be realistic, and who can
dream. She is the lover of our consensual minds and also the one who embraces the multi-dimensional nature of
who we are. She is a feeling toward our experiences, a metaskill, rather than a specific skill. How do we find her?
Each has her or his own way. I wish I had a recipe for that! Perhaps the answer will come in the next dream or
song! Or is that a parallel world happening already now?
Download a print friendly copy