Last night I had a dream where I fell of a cliff into the water and the bycicle landed on top of me in the water. For a while I was stuck under the bycicle and knew I would be in trouble if I couldnt get it off me. I was sinking faster when the bike was on me. I wasnt scared cos I knew I could get away from under the bike. So I did, then I thought it would really suck loosing my bike so I grabbed it and tried swimming up, ofcourse it didnt work so I had to let go. I tried swimming upwards without the bike ( still holding my breath) but it wasnt working, I could go up?! then I started swimming towards the shore that was next to the cliff, and tried to swim upwards at the same time, but for some reason I couldnt, was as if I was being pulled down all the time so much that I couldnt, I would imagine I was at the depth of 5-7 meters. I was running out of breath, and then I started breathing. I had a sensation of breathing air into my lungs, but I was in water… I made it to the shore then.
This makes me wonder if I was holding my breath in my sleep, and then had to start breathing. I have been underwater before and started breathing under water. This time I didnt realize that I was breathing really, and thats why I still wanted to make it to the surface. In my other dreams I have then continued swimming underwater…
Has anyone drowned in their dream? or do everyone start breathing underwater?
I realize I should have become lucid at the point where I was breathing underwater, but last night I didnt even think about becoming lucid, my attempt was to make my dream recall better.
Tonight I will try to dream about water again.
Have you had experiences with water in your dreams and what have they been like?
I’ve had many dreams where I was drowning - especially in my childhood. I used to dream that I was quite close to the shore, but something was pushing down on my back and I couldn’t get back to the surface. I think I probably did hold my breath, but I always woke up with a start intead of drowning.
In one of my most recent lucid dreams (which I think I posted back in August) I was under the water, but semi-lucid. I breathed underneath the water and totally enjoyed the experience.
i had once a dream where i tried to swim to the shore, but some huge machine tried to crush me and suck me into it, and it was really scary. there was just water everywhere and i didn’t see much, 'cos it was night and i almost drowned. …but only almost. finally i made it to the shore…
It looks like I’ve got you to blame for my drowning dream (one or two nights after your posting) . Anyhow, I will describe it briefly.
In my dream, I was in the sea with some friends. I was just playing around, and the tide was gradually coming in (and sea level rising). Suddenly some really big waves started coming up. At first, I was worried for my friends. Then I really started to enjoy ‘riding the waves’. It was really good being lifted by the swell and dropping down the other side of the wave. Then, things went wrong. A massive wave coming towards me broke over my head. I was sucked down underneath it. It was really cold and dark and murky. I could see nothing through the silt in the water. I was way below the surface and only rising very slowly. I was trying to hold my breath and reach the surface. My breath was running out and I was rising really slowly. Bubbles of air started escaping my mouth and I was desperate to take a breath in. I was praying over and over ‘Dont let me die like this’. I suddenly surfaced and took a breath in. This woke me up. Phew!
I had forgotten how horrible the experience is
Whilst writing this, I just remembered hearing about a medical term ‘apnea’ which is where someone asleep holds their breath. It would be interesting to see if they are related in any way. I will have to read up on this…
I never breathe underwater in my dreams. I usually just hold my breath for, it seems, an endless amount of time.
I remember one dream where I was tied to a large killer whale, actually the same one that was in Free Willy, and he was swimming across the Atlantic ocean. He sometimes went down to 600 meters, but I had a diving mask on, so the pressure did nothing to me
And the whale could sense when the pressure was to much for me, so he went extremely fast to the surface, probably a 100 meters per second, and jumped. That was an incredible experience, since the whale was so fast and I could finally breathe. And the view of the Atlantic was amazing And that happened over, and over again until we reached Norway.
Yes i breathe to underwater in my not lucid dreams…first u think u drown and then u breathe water…hahaha…had that as a kid often…these days it never happens anymore…hmmm
In dreams symbolic interpretations(which i dont really belive btw) water stands for new ideas,opening to new possibilities,taking up new tasks,precognizes new way of thinking…etc.Therefore drowning might mean you have taken too many chores on you.It might also mean you are so occupied with actuall things to do that you feel like loosing it.Thats pretty obvious and general interpretation but i hope it helps somehow.
i’ve also noticed an association with bike riding and the health of the body, if this is of any help at all.
And yep in lucid dream I have breathed underwater too… Concentrating on your breathwork like this is good for staying in a trance - very handy in a lucid dream. I was actually looking for dolphins - got pretty deep too, but no luck with those dolphins
I had that question on my mind for a while, but I must have forgotten it. Your pulse and breathing, along with the eyes, are connected while sleeping, so if you hold your breath in a dream wouldn’t you be really holding it IRL?
I think so. I believe LaBerge said something about this in EWLD.
However this is not related to apnea. There are two forms of apnea: Normal apnea, which is related to severe snoring and Central apnea, a very serious condition where your brainstem does not signal you to breathe automaticly for a short period of time. This results in the stopping of breathing for up to several minutes. Very rare though.
. Anyhow, I will describe it briefly.
And that happened over, and over again until we reached Norway.