This is an email to me from about Fall 2009. I post it here without the dreams I shared which elicited this response so that the focus can just be on how the Dreamwork Method is described here. An e-book will be published in time with the dreams included.

Dear Rachel,
I first want to tell you a few things about my method.  Well, the
first requirement is the ability to sit or meditate on something for a
long time.   This would be equivalent to reading a Hidden Word and
then going out and keeping it in your mind all day and letting it
reveal its meaning to you.    Having the quality of peacefulness and
calm is what seems to be what I am really gifted in.  I just seem to
have the ability to go in and hang with something for a long time.
It is not a quality too highly valued nor trained so you have to find
your way with it.   I am really good at being introverted meaning
being able to go inwards.    Actually it is a one of our daily
required activities, meditation that is.   So the better you get at
reflection, the better you get at dream work or therapy for that matter.

You can develop that ability by slowing down your mind and
figuring out metaphoric or symbolic meaning.   I first started doing this with with Native American myths.   This was the hard part for
most teachers, getting what the myth means.  Most people don’t have
enough self discipline in their minds so they tend to go for literal
meanings like Noah and the flood.  It is just so much more interesting
to go for symbolic meaning.   I have just done a lot of dreams so now
they come fast to me, but if I haven’t encountered a symbol before, I
just spend the time to figure out what it represents.  You just say to
your self, What is a …..? like what is a mountain or what is a river
or what is an otter, etc.  Then the meaning starts to reveal itself.

The third part is extremely important and I am just so surprised
that more people have not found out the secret of it like I have.
Human beings are dueled natured, true self and ego, spiritual and
material.   The engine of the ego is negative emotions, while that of
the true self is virtues.   They act in ways directly opposite of each
other so this gives you a formula for solutions.    So in your case,
when you feel panicked and in emergency mode, the solution is
peacefulness because one is slow while the other is really fast.
Every ego state or every issue has a solution.
Working with dreams is a lot like learning to play a musical
instrument and if you think of it that way, you can get good at
working with yourself.

So what about your dream?    Being in an emergency mode and needing
to call 911 should be the first clue for you.   Now there is a
possibility that you are gifted at emergencies and that is your
calling, but since peacefulness is your issue, you can assume that the
dream is trying to get you to a more peaceful state so that you can do
some other things.

The first part of the dream seems to tell you that when people are who
close to you are having an issue, that your family treats it as if
nothing is wrong.   And when you start to deal with someone’s issue,
you find that the problem is that who you thought they were, has
changed.   The left side of the body indicates that something is wrong with the right brain and this is what makes them disabled.    The
right brain has to do with creativity and seeing the big picture, and
when someone only has a functional left brain, they just seem to go
along with the way things are around them.
This is the problem with your family.    They just go along with
the way the world is so they don’t see people who are having
difficulties expressing the part that is creative and wants things to
change as a big deal.     You see it and you try to get help, but they don’t.   The peacefulness part has something to do with being able do
the work without being an emergency mode.   The right brain requires
peacefulness.

In the second part of the dream you are really exactly right about
the son and you can think of him as the part of you that somehow
became disconnected when you were a youth.   The dream shows you that
when you are calm with him, meaning calm with yourself, that the parts
of you that needed to come out in the past will listen and start to
express themselves.   This means that your adolescent self is ready to
come out, your inner adolescent.

So the first major issue of your life is how to get into a calm,
peaceful, non-judgmental place which was unattainable as a child.  Now
you are making that progress and getting into a place of peacefulness.
When you use it, it lets the adolescent out.   Above all else,
adolescents need adults who are non-judgmental and calm.   Believe me.
If you have this gift, then they will flourish with you.  So you can understand from the dreams that as the peacefulness is consolidated
that the adolescent will appear as your adventurous self.

Your inner adolescent was probably blocked because of living in an
environment of judgment.

Anyway,   you seem to be doing all of the right things and you seem to making good progress so keep with it.

Richard