Dreamworking differs from classical dream interpretation in that the aim of dreamwork is to explore the various images and emotions that a dream presents and evokes, while not attempting to come up with a single, unique dream meaning. In this way the dream remains “alive” whereas if it has been assigned a specific meaning, it is “finished”. Dreamworkers take the position that a dream may have a variety of meanings, depending on the levels that are being explored.

A tenet of dreamwork is that each person has his or her own dream language. Any given place, person, object or symbol can differ in its meaning from dreamer to dreamer and also from time to time in the dreamer’s ongoing life situation. Thus someone helping a dreamer get closer to her or his dream through dreamwork adopts an attitude of “not knowing” as far as possible.

When doing dreamwork it is best to wait until all the questions have been asked and the answers carefully listened to before the dreamworker (or dreamworkers if it is done in a group setting) offers any suggestions about what the dream might mean. In fact, it is best if a dreamworker prefaces any interpretation by saying, “if this were my dream, it might mean …”

In this way, dreamers are not obliged to agree with what is said and may use their own judgment in deciding which comments appear valid or provide insight. If the dreamwork is done in a group, there may well be several things that are said by participants that seem valid to the dreamer but it can also happen that nothing does. Appreciation of the validity or insightfulness of a comment from a dreamwork session can come later, sometimes days after the end of the session.

Thought Field Therapy, or TFT, is a fringe psychological treatment developed by an American psychologist, Roger Callahan. Its proponents say that it can heal a variety of mental and physical ailments through specialized tapping with the fingers at meridian points on the upper body and hands. 

Callahan gave his treatment the name Thought Field Therapy because he theorizes that when we think about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, we are tuning into a thought field, which he describes as the most fundamental concept in the TFT system and which creates an imaginary, though quite real scaffold, upon which we may erect our explanatory notions.

Perturbations are said to be precisely encoded information contained in the thought field, which become activated whenever a person thinks about a problem. Callahan maintains that these perturbations are the root cause of negative emotions and that each perturbation corresponds to a meridian point on the body. In order to eliminate the emotional upset, Callahan says that a precise sequence of meridian points must be tapped on. He theorizes that tapping unblocks or balances the flow of Qi.

Callahan states that the process can relieve a wide variety of problems including psychological trauma, phobias, anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addictive urges, and depression, by treating the blockage in the energy flow created by a disturbing thought pattern. He has also said in a 2006 interview on National Public Radio that TFT can successfully treat physical illnesses such as Malaria in as little as 15 minutes. In an article on his website, Callahan has also stated that TFT can successfully prevent heart problems that may lead to sudden death, and that TFT has successfully stopped atrial fibrillation. In 1985, in his first book on TFT, he said that specific phobias could be cured in as little as five minutes.

Callahan also asserts that his most advanced level, Voice Technology (VT) can be performed over the phone using an undisclosed technology. Training for the advanced VT is provided by Callahan. The fee listed on Callahan’s website for this training is $100,000. Trainees must sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose the trade secret behind VT.

The headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates. More specifically, a source is defined as the most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs year-around, or, alternatively, the furthest point from which water could possibly flow. This latter definition includes dry channels and removes any possible definitions that would have the river source move around from month to month depending on precipitation or ground water levels.

Thus, neither a lake nor a confluence of tributaries can by definition ever be a true river source, though both often provide the starting point for the portion of a river carrying a single name. For example, National Geographic and all other major geographic authorities and atlases define the source of the Nile River not as Lake Victoria’s outlet, but as the source of the largest river flowing into the lake, the Kagera River.

Often the source of the most remote tributary may be in an area that is more marsh-like, in which the uppermost or most remote section of the marsh would be the true source. The furthest stream is also often called the headstream. Headwaters are usually small streams that are often cool waters, because of shade and recently melted ice or snow. They may also be glacial headwaters, waters formed by the melting of glacial ice.

The source is the farthest point of the river stream from its estuary, mouth, or its confluence with another river or stream, regardless of what name that watercourse may carry on local maps and in local usage. Where a river is fed by more than one source, it is customary to regard the longest as its source, with other sources considered tributaries. Often, however, the manner in which streams are named is not consistent with this convention. Many rivers change names numerous times over their length.

