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Have you been chased in a dream? What does it mean?
If you feel that your dream is trying to send you a message, there are many meanings to being chased in an alternate reality.
In this article, we will observe the 10 most common themes about being chased in a dream and their meanings.
Find out the answers to the following questions:
What does it mean if you are being chased in a dream?
What is the spiritual meaning of being chased in a dream?
What does it mean when you dream about someone chasing you to kill or hurt you?
What does it mean when you dream about running away from someone?
What do dreams about being chased by police or soldiers mean?
What do dreams about being chased by animals mean?
What do dreams of being chased by a madman mean?
What do dreams about being chased but can’t run mean?
What do dreams about chasing someone mean?
What do dreams about being hunted down mean?
1. What does it mean if you are being chased in a dream?
You may have heard of the ‘Fight or Flight’ instinct. (Sometimes referred to as ‘Fight or Flee.’)
When a human (or animal) is met with real danger, the subconscious takes over and you’ll either find yourself fighting it head-on, or running away as quickly as you can.
While dreaming, if you’re trying to run away, hide, outfox, or outmaneuver your pursuer, what do you think this tells you?
Your pursuer represents a problem that you’re not dealing with in the waking world. The problem can even be emotional.
For example, maybe you’re feeling an emotion, such as anger, and you’re trying to repress and avoid it, rather than getting to the bottom.
2. What is the spiritual meaning of being chased in a dream?
Remember that most dreams shouldn’t be taken literally.
Waking up in your bed after being chased in a dream doesn’t mean that you’re in imminent danger.
So, what do we mean when we talk about the spiritual meaning of your dream?
The spiritual meaning of being chased in a dream often symbolizes one of these 2 options:
- You are running from something in your life. It is likely that being chased means that you’re avoiding a problem in real life,
- You are being chased down by your own destiny. This type of dream can be a strong indication that there is some calling on your life that you have yet to fulfill.
To understand it better, the main question to ask yourself is: “What does this dream represent, symbolically?”
A few more things you need to consider and think about include:
- What did your pursuer look like?
- How much distance was there between you?
- Did your pursuer catch up with you?
- How did you feel when you someone was chasing you?
Answering these questions and shedding a little light on the dream may help you to get a bit closer to the spiritual meaning of your dream and what your subconscious is trying to tell you.
3. What does it mean when you dream about someone chasing you to kill or hurt you?
What if your pursuer is attacking you and trying to cause serious harm?
These dreams are more common in women, who may feel physically vulnerable, especially in an urban environment.
The cause for such dreams is often a result of the modern media. Beware of media channels that are always trying to magnify fears of violence and sexual assault.
Of course, it’s advisable to be aware of your surroundings and take precautions to be safe in life. However, you shouldn’t have to live in fear.
4. What does it mean when you dream about running away from someone?
Before trying to figure out the meaning of running away from someone in your dream, it helps first to establish who it is you’re running away from and how you feel at the time.
If you’re running away from someone in your dream, then it’s likely that you’re running away from something in real life.
If your chaser is scary and menacing, then you could be trying to avoid an upsetting problem or an issue causing you a lot of anxiety and anger.
If, on the other hand, your figure isn’t particularly threatening, then it’s more likely that you’re avoiding a responsibility that isn’t urgent.
5. What do dreams about being chased by police or soldiers mean?
If you have a dream where someone is chasing you, it’s not unlikely that either police officers or soldiers are the ones coming after you.
Don’t panic though; it doesn’t merely mean that you’ve broken the law and are about to go to prison.
So, what can a police officer, or soldier represent?
In dream world, these figures represent authority and discipline.
Running away from them means you may need to keep better control of your behavior in the waking world.
Have you been behaving recklessly recently?
If so, a dream of this nature could be the little nudge that you need to get a bit more discipline into your life.
6. What do dreams about being chased by animals mean?
Whether it’s a grizzly bear, a roaring lion, or a pack of wolves, being hunted by an animal is something that connects to a primitive fear.
