May 2020
In this session, my client explores a vivid dream he had the night before. Initially, he had wanted to look at several other things but because this dream had just happened and was still vivid he thought a dream exploration might be the direction to take. As a hypnotherapist it is key to trust a client’s intuition, also dreams are another way the subconscious mind communicates with us and often answers are revealed. When it comes to recurring dreams, it is important to understand or sense what is being communicated as this could be beneficial to you in your “real life”. So in this session, it becomes clear that Jim’s subconscious mind is communicating the importance of caring and not losing track of his inner child.
J: I’m in a field on a road I got out of the car. It's parked oddly across the road I'm, I’m seeing the two boys. I'm seeing in my imagination, I'm alone on the road. I don't know where the young kid is, the other one, I’m, I don't, I'm not concerned right now.
A: So go ahead and see this road that you're seated on and we're standing on an describe the road
J: It’s sort of paved, it's old, there are ditches on either side of its farmland, it’s flat umm, there's a lot of trees on one side, I guess yeah and the rest is like a country road.
A: Very good look down at your feet and describe what you see.
J: Umm...I’m in jeans, I'm just myself.
A: Okay so here you are on this old paved road and you're looking for direction of this little boy who's seven or eight.
J: Yeah, he’s in a house somewhere back we passed and I’m there. I'm getting back there.
A: Go ahead and describe the house.
J: It's like a big family house there's like a courtyard in the middle it's all grass mainly and there are other people there and people that live there I'm looking around for this kid and what is it, it's a weird plant bush or something it's like, it's like is it alive or is it a door to something I can't really quite tell what it is but, I feel that I have to that I'm curious about it that I need to explore it, is it talking to me? is it saying something? it's trying to say something.
A: Get close to this plant, get a little closer.
J: Yeah, it's tall, it's kind of windy, it's arms are kind of moving around, lighted, some of them are lit. It's growing up, the side of the house, it's been there a long time. I'm still wondering where the boys are at. This plant, yeah, it's kind of cool, it’s Ummm... I feel like it's trying to... I don't know if it will be there for me, or something like that?
A: It's an old vine it's been there for a long time, it's seen a lot, it knows a lot, it's growing up the side of this old family house and you have a sense that it's there for you or that it's communicating with you.
J: Yeah, now I'm wondering if I’ve seen it before....somewhere? it’s not been the yard, nothings been groomed or taken care of, it's…. which roots?... you can kind of see the stump of it, you can actually crawl back in there.
A: So what happens when you explore this area?
J: Yeah, I'm…
A: Knowing that you can ask this plant anything you wish, this is your scene, your dream, anything is possible here.
J: It's just a calming effect so... yeah it just reminds me of me being a kid.
A: So there's a calming effect that is taking place in the presence of this old vine, reminding you of your childhood of being a kid.
J: Yeah, (sigh) I keep wondering if I've been here before or something. I know that I can sense…. I'm still on this mission to find this...it's urgent.
A: Wondering if you've been here before, but you're on this mission searching for this little boy who's seven or eight.
J: Yeah I can't find him, I (pause) Yeah and the other little boy’s getting further away, umm (pause) Yeah, I don't know if he's at this house, I got to go back to the other neighborhood. I’ve got to go back over there.
A: Okay, let's go back over to the other neighborhood.
J: No, no, I’ve got to go. (pause) Yeah I've gone back, I'm going down the stairs, they seem (pause) they're familiar, but they're...it still seems like I'm going down for the first time it's weird and so they're there, we're back in this neighborhood.
A: Describe the neighborhood that you're back in?
J: Ahhh, it's kind of like, it's a little like Ummm...Petaluma? Older house, not quite Victorian but some era like craftsman. Nice, umm no sidewalks, lots of picket fences and birch trees and like (pause) there's one in particular house blue with white trim. I don't know it's kind of like your average American neighborhood but not track homes not anything like that. This is where they live, this is where we are. Umm, yeah, I've got to have them home for the parents (laughs) There’s other kids, other family kids around, not a lot of activity. (pause) Yeah so this older boy, he keeps...he wants to drive off in the car.
