All of us dream every time we fall asleep. Dreaming is a natural phenomenon during which our mind processes and vents out all those thoughts that it doesn`t agree with. Just as we eat and drink daily and thereafter, need to excrete the toxins out of our bodies even if it`s an over doze of vitamins, we go through venting process to heal our minds i.e. clear our minds of the accumulated clutter. This is why sleep has a tendency to accumulate itself in order to work on the data piled up while we were unable to rest our minds. Therefore, in case we haven’t been able to sleep enough for a couple of days, we need to catch up on the lost sleep. Although all of us dream every time we fall asleep, only some of us are able to recall a few of all the dreams we see. If we stopped dreaming, we would go mad or even die.

During sleep, the frequency of our mind passes through the alpha state of mind and goes up to theta and sometimes even delta. Our mind operates at the beta frequency during the wakeful state.

Our mind is basically divided into two main parts: Conscious and Sub-conscious. The Conscious mind has two divisions: the logical, thinking, analytical mind and the creative mind that we use all the time when we are awake. The Sub-conscious mind is a repository of all our experiences and memories of past, present and future lifetimes. The conscious and sub-conscious minds have a further division called the critical mind or the critical barrier which is our mind’s processing unit.

Each of us goes through a natural hypnotic condition twice every time we fall asleep. Once just before we slip into a deep sleep and again just before we come out of the deep sleep stage. In between the two natural hypnotic phases, we go through 3 types of dreams which are approximately divided into 3 equal proportions for a dream analyst to interpret them. For example, a dream analyst would divide a 6 hrs sleep into 2 + 2 + 2 hrs. of Processing, Predictive and Venting dreams respectively.

A) Soon after the first phase of natural hypnotic condition, our mind goes through the Wishful Thinking Stage when it attempts to sort and store thoughts of the day. During this phase, we view dreams called Processing dreams. These are related to day to day activities. All the inputs our mind has absorbed ever since the last sleep we had or those that haven`t been processed yet due to lack of sleep too are processed by the critical mind during this part of the sleep.

B) Soon after, we pass into the next part of the dreams called Predictive dreams during the Precognitive Stage. All of us leave our physical bodies and go on an astral travel during this part of our sleep. This is when we meet our guides, angels and connect with our higher self and also visit places of this world and the other. During predictive dreams, either our sub-conscious mind, our higher self, our spirit guides, our guardian angels or our family and friends who have moved into the other world guide us about events about to happen next. Although our sub-conscious mind has an access to even our future being connected to the super conscious mind linked with Akashic records, we are normally shown the future only when our mind is ready for the information. A lot of us during the day at some point in our lives experience a phenomenon for a fraction of a second to a few seconds when we feel we are reliving a moment we have experienced before. This happens when we live a moment we have already viewed before during the predictive dream stage. The future events that we view are shown either literally or symbolically. These are recurring dreams and we see them from time to time till the decision taken irrespective of whether we decide to follow or reject it using our Free Will. The information shared with us through these dreams is to guide us to follow what is scripted or to prepare us for the events about to unfold.

Guidance received during predictive dreams can be leading in therapy.

Like for example:

1. A lady once dreamt that she has lost something very dear, personal and precious…...during the dream she saw herself hunting for it and wondering what is it she lost though her belongings were all found in place. Instead of what she`d lost she found a large bag of money with which she felt she couldn’t have bought the precious item even though the money was much more in replacement of the item. Now this is a clear indication of inheritance. This lady lost her only brother 2 days later in an accident and all the inheritance was put in her name by her parents which she had no value for in comparison with the loss she suffered.

2. Raj often wakes up with messages for her family, relatives, friends and also neighbours seen during predictive dreams stage. She receives news about examination results, weddings, births, deaths of ordinary people and even politicians, earthquakes, accidents, etc. As a child, Raj had predicted death of Jawaharlal Nehru days before he passed away. She had seen the country mourning death of a leader in her dream. A year back she informed her husband about his uncle’s death. The uncle died a few hours later. Raj once informed her friend that she would have a grand daughter soon when no one was even aware of the pregnancy. The friend’s daughter-in-law discovered that she was pregnant a fortnight later and gave birth to a baby girl. While in a train journey, Raj woke up in the middle of the night shouting “there’s an earthquake …… Earth is shaking …….. there’s an earthquake”. The entire northern belt in India was experiencing an earthquake the very moment which she learnt about in news later.

