There are a number of reasons why you may have a dream about your body or about a particular part of your body. Your unconscious mind may simply be recalling something that happened to your body in waking life – for example, you might have bruised or cut yourself recently.
Your unconscious mind may also be warning you of an ailment or injury that your conscious mind may not yet have noticed. If you dream about pain in any part of your body, or that a part of your body is injured, it can be a sign that it is time for a check-up. This is especially true if you are having such dreams on a regular basis.
Sometimes, a dream about your body, or any human body, can tell you something about your own self-image. A dream of a beautiful, healthy body may be a sign that you have a positive body image. If you dream of a body that is diseased or unattractive, you may have negative feelings about your own physical appearance.
The body can also represent the ego or the self in a dream. A dream that you have broken a bone, been injured, are missing a body part or that your teeth are falling out can be a sign that you have lost a part of yourself. If you give up too much of yourself in order to please others, your unconscious mind may use this symbolism to warn you that you are endangering your own emotional well-being.
It helps to remember that in dreams, your unconscious mind often takes idiomatic expressions and interprets them literally. Therefore, you may dream that you have literally “lost your head” or that you “can’t stomach” something. In such a case, simply talking about your dream can help you understand its meaning.
The Body During Dream Sleep
When you dream, your body is in a strange state. Your large, voluntary muscles are paralyzed. The sensory input from the outside world to your brain is dampened. This can mean, for example, that you no longer feel the pull of gravity.
When your brain tries to make sense of this situation, interesting dream situations can develop. For example, your real physical paralysis can lead to your dreaming that you are trying to run but are finding it difficult or impossible to move. The loss of the sensation of gravity can cause you dream that you are flying or floating.
This state may also lead to your experiencing sleep paralysis or having an out of body experience.
Your body in a dream represents you – not just your physical self, but your intellectual, emotional and spiritual selves as well.
In a dream, sensations in your body reflect feelings and thoughts that you have in real life. Often, these will be feelings and thoughts that you do not acknowledge when you are awake.
Different parts of the body can have different meanings. For example, the feet in a dream can represent practicality or being “grounded”, while the head can represent the intellect and the hands can represent control.
The right side of the body often symbolizes logic and rationality, while the left side often symbolizes intuition and creativity.
Mismatched body parts can indicate an issue that the dreamer needs to be aware of. For example, a dream about an adult’s head on a child’s body or an adult’s head on a child’s body can be a sign of immature behavior.
If you dream that your body suddenly changes shape, you are undergoing a change in your personality. This could be the result of a sudden event that has had a great influence on you.
A dream that you suddenly become very fat or very thin could be related to issues that you have about food and weight.