After all, before our society became ‘civilized,’ human beings had to be very cautious of predatory animals.
But what does it mean to dream about being chased by an animal?
Before we answer this question, we have to understand one thing. Animals are wild! Unless you’re in a petting zoo, an animal that chases you is wild and unpredictable.
Therefore, if you’re dreaming about an animal chasing you, it’s likely that you’ve been repressing anger.
You could say that you’re letting your emotions ‘run wild.’ If this is the case, then your subconscious may project these aggressive feelings onto a wild animal.
While it can be challenging to address feelings of anger with a rational mind, a bit of meditation or exercise (a punching bag may be useful here) could be what’s needed to take you out of an aggressive state of mind and into a more productive one.
7. What do dreams of being chased by a madman mean?
Dreaming of being chased doesn’t always mean that you’re avoiding a ‘real’ problem in the outside world. Your pursuer can represent certain emotions, such as fear and anger.
In fact, the deeper the emotion is, the more violent your chasing madman is likely to be.
Maybe you’re taking all of your anger in life and projecting it onto a madman that is coming after you.
If you are not dealing with serious emotions like anger and fear in real life, then you could expect that they’ll come back to you in the form of a dream.
8. What do dreams about being chased but can’t run mean?
As if things aren’t bad enough, someone is chasing you, and your fight or flight mechanism kicks in.
Just as you get a burst of energy to escape, however, you find you can’t move. Your legs stop working and you find yourself unable to flee.
While dreaming of someone (or something) coming after you can represent a problem that you’re not dealing with in life, not being able to run away from it suggests that you feel helpless and unable to deal with it.
In other words, you feel stuck.
Your subconscious is telling you to get to the bottom of the problem at hand and try to come up with the resources needed to solve it.
9. What do dreams about chasing someone mean?
What if no one is pursuing you, but you’re chasing after someone else?
The tables have turned, and now you’re the one in control. But first, you’re probably wondering:
Does this mean you’re a maniac?
You don’t have to be crazy to pursue someone.
This type of dream can mean one of two things:
You currently have ambition and drive. You’re actively going out and getting after things, which is usually healthy. However, you may want to ask yourself whether what you’re chasing is harming other areas of your life.
You’re starting to fall behind in some area of your life. As a result, you find yourself having to play catch-up.
10. What do dreams of being hunted down mean?
What if your pursuer is stalking you and hunting you down?
If someone was stalking you in real life, then this type of dream could be a way of trying to help you deal with your previous trauma.
And what if you haven’t?
The most common explanation is that you’re ignoring a problem that won’t go away on its own.
No matter where you go, the problem is literally ‘hunting you down.’
If you want to avoid this type of dream and return to a more pleasant dream topic, you’re going to have to face up to things when you wake up. Try and deal with the problems you’re facing in life.
So, the next time you dream about being chased by someone, try to ask yourself “what is it that I’m running away from”?
Try facing up to your pursuer. Find out who is chasing you and why is this person is after you.
Are you facing up to your problems in life? Or are you trying your best to avoid them?
Some problems are out of your control. Some are well within your control.
Your job is to do the following:
Tackle what you can handle. Getting on top of things in your life will yield a more pleasant night’s rest.
Discover what you don’t have control over and try to accept it as a part of life. Talk to a close friend, family member, or someone to get a fresh perspective.
Hot Pursuit: The Meaning Of Dream Chases
As you can see, there are different dream symbols and meanings, depending on the theme of your dream.
Do you want to share your dream? Leave your story below!
Also, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comment section!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What does it mean when you dream about being chased and hiding?
This generally means that you are ashamed of something.
What are nightmares caused by?
Nightmares can be caused by stress, high emotion, anxiety, major life changes, trauma, and fear.
Do nightmares mean poor sleep?
