Jesse Lyon MS, CCHt, QS, LMHC
Dream Interpreter and Clinical Hypnotherapist
Jesse Lyon is a licensed counselor, dream interpreter and clinical hypnotherapist based in Orlando, FL. With over a decade of experience, Jesse has an extensive background in complex trauma, anxiety, dissociative disorders, and the neurodivergent community. In 2017, he launched his private practice, Lyon Counseling LLC, where he bridges the gap between modern culture and empathetic mental health. Jesse is a passionate educator and viral social media influencer with over 2.5 million TikTok followers @LyonMentalHealth, where he shares insights on the subconscious mind, dream interpretation, and more. He is also the cofounder of Trauma Focused Hypnotherapy, a hypnotherapy practice that offers in-person trainings with clients, plus online courses and other educational resources. He previously worked as one of the founders and Chief Dream Scientist at the DreamApp Ltd. Jesse graduated with a BA in Psychology from Thomas Edison State University, and with a Masters of Science in Counseling Psychology from Palm Beach
Education
- MS, Counseling Psychology, Palm Beach Atlantic University
- BA, Psychology, Thomas Edison State College
Professional Achievements
- Nationally recognized Licensed Mental Health Counselor, trauma hypnotherapist, and pioneering educator dedicated to revolutionizing the way we understand the subconscious mind
- Co-founder of Trauma Focused Hypnotherapy
- A viral voice for mental wellness and dream interpretation on TikTok and other platforms, with a global following of over 2.4 million
- Had high-profile features and interviews in The New York Times, Verywell Mind, Bustle, Elite Daily, and PureWow, among others
- Has spoken at international conferences including the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD), Spooky Empire, Megacon Orlando, and the Health 2.0 Conference, Las Vegas—where he was honored with the Outstanding Leadership Award
- Featured as a guest expert on The Jenny McCarthy Show, Psych Talk Podcast, and multiple television networks, including NBC’s WESH 2 and CBS’s WKMG News 6
Certifications & Organizations
- Qualified Supervisor
- Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist graduated from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in California
- Member and presenter for the International Association for the Study of Dreams
Favorite Piece of Advice
Your mind is not against you, it's just misunderstood.
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Forum Comments (8)
What does dreaming of spiders mean?
When you dream of spiders, keep in mind that every symbol has a light side and a shadow side. “Good and bad” is a little bit too reductionist. All dream symbols have that duality of meaning depending on how that symbol shows up in the dream. For instance, a friendly spider represents the light side and a spider trying to bite you represents the shadow side.
Let’s look at the light side of a spider: they’re very crafty and cunning. They plan these intricate webs and traps to catch their food. A spider can be a wonderful sign that says, “Hey, slow down, make a little bit of a better plan, prepare, and then just sit and wait. Your well-laid preparation will bring the good things into your life that you're searching for.”
On the shadow side, spiders are tricksters. Oftentimes, those little legs and the venom can feel like, “Ah, something small has penetrated my defenses and I'm afraid. I'm afraid that my life will be poisoned by some little vulnerability that I have, where the spider will sneak in and attack me.” It can also be about deceptions in your relationships or even situations in your life. A dream of a spider is like, “Hey, I'm walking through life,” and then boom, spider web in your face as you walk down this hallway. It's like, “What trap in my life am I not seeing that I need to be aware of?”
Let’s look at the light side of a spider: they’re very crafty and cunning. They plan these intricate webs and traps to catch their food. A spider can be a wonderful sign that says, “Hey, slow down, make a little bit of a better plan, prepare, and then just sit and wait. Your well-laid preparation will bring the good things into your life that you're searching for.”
On the shadow side, spiders are tricksters. Oftentimes, those little legs and the venom can feel like, “Ah, something small has penetrated my defenses and I'm afraid. I'm afraid that my life will be poisoned by some little vulnerability that I have, where the spider will sneak in and attack me.” It can also be about deceptions in your relationships or even situations in your life. A dream of a spider is like, “Hey, I'm walking through life,” and then boom, spider web in your face as you walk down this hallway. It's like, “What trap in my life am I not seeing that I need to be aware of?”
What does a snake bite mean in a dream?
If you have a dream about a snake bite, ask yourself about and take note of your emotions. That snake bite might be saying, “Hey, there is a painful truth that I need to deal with. I'm being bit by the truth of life. And I need to take that bitter poison because it may be healing to me.” But on the other side, it can also be like, “I'm being attacked by lies right now. Maybe those are the lies that people tell about me, or those can be the lies I tell about myself, like my low self-esteem.” I think the answer is one and the same. It's both. How do I recognize the lies that are in my life and then live my life more authentically? That’s the snake bite.
Oftentimes, the biggest difficulty in dream interpretation is that we apply a conscious lens to these subconscious symbols. Deam interpretation is inherently difficult because we're operating from the subconscious. Subconsciously, happy equals happy, sad equals sad. There’s a direct correlation between emotions in the subconscious brain, but a snake can mean many things all at the same time.
Snakes in dreams are very common. Every human being has snake dreams and has this connection with snakes. That's why you see it in so much religious literature. A snake is often a character because it sort of transcends all demographics. Snakes shed their skin. They were long thought to be immortal. Snakes can be a huge transformational symbol of change that says, “Hey, it's time to shed my skin of who I was and be reborn.”
Snakes are also in Greek mythology. Think about Asclepius, the god of healing, and the snake curled around his staff of healing. That snake is the one that provided the antidote, that provided the medicine for people.
On the other side, there’s Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden. Snakes can mean deception. A black snake crossing your path in a dream can mean that there's something deceiving happening. Or, maybe some big change is about to take place where a deception is going to be revealed. You need to be ready for that change. Snakes hiding in grass or snakes biting you are a sign to stop and ask yourself, “What is poisoning my life right now?” So there’s a light side and a dark side.
