According to Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, most dreams which appear to be asexual are in fact symbolic of some sexual nature. In the days of Freud there were no sleep laboratories and no one knew anything about REM sleep and dream erections. However, it is common knowledge among men that they have erections in the morning. Now we know, of course, that this is because they wake up in the morning in the midst of one of these recurring dream erections. Freud could have also observed that whenever he was dreaming he had an erection. This could have influenced his theory put forth in The Interpretation of Dreams. He maintained that sexual drive was the primary motivation of most dreams, and he even had a list of sex symbols to go along with his theory. Freud, if alive today, would say that dream erections are caused by the sexual nature of dreams, even if the dreams appear to be asexual to the dreamer. Freud placed a great emphasis on sex in all his dream interpretations. Could this be because of his observations of his own erections associated with every dream? But are there other explanations?

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This is important. The relaxing is not difficult, but if you could do it in two minutes there would be no need for me to write these detailed instructions. It takes a little time to learn it. And in the initial phase while you are mastering it, you must be patient with yourself—and with me too.

There is one thing that you must not do. Do not under any circumstances say to yourself, “I can’t relax; it might suit other people; it is not for me.” In my experience almost everybody who is tense or who has anxiety symptoms can in fact learn to do it, and will receive help as a result.

There is another phase also when people often get cross with themselves. We first get our body relaxed, and then we bring the feeling of our bodily relaxation into our mind. Some people find that they can achieve bodily relaxation very easily; but the relaxation of the mind does not seem to follow it. They tend to get cross with themselves, and are likely to give up. The point to remember is this: Almost everyone—and I say “almost” only because as a scientist I must allow such a possibility—almost everyone who can achieve good physical relaxation of the body can go on and achieve similar relaxation of the mind. It only requires a little patience and persistence.

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