Headwaters are the most extreme upstream areas of a watershed. The end point of the watershed is called an outflow or discharge. A watershed is an area of land that is drained by a body of water. The river source is generally on or quite near the edge of the watershed, or watershed divide.

Ecstasy is subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. Because total involvement with an object of our interest is not our ordinary experience since we are ordinarily aware also of other objects, the ecstasy is an example of altered state of consciousness characterized by diminished awareness of other objects or total lack of the awareness of surroundings and everything around the object. For instance, if one is concentrating on a physical task, then one might cease to be aware of any intellectual thoughts. On the other hand, making a spirit journey in an ecstatic trance involves the cessation of voluntary bodily movement.

For the duration of the ecstasy the ecstatic is out of touch with ordinary life and is capable neither of communication with other people nor of undertaking normal actions. Although the experience is usually brief in physical time, there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy. The word is often used in mild sense, to refer to any heightened state of consciousness or intense pleasant experience. It is also used more specifically to denote states of awareness of non-ordinary mental spaces, which may be perceived as spiritual.

Ecstasy can be deliberately induced using religious or creative activities, meditation, music, dancing, breathing exercises or physical exercise. The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually also associated with that individual’s particular religious and cultural traditions. Sometimes an ecstatic experience takes place due to occasional contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy, or without any known reason.

People interpret the experience afterward according to their culture and beliefs: as a revelation from God, a trip to the world of spirits or a psychotic episode. When a person is using an ecstasy technique, he usually does so within a tradition. When he reaches an experience, a traditional interpretation of it already exists. The experience together with its subsequent interpretation may strongly and permanently change the value system and the worldview of the subject.

Zucchini is a small summer squash. It can be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged cucumber, though a few cultivars are available that produce round or bottle-shaped fruit. In a culinary context, zucchini is treated as a vegetable, which means it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Zucchini is one of the easiest vegetables to cultivate in temperate climates. As such, it has a reputation among home gardeners for overwhelming production.

Like all summer squash, it has its ancestry in the Americas. While most summer squash were introduced to Europe during the time of European colonization of the Americas, zucchini is Italian in origin, as the result of spontaneously occurring mutations. It was almost certainly brought over by Italian immigrants and was probably first cultivated in the United States in California.

Unlike cucumber, zucchini are usually served cooked. It can be prepared using a variety of cooking techniques, including steamed, boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried, or incorporated in other recipes such as soufflés. Zucchini can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded in a cold salad, baked into a bread, and hot and barely cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or Vietnamese recipes.

In France zucchini is a key ingredient in ratatouille, a stew of summer vegetables prepared in olive oil and cooked for an extended time over low heat. The dish, originating near present-day Nice, is served as a side dish or on its own at lunch with bread. In Turkish cuisine, zucchini is the main ingredient in pancakes made from shredded zucchini, flour and eggs, lightly fried in olive oil and eaten with yogurt.

In Lebanon, zucchini is stuffed with minced meat and rice plus herbs and spices and steamed. It is also used in various kinds of stew. In Bulgaria, zucchini are fried and then served with a dip made from yogurt, garlic and dill. Another popular dish is oven-baked zucchini covered with a mixture of eggs, yogurt, flour and dill.

While easy to grow, zucchini, like all squash, requires plentiful bees for pollination. In areas of pollinator decline or high pesticide use, such as mosquito-spray districts, gardeners often experience fruit abortion where the fruit begins to grow then dries or rots. This is due to an insufficient number of pollen grains delivered to the female flower. It can be corrected by hand pollination or by increasing the bee population.

A whistled language is a system of whistled communication which allows fluent whistlers to transmit and comprehend a potentially unlimited number of messages over long distances. Whistled languages are different in this respect from the restricted codes sometimes used by herders or animal trainers to transmit simple messages or instructions. Generally, whistled languages emulate the tones or vowel formants of a natural spoken language, as well as aspects of its intonation and prosody, so that trained listeners who speak that language can understand the encoded message.

Whistled languages are normally found in locations with difficult mountainous terrain, slow or difficult communication, low population density and/or scattered settlements, and other isolating features such as shepherding and cultivation of hillsides. Thery have been more recently found in dense forests like the Amazon where they may replace spoken dialogues in the villages, while hunting or fishing to overcome the pressure of the acoustic environment.

