Drowning
This is such a common dream and has been answered hundreds of times, we first ask you to look through the many answers given in Drowning – Many Replies Hopefully you will find an answer to your own drowning dream
Because of the water, drowning depicts fear of being overwhelmed by difficult emotions or anxieties, so it often points to struggles – conflicts – or fighting for survival you may have in your life. But this might apply not to dangerous emotions or urges, but to natural urges such as eating, loving or sex, that some people have enormous conflicts with. Drowning in a dream is also about struggling to survive as a person, so it applies to your identity as it is dealing with relationship with other people, but also with your own internal world of instincts, body activities and needs.
But the feelings of being overwhelmed can be caused by fear or anxiety. But if we can, we can meet and dissolve these. For whenever we dream its images are not like real life, because a dream is nothing like outer life where things could hurt you, but is an image like on a cinema screen that even if a gun is pointed at you and fired it can do no damage – except if you run in fear. So all the things that scare you are simply your own fears projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind.
So in dreams you cannot drown, but fear takes away your confidence, so then you go through the agonised emotions of drowning.
This is about being or feeling overwhelmed by something. One can ‘drown’ in sorrow for instance. So you need to look at your waking life to see what you are feeling threatened or burdened by and see if there are ways you can deal with it. If someone else actually drowns in the dream it may mean some of your feelings, your creativity and responsiveness are no longer ‘alive’. But they can be brought back to life if you care for that side of yourself. Sometimes it is simply anxiety we drown in, and much of anxiety is about situations we imagine. Separating what is imagined from what is real can help this. See Characters and People in Dreams
But such fear can be caused because if un-dealt with traumas from childhood are not faced, or by being exposed to awful film images that you believe are real. Read and Martial Art of the Mind
If you feel you are struggling to you ‘keep your head above water’ in a dream, do not give in for it is only emotions you are facing, not reality.
Water and drowning often indicates you are facing the unknown changes and so are afraid. But in dreams we can never die or even be hurt, for we wake without real hurt except for our feelings.
Going under water in a dream depicts you are going deeper into your awareness, so you are beginning to explore your unconscious. That is a major step in your development and is an evolutionary advance. It can lead to many major new abilities such as a wider awareness of life around you. A person describes one of the possible changes, “Unexpectedly everything changed and my fundamental self was something that existed throughout all time. It didn’t have a beginning or end. There was no goal to achieve. I am.”
Dreamt about someone else: May occasionally show Your apprehension about their health or well being, having the suggestion of death or breakdown.
Example: ‘I fell into a pond. My brother was frightened to be by himself so he jumped in. We were both drowning in the water and we shouted out for Mum. My brother drowned.’ Poppy S.
Poppy dreamt this while feeling insecure and anxious due to her father being seriously ill.
Example: I had been dreaming about sitting on a sofa with my friends – well watching horror movies, when suddenly everything comes to live. I was afraid of the ghost that had been drowning with her husband in the movie, and it comes to haunt me. I asked the ghost’s sister to help and she passes me a necklace with can protect me. And suddenly the ghost appears and tells my friend she was pretty. What does this means?
It means that you need to understand how your mind works. It means that you have nothing to fear about ghosts. As the ghost that appeared showed you, there was no harm in it. Dream images are like images on cinema screens – harmless unless you are haunted by your own fears. But the dream also shows you that whatever you believe in becomes a fact and alive in our dreams. It mean that the necklace gave you confidence, and in fact the necklace is only a crutch for your confidence. But we need such things until we can deal with our own emotions. See Facing Fear
Idioms: drown your sorrow; if you’re born to hang, you won’t drown.
Useful questions:
What powerful emotions or changes am I dealing with?
Am I feeling overwhelmed by something?
Can I define the strengths and ways I use to deal with threatening feelings?
Do I feel as if I am ‘drowning’ in a situation or relationship?
What is it I am feeling overwhelmed by recently?
Is this someone else drowning – if so what facet of me do they represent?
What resource or person could help me survive in this situation?
Another person or animal drowning still suggests it is an aspect of your own personality you need to care for.
Whoever or whatever it is, imagine yourself back in the dream and save them. If necessary imagine rescue services coming to your aid. In doing this you are using imagery to shift your feelings and anxieties.
All water in some way signifies your own inner world of feelings, but the sea often suggests meeting urges and wisdom lying beyond the boundary of your conscious mind. What is it you feel in the sea or river? Try putting it into words.
