Dreams. Those mysterious journeys we will never completely be able to gauge, no matter how thoroughly we research and analyse. There is a mystic power they possess that takes us into a world much deeper than the conscious reality and introduces us to bizarre phenomena... that we were never aware of, or could never imagine we would go through. But this is not without a meaning. Dreams are meant to direct, if only we choose to let them. They are capable of finding solutions to the most disturbing problems we face, when the mind gives up on it in the conscious state. This phenomenon is recognized as Dream Therapy . "Dreams either caution or vent subconscious thoughts. It is a good idea to keep a tab of the time and subject of your dream to interpret it", says Dr Blossom Furtado, clinical hypnotherapist, who heads the Delhi branch of the famous California Hypnosis Institute.

However, it is a misconception that Dream Therapy is the process of having your dreams interpreted by others for you. In reality, no one but you can understand your dreams, as they are so closely a reflection of your innermost thoughts and desires that it is impossible for anyone to completely infer what they suggest to you. Therefore, it is the process of deciphering your dreams yourself and letting them guide you the way your soul wants it to be, as it conveys it to your conscious in the form of subconscious play. Here, it is also necessary to not that a dream should not be dissected into parts and symbols and then understood differently, because no "dream" dictionary can specify meanings for different symbols... a lion in your dream may suggest strength whereas in mine it may be representing fear. Dream messages are as unique as we are.

So how does Dream Therapy work? Firstly, you need to remember your dreams. To some, this might come naturally. Others my have to work on it. If you fall in the latter category, you need to ask yourself repeatedly to remember your dream. Start this ten minutes before you get into bed. There are more chances that you will. This is also known as "Lucid Dreaming" that takes your conscious mind to the dream state. This works on the basis of subconscious need that works in other situations, too, for example, you needed to get up early on a certain day and worried about it the whole time you were in bed before falling asleep, and the next morning you actually got up on time because your body clock remembered your subconscious desire.

The second thing to do is to make a note of your dream, whether on a notepad or a voice recorder, as soon as you wake up, before the minute details are forgotten.

Then, it is time to contemplate. How did you feel in the dreams? Were your activities related to the obvious reality of your life or were they more symbolic? Does it remind you of anything specific? Were you happy or scared in the course of the dream? Were you an active part? How were you handling the bizarre situation? Look at different aspects and keep brainstorming till you come to an interpretation that makes enough sense with respect to the current events in your life.

If you can't do it alone, as for different interpretations and see if any of these fit your picture.

You will see that most dreams have a definite purpose- to bring to light something significant, to make you aware of your conflicts and troubles and to direct you towards a healing path.

No wonder the power of dreams has been harnessed from yonder years... Hippocrates practiced it and in ancient Egypt and Greece, dream temples were built where "dream incubation" was followed to solve major problems by hoping for a magical, curative or prophetic dream. Freud's dedication to the dreaming mind was fascinating.

An insightful dream acts like a bridge between the conscious and unconscious awareness and allows synergy between the two. When the conscious interprets the unconscious message, it is led towards curing the problem, be it illness, injury or emotional disturbance.

So if you want to nurture the inexplicable power of dreams to lead a physically and mentally healthy and stress-free life, it is time to "sleep over the problem" !

The Soul is immortal. So no matter who you are today, you have been different people, and lived different lives... lives that may have moved on something unresolved from them into your present one as a result of imbalanced karma. Your physical or psychological ailment may have been caused by a trauma that you experienced in a previous existence, or a personal ordeal buried deep in your subconscious.

Past Life Therapy (PLT) or Past Life Regression (PLR) is the phenomenon by which you retrieve the memories of previous lives to pin-point the source of your present suffering and fight it in the unconscious state. "If you've gone through all the medical procedures and the problem is still not going away, it maybe a result of your past life", says Dr Blossom Furtado, Clinical Hypnotherapist who heads the Delhi branch of the famous California Hypnosis Institute.

"Some people suffer from severe Asthma and allopaths have not been able to find any cure. What we have found after thorough research and documentation is that this disease comes from past life, and when we regressed a patient, it was found that all her three past lives contained the reason- she had been drowned, beheaded and hung, which caused her to choke", she exemplifies, adding further that "every time there's a problem or an emotional surge, the memory comes back subconsciously, and the mind says you're going to choke". Now ofcourse, the patient is fine, thanks to this mystical therapy.

Practitioners of PLR use hypnosis or acupuncture to delve into the unconscious mind. This is the first phase of this process, identified as the 'realistic - cathartic' stage by world famous psychotherapist Roger D Woolger. The second 'symbolic-archetypal' step needs the patient to project his present self onto his past personality. The third 'integral-mystical' stage is where the person has to come to terms with what has been relived through regression. The therapy is effective only when the patient acknowledges and accepts past trauma and is ready to move beyond that.

Transpersonal psychology, the arm of psychology that deals with the spiritual aspect of the mind, explains the therapeutic basis of this phenomenon in terms of parapsychology and altered states of consciousness and brain activity, combined with metaphysical energies. The healing that occurs as a result of freedom from one's past is based on the belief of reincarnation and the cycles of karma and rebirth.

"It is about diving deep into your consciousness and finding all the memories buried deep inside...the practitioner took me into a deep state of relaxation and slowly I stepped down...step after step...and went back and saw things in great clarity", remembers Tanya, a 25-year-old IT professional who got herself regressed about a month back after she started experiencing paranormal incidences. "Everyone should go through this experience", she recommends.

When I got myself regressed, I gained a deep insight into myself... the whys and the hows and the mystic secrets of those haunting thoughts. This is something you have to experience for yourself, and you'd know why its not rubbish as your 'sensible' friends might have suggested before!