Oftentimes, the biggest difficulty in dream interpretation is that we apply a conscious lens to these subconscious symbols. Deam interpretation is inherently difficult because we're operating from the subconscious. Subconsciously, happy equals happy, sad equals sad. There’s a direct correlation between emotions in the subconscious brain, but a snake can mean many things all at the same time.
Snakes in dreams are very common. Every human being has snake dreams and has this connection with snakes. That's why you see it in so much religious literature. A snake is often a character because it sort of transcends all demographics. Snakes shed their skin. They were long thought to be immortal. Snakes can be a huge transformational symbol of change that says, “Hey, it's time to shed my skin of who I was and be reborn.”
Snakes are also in Greek mythology. Think about Asclepius, the god of healing, and the snake curled around his staff of healing. That snake is the one that provided the antidote, that provided the medicine for people.
On the other side, there’s Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden. Snakes can mean deception. A black snake crossing your path in a dream can mean that there's something deceiving happening. Or, maybe some big change is about to take place where a deception is going to be revealed. You need to be ready for that change. Snakes hiding in grass or snakes biting you are a sign to stop and ask yourself, “What is poisoning my life right now?” So there’s a light side and a dark side.
How do you interpret dreams?
First you have to write down everything you remember from your dream without any judgment! As you start to interpret the dream, it can be easy to forget details or even to misremember what actually happened, so you have to start from a non-judgmental space where you let the words flow onto the page without any editing.
Second, ask yourself: What were the key feelings I had during this dream? Symbols and images can be confusing because they don't speak our waking language. But you can always trust the emotions. Was there fear in the dream? Then there is probably unexpressed or unexplored fear in your waking life.
THEN you can start to pull apart the key nouns and verbs to see what they represent metaphorically. First, start with your own free associations, then you can look to other dictionaries and interpretations to help you search for new connections you may not have thought about.
Remember, to interpret dreams ethically, only YOU can determine the true meaning. Dictionaries and online searches can be helpful, but nothing can replace your own meditative and introspective reflection.
Happy Dreaming!
- Jesse
Second, ask yourself: What were the key feelings I had during this dream? Symbols and images can be confusing because they don't speak our waking language. But you can always trust the emotions. Was there fear in the dream? Then there is probably unexpressed or unexplored fear in your waking life.
THEN you can start to pull apart the key nouns and verbs to see what they represent metaphorically. First, start with your own free associations, then you can look to other dictionaries and interpretations to help you search for new connections you may not have thought about.
Remember, to interpret dreams ethically, only YOU can determine the true meaning. Dictionaries and online searches can be helpful, but nothing can replace your own meditative and introspective reflection.
Happy Dreaming!
- Jesse
I had a dream where my teeth fell out. What does it mean?
Dreaming of losing your teeth means you don’t feel like you can break down life’s problems. They’re too big for you to handle, so you’re feeling anxious.
Losing teeth is a very classic anxiety-fueled dream topic, just broadly speaking. A specific interpretation that I find very effective is, if you think about teeth, they're the part of our body that helps us break down our food into bite-sized pieces for us to digest. Metaphorically, losing teeth means that I don't feel like I can take a bite out of life's problems. They're too big for me to deal with. The strength of my capacity to break down these issues into manageable pieces is being threatened, so I'm anxious.
I've also seen teeth falling out as a fear of aging. We lose our teeth as we get older. That anxiety about not being able to handle life could more specifically be about, “Well, I feel like I can't handle life because I'm feeling too old to get out of bed in the morning". There are many different directions that teeth dreams could go, but those are some immediate ideas that come to mind for me.
Losing teeth is a very classic anxiety-fueled dream topic, just broadly speaking. A specific interpretation that I find very effective is, if you think about teeth, they're the part of our body that helps us break down our food into bite-sized pieces for us to digest. Metaphorically, losing teeth means that I don't feel like I can take a bite out of life's problems. They're too big for me to deal with. The strength of my capacity to break down these issues into manageable pieces is being threatened, so I'm anxious.
I've also seen teeth falling out as a fear of aging. We lose our teeth as we get older. That anxiety about not being able to handle life could more specifically be about, “Well, I feel like I can't handle life because I'm feeling too old to get out of bed in the morning". There are many different directions that teeth dreams could go, but those are some immediate ideas that come to mind for me.
What does it mean when a snake appears in my dream?
Snakes are great, and probably one of the most common motifs in dreams. Many humans feel connection with snakes; that's why you see them in so much religious literature. On the light side of things, snakes shed their skin. They were long thought to be immortal. Snakes can be a huge transformational symbol of change. Think of ideas like “it's time to shed my skin of who I was and be reborn.” If you think of snakes in Greek mythology, a snake twined around the staff of Ascropolis, the God of healing, and provided medicine for the people. It can be a huge healing and transformational symbol.
On the darker side of things, snakes can represent deception, like if you think about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. For example, a black snake coming across your path in a dream can be a sign that there's something deceiving happening. Maybe some big change is about to take place where a deception will be revealed. You need to be ready for that change. Snakes hiding in grass, snakes biting you, or other interactions with snakes in your dream can elicit the question of, “What is poisoning my life right now?” So, like many areas in dreams, there can be a light side and a shadow side.
On the darker side of things, snakes can represent deception, like if you think about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. For example, a black snake coming across your path in a dream can be a sign that there's something deceiving happening. Maybe some big change is about to take place where a deception will be revealed. You need to be ready for that change. Snakes hiding in grass, snakes biting you, or other interactions with snakes in your dream can elicit the question of, “What is poisoning my life right now?” So, like many areas in dreams, there can be a light side and a shadow side.
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