See Associations Working With; Techniques for Exploring your Dreams; Avoid Being Victims; Secrets of Power Dreaming
Comments
Hi , i was dreaming that i was in my bedroom and this litlle girl that i didn’t know came knocking on my door , in felt in my dream as if she was annoying me and i was about to lash out on her but then she was gone and i was outside of the room where it look like i was standing on a small piece of a beach only enough sand for me to stand on where my i stood but as i looked behind me the beach stretched out there where houses and people as if a beach was just put in the middle of a busy street to my sides and in front of me i could see that the water was shallow ,the sun was shining bright ,bleu sky ,and suddenly i saw two nephews of mine in a small boat in front of me and they said lets take the boat out , i said to them ;this just is just plain stupid as the water is shallow and the motor will get stuck in the sand and they said no , as they were adamant to go on the water with the boat i got in to protect them it felt we were on the water now for a few minutes when the boat was struck by something and i fell over board , i could see them getting out of the water and i felt like have to sit up than i will be ok as the water i had seen before we went on it was shallow but i could not reach the surface , i started swimming around to look for a way out of the water , as i was seeing the surface , feeling the sun on my skin , the water was clear i could not believe it that i was not reaching the surface as my heart was starting to feel like it was about to blow in my chest ,i knew if i did not get out i would drown ,i frantically looked around and saw stairs i swam towards it and was feeling that this is my last chance to get to the surface i started climbing them the steps were covered with barnacles and they cut into my feet but i contineud when i was almost at the last step to be on the boardwalk i saw that the whole city above was under water , i knew that was it , i took the last step and accepted the fact that i was about to drown and i could not fight anymore ,suddenly i saw 4 or 5 little children around me i put my arms around them and took a last gasp for air and my mouth was filling with the seawater i could taste the salt ,feel the sun warm and i was not afraid anymore , i looked down on the children and saw that they had white almost translucent angel wings ,i looked up again and saw a explotion of bright light and then i woke up . Can someone tell me what this was about , i am usually not curious about my dreams but one of the nephews i got in the boat with he once attacked me and i have forgiven him but i am also not as close to him as we were before. Thank you in advance.
Dear Alana – Thank you for sharing such an amazing dream with us.
Your dream starts with you feeling annoyed by your decision to completely repress from your awareness what we could call your child self; this is probably better described as your vulnerability, your eager youthful feelings that wanted recognition and warmth but were angrily denied.
This attitude is depicted in your dream as one which also denies you anything except a very small view of the beauty around you, that is until you look behind you and see the expanse of the beach.
In other words; it shows your lack of relationship with Life itself, for life arose in the sea.
See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/
Other symbols that could refer to repressing Life are shown in the depth of the water; this might be because you prefer to feel safe in “the shallows of life”.
Your relation-ship with your nephew(s) got stuck and you were thrown into the water that you thought was shallow, but is in fact like you; much deeper than you expect.
So the dream has gradually moved you from your early feelings into the ocean within you.
You scramble to get out of this ocean within you and you hurt yourself that way; “I started climbing them; the steps were covered with barnacles and they cut into my feet.”
It is good to realise that you cannot die in dreams, BUT dying can be a symbol of letting go of your old views and beliefs about yourself and the (inner) world, which you did in the dream and then you were able to see that “the whole city above was under water, I knew THAT WAS IT.”
Yes that IS IT, because now the whole city is “bathed in a new awareness”.
So fortunately the dream shows you that “dying” is a symbol of becoming aware that there is a different view of life; you can see that children are all wonderful winged creatures who are not trapped in the view of life given us when we live only above water, the world of our inadequate senses.
It will be helpful to recognise the feeling of not being able to breath and the enormous fight to survive and ask yourself “survive what; my view and beliefs about myself and my inner world?”
Please also explore this dream for yourself, because it is an important one – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
You can also explore your “inner ocean” while awake by using this approach http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/water-wonderland/
Anna 🙂
Hi, the plast week ive allmosa every night ive dreamt about drowning. It’s my worst fear, but it’s not just drowning. It’s my dad, my mum or my close friends that are dragging me under the ice and then letting me go and swimming away. I then can’t find the hole to the surface, and I stay down there until I ‘drown’. These dreams often start happy, but they’re all on ice. Sometimes I’m out iceskateing, others I’m in a pool having fun and then the pool turns to ice and the nightmare begin. These dreams are terrifying and only one time this week has gone without one of these nightmares. It started last week when I started school again.
Please help, I want it to stop and to understand.
Thanks in beforehand!
(Ps. I’m 14 yrs old)
Dear Bella – First of all it is good to understand that these dreams are sent to help you. Being a teen is a lot like being a chick inside an eggshell. You’re pushing out against the wall of the shell, trying to find your identity, struggling to break away, yet sometimes not quite ready yet to survive on your own.