A: So this 12 13-year-old wants to drive off in the family car?
J: Yeah.
A: So what do you do here?
J: Don't know if he can do it. I kind of feel like letting him...Ummm (pause) I can never see this little boy but he's around.
A: You can never see him but he's around.
J: It feels like I'm looking for him. (pause) Oh yeah so now I'm driving in this car with this other kid and I'm in the back and... umm (pause) that feels a little weird you know kind of out of control feeling (laughing) like we're going somewhere but I'm not necessarily in control.
A: Feeling a little out of control with this 12 13-year-old boy driving with you in the back seat.
J: Hmm, (pause) yeah I keep seeing these bees coming, these bees coming. I don't know what they're doing there. It's a little frightening there, they're on my arm, they're on him and umm..they're not super happy, they're overly...they’re not, they're not stinging us.
A: So these bees they're here they're on your arms they're not super happy.
J: Yeah, they're creating this other level of chaos.
A: Creating another level of chaos. What do you say or do with the bees that are creating this level of chaos?
J: I'm watching, I guess I'm fascinated because I'm seeing there... some, I'm watching their behavior, I don’t know if they're mating or if they're just crawling all over each other it's kind of…(pause) so I'm, I'm distracted by what they're doing, I'm curious amidst all this other stuff (laughing) Ummm, you know, I'm just curious.
A: Describe what you're feeling with these bees as you're watching this with this 12 13-year-old driving out of control how do you feel?
J: Umm, I'm, I’m a little alert but I'm curious they could be stinging the kid driving, that could cause trouble but there's all this flowing motion it’s like down the road at 50 miles mph and all this and this could...and I'm still thinking about wondering where the little boy is so it's kind of the same... thing.
A: So here you are in the backseat feeling alert and curious.
J: Yeah, we're getting too far away from the little boy, you need to let me out... right now. (pause) Hah, yeah that loop just gone right back on the road.
A: Are you right back where you started?
J: Yeah.
A: So here you are right back where you started on this old paved road, looking for that little boy at seven or eight year old. (pause) Are the bees with you in the scene?
J: No, no it’s passed. It's funny the car is parked across the road with one wheel in the ditch sort of thing and the other kid just kept going, back home I think.
A: So you see that car now parked in the ditch sensing that that boy went home. So what do you do?
J: I'm back to walking back to that bend in the road where I think that there's the house where he is (a person accidentally walks into the session interrupting my client’s trance for a few seconds, my client immediately comes out of his state of trance and quickly responds to the person and settles back down into a relaxed state. A client at times will be interrupted and with the help of the hypnotherapist they can easily go right back into a state of trance and self-hypnosis)
A: Okay so, you can go right back in there, taking in three deep breaths. Returning right back to that bend in the road.
J: (Big sigh)
A: You are going to walk back to that old family house.
J: Yeah, I woke up with a feeling of kind of wanting to have the two boys together. (pause) Kind of wanting to see them or have an arm around each of them sort of thing.
A: So you want these two boys together, what does that do for you? What feeling comes to surface?
J: Yeah, it feels like the mission, it feels like wherever we're at, together is going to be good, rather than all this, this running around scattered looking for everybody. Right now looking for the little guy.
A: Looking for that seven or eight-year-old.
J: He's... hiding away.
A: He's hiding away?
J: Yeah, yeah he's somewhere on his own little adventure, I keep seeing it, it’s like...he's probably okay I just haven't found him I just don’t know yet, he's playing with a friend, he doesn't even know that I'm worried about him
A: He’s probably on his own adventure, unaware of your worry about him.
J: Yeah, strange. Yeah but now I’m just trying to see and imagine what they look like.
A: And what do you see them looking like?