Not necessarily. A nightmare may not mean that your sleep is poor unless you get woken up by the intensity of the dream.
this helped a little but my specific dream was me running down a dark street only lit by a couple of street lights here and there but thats not as important as the person who was chasing me was myself the looked angry and looked like they definitely had the intention to kill me and for some reason i kept looking back at myself. that was a very weird and scary dream and i just wanted to know what it meant.
What about when you outrun the person chasing you? I was being chased by some crazy man but i out ran him while wearing a towel.
I had a dream I was running away from the police at first we were at the store and we went out with money the store thought we took it or something but we just didn’t buy nothing instead that part was confusing I was with a giant and he was harmless and nice I kept telling him to keep running at first because they caught him but he got off the chains and ran I couldn’t speak the words didn’t come out but then they did and we were running together trying to get home we were running fast then I carrried the giant to take him home with me to be safe what does all this mean
I had another dream that I was trying to escape but instead of letting my friend get caught because I couldn’t make it I kept telling her to just run I was like run run because I wanted her to escape so she won’t caught because I will still try to find another way to escape to and I was trying to see if she actually escaped and made it safe but I keep dreaming of trying to escape and telling others also to keep running what does all that mean bro
These lucid dreams merilin are fantastic one day I was being chased by something I didn’t see but it was keen to destroy me but I had then turn my head & saw it was a glorious man in the clouds stretched his hand fighting for me for not that catch from something vicious creature chasing my ass
I have constant chasing dreams (a couple per month) that vary. Sometimes it’s my ex boyfriend trying to capture me, sometimes he’s captured me and even killed me (gun). Other dreams I’m being chased by spirits, or zombies/people who I am fighting against with medieval weapons. I also have a lot of snake dreams. Sometimes they are swarming outside, slithering into window/door cracks as I watch. Pythons all swimming I’m dark rivers while I jump through the trees to avoid them. And my most recent, I swatted at red and black poisonous snake. Its eyes turned black and it chased me for miles (gaining and losing ground). I couldn’t lose it because it would eventually find me by sent. I hate these dreams…I wake up feeling spiritually drained and scared and stressed.
I was in a dream my mother chasing me with a log and surely was after me
I had a dream on several times I was being pursued fiercely by my secondary school teacher of which I am not in secondary school again, the race was so hot on different occasion which she couldn’t get hold of me
I was being chased by a kid? I mean it was creepy but he didn’t mean any harm. I was moving around a lot of places and he kept following me. But in the dream, I felt important, like a celeb? (not because i was being followed). He was confronted multiple times but he kept following me everywhere I went. I wasn’t scared or even angry. I was like WTF!?
What could that mean??
I had a dream. I was in the car with my two sisters, my 11months old baby girl and my sister’s child. The car was parked in the road and we got off to the bush where we’ve seen new babies nappies just lying somewhere around. We decided to go and take the nappies but we didn’t find them as they were more like hidden deep and as we tried to approach them, we got this scary feeling of a tall man staying in the bush coming after us. We got a whole new packet of nappies and we began to ran as fast as we could. We managed to run away and my younger sister was coming fast with a car, i had to jump the fence just to get in a car. We were happy that we managed to run away and finally got in the car only to find that my baby is not in the car it was only my sister’s child. I got off the car crying and searching for her in the car but couldn’t find her.
I was at the mall with my little sister. We were in a clothing store and we were sitting down waiting for or aunty to finish at the opposite store. Thats when I realised a man staring at us and I asked if he was ok and he said yes just that he needs a jacket for his “12 year old daughter”. I gave him one and he went upstairs, (the store was 2 story)a. After that i brought my sister to the stairs so we could sit on the first step. I got a weird feeling we were being watched, I looked up and saw the man peering over me from the staircase balcony. I leaped ointo action and chased me and my sister. I grabbed her and ran to an opposite store and went up to a stranger and asked if she could pretend she was my mum because i told her what happened. She said yes but then thats when i saw my aunty i went to her , told her what happened, then we went home.
BUT, this dream is like something that happened to me irl.
