DREAMS: June 2022 podcast playlist

There is so much talk these days about how important sleep is for our physical and mental health. But, what about dreams? Why do we have them? And can we harness their power? This playlist explores the science, psychology, and power behind our dreams.

Podcast Playlist on DREAMS

Get the full playlist on your podcast player of choice using these platforms (see the * below for instructions):

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: “Robert Stickgold – Why do we dream?” (January 2021, 43 min)
We not only need to sleep, we need to dream, too. Robert Stickgold explains why we must go to the movies every night when we sleep – it’s to make sense of our waking world. And it’s all in his book, “When Brains Dream.”

The Mindvalley Podcast with Vishen: “How Lucid Dreaming Can Change Your Life – Charlie Morley” (February 2021, 39 min)
Lucid dreaming can be used to consciously direct the dream so that we can learn, train, meditate and gain answers to some of life’s biggest questions while we dream. The practice has been used for thousands of years by Tibetan Buddhists, Mexican Shamans, and Sufi Mystics who knew the powerful healing lucid dreaming could facilitate. In this inspirational talk, bestselling author and lucid dreaming teacher Charlie Morley explores how lucid dreaming can transform the third of our lives that we spend asleep!

The Nocturnists: “Stories from a Pandemic: Part II – Ep.4: Dreams and Nightmares” (June 2021, 30 min)
We know the pandemic has affected the waking lives of healthcare workers. But what happens after we fall asleep? Does the pandemic haunt us in the shadows too?

Throughline: “The Way We Dream” (January 2022, 52 min)
Our dreams can haunt us: literally. Recurring dreams about failing tests or running late are a common occurrence, but what are we to make of them? And are there hidden meanings in our dreams? Paleolithic hunter-gatherers may have painted their dreams onto caves, Julius Caesar’s wife envisioned his assassination in a dream, and major works of art and music have been inspired by dreams. But with the scientific revolution came a different view of dreams, one in which they were dismissed as merely a meaningless biological reaction. Today, researchers are challenging that age-old assumption and finding new evidence that dreams are a vital way human beings process the world. In this episode, Sidarta Ribeiro takes us on a journey through the history of our understanding of dreams.

The Savvy Psychologist’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Mental Health: “How to Have Lucid Dreams” (April 2021, 10 min)
Lucid dreamers have been fighting goblins, flying, and conjuring entire galaxies in their dreams for centuries, all while feeling awake and engaged in the action. Now, scientific research tells us that lucid dreaming isn’t just the stuff of sci-fi—it’s a learnable skill. Would you like to give it a try?

Bonus podcast episodes:

• Prodigy: “Lucid Dreaming” (June 2021, 38 min)
  Lucid dreaming is a state of consciousness where a person is aware they’re dreaming. This gives them a level of control over it. With practice you can increase this ability and explore your greatest fantasies. The guest on this episode, E.S. Fein, is an author and lucid dreaming expert who teaches us all about lucid dreaming and how to do it.
• Unexplainable: “Why do we dream?” (May 2022, 24 min)
  Dreams are weird, but can they be a scientific tool? Can they teach us anything about humanity? About ourselves?
• The Nocturnists: “Conversations: Sidarta Ribeiro” (May 2022, 53 min)
  In this episode, Emily speaks with neuroscientist and author Sidarta Ribeiro about his book “The Oracle of Night,” which investigates the art and science of dreams and the extraordinary power dreams have in shaping our world.
• The Gabby Reece Show: “Theresa Cheung – Dreams Decoder” (September 2021, 59 min)
  The guest on this episode is Theresa Cheung. Theresa is a dream decoder and wants us to pay attention to our dreams. They talk about how our dreams are us talking to ourselves. She discusses how much creativity lives below the surface of our lives and within us we just need to give them the opportunity to flourish.
• The FitMind Podcast: “#16: Lucid Dreaming – Robert Waggoner” (August 2019, 57 min)
  Robert Waggoner is an expert on the science and practice of lucid dreaming. He wrote the book, “Book: “Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.”

Recommended Books & Other Resources:

We’ve started compiling recommended books from the podcast playlists and from our chapter meetings on our Amazon Idea List. Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something PBC may earn a commission.

• Book: “When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep” by Robert Stickgold
• Book: “Lucid Dreaming: A Beginner’s Guide to Becoming Conscious in Your Dreams” by Charlie Morley
• Book: “The Oracle of Night: The History and Science of Dreams” by Sidarta Ribeiro
• Book: “The Dream Dictionary from A to Z” by Theresa Cheung.
• Book: “Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self” by Robert Waggoner

Conversation Starter Questions:

1. Do you remember your dreams?
2. Before you listened to the playlist, did you think dreaming was important? Now that you’ve listened, have you changed your mind?
3. Are you interested in trying lucid dreaming?

* If you are manually finding each episode on a playlist in your podcast app, there is an easier way!!!! Every month we add the PBC playlist on four platforms: Listen Notes, Podchaser, Podyssey, and Spotify. We do this to make it easier on you so that you don’t have to hunt for each episode manually on your player of choice. You can simply grab the rss of the playlist from Listen Notes, for example, and drop it into your player and…boom!!…all of the episodes magically appear. Here’s a video that shows an example of quickly adding the episodes to Pocketcasts using the Listen Notes playlist.