dream symbol

Breath / Breathing Dream Meaning

Many people have problems breathing during sleep, even if they do not have full-blown apnea, and this can be reflected in one’s dream life.

If not an apnea symptom, holding one’s breath in a dream represent an expression of will, or repressing one’s anxieties or emotions. Breathing is also central to an unusually large number of idioms: “a breath of fresh air,” “a waste of breath,” “take your breath away,” “catch your breath,” “out of breath,” and the like, any one of which could find expression in one’s dreams. [1]

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Sources and Authors

  1. Dream Symbols in The Dream Encyclopedia by James R. Lewis and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver [Back to dream]

What does Breath / Breathing mean in a dream?


Many people have problems breathing during sleep, even if they do not have full-blown apnea, and this can be reflected in one’s dream life.If not an apnea symptom, holding one’s...

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If the breath was pleasant or the breathing steady and/or deep, it signifies success and satisfaction in your efforts; however, if the breath was in any way unpleasant or the...

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If you’re out of breath in your dream, or having trouble breathing, it means you’re suffering from a guilty conscience about something you’ve done in the past.If you’re breathing slowly...

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Universal Landscape: Diminished life force. Panic.Dreaming Lens: Were you breathless or gasping? Was someone else having difficulty breathing? What was the cause of the breathlessness? Was it connected to anxiety...

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Often to do with concerns over health. Could be a sense of illness in that pan of body, but mostly our anxiety about illness. Heart: emotions; pity, sympathy; likes and...

Learn more about the meaning of Internal Organs

Dreams of Lamaze symbolize that you are breathing your way through the birth of a new project or creation; finding grace as you move through the final pushes of this...

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First determine if you had a real breathing problem while you slept—a cold, for example. Were you feeling constricted? Were you bothered by unspoken and ambiguous thoughts that took your...

Learn more about the meaning of Suffocating

(Asthma) Experiencing breathing difficulties in a dream means boredom, annoyance, weariness or disgust.

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To dream of having bad breath can symbolize a poor choice of words during a conversation or being self-conscious

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Breathing or flowing.Life, or being alive.Survival.A cycle.Ebb and flow.An activity or process that happens automatically or subconsciously.See Breathing, Rib, Chest, Surviving

Learn more about the meaning of Lung

A person breathing fire out of their mouth symbolizes a verbal attack, Ps. 57:4

Learn more about the meaning of Fire Breathing

Breathing or sustenance.Survival (physical, emotional, mental, or otherwise).Life energy.Lightness or airiness.Fluid motion, flexibility, or adaptability.Seeing only air where you expected something else could represent nothingness, emptiness, lack, or surprise somewhere...

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1- Gas can have the same significance as air and wind but usually is taken to be slightly more dangerous. So to be dreaming of gas in some way e.g....

Learn more about the meaning of Oas

The ribs or ribcage might represent: Breathing or something you associate with it (life, cycles, or ebb-and-flow).Vulnerability or protection.An enclosure or something that maintains your integrity (physical, emotional, or mental).A...

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Fierce and fire-breathing, the dragon is a potent animal of dream-lore that is neither good nor evil, male nor female, light nor dark, but a symbol of the primal energy...

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A warning to avoid an involvement with inferiors which could cause you serious embarrassment, especially if the height affected your breathing.

Learn more about the meaning of Altitude

Experiencing breathing difficulties in a dream means boredom, annoyance, weariness or disgust.

Learn more about the meaning of Asthma

To dream that you are trespassing, suggests that you are forcing your beliefs on others. It may also mean that you are being a bit smothering, and need to give...

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In this nightmare with a happy ending, a child may dream that they are drowning and unable to reach the surface to breathe. Then, incredibly, just as they realize they...

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A feeling or fear of overwhelming circumstances, helplessness, hopelessness, or loss of control, or of an important need being denied.The idea of “too much,” “going overboard” or “getting in over...

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Any type of fin in your dream signifies a factor in your life that is a motivational or directional force.GillIn dreams, gills may suggest highly developed spirituality; the intake of...

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The deeply unconscious psychobiological life processes which transformed us from a tadpole/sperm into an air- breathing frog/adult.The enormous information such sym­bols hold if we explore them gives them their power.

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If one’s uvula is swollen to the extent of blocking his mouth, or impeding his breathing in a dream, it means covetousness.Iove to hoard money, frugality, miserliness, or the nearing...

Learn more about the meaning of Uvula

See Storm, Hurricane. Here the spirits of the air are being addressed. They personify intellect or spirit.The wind can also mean an idea or a new understanding.If it conveys a...

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Dreams of a hiccup represent that you are dealing with overcoming a slight obstacle to your goal. Your subconscious mind may be telling you to breath deeply, remain persistent, and...

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To dream of suffering any form of upper respir- atory discomfort is a warn- ing to see your doctor, unless you actually have a chest complaint, in which case the...

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1. Overcome by life, unable to fight back.2. One needs to learn how to navigate one’s life better.3. In “over one’s head.” 4. If breathing underwater, one has returned—temporarily and...