The way I see your dreams is that you are testing your skills which is symbolised by ice skating and being in the pool with other people.
Especially ice skating is about keeping your balance in challenging circumstances.
Being a teenager IS a challenging and often stressful part of your life – even more when school is part of your everyday experience again – and I trust that with some more understanding you can learn to deal with the situations you find yourself in.
Going from having fun to turning into ice I see partly as a symbol of your mood swings – which are normal by the way – and it is good to know that it is not necessarily what happens in your life that is the cause of you having mood swings; it’s how you react to what’s happening in your life.
It could be that you are more sensitive when people who are close to you – your mum, dad and close friends – do not support or agree with the way you are learning to manage your life (skills).
But finding your own way to approach Life – sometimes with and sometimes without the support of people close to you – is part of becoming a self-aware and independent human being.
A way to change these dreams about drowning is to use a tool which is called Power Dreaming.
So while awake and relaxed imagine yourself back in the dream and continue it as fantasy or a daydream. You could for instance imagine your parents and your close friends criticising you while you are ice skating and you could explore different ways of responding to that.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Let me know how it goes.
Anna 🙂
Hello, I had a dream lastnight where I was drowning. I was swimming in the lake when my cousin gets in and we start racing. The waves started to get bigger. He started chasing me towards them. I was telling him to stop but he kept on going. He had an evil look on his face like if he was possessed. While I was trying to get away from him I felt like there was sharks under. But I think thought wait there can’t be we’re in a lake. Suddenly felt like I was loosing all my breath. My cousin noticed I didn’t move anymore so he pulling me out of the water. When I got out of the water I was able to breathe. My cousin just got up and left. I got up was looking for my dad.
hi. I had a dream last night that I was at a pool party with a hole bunch of characters from a show I watch. In the dream, one of them jumped in and tryed to hug me, but was accidentally drowning me. The dream stopped when I woke up because I wasn’t breathing in real life. I assumed that I wasn’t breathing because of the dream, but I was wandering if it had any alternative meaning because usually when I dream about something like that and wake up it’s because my dream is trying to get me up. Like if I have a dream were I have to go to the bathroom I’ll wake up because I have to go to the bathroom. I know that sounds weird but I’m pretty weird myself. Thank you for your time!
Hey,
I had a dream about tht ppl were drowning me but I remain fighting to keep my head up and in this dream in particular no one was talking I only heard music while I was yelling for help but at the end I never drowned but was about to
Hi..I dreamt that I was on a tour n I was trying to cross a river but I drowned n died but then suddenly I was alive n was on the other side of the river..it was a jungle n someone told me that the jungle is full of wild animals n that I’m gonna die the next day..so I called my parents n told them that I love them n then the next day when I was about to die I just woke up..this was the second time I died in my dream..what does that mean? Please help me I’m so tired of having bad dreams every night.
I had a dream the other night that I was at the beach holding my 21month old daughter on my hip and I was standing in very low water below my knee, when all of a sudden, the water kept pulling us in further. I cannot swim so I was very scared that we were going to drown. All of a sudden my husband appeared in front of us and stopped us from drifting out further. Just as that happened, my husband woke me cause he said I was crying in my sleep.
Dear Sy – Not knowing anything about your waking life, I will approach this dream from a more general point of view.
Because dreams have many levels and the core of the dream can be approached from many angles, it would be wise to also explore this dream for yourself; you could explore for instance if you tend to identify (mainly) with your mother role and if you dare to let go of that role for a while.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/water-wonderland/
The way I see your dream is that you are on the edge of surrendering your ego or conscious self which can be seen as being at the border between everyday life and your unconscious sources of motivation, energy and life.
You perceived the pull from the sea as a threat, probably because you mixed up your waking life – in which you cannot swim – with your dream life and/or because you are afraid of “The Unknown Huge that you are”.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Reaction
It could be that you dreamed of your husband stopping you and your inner daughter from drifting out further, because he started waking you up.
One of the functions of dream is that they can serve as a link between the sleeping mind and what is occurring externally. For instance, a person may be falling out of bed and dream of flying or falling.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/function-of-dreaming/
Does that give you a start?
Anna 🙂
I keep dreaming my daughter is drowning and the more I struggle to reach her .we’re in clear water and try to swim closer but the farther she becomes. I wake up crying feeling like I failed as a parent to help n protect her .
Dear Carina – It is difficult to see if this dream is about your feeling/belief that you are not good enough as a mother for your inner daughter/child, for your daughter in your waking life or for both.
Because this is a recurring dream, what IS clear is that you have to explore a different approach to deal with this situation in your (inner) life.
