What Your Dreams Mean with Certified Analyst Lauri Loewenberg

dream analyst lauri loewenberg

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

A successful author and Certified Dream Analyst, Lauri Loewenberg uses her vast knowledge on dream interpretation to help educate and guide others to uncovering the messages and secrets of their subconscious. In today’s episode, we sat down with Lauri to discuss how she first became interested in studying dreams, the most common dreams, nightmares, and what specific aspects of our dreams actually represent.

First, we asked Lauri how she started learning about dreams. She explained that from the age of two, she’s always been able to remember her dreams. As a vivid dreamer, she would draw and journal details she could remember about her dreams. At the age of nineteen, Lori lost her grandfather, and after having an impactful dream where she spoke to him, she was inspired to study dream psychology. Lauri learned that dreams themselves, while seemingly random, are actually practical. Dreams offer practical advice about our lives, and by learning how to understand them, you can use dreams to help work through issues in your real life. They are culminations of our subconscious, continuing thought processes we’ve had throughout the day and applying them to our R.E.M. sleep cycle. Dreams take our thoughts and interpret them through feelings, symbols, and metaphors. When asked about how often people dream, Lauri said that while everyone dreams, not everyone can remember what they’ve dreamt about. Dreams are connected to where our short-term memories are stored, so they’re easy to forget if we don’t actively try remembering them. For a trick to remembering dreams, Lauri suggested staying still when you first wake up. Rather than getting up right away, take a few minutes in the quiet to recall what you’ve dreamt about. Writing down your dreams after you’ve woken up is also a good way to remember them.

Common dreams are called archetypes, and when asked what the most common dreams are, Lauri gave us a few examples. Since dreams can be connected to common behaviors and issues we all experience, some of the most common dreams are losing teeth and being back at school. Dreaming about your teeth falling out often connects back to issues with communication. You’ve said something you wish you could take back, so your dream creates a symbolic interpretation of the words falling out of your mouth. For being back at school, those dreams connect to issues with work. You either feel stuck where you are or are trying to figure out where you want to go in your career path. Dreaming about different people can also symbolize different aspects of our subconscious. For example, mothers in dreams represent the maternal, nurturing side of you, while fathers represent your finances. When it comes to nightmares, they are typically connected to current, unresolved issues. However, nightmares can also connect back to past traumas, with our subconscious showing you that you have yet to move on from what happened. While nightmares can be terrifying at times, Lori encouraged people not to try and wake yourself up from them. Like regular dreams, nightmares are trying to send us a message, so it’s important we stay and try to understand what that message is. Rather than run from it, sitting with the feeling or issue a nightmare has brought up can help you figure out how to resolve the problem.

While there are some dreams we’d all like to wake ourselves up from, many of us don’t even realize we’re asleep. However, lucid dreamers not only know they’re dreaming but can interact with their subconscious. When asked about lucid dreaming, Lauri explained that it’s not something that can be taught or forced. Lucid dreaming happens naturally and often occurs in the morning. However, if someone wants to increase their chances of lucid dreaming, they can try setting their alarm 20-30 minutes early and falling back asleep, for that short period of sleep may allow them to lucid dream. Another aspect of dreams we discussed with Lauri is the symbolism of animals, particularly snakes. Lauri said that when a person dreams of either a snake or a group of snakes, the animal represents a toxic person or situation in one’s life. The bigger the snake, the larger the issue is. If the snake bites a person in a dream, this can mean that a healing journey is about to begin.

For those who have lost someone, many will dream of that person a year or so after their death. Lauri explained that the reason for this is the different stages of grief. When we first lose someone, our grief can be so intense that it overwhelms our minds, blocking our ability to dream of that person. However, after a year or so, we can start to see them in our dreams. Who we lost, how we lost them, if there was an open casket; these are all things that can influence how they appear to us in dreams. Eventually, we start having dreams that feel more real than the others, with our lost loved one appearing and telling us that they are well. Apart from lost loved ones, many people also have dreams about or taking place in a house. Lauri said that the house itself symbolizes you, with the different rooms being different parts of your mind. The kitchen is the part of yourself that prepares and nurtures, while the bathroom is the part that releases negativity. The basement represents things that we have pushed down to avoid dealing with, the attic is high aspirations and spiritual beliefs, and the bedroom can be either sexual desires or issues that we will put to bed. Finally, the living room is an issue you’re dealing with in daily life, and the backyard portrays parts of your life you like to keep private.