J: They're like brothers, they’re Ummm they’re...I see a darker hair? one of them? dark hair on the little boy? Ummm (paise) it's kind of vague, it's not real clear Ummm they're definitely their own... totally their own...they’re own independence… and they don't want me necessarily hugging em, they want to do their own stuff (chuckles) Oh, what a strange place.
A: So here you are the observer on a mission to bring these two brothers together and yet they want to be their own individual beings one totally unaware that you're wanting him to be with his older brother and the older brother seemingly kind of out of control able to drive.
J: Yeah, he's...
A: So, what's happening now?
J: Ahh, I'm, I'm, I'm wishing I could go back to sleep in that dream so I’m, I’m.
A: You are, you’re in a dream, sorry.
J: Yeah, yeah I'm feeling that I’m allowing that space, it’s like I’m...I gotta, I gotta... relax.
A: Moving down into this dream with these two brothers, a family house with an old vine.
J: A great place, a weird feeling.
A: There's a sense of being here before, enjoying the feeling of the vine through some comfort.
J: Amongst the anxiousness, the anxiousness of not being horrified, of not knowing where he is I have to know, I'm responsible for finding him and his well-being and not really sure where he's at.
A: So let's scan your body and find that anxiousness wanting to know where that 7-8-year-old is where does that.
J: In my lower, it’s in my right side, my backs a little tight, it’s in my right side.
A: Move to the right side of your lower back and do you see a polar or shape or fuel vibration here? This anxiousness of wanting to know where this child's this boy the seven or eight-year-olds
J: It's like my rib cage keeps tightening and pulling my hip and my rib cage closer together, I have to keep. That is my constant friend that feeling
A: This is your constant friend you want to say anything to this constant friend
J: Yes, where did you come from? It's a strategy it's tiring me out
A: It's tiring you out. What do you say in response to this?
J: I don't want to let it go, it doesn't want to let me go, it's conscious, I can only exercise a conscious effort over it otherwise it's... I need it, I also feel I need it on some level, I can do everything with it.
A: You do everything with it so there's a need for this part of you.
J: Yeah I just need it to balance out I need to sort of feel it what it's like I need to sort of yeah work on it yeah it is a mission yeah it's like I keep trying to open up but I, I have these other images it has to be done in some other way like like be a monk or something are some level of... F*** (sigh) "chill_ I feel stress and strangeness on the side all the time.
A: So this stress and strangeness on this part of you that you feel all the time and there's this sense that there's this part of you that wants to be open and these images came in order for you to open this part of you perhaps the image of being a monk is a doorway to opening this part of you that you sense needs to or wants to be opened.
J: Ummm. I'm playing I had to change some of the hopes on my thinking to balance this out to understand Ummm how automatic or subconscious it is a journey I am I just have this now and I thought about it earlier this week I remember riding my bike with this guy who was a really good cyclist and I was able to keep up with him for the longest time were talking probably 20-30 miles, but then I started to get tired, I couldn't balance my pedaling, one side, my right side was always.. and I couldn't figure out why I was always doing it, why I couldn’t, why I felt lopsided and once I got really tired and I kept, it's like I didn't know how to change it, it was tough, it was weird it was long, that’s Ummm….I don't know if they're related
A: Stay in your body this is good.
J: Yeah.
A: And moving close to that part of you, moving close to that part of you on your rib cage to that right side, are you able to see a shape color or vibration or an image?
J: It's mostly like a feeling it's like I'm in my body, it feels warmer, like there is a vibration or hum, it's like a hum.
A: (Here I take my client down into a familiar room, a room we call his Control Room where he has the ability to access and see any part of his body) So from your control center, your control room, here you are seated in your comfortable chair where you are in full control your sensing into this right part of you that is warmer that is like a hum and you have a microphone here on this control panel and now I want you to go ahead and speak to this part of you that is listening and is fully conscious that is aware go ahead and ask what you might need to ask it in this time.
J: What are you afraid of?, why the tension?
