What is lucid surrender? Can dreams facilitate psycho-spiritual transformation? Can we be in contact with those who have died and what does this suggest about the afterlife? We speak today with Melinda Powell from the Dream Research Institute in London. Melinda starts by talking about how she has been a lucid dreamer since a child, and she shares a powerful snake dream and how working with that dream in waking life was transformational. We talk about lucid surrender, both dreaming and awake, and how dreams are a kind of angel that is out ahead of us.
After the break, we take a question from Max and talk about how our dreams are showing us how to live. We end with a conversation about the luminous void.
BIO: Melinda Powell is co-founder of the Dream Research Institute, London, and past Vice-President of the International Association of Dreams. She has authored three books: The Hidden Lives of Dreams, Lucid Surrender: The Alchemy of the Soul in Lucid Dreaming, and her latest: Dreams My Mother Taught Me: Lessons in Lucid Dreaming from Beyond the Grave, which will be available from June 30th, 2025.
Find our guest at: MelindaPowellDreams.com, driccpe.org.uk, ccpe.org.uk, and on IG @melindapowelldreams, @dreamresearchinstitute, and @thedreamboatpodcast
Melinda co-founded the Dream Research Institute, London, in 2012 with Dr. Nigel Hamilton, and directed the DRI for seven years. The DRI promotes research on dreams and wellbeing and serves as a Dream Studies Centre, offering dream courses both in-person and online as well as educational events.
Located in London’s Little Venice behind Paddington Station, the DRI is housed in the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education (CCPE) which offers a 5-year accredited training in psychotherapy from a spiritual perspective and a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychotherapy.
Melinda would like to send out a thank you to IASD and to the DRI for all their support over the years and to encourage others to join both organizations as a member.
This show, episode number 313, was recorded during a live broadcast on May 31, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz.
Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Tony Russomano for answering the phones.
The Santa Cruz Festival of Dreams is coming October 10-12, 2025! Mark your calendars now. Check our landing page at FestivalofDream.net and FB group page HERE or follow #KeepSantaCruzDreaming on FB and IG.
SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at [email protected]. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com.
The Dream Journal aims to:
Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams.
Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships.
Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites.
A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means.
The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at [email protected]. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/.
Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts.
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