I feel that it could be helpful to approach these dreams as if it is about your inner child drowning and to stop struggling and become aware that you and your mother were not able to save her at that time.
With that point of view in mind, entering the process of acceptance could be a helpful means to change your dream and to start the inner work on healing your inner child.
Please also read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/mother-mum-ma/#InnerMother
and
http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/your-inner-child/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/inner-baby-and-child/
Does that give you a start?
Anna 🙂
I had 2 dreams last night. The first one was my mother dragging me under the water trying to drown me in the ocean. I woke up gasping for air. The second was that I was on boat that went down in the ocean and everyone was saved but me. A wave hit me and pulled me away before I was about to get rescued.
Dear Sagelynn258 – I wonder if you are a very sensitive person, who easily picks up emotions and moods from other people after which you are not able to connect with your own inner world of feelings anymore.
Your last dream does suggest that dealing with a relation-ship with other people makes it difficult “to save” or to uphold what is part of your identity.
Often we are not aware of how we are actually “tuned in” to receive “the waves of emotions” that are sent by people with whom we have a connection and so the first step to learn to deal with your empathic ability is to become aware of it, and to learn to distinguish between your own emotions and those of other people.
A way to do that could be to learn to tune into your own inner world ONLY for some time, while using “the observer mode”.
This approach will also give you the opportunity later to learn to observe the emotions and moods of other people without identifying with them and so without “making them yours” and so feeling overwhelmed/drowned by them.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Does that give you a start?
Anna
I had a dream, just now, where my (now) ex boyfriend (who lives with me) and I were driving in Colorado (where I’m moving too, which is a reason why I broke up with him) and there was an icey patch on a shore thing, that led to almost like an arctic ocean. He was driving, & went to turn around, and spun out of control and we went into the water.
I could feel myself drowning, but I saved him and ended not making it out in time..
I’m not sure what that means.. does it mean I feel guilty for leaving?
Dear Riley – Your dream expresses that “something” – which might be guilt and/or fear – is driving your decision making at the moment and your dream shows that it is not a helpful approach.
Because with the change of the situation between you, you probably do not feel in control of things anymore and instead of daring to express your feeling vulnerable with the whole situation, it seems you have frozen your feelings.
I believe that this “freezing approach” is more likely to lead to feelings of drowning than when you would express how you feel honestly and openly; if only to yourself (at first).
Try to not feel guilty about leaving him and trust that each one of you is capable of dealing with this process using your own inner recourses; he is not a child you have to “save”.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/relationship-sex/ages-of-love-2/
Anna 🙂
My mom called me and had a dream about me drowning a swimming pool what does that mean just curiocurious
I mostly dream of drowning but not dying and being attacked by snake, even bitten. But I don’t die. Why ??
Dear Apurva – I feel a better way to put your question is “Why didn’t I die YET”?
And then I would answer that you probably need to be patient with yourself until your fear dissolves and that it might help if you get a better understanding of the meaning of death in the context of your dreams.
Being bitten by a snake and dying because of that is clearly described in the entry snake.
QUOTE:
The snake can bite you, and its venom may flow throughout your being and kill you. Most of us are very frightened of this. The reason is that the venom will take away your personal sense of self – it faces you with the death of yourself. It melts the boundary of egoic self-interest, and personal connections with family and children, with choices in action. It replaces the personal interests and fears with a self that is part of the one great life. So the fear of the snake is not because its venom is deadly, but because it transforms. It turns you into a being who is part of the whole. It robs one of the artificial walls placed between self and the collective pool of life consciousness.
The snake depicts this force, purpose or energy behind that power of growth and unfolding. It is the force of life, the latent energy or potential within us. It leads us both to growth and death, along with the passionate emotions and urges that drive us so powerfully”.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-archetype-of-rebirth-or-resurrection/
Does that answer your question?
Anna 🙂
Hi,
I had this very real dream woken by my 2 year old daughter coughing during the night which actually made me cry as it was that real. It started with a group of my friends and I out and my mum looking after my daughter, when we arrived home I asked her how she was. Mum was tired on the couch nearly asleep and she replied she’s good. This time of night she would be in bed. Next thing I hear my daughter call my mum. To my surprise it came from the bathroom, I rush in and she is hunched over face first in the bath drowning. I pull her out a
She is limp and unresponsive par a cough. I’m screaming and not knowing what to do yelling for someone to call an ambulance. My mums reaction being very calm and said I’ll just call the doctor with me saying no the ambulance. Then I heard my daughter cough through the baby monitor and I woke up. I get on well with my mum and trust her with my kids is what I can not get.
