Dreams and Hypnosis
Most people dream five or six times a night. How many of these dreams do you recall? If you are like most people, when you recall a dream you might consider yourself lucky. You can improve your ability to recall dreams through hypnosis.
Anyone can utilize hypnosis. It is normal and natural! In fact, you may go into a light level of hypnosis many times a day when you daydream while driving to work, imagine a future outcome, or focus intensely.
When you are in a state of hypnosis, or trance, you feel relaxed and focused. Your imagination is engaged through your senses and memory. And when your imagination is engaged, the conscious (rational and analytical) mind steps aside. When the conscious mind relaxes, you can access the power of your subconscious mind.
The conscious mind is analytical and rational. With your conscious mind, you solve problems and make sense of your experiences. It is the source of determination and will power, but long-term changes are not made in your logical mind alone.
The subconscious mind is where beliefs, habits, memories and more are stored. If you believe that a shot with a needle is painful, you will feel pain. In fact, you may also feel faint when you see a needle in anticipation of the pain. You are reacting according to subconscious beliefs about pain. If you believe that you will not remember your dreams, your subconscious mind will react accordingly.
One of the ways that you can improve your ability to remember dreams is by making positive and acceptable suggestions and visualizations to the subconscious mind while in a trance. You can attain this trance state yourself through deep relaxation or by using a professionally made hypnosis tape or CD. As long as you accept the suggestions about dreaming, they will influence your dreams.
You can make the suggestion that you will dream more and your subconscious mind will respond. Your dreams thrive on attention. The part of your mind that creates dreams is exceptionally sensitive and responsive. So as you pay attention to your dreams, it responds with rich, profound dreams.
You can also ask your subconscious mind to give you a powerful dream on a particular topic, an issue of interest to you--to enhance your creative productivity, to gain inspiration, to be healed, to clarify conflicting feelings about a job, to gain insight into family relationships and problems, to receive a message from your Higher Power, God, or Spirit Guide.
When you hypnotize yourself, pick a night where you aren't exhausted and you haven't used drugs or alcohol. Make sure you can get a full night's sleep and you'll have 10 or 20 minutes in the morning. On a piece of paper, write a few lines about what you did that day, how you felt, and the emotional highlights. This clears your mind of extraneous thoughts from the day.
Relax, maybe by using music and deep breathing. See what topics of interest come into your mind. Write it down as a concise question or request on your paper. Then repeat it like a mantra as you relax again and fall asleep.
Record whatever is on your mind when you awaken. Notice the dream action, characters, objects, colors, numbers and especially feelings. Beware of thinking, "this dream is meaningless." Your brain will respond to this thought or belief by blocking your ability to recall it accurately and understand it. Note the dream actions, characters, objects, colors, numbers and especially feelings. If you don't remember a dream, try again. Sometimes it takes a few nights, or even weeks to get a dream answer. Don't worry. There's no limit on the number of times you get to ask a question.
When it is time to interpret the dream, hypnosis can help again. By accessing a state of trance you may then reenter the dream and explore the setting, people, objects, and your role. You can talk with characters and objects, and ask them where they came from, where they are going, what they want you to know about them. You can also change the ending! This is especially helpful for people who have recurring dreams or nightmares. By imagining how the dream might have continued, or by changing the ending, you can create a positive and harmonious outcome. It is important to recognize the dream message first and confront your demons before changing the ending.
Remember that dreams are symbolic so they probably will not spell out an exact course of action you're supposed to take. And dreams have many layers of complexity and meaning. So be careful about taking the dream literally. And if you have trouble understanding it, share the dream with a friend and ask for input.
Laura Lefelar-Barch is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She sells dream incubation and interpretation tapes on her website www.hypnosisbylaura.com. .