A: What are you afraid of, why the tension? And now switch and respond as this part of you. (Pause) What does this part say in response?
J: Hmmm...
A: Is it saying something, or doing something? Get close, what is it saying or doing?
J: It's still cringing and I'm feeding it thoughts and I don't want too and I'm trying to listen.
A: From this control center you can feed it whatever images you want.
J: It's death or failure, this sense of losing or...or it’s competitive, it does not want to lose it’s Ummm...but it doesn't want anyone to know that.
A: So you know that this part here that’s on the right side is either death or failure or it’s loss or competitiveness and it doesn't want anyone to know this and yet you know.
J: Yeah it's like... Yeah, it's definitely a driving force. It's my physical power and now that I'm getting older... it's the imbalance, It's that approach, it’s one way to continue I suppose, give it space.
A: So what happens if you give it space right now?
J: There’s a bigger picture coming in. I feel more relaxed... I feel... It's a balancing idea. I feel more relaxed. It's...I still got one eye on it, I'm still curious about how it really does, if it will or maybe I’m to learn to live with it, it's hard to say.
A: So you got one eye on it, you're curious, you're in your control center, anything's possible and you can feed it any image you like. You can do anything you like from the center, you're in full control.
J: Yeah, fuck it’s just...got to rest it, pet it, and work to understand it.
A: So rest it, pet it, understand it, give it space.
J: Hmmm…(long pause)
A: What's happening?
J: The two little boys, which side is what? It's so far back... or it's so fully integrated.
A: These two little boys, which side is what, it's so far back or so integrated.
J: Yeah, hmmm (pause)
A: What are you sensing, into now?
J: That...more like some kind of current. I have an overall picture of Ummm...that the larger world right now, the division, it seems to be focused on. How I'm relating to that. It's just the sense of how I’m dealing with that in my own circumstances. I've been, again just looking at how I think things, being comfortable with it. It's funny, I do think so particular in so many ways, but I'm tired of listening to that. (laughs) And I have all these things around me that I'm going to charge one minute and get it all done (laughs) But that makes my right side. I’m going to charge this stuff or go find the way to make it alright... wow it’s like...I keep feeling this space to want to do that, it's hard for me to pick exactly how to do that. And the realization that it's just going to be the one thing that I do pick and I've got to settle with that.
A: So here there's a big part of yourself the right side, that is here and present and communicating to you, something that about death, failure, loss competitiveness, that is your driving force, that is your physical power and there is a role that it is asking of you, sounds like something to do with imbalance, balancing. Perhaps it's imbalanced and perhaps it's wanting to be fed some different images. And there is, some kind of relationship between these two brothers, these two boys that are within you, and what side are they on? And so before we close this scene and return back to your present self and time, is there anything you want to look deeper at and explore into, ask, your right side. (long pause) What's happening?
J: (Sigh).
A: What are you seeing or feeling?
J: I'm overlaying the dream of the boys and I'm absorbing and exploring this feeling that surrounds this area altogether.
A: Very good.
J: And I'm waving, this, yeah, it's Ummm... it's, it’s (pause).
A: So continuing to overlay this experience gaining clarity and insight, waving now. It is time to return to your present self and time knowing that this dream is here for you to continue to explore and that this right side of you is open to communication with you and that all you have to do is move into your control center and room and communicate and work together. And so now I will count you back to your present self and time from one to five and on five you will open your eyes feeling completely energized and rejuvenated. One bringing back with you all the downloads the tools and the techniques, two bringing back with you the insights and clarity that this dream had imparted you with, three bringing back with you a part of you that is wanting to communicate with you, four returning to your body, begin to move your toes and fingers and on five when you are ready, go ahead and open your eyes. Welcome back.
I would like to express gratitude in the sharing of this session for it is my belief that in sharing one’s experience that others may relate, and perhaps realize that they are not alone in their experiences.
The posting of this session has been made possible with consent of the client. All rights reserved.