The main advantage of whistling speech is that it allows the speaker to cover much larger distances than ordinary speech, without the strain (and lesser range) of shouting. The long range of whistling is enhanced by the mountainous terrain found in areas where whistled languages are used. Many areas with such languages work hard to preserve their ancient traditions, in the face of rapidly advancing telecommunications systems in many areas.

Whistled speech may be very central and highly valued in a culture. Shouting is very rare in Sochiapam, Oaxaca. Men in that culture are subject to being fined if they do not handle whistle-speech well enough to perform certain town jobs. They may whistle for fun in situations where spoken speech could easily be heard.

In Sochiapam, Oaxaca, and other places in Mexico, and reportedly in West Africa as well, whistled speech is men’s language: although women may understand it, they do not use it. Though whistled languages are not secret codes or secret languages, they may be used for secretive communication among outsiders or others who do not know or understand the whistled language though they may understand its spoken origin.

Polarity therapy is a synthesis of ancient Eastern and alternative medicine health care ideas, centered on the concept of a human energy field. Using touch, verbal interaction, exercise, nutrition and other methods, practitioners of polarity therapy seek to balance and restore the natural flow of energy which, it is claimed, flows from the universe and into the body through the chakras. The aim is to re-establish “balance”. In addition to polarity bodywork, specific polarity yoga exercises, counseling/positive thinking, and nutritional recommendations are claimed to enhance vitality.

Advocates and practitioners of PT claim that a subtle, invisible and intangible energetic system is the substrate for all phenomena. According to proponents, if the energetic flow is corrected and restored to its original design, the form will follow. Further, they claim that blockages in the flow of energy lead to pain and disease (directly contradicting the germ theory of disease), or be experienced as stuck emotions and lack of vitality. They claim that this is similar to the measurable and quantifiable electromagnetic bond between electron and proton that forms atoms, a claim which is not scientific, but pseudoscience. There is no scientific basis for this belief, nor any reproducible measurements of this system.

Polarity therapists claim to work with the reciprocal, complementary or “polarized” forces, which they describe with the traditional Chinese words yin and yang. Although the concept of polarity implies two forces in opposition, these dualities are said by some to be mediated by a subtle third neutral factor, leading to the idea that phenomena are essentially triune in nature. In Ayurveda, the three factors are known as Rajas, Tamas, and Satva.

Polarity therapy is often connected with other forms of alternative medicine, such as Oriental medicine, Ayurveda, craniosacral therapy and osteopathy, which all claim to explore the subtle energetic factors in health conditions from their particular cultural viewpoints. Polarity therapy has four distinct areas of technique, by which proponents believe life force energy can be influenced: touch (massage, acupuncture), stretching and exercise, diet, and mental-emotional process. Polarity practitioners registered with the American Polarity Therapy Association should be knowledgeable in all four areas. However, although most current APTA trainings cover the standard curriculum, some practitioners have different interpretations.

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and suggest a natural process.

It is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty and it occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West. Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

A good example of this embodiment may be seen in certain styles of Japanese pottery. In Japanese tea ceremony, cups used are often rustic and simple-looking, with shapes that are not quite symmetrical, and colors or textures that appear to emphasize an unrefined or simple style. In reality, the cups can be quite expensive and in fact, it is up to the knowledge and observational ability of the participant to notice and discern the hidden signs of a truly excellent design or glaze. This may be interpreted as a kind of wabi-sabi aesthetic, further confirmed by the way the glaze is known to change in color with time as tea is repeatedly poured into them (sabi) and the fact that the cups are deliberately chipped or nicked at the bottom (wabi), which serves as a kind of signature of the style.

Wabi sabi describes a means where students can learn to live life through the sense and better engage in life as it happens rather than caught up in unnecessary thoughts. In this sense wabi sabi is the material representation of Zen Buddhism. The idea being that being surrounded by natural, changing, unique objects helps us connect to our real world and escape potentially stressful distractions.

In one sense wabi sabi is a training where the student of wabi sabi learns to find the most simple objects interesting, fascinating and beautiful. Fading autumn leaves would be an example. Wabi sabi can change our perception of our world to the extent that a chip or crack in a vase makes it more interesting and give the object greater meditative value. Similarly materials that age such a bare wood, paper and fabric become more interesting as they exhibit changes that can be observed over time.