Dear Ashley – What creates some confusion is that you fail to recognise the difference between your inner dream life and your waking life and so the way I see it is that this dream does not reflect that your mother in waking life cannot be trusted with your daughter or other children.
Dreams can have many functions and one of them is that a dream is a link between the sleeping mind and what is occurring externally. For instance, a person may be falling out of bed and dream of flying or falling and so your dream could be caused by hearing your daughter coughing while you were still sleeping.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/function-of-dreaming/
I believe that part of you – symbolised by the mother in your dream – is aware that your daughter is only coughing and so perhaps all she needs is a doctor – or you, because mothers often fulfil that helpful, healing role in life as well – to give her something to drink or some medicine that will relieve/heal her cough.
The dream figure in your dream is probably too worried about your daughter’s health and so sees her drowning.
I feel it will be helpful to explore your dream for yourself too, for your dream could also express that feelings of guilt are part of your inner world, as far as enjoying yourself in another role than your mother role is concerned.
For that purpose you can use “Being the person” or “Talking as the person” for all “actors” in your dream, but especially for your own dream figure as she appears in your dream.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/#TalkingAs
Anna 🙂
Hello.
For a few years now I’ve been having horrifying nightmares that rip me from my sleep. One of them is being held under water by someone. Almost always it’s just a shadowy figure, but sometimes it has the face of an old ex or even current lover. They hold me by my neck and force me to stay under the water until I jolt awake.
I dont know what to do.
Dear Mo – A shadowy figure in a dream is a symbol for an aspect of yourself that you have rejected.
Many of the characters or elements of our dreams act quite contrary to what we consciously wish. This is why we often find it so difficult to believe all aspects of a dream are part of our own psyche. Some drives or areas of our self will act or express despite what we would want. These are named autonomous complexes.
This complex may express as something evil, which can be very frightening because you believe that “something outside” is forcing you, rather than a repressed part of you, or the results of a traumatic experience showing itself in frightening images.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-archetype-of-the-shadow/
The way out of this recurring nightmare – and probably other horrible dreams as well – could be Power Dreaming.
Your dreams are a unique area of self-expression. They are a safe area to experiment and experience things in any way you wish. Often we introvert, or take into our dream life, rules and fears that have no place there. For example, while dreaming, you may fall into the sea and be terrified you will drown. But that is impossible because you are only experiencing images of your feelings and thoughts. All you can do is to feel fear. You can easily breathe under water in a dream, or fly, or die and be re-born. So remove such limitations from your inner life by visualising such changes into your dreams when awake. Imagine yourself being what you can in your dreams. Even passive people who couldn’t stand up for themselves can change as they do this.
Please continue reading at http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
Hi, I keep on dreaming that my 2 year old son is drowning and I get him out of the water but he is not breathing. I wake up with sweat all over and crying. Then I also dream that my deceased mother is killing herself. Like the last dream was were she tried to drown herself. I also then wake up with sweat all over and very upset.
Can someone please help me to what this means cause I’m tired of this horrible dreams.
Thank you in advance
Dear Demi – In general dreams recur because there are ways the dreamer habitually responds to their internal or external world. Because their attitude or response is unchanging, the dream that reflects it remains the same. It is noticeable in those who explore their dreams using such techniques as described under processing dreams, that recurring themes disappear or change because the attitudes or habitual anxieties that gave rise to them have been met or transformed.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/processing-dreams/
I believe the dream in which your mother tries to drown herself sheds some light on these recurring dreams. So explore what it is that you are doing to your mother role; ask yourself if you lack pleasure in your role as a mother, if you are too anxious in your mother role and if you imagine too many situations that make you anxious.
Also explore how your own mother dealt with her emotions/fears and with your emotions/fears and how much of her approach you absorped.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/mother-mum-ma/#InnerMother
The dream about your son drowning could reflect that you project your own difficulties as far as dealing with your emotions and fears is concerned onto your son.
This probably also means that the moment you “own it” or stop repressing it and accept that it is something you have to work on, your dreams about your drowning son will change or disappear.
The other good thing is that while you learn to deal with your emotions/your fears you will pass it on to your son, because children learn from what we do – or not do – and not from what we say.
Another helpful tool toward more awareness is self-observation. Observing your own ebb and flow of thoughts and feelings, your own habits and responses to things, is one of the most powerful of tools to use in transforming your life. This also leads to a fuller connection with your intuitive connection with your core.
If you use observation you may at time realise that you are cycling through feelings or moods. So it can imply that you are experiencing a cycle which you may be trapped in. The way to get out of this cycle is to step back from it using observation; this is like stepping back and not be lost in the emotions or moods.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