3. Fabiola, a customer services manager, in her predictive dream viewed herself flying in a plane that takes a couple of dips in deep green ocean waters. Interpretation of her dream during trance revealed that her Angels, Guides and The Divine Powers from above are conspiring to help her open her heart and receive love energy that she requires at this point in her life when she is on the look for her most compatible soul mate. Water in her case signified cleansing as well as nurturance with female energy.

In this dream the information is symbolically shown.

4. Juliet Fernandes, a Citigroup employee in Bombay, also shares her predictive dreams which have turned true. They have been about a friend’s switching jobs, break up of an engaged couple, birth of a baby girl, etc.

In one of her dreams, Juliet saw her friend being pushed out of a running vehicle by his friend and while lying thrown away, he was all naked. Days later, Juliet’s friend was betrayed by the same friend who’d pushed him out of the vehicle. His friend exposed all the information he had confided in him with and left him ashamed, exposed and embarrassed.

5. Anjali Shetty, a corporate communications personnel, relates her predictive dream during which she saw her friend going through marital trouble which was discovered in just a few weeks.

6. Manoj Hegde, a hotel consultant, saw a close friend committing suicide in his dream and a few weeks later his friend was found hanging from a ceiling. Manoj had also seen another friend failing in banking examination which turned true after just 4 days. In this case, Manoj was not even aware that his friend was scheduled to appear for the examination. In another dream, Manoj had seen his wife receive a promotion and training abroad which happened in 2 months. Not only was she promoted but was also sent to Paris for training after her passport was renewed in mere 5 days. It seemed more like a miracle in their lives.

7. Smita Sen, a chartered accountant, saw of her father passing away during a predictive dream and unfortunately lost him sometime later. In another recurring dream, she saw herself stroll down an ocean shore and later was surprised when she truly found herself living her dream during a holiday.

8. Many people have received solutions to their problems during predictive dreams in the form of advice from their Angels or dear departed who have taken on the task of being their Guides.

9. Many inventions like Teflon coating and e-mailing were a result of information provided by beings from higher conscious levels.

10. During predictive dreams, even Masters have guided many of us about global consciousness and thrown light on the times to come. People have reported disasters like earthquakes, plane crash and train accidents foreseen by them during these dreams.

C) During the last part of sleep, we slip into a Venting Stage and experience Venting dreams. These are very confusing, scary and frightening dreams and we invariably wake up panting or disturbed when we view these nightmares. This is a natural way of our mind to release an overload of negative emotions like fears, traumas, guilt, etc. accumulated during the day or from the sub-conscious. Therefore, we look at these dreams very positively. A lot many times, these dreams don’t even make any sense as they are a bundle of jumbled emotions. In case a person is scared of losing the job, he is bound to view his boss sacking him. I have known many middle aged men and women coming to me for therapy and still viewing nightmares where they see themselves sitting for exams and not being able to recall or reproduce a thing on paper. These are typical cases of examination anxiety their unconscious mind is still harbouring. People are known to see themselves being chased by an animal or person. Those who are scared to lose someone may even see the person die in their dream. Even past life/lives fears are vented out during this stage and people view themselves falling down a cliff, drowning, being stabbed or strangled too. This is how we overcome our fears and troubles on a daily basis bit by bit. These dreams too are recurring as gradually our mind keeps throwing out accumulated negative emotions.

For example:

i) Smita Sen, a chartered accountant, woke up one morning watching herself surrounded by a black, corrosive sea. She felt completely stuck however, a little while later she saw a pathway appear through which she could get out of it.

While in a trance session and connected with her dream, Smita’s mind interpreted the dream as a venting one which conveyed that Smita feels stuck in situations in life due to her past baggage of fears and insecurities but is able to find solutions to her problems and sort them each time.

ii) W. Hasan, a retired senior purchase manager, sees himself sitting for examination and still struggling with the first question till he has to hand over his paper. This is an example of examination phobia very deeply rooted in the mind. His mind has been working on it for decades now.

iii) Dr. A. Patel, an eye surgeon, suffered from ornithophobia (fear of birds). Almost twice a week or more he would wake up panting, sweating and sometimes even screaming with nightmares of large life size birds. In his dreams, flock of birds either lay mutilated and scattered all over a field or chased him or pricked his flesh with their beaks and claws till he was left in a near death state and woke up in panic. This had been going on in his life since childhood.

Initially during trance sessions, it was impossible for Dr. Patel to visualize an image of a bird with his eyes closed. Therefore, with the help of progressive desensitization, we got him to first gradually get accustomed to feel comfortable with feathers and thereafter smaller to larger birds. Only after this, was it possible for us to guide him to the source of his fear. The root cause was seen in his past as well as current lives.

