Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Dream Therapy, Part 1



Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Dreaming is the way your body maintains emotional
and mental health


 

            Whether you are sleeping or awake, the mind constantly perceives stimuli and processes those experiences as message units. Dreams are the language that the subconscious mind uses to speak to the conscious mind to make sense of all of that information you have collected during the day. The more message units you can take in during the day, the higher the amount of stress you can tolerate. Every night when you go to sleep, the subconscious mind is tasked with resolving your subconscious mind’s reaction to this stress in the form of dreams.

            When we are awake (conscious), we speak in linear language, but dreams are nonlinear. They may be metaphoric and symbolic; or, they may seem to have a “plot” and run from start to finish like a movie. Regardless of the format, your dreams are a direct language of the subconscious mind, and your subconscious mind is telling you what you need to know.

Dream analysis is often the first opportunity that I have to establish a working relationship with my hypnotherapy client. I use reflective listening to guide and support the person to interpret the meaning of his or her dream. Then, as I gauge the content of the person’s dreams, I can incorporate the language/symbols of the dream to create the hypnosis script help him or her change specific behaviors to achieve the stated therapeutic goal.

 
 
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.