Our dreams are not just manifestations of current problems. They can also be our body’s way of warning us. For those who suffer with depression, Lauri explained that dreams of falling are common. The sensation of falling is the subconscious mind telling someone that they are about to fall into a depressive episode. With the warning, a person can prepare themselves, finding ways to keep busy and distracted before the depression hits. For those of us who menstruate, once a month, we’ll dream of water. On the flip side, during perimenopause and menopause, dreams about receding water are common, representing how we are about to lose our periods. Physical pain in dreams can be a warning about unresolved trauma and being unable to reach a destination can mean we are not reaching where we want to go in our real life. With so much going on in dreams, some people do not feel rested after waking up. When asked why, Lauri said that people who feel unrested after dreaming stay in lighter stages of sleep. They’re not getting enough deep sleep, which results in them feeling more tired in the morning.

For those who need help interpreting their dreams, Lauri has appointments available on her website. During your session, Lauri will walk with you through every detail of your dream, helping you figure out what they mean and how they connect to your daily life. According to Lauri, nothing in a dream is random. Everything is meaningful and can be connected back to an aspect of your life or mind. Dreams can even be sources of inspiration, and Lauri shared an example of this through a story about Paul McCartney. The famous musician woke up from a dream with a harmony in his mind, and he used that harmony to create what would become the song “Yesterday”. Apart from inspiration, dreams can also reflect issues we’re dealing with currently, such as breakups. One of the most common breakup dreams is ones where people break into their ex’s houses. Lauri explained that the house symbolizes the ex’s psyche, and going through their things is a person’s way of trying to understand why the relationship ended. For those dreaming of broken relationships, Lauri told us the best way to stop the dreams is to find a way to process your feelings in a healthy way. It may be difficult, but you have to go through the healing process so that you can move on and stop dreaming about it.

Finally, we asked Lauri what she thinks the most common dream people have is. She told us that the dream people have the most is one about their partner cheating. Cheating in dreams represents something in the relationship that is making you feel like a third wheel. Whether it is a new job, a side hustle, or a new baby, something is taking your partner’s attention, and you subconsciously want that attention back.

Lauri Loewenberg

Lauri is a Certified Dream Analyst, syndicated columnist, author, popular radio personality, speaker and member of IASD, the International Association for the Study of Dreams, an international organization whose purpose, among other things, is to conduct and encourage research into the nature, function, and significance of dreaming.

She spent much of her childhood keeping a dream journal in order to capture all those wonderfully strange adventures she experienced every night. One night, after she had a dream where her deceased grandfather visited her and gave her a life-changing message, she decided to dedicate herself to finding the answers we all seek within our dreams. Lauri studied Dream Psychology and became certified as a Dream Analyst under the tutelage of Katia Romanoff, Ph.D. in 1996. She has since analyzed and researched over 75,000 dreams from people of all walks of life from all over this planet.

Her dream-working techniques are so easy and ground-breaking that she has been invited on The View, Good Morning America, CNN, The Katie Couric Show, The Steve Harvey Show, Pickler & Ben, Fox Business and is a recurring guest on The Today Show and Dr. Oz. Lauri is also one of the most requested guests in radio for over 20 years now, has logged over 3,000 interviews including such nationally syndicated radio shows as Oprah Radio, Art Bell’s “Coast to Coast,” Playboy Radio, “Nights with Alice Cooper,” Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, and Bubba the Love Sponge. She is a recurring guest on over forty different stations across the country, has logged over 2900 interviews thus far, and is one of the most requested guests on the morning drive circuit.

She has been featured as an expert source in Harper’s Bazaar, The New Yorker, Esquire, Maxim, Modern Bride, Glamour, Woman’s World, Woman’s Day, Prevention and Cosmo and has analyzed top celebrities’ dreams for Globe Magazine and The National Enquirer London. In March of 2011 Lauri released her third book Dream On It, Unlock Your Dreams Change Your Life (St. Martin’s Press). She is also a self-taught artist and has a popular pin-up art business, YouAsAPinUp.com