In my attempt to help him look for the root cause in his sub-conscious mind, I suggested his conscious mind to show him the first time he harboured the fear from. Automatically, this led him to a past life episode where he saw himself in the aftermath of a war surrounded by corpses being pecked by vultures. He was a toddler then unaware of circumstances and the only survivor from his family. Watching his dead parents being eaten was one trauma associated with birds and the other was loss of his parents and being left all alone. This altogether created a deep rooted fear. This incident somehow linked to his present life which required rescripting and disconnection making his mind understand that the life was lived through and therefore, all over.

To make things worse, while he was in standard III at school in his current lifetime, an eagle swept down and frightfully grabbed food from his tiffin box as he walked down his play ground eating it. Claws of the eagle left a cut on his thumb which healed but the wounds in his mind triggered his past life bird fear and accumulated into a more intense condition and a repeated pattern of frightful dreams began ever since. On suggesting his mind to show anymore significant event connected with his fear, he was connected with this childhood memory. He was helped to pull out and release all the fear and all the connected emotional blocks and turmoil and this helped him completely resolve the problem. He is now completely rid of his bird fear even 3 years after therapy is over and is able to sleep peacefully.

Thus, interpretation of venting dreams helps a therapist diagnose his client’s fears and traumas and with clinical hypnotherapy or regression therapy he can help him eliminate these negative emotions and their physical, emotional, mental and psychosomatic manifestations or blocks in relationships, business, financial or spiritual growth.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) often accompanies dreaming. Barbiturates and most other sedatives as well as alcohol suppress REM sleep as they contain alpha and beta inhibitors.

Dream therapy is one of the modalities that is most widely used in clinical practice.

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung greatly emphasised the importance of dreams. Sigmund Freud`s vast works on dream analysis gives us a long list of symbols (which we view in dreams) along with their interpretation. A few examples are mentioned below. However, dreams are not static but rather dynamic and their meanings are always changing from person to person and even dream to dream. Therefore, as hypnotherapists, we do not judge dreams or analyse them according to what is related to us cognitively. We simply guide the client into trance, connect him with his dream and help him realize it’s meaning from his mind.

0 Completion of a phase in life. While it is the beginning, it is the end as well. A leap of faith is required for the next step in life. 0 like the ring is coming full circle. Ask yourself what you have completed and what your next step is to be.

7 Lucky seven has always been a mystical number, be sure you are not gambling away your chances. 7 The seven heavens, the seven seas and the seven-year-itch may be just a few things that you may be experiencing. Look at how you are taking chances and how you need to take chances.

Airplane Any flying represents a spiritual awakening. Notice if the plane was flying, on the ground, or taking off. This will tell you where you are in your spiritual quest. If you are not where you want to be spiritually then it is time for a change. Ask yourself how I can change my belief system.

Book The story of your life or what your purpose is in this lifetime. Books are how knowledge of the past, information of the present and desires for the future are passed on to others. Ask yourself what was in the book? Try reading the book in your dreams. You may be surprised that it holds the answers to the questions you have been asking.

Lover The balancing and integration of yin-yang, male female energy to achieve balance. How are you integrating the desire for love, intimacy and self-acceptance?

Mountain Challenge and opportunity lay before you. The mountain can mean that you are making a mountain out of a molehill. How are you like the mountain?

Rape If the dream is not a remembrance then it indicates someone is trying to rob you of precious energy or time. They are oppressing you and not considering your feelings or needs. It is time for you to look at your self-esteem and build it up. Meditate on taking charge and speaking out.

Temple The body is our temple. You may be in need of religious inspiration. How are you caring for yourself?

Vulture An animal that feasts on waste and the dead parts that are no longer needed. You may be taking in negatives from your environment. How are you like the vulture?

War To have internal differences that is not being settled in a constructive way. You need help with looking at your issues. There is nothing wrong with asking for help it shows that you are strong enough to take the positive steps in your life.

Water Your emotions. Look to the context to tell you how you are handling your life emotionally. Meditate on the water for clarity.

Witch, Wizard The female or male magic inside you. The way in which you use your magic is the way in which you will receive. How are you magical? Are you being fearful of your magic?

Zen A path of higher learning, grounding, peace and harmony are yours. Intuition and a sense of knowing are unshakable. New energy is coming your way. Take the time to look inside. You will be surprised at what you find.