Doris E. Cohen - Dreaming on Both Sides of the Brain: Discover the Secret Language of the Night

Copyright 2017

by Doris E. Cohen, PhD

Foreword Copyright 2017 by Christiane Northrup, MD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Cover design by Jim Warner

Cover images: Left and right hemisphere of human brain Cozy nook /

Shutterstock; Pillow: Alhovik / Shutterstock

Interior Design by Steve Amarillo / Urban Design LLC

Typeset in Adobe Sabon, BA Graphics Torino Modern,

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Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Charlottesville, VA 22906

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ISBN: 978-1-57174-797-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cohen, Doris Eliana, 1943- author.

Title: Dreaming on both sides of the brain : discover the secret language of

the night / Doris E. Cohen.

Description: Charlottesville : Hampton Roads Pub., 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017010508 | ISBN 9781571747976 (6 x 9 tp : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Dreams. | Dream interpretation.

Classification: LCC BF1091 .C625 2017 | DDC 154.6/3--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010508

Printed in Canada

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This book is dedicated to all nations, all racesto all living beings. With all my heart and soul, my wish is that, after reading this book, you will be able to understand the magic of your dreams and apply that language to your waking life so you can truly discover your path and bring enriched meaning to your existence. This book is my dream!

To all who have helped me on this amazing path of dreams, I give my profound love and appreciation.

P rofound thanks to Dr. Christiane Northrup, a staunch friend and colleague who has been my avid supporter and who has always given me encouragement and hope. I am deeply grateful for your invaluable help in putting my dreamwork into motionswiftly and gracefully, and with loyalty and compassion. Your belief in me has been instrumental in making my dream come true and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My thanks to Nancy Shea, a very dear friend, who is creative, brilliant, and endlessly helpful. She has been my go-to persona multitalented expert who has helped with everything regarding this book. And to Dr. Erika Schwartz and Debbie Barnby, both dear friends whose belief in me has never wavered.

My assistant, Robbie Myers, has been loyal and reliable, and a bulwark of strength in myriad ways that have facilitated both my work in life and in this book. Likewise, the acceptance and support of my publisher, Greg Brandenburgh, has, like Bach's concertos, been beautiful music to my ears.

And finally, my deep gratitude to Evelyn Fisboin Guttman, whose love and support has always remained shining in my life.

I have been on the forefront of health and healing for decades as a pioneer in women's health. And here's what I know. To get healthy and stay healthy, you must connect with your souland with your unconscious, the part of you that your intellect alone can't access. Because that's where the real power lies. Dreams fall into this category. They are messages from your unconscious that report to you each and every night, loaded with information specific to you. Indeed, studies have shown that dreams can even warn of health conditions that require attention long before a dreamer is aware of them in conscious life. And no one is more qualified to guide you in how to work with your own dreams than Dr. Doris Cohen, with whom I've worked for years.

In 2012, I went to Buenos Aires for three weeks to dance the Argentine tango in the place where it originated. This dance of the heart was born in the slums and broken hearts of slaves and immigrants who came to Buenos Aires from Italy, Germany, Africa, and other places around the world. This passionate dance comes from the heart and, when practiced diligently, can often help heal it.

At the time, I was a relatively new dancer and I didn't speak Spanish. I was also a middle-aged woman recovering from a broken heart following the break-up of a relationship with a man I had been certain was the one. Dancing the close-embrace tango helped me heal the searing pain of lossand satisfied a lifelong desire to learn partner dancing. So a trip to Buenos Aires was inevitable. The city and the tango music composed there called to me like a siren.

On my first day there, I was walking down a busy street enjoying the afternoon sunlight with the seasoned dancer with whom I was traveling. We had just indulged in a shopping spree and were ebullient as we basked in the first day of our tango adventure. Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands at my throat and my necklacea very expensive gold goddess necklace that had been a birthday gift from a number of people who, prompted by my daughter, had all pitched in to purchase itwas snatched from my neck. I screamed. But it all happened so fast that the thief quickly crossed the crowded street and disappeared. Shaken, I was left with a bruised and scratched neck.

More than that, however, my sense of safety and happiness was shattered. I no longer felt safe or secure in that placea place where I had planned on walking regularly in the middle of the night, to and from the tango dances known as milongas. When planning my trip, everyone I talked to told me how safe Buenos Aires was and that I wouldn't have to worry there. I later learned that those in the know make sure that they never wear anything valuable on the street or even take out their cell phones for fear of being robbed in broad daylight.

To get support, I decided to share this incident on my community page on Facebook. My friend and colleague Tosha Silver, author of Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead, told me that this theft was a very positive omen. She told me that having that particular necklace snatched from me was a sign that the Goddess herselfin this case, in the form of Kali, the fierce goddess who takes you to the Underworld and transforms youwas now in charge of my trip. Kali often demands a sacrifice, she explained, and, in return, she helps you transform. Personally, I would have preferred an easier patha more fluffy goddess. But that's not what my soul had in mind.

Enter Doris Cohen. I had had a number of readings with Dr. Cohen, who had pointed out to me, in her inimitable accent, that one of my colleagues was not doing me any favors. She has you wrapped in barbed wire, my dear, Doris said. Now, Doris didn't know this person at all; in fact, she barely knew me. But she interpreted my problem accurately. And by putting a name to something I had felt but could not express, she helped me get myself out of a bad situation far sooner than I would have otherwise. So I knew that I could trust her judgment. And I knew that, in addition to her work with dreams, she also had decades of experience as a clinical psychologist. Many people are intuitives and psychics; but very few of them have rigorous training as psychologists. So very few of them know exactly how to interpret intuitive information in a practical and helpful way that their clients can actually hear and use.