I have dreams of being chased regularly. Usually at least once a month, but probably twice—and those are just the ones I remember. I’ve had these dreams for years on end now. I always seem to remember these dreams more than any other dream. Maybe because of the emotion.
The dream varies a bit, but typically I am in the woods to the right of our house being chased by someone or something. I don’t typically identify what’s chasing me, usually I just feel the presence and I know their intentions.
I always run to the same place, it’s through the woods of my neighbor’s house, but the terrain is so much different. There’s a meadow I have to run across and then I reach this little white house there on a hill; once I climbed a telephone pole there and the guy ran passed (one of the few times I identified the pursuer, he was trying to kill me).
Usually I run past that place though, and I run to this castle. I reach the balcony, probably a good 60-100 feet high, and am pushed off, falling to my death. Then I wake up.
Why do I dream this? It’s an imaginary terrain placed on a real location. It’s always exactly the same terrain, and usually it’s just me being chased by one presence that’s trying to catch me. I just want to know why.
I wonder if this is because of something I am avoiding in waking life. In real life I try to ignore my pain, grief, anger, guilt, resentment, shame, and all that caused by various traumas throughout life; mainly me being raped in my childhood. I can’t openly talk about my trauma and I push the emotions away so I can just get through my education and eventually move someplace I can be myself and can be honest about what has happened. Do you think this is why I keep having these dreams?
In my drean I wasn’t the only one being chased. There where this place where they keep mostly children. And they colect them by throwing a competition. W3 wanted to find out friend who won so we can take her home. Then we saw what they did and they didn’t want us to leave. We rebelled and I called the head man in my dream my father. They wanted to drug us. My mom helped me and my sister escaped then we got separated but then me and my sister found each other again but we where stuck. The people we where running from were where we were hiding. And we needed to blend in. These part was in my old school building.
Hi
I generally dream about scenarios wherein i’m at a desert sort of place- a village or a fair that is situated in a desert. I’m there with a guy and suddenly some goons start chasing us and we end up hiding near to the place i’m currently staying at.
this has happened a few times now and I’m unable to decypher it
could you please help.
In my dream I was being chased by an anime character that I just seen right before falling asleep, and he was trying to recruit me to join an army, I couldn’t move the way I normally do but I coul leap really high almost like flying and used that to leap all the way home where I asked my mother and brothers to hide me but they were serious about finding me so I come out and tell them they need to pay my family and they left as one of the recruiter was leaving she kinda looked like my mother but younger.
I had an dream that I was getting chased by random people what does this mean? I was out running them climbing over everything. They couldn’t catch me?
I had a dream someone who sexually assaulted me in real life was trying to chase me along with someone else I did know.
I woke up in utter panic.
I had a dream that i was sitting with so many people and then one man stand up and said i want water so he walk outside of the room but i stopped him and i said to him that this is not safe for you to go out alone i dont even knoq why i said this in reality them we walk outside we both are holding hands but we walk out in wrong dirention of building we found so many rooms i open rooms one by one but all rooms are filled with darkness and all darkness surround us but suddenly we saw a glass with a blur pic of someone taking a girl away the man with me say shit and we start running i dont even know why we start running but me and him holding hands so tight and we found a room we locked that room that room had stairs we walk on stairs upstairs and then we found terrace we both stay their with fear then someone else a girl came to us we open the door for her and we three of us try to find a solution for escaping form their then our water bottle fall from the terrace and i go down to take the bottle but i saw someone is coming after me or i feel someone is coming i run and hide in the kitchen i dont know where the kitchen came from suddenly but i hide inside it i stay their without making any voice i feel someone is outside and then i saw someone coming inside i dont remember how it looks like but im sure its not a monster or animal nor a human but i run away from their and finding a way to go back to terrace then my mouth form so many bubble of saliva like i ate poison and then i woke up because i pee on my bed i dont even know any of them in real life not that man i was holding hands in my dreams and why i suggest to go with him outside and why i say its dangerous