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To see apes in your dream represents dishonesty, maliciousness, and lies. It may also mean that you are becoming irrational and unreasonable. You should step back, take a deep breath,...

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Dreams of resuscitation represent that you are breathing new life into an old relationship or project that you thought was dead. This might denote an unhealthy attachment, an unwillingness to...

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Dreams of an oxygen bar represent the need for clarity, breath, space, and an inner and outer cleansing of your social life; perhaps the desire to socialize with people that...

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Dreams of a cloud symbolize a block in a relationship or business venture. This setback is temporary, keep breathing, and find your sense of well being. Consider the feeling tone....

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A defense mechanism, or an overactive defense mechanism.Vigilance.A desire or tendency to distance yourself in real life from some person, situation, or experience.See Protecting, Protected, Being, Inflammation, Breathing, Itch, Indigestion,...

Learn more about the meaning of Allergy

Coughing a lot can represent: A feeling or fear of having trouble expressing yourself or speaking up for yourself.Something that’s bothering you or that you refuse to accept (as in...

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A dreaming emphasizing holding can have a multitude of meanings. We can hold things as an act of protection, ownership, as an act of control (“holding our breath”), intimacy, or...

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A minty dream - whether you dreamed of a breath mint, or the herb mint - foretells happier times for the healthy, and healthier times to someone who has been...

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1. If eating garlic, one is looking to achieve better health.2. Eating garlic also might indicate a feeling that one needs to repel others (pungent breath).

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The idea of self or expressing yourself.Vulnerability (as the throat is critical for breathing, circulation, and eating).Throat problems can represent a feeling or fear of: being unable or hindered in...

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Dreams of a transition signify that you are making changes, progress, improvements, and you are evolving along your enlightenment path. Your life is under construction, and though the process might...

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Wanting to reach the goal in a hurry. Haste. That holds true for your external as well as internal goals. Racing—whether it is a marathon, an auto or horse race—is...

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lucky numbers: 06-11-25-28-34-35pleasant: wil attract lover with the wrong bait. scent, a bad: loss of friendship with neighbors. breath: someone wil trick you with advice you had best ignore. in...

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Toothpaste freshens the mouth and cleans the teeth. Receiving a tube of toothpaste in a dream may suggest the need to watch your words; you may be putting a bad...

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The dreamer is standing in her own way, either consciously or unconsciously keeping herself from attaining her own dreams due to fear, which can manifest as extreme caution. Look to...

Learn more about the meaning of Strangulation / Lack Of Air / Trouble Breathing

Psychological / emotional perspective: When in waking life we feel isolated, this may translate itself in dream language into being in quarantine. We are aware that we have been cut...

Learn more about the meaning of Quarantine

People who experience nightmares may find themselves jolting awake in the middle of the night, often able to recall the terrifying dream that disrupted their sleep. Nightmares are common during...

Learn more about the meaning of Understanding Nightmares And Night Terrors

Deflation (such as a deflating balloon, tire, or ball) could represent: The idea of “less than before.” The ending of a process or phase.A challenge or obstacle.A downturn in mood...

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Survival instincts are the domain of this somewhat rare creature. Any reptile in a dream is connected to your deeply primitive responses to life and the basic functions such as...

Learn more about the meaning of Komodo Dragon

lucky numbers: 0-14-28-50-51-52African, growing: nostalgic for a breath of beauty in the harsh cold. buying: wil have a lawsuit, sanctity cannot be bought for you. making a bouquet of: chastity...

Learn more about the meaning of Violets

(Mill) A sugar mill in a dream represents success in the world, sufferings, burial, money, usury, the release of prisoners, a bathhouse, a lavatory, discarding what is shameful, waters, spinning,...

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To dream of seeing an adder strike, and a friend, who is dead but seems to be lying down and breathing, rises partly to a sitting position when the adder...

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Psychological / emotional perspective: From a psychological perspective the angel is the personification of the relationship with mother or mother figure and needs to be looked at as a separate...

Learn more about the meaning of Angel

The reptilian brain is something that all animals on the planet share; it governs the most basic functions, such as breathing and survival instincts.If a reptile features in your dreams,...

Learn more about the meaning of Reptile

While we sleep, our brain constantly remains active, passing through different phases or steps. Sleepiness This first step occurs just before we fall asleep, as we transition from wakefulness into...

Learn more about the meaning of The Five Phases Of The Dream

lucky numbers: 05-11-18-25-32-36accounts, making a, in: what you desired wil not be realized. committing a: happy adjustment of difficulties with sil y busybodies. having made a: avoid conceit that you...

Learn more about the meaning of Mistake

Vision: In a woman’s dream, the fountain of youth is a signal that love is “wilting”—try to breath new life into your relationship. In a mans dream, it is a...

Learn more about the meaning of Fountain Of Youth

To dream of Absalom, is significant of distressing incidents. You may unconsciously fall a victim to error, and penetrate some well beloved heart with keen anguish and pain over the...

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A to Z Dream Interpretation