The Sleep Wakers

Francis Menezes, a dream therapist, succumbed to a long illness recently. But if he hadn’t paid heed to his dreams, his time would have come much earlier.

In 1997, I was diagnosed with cancer (Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). I had to undergo treatment for nine months, which included chemotherapy and radiation. My oncologist had drawn up a programme for eight cycles of chemotherapy treatment. In the early stages of the chemotherapy, my dreams were in colour, but as the poison invaded my body and brain, my dreams were in dull and depressing black and grey. After the seventh cycle, I had the following dream:

I am sitting on a large red leather suitcase, which I remember belonged to my father when I was a very small child. I am in a simple bare room by the seaside and I am sitting against the wall near a corner. There is an ordinary bed in the room. My deceased father gets up from the bed, looks at me and asks, “How are you?” I reply, “I am fine.” He looks at me doubtfully, slowly shakes his head and walks out. I look at the trunk I am sitting on. It is full of mud and moss, as if it were a long-buried coffin.

I was quite disturbed by the dream and saw it as a clear warning from my dead father. The next day, I cancelled the eighth and last round of chemotherapy. Apparently, as my oncologist confirmed later, I had already been given too much Farmarubicin, a chemotherapy drug which could damage my heart. Despite cutting down on the chemotherapy, I still had a left ventricular failure. Had I undergone the eighth round of treatment, I would have most likely joined my father.

There are several kinds of dreams. We must realise that our brain works 24 hours. During the day, the left side of the brain works on facts, figures and formulae, and during the night, the right brain, which is our creative side, works with our feelings, art, love and music. It is the right side that is responsible for our dreams. 

Every dream highlights a problem one is facing, but since not everyone is ready to decipher their dreams, they appear disguised. Nowadays, when you look around, you notice a severe loss of identity, a feeling of powerlessness that has crept in. Sex has become a metaphor for power. Power and powerlessness are popular themes of many dreams. Our dreams are continuously healing us. Psychological healing, existential problem-solving—dreams deal with relationships with your wife, your boss, your child.   

Dreams make a big difference in the scientific and technological world. By incubating or sleeping with a dream, one can solve many problems. It is a well-known fact that the scientist Thomas Edison often slept on the floor of his laboratory and many of his best inventions came through his dreams.

I personally conducted a series of dream workshops over two years with 62 scientists from a large Indian public sector undertaking. Initially, there was utter chaos in the laboratory where they worked. They used to steal each other’s ideas, refuse to work as a team and argue with each other.

In the initial sessions, each of the scientists spoke of their personal problems with their wives or children. This was useful, as it cleared a lot of clutter from their minds. But as they gradually advanced, they began to speak about their scientific problems and challenges. This resulted in their making real breakthroughs at work.

There were other gains from the workshop. The wives of the scientists said that their husbands became more patient and pleasant at home. At work, there was greater camaraderie and the team actually managed a few scientific breakthroughs. No more rivalry and bickering; more creativity flowed into the team. 

A dream workshop usually runs for three days. The night before the first day is the incubation period. The participants are put into a semi-hypnotic trance by the lighting of incense sticks, use of meditation techniques like yoga nidra and the playing of relaxing music. The participants are asked to jot down their specific problems—it could be on how to improve their relationship with their boss or how to quit smoking, etcetera. Three times, as the music plays, they are asked to focus on this problem. They then mull over the problem for about half an hour.

Later that night, they are asked to keep the piece of paper under their pillow before falling asleep. Almost always, the majority of people experience a dream. The next day, the participants come together and narrate their individual dreams. Fellow participants question the facts of each  dream, discuss the dreams indirectly, look for metaphors, but do not pass any judgments. Later, we hand the dream back to the owner. Every dream analyses the personality of the dreamer with considerable accuracy. 

Let me give you a recent example. A lady executive came to me stating that she found it impossible to work with her domineering male boss in office. Her whole body language was negative. Her fists seemed to be clenched all the time and her breathing was heavy. When I put her through therapy, she dreamt of her childhood, when she used to fight with her older brother, who almost always defeated her in a physical duel. 

As the lady executive recounted her dream, she suddenly started beating her feet furiously like a Kathakali dancer. I encouraged her to increase her pace. Her face became contorted as I asked her to look into her brother’s eyes, and soon she expanded her chest and let out a cry of victory. A great wave of anger flowed out of her body. Thereafter, her body language improved, she opened her palms and was a much more confident person. She had finally begun to own her power.   

Ideally, the study of dreams should be made part of the academic curriculum in schools and colleges and used in the corporate world. Take the present global financial crisis. There is complete lack of creativity in this sector. Everybody is ignoring the right side of the brain, and sadly, you cannot get results from the left side alone.

Quantum physicists have already said this. The brain is magical: it cuts across problems, offers us solutions. Scientists are actually building a quantum computer that will work exactly like our right brain. Basically, it will break down our habitual way of thinking. We, therefore, need more people who can use the right side of the brain. When I was with the Tata Management Training Centre, we trained hundreds of corporate executives through dream workshops. To encourage the use of the right brain, we must make use of song, dance and theatre more often in our academic institutions.

In today’s world of anxiety, the only way forward is to think out of the box. For this, one needs the help of dreams. Everything starts with a dream. You cannot look into the back mirror when you drive a car. When you leap, you must jump into the future. Dreams help the mind jump.

— As told to Rahul Chandawarkar

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