# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion >  >  Does everyone run very slow in their dreams?

## Rusty Shackleford

Every time I am running in a dream it is like I am moving slower than a turtle and actually not really even going anywhere at all. I am usually getting chased by someone that is trying to kill me or harm me and I start to run and I my body feels like it ways a ton and I barely move and then the person trying to catch me is getting closer and closer very quickly then right as they are about to catch me I wake up sweating balls. ::wtf::

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## werwun

I have difficulty running as well. To the contrary, it feels as though my body weighs next to nothing and I simply can't get enough grip to propel me forward! If you are being chased by something you may need to face it at some point, either in waking life or in the dream state. (I say in waking life because it may be a subconscious manifestation of a problem you have in waking life)

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## dasein

My experience of running is usually the opposite: while dreaming, I'm able to run much faster than I'm even capable of while awake.  I've even had a couple dreams where I was certain I was moving fast enough that a simple jump (or series of jumps) would get me flying, but alas, I awoke before taking to the sky.

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## orofein

I get this too. for example:The other night, I beat up a few pricks that were throwing nails at the tires of the bike I was riding, and one of them ran away so I chased him, but I couldn't run very fast and he got away. It kind of feels like I'm running in water- something is kind of holding me back... I get that feeling most of the time when I try to run in dreams.

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## Delilah

I just replied in another thread similar to this. If you didn't know, what you're probably feeling is sleep paralysis, which stops your body from moving in real life so you don't sleep-walk and hurt yourself while dreaming. A lot of people can feel this sleep paralysis in their dreams, and I'm one of them; I can't move very fast while running or fighting in dreams.
Sometimes I get the rare dream where I can run super-fast, but those are really, really ... rare.

People who know a decent amount of information about sleep paralysis in dreams (ie, not me) can probably help you find ways to over-come it. Usually I just realise I'm dreaming when I can't move fast and it just goes away, but my subconscious has gotten smarter and makes up crazy reasons for me moving so slow, like there being a lot of wind, or I'm walking through really thick, long grass. Damn sub-conscious, thwarting me when I found the perfect dream sign :@

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## drewmandan

I find that I am more aware of the real world while I'm dreaming when I'm stressed. If this is true, and assuming