What it means to dream of being held hostage
To dream that you are a hostage indicates that you are feeling victimized or powerless. You feel limited in your choices or physically immobilized. Perhaps this dream is paralleling some situation/difficulties in your daily life or relationship. Alternatively, to dream that you are a hostage suggests that a part of yourself is not fully expressed. (source) When you dream of being held hostage this is usually very significant.
Last night I had the most awful dream. I was being held captive by a scary man and I was trying to escape. The whole night of my dream, I was trying to get away and I was very, very frightened.
The 3 ways I tried to get away
As far as I could see, I had three methods of escaping:
First: Break through the walls with my body
I was trying to break though things: I was trying to bust through walls or windows with my bare fists to get away and this wasn’t working. My body was not strong enough to break through the harder material surrounding me.
Second: I tried to run away
Every time I would run, my captor would follow me. It was terrifying. I would get a few paces away, and I would be caught again. I simply was not fast enough to get away. My weak body had failed me again.
Third: I tried to get other people to help me
In the dream I would call out to passers-by and neighbours. “Won’t someone help me?” People I ran into were not able to understand that I was in danger and before I could explain to them what was happening, my assailant would again find me and capture me. In my dream I was even trying to ring the police but I didn’t know where I was and they couldn’t help me.
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I think this is a spiritual dream, to dream of being held hostage
I think that this symbolises how I feel at the moment – that I am bound by things and I cannot escape. I guess I have been feeling really trapped as a human being lately – I feel spiritually trapped. I feel that I am stuck here and I don’t know where to go or what to do. I feel so frustrated with my human body, gravity on this ball of rock and the death sentence looming over my mortal shoulder. I get so frustrated and trapped. I feel like my flaws pursue me wherever I go.
So, what is wrong with me?
Change is so frustratingly slow. Some days I am not even sure what to do with myself. I have to breathe in and out so many times and conduct myself through all these banal activities. Wake up, work, eat, go to sleep, repeat. Searching for happiness is banal. Change seems impossible. Taking weeks off to meditate is unavailable to me at the moment.
So who or what is keeping me captive?
Well, it can only be me.
A friend just posted this picture on her facebook feed.
It affected me so much that I felt like I needed to cry. I was about to dash to the ladies bathroom (because we all know that strong women don’t cry publicly) and I was trying to “hold it together”. I heard a voice behind me.
“Alyce, Alyce….wait!” I turn around to see a different friend.
“You forgot to wear pink today! Don’t you remember it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Day and you are supposed to wear pink?”
I mumbled that I had forgotten and that I was very tired and disorganized as I didn’t have a good night’s sleep.
“Well! You can wear this!” and she gives me a pink novelty policewoman’s hat. So now I am wearing a bright pink policewoman’s hat. This reminds me of my dream – I couldn’t find anyone to help me, not even the police. Now I seem to have been made an honorary policewoman in my waking life – a pink one no less.
The only thing I can do is to save myself. There is no one else who can do it for me. I am only a hostage to myself.
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Have been dreaming of being a hostage since last few weeks…..I can so much connect to your words…..how it feels to be trapped in your own reality,…….you know it is not yours still you have to accept it completely as yours……..
Thanks Phoenix!
Yes, it is a surprisingly common dream. I really appreciate you getting in touch. Our ‘higher selves’ do give us hidden meanings in our dreams. Thanks for taking the time to connect.
Love, Alyce
Alyce,
I know this is an old post, but I just came across it and wow. It’s as if I were reading my own thoughts. I recently had a kidnapping dream and no one would help me, but more than that, I get that feeling of being stuck on this material plane. Especially lately, but I am trying to draw creativity from these emotions rather than letting them transform into something restrictive.
Anyway, glad to have stumbled across here now. It was good timing, but isn’t that how it goes.
Hi Meghan,
Wow – what an amazing dream. Yes, it’s amazing when we get a glimpse of what lies “beyond the veil” of our everyday existence and into our true selves. We are all “trapped” on this earthly plane, as you correctly point out. But not forever! This lifetime will be short, in the scheme of things but every minute of every day, we’re learning and growing.
Thanks so much for your comments, and for sharing your dream.
Love, Alyce
I have been dreaming of being held hostage for more years than I can remember it is the only dream I have just can be a few variations of the dream now even my kids are in the dream. It really makes me in distress I wake up in sweat heart racing In panic . I wish I could dream of anything else but when I do it’s getting on a helicopter that I’m petrrified it’s going to crash that I never know where we’re going we’re just escaping from something…
Thanks for sharing your dream, Cassie.
I just had a dream of being held hostage with various others including my mother. What irritated me was we were at some deli of some kind and the front door was locked and these group of guys wanted to come in, and they looked very sketchy. Then they pulled out the guns and told everybody they were taking us away. I was like “EFF this bs, let me find a way out”. Each time my palan was foiled, except when I attempted to seduce my captures, mainly the leader. I and my mother got out, as well as the others. But I recall trying to get us to band together, people couldn’t get along. I tried sneaking out the back and the leader of the men holding us hostage kept following me. In my waking life I feel financially trapped. I wish for financial freedom.
Thanks for sharing your dream, Crystal!
–Love, Alyce
I had a dream last night about being held hostage with my brother in a really nice and big house. We didnt even know that we were held there by force until later on when we realised the owner of the house was hurting other people who lived with us. I tried to call my mother or get other people to help me but it wasnt possible. In the end we escaped because we managed to call the police but my brother was severely injured. I was searching for meanings and i came to the conclusion that its about my food and sugar addiction, especially since it was so nice at the beginning. I feel like im trapped in this way of living but the end of the dream (we escaped) gives me hope.
Thanks for sharing your dream with us, Goia.
In my dream I was held captive by my moms boyfrjend he was psychopathic and obsessed with me secretly he waited till my mom left home and boom I was trapped I would try to get away but it didn’t work I didnt call the police which was weird but I called my mom she couldnt3help b3dause i didn’t know where i was i googled it on my tablet and I still couldn’t find it my moms boyfriend would make slers sayin you won’t be abel to leave eveerrrr so I was nice ans gakmed2his trust we went to the mall I told so many people he was trying to holding me hostage everyone laughed and asured me I was okay eventually an old woman knew I was serious and tok me to my mom i guess it wass her friend my mom seemed worried sick I hugged her so tight
Thank you for your post about the hostage dreams. All the elements you wrote about were in my recent dreams as well.
I agree with you it’s about being trapped in our life and we are our own perpetrators. I am very glad there is this miraculous subconscious which enables us to connect with real essence in us and to build a bridge between our coscious and unconscious selves through dream symbols. It fascinates me every time, how subsconscious works for us to get more whole by getting to know ourselves little by little by weaving our personal map throught dreans. It is of course sometimes very hard to keep the faith we are on the right track, since life seems so challenging. Thank you for sharing your dreams, it helped me to get together a little bit after these emotionally very strong dreams. It calms me that someone else has similar experiences. It is all about connection to others after all. Thank you to all of you who shared your dreams and may life be gentle on you <3
I had a dream last night where I saw myself and other group of people in a certain village whereby we could not be able to go anywhere the village was under siege. Those who held us hostage are little bit friendly and not brutal.
I had a dream very scary I was in a warehouse forced to work with one of my co worker three guys took us they had nothing else for us to do they put us in a room with a window my co worker was asleep I got the window opened and It was a 2 story drop so I Sprint off the the roof landing landed was a little hurt I start running I c a pay phone and this guy would not let me use the phone I push him always and call the cops and the guy was pushing me and the cops said it was a shift change there no one that can help me then 2 guys injected something in my neck and I start running and they started to chase me and I wake up
My dream is tat a man is not letting go our of my home. I can;t call for help because he knows I am using the phone, can’t ask for help by passersby as again he is wise and I cannot communicate in any way to get help. It is either that dream or a similar man wants to kill me. These are very strange and only in the second scenario can I escape from being killed.
This afternoon I had a dream I was in an unknown house, there was a man who was keeping me hostage, I couldn’t yell for help to the people who was there for a short time, they had no idea I was in danger, I don’t think they could even see me, they were laughing and talking, I had no voice, I felt like my throat was closed off, it was scary and frustrating that I couldn’t get anybody to hear me trying to yell for help, they just disappeared, I was scared to be caught but I attempted to escape, I slowly, and cautiously opened a door, it was a small room without windows, I opened another door right next to it, it was a covered upstairs porch with what looked like a blanket hanging to cover the opening outside, while looking in the second room I was scared this man was going to see me try to escape, right then he did catch me threw me on the couch, pounced on top of me, held me down, he had a hand saw, he said said he was going to saw my legs off, he started to try, I grabbed the saw and hit him with it, I woke up in a slight panic, as in wow! why would I dream that. I kept thinking about it, I decided to look it up on here. I understand now why I had this dream, I won’t go into it, but this all resonates.
Thanks for sharing your dream with us, Kathie!
AV
I had a dream of being chased by monkeys and later got captured and hand tied by these Monkey and my son and others escaped.
Hi there Ngemjok,
OK – monkeys are mischevious creatures that cause trouble and annoy people. The monkey in your dream might symbolise someone in your waking life, who is irritating you. Monkeys can represent someone who is immature, or even selfish. Monkeys can also symbolise false friends and troublemakers. Remember only you can truly interpret your dreams, so meditate on this symbol for your personal connection to it and see what you can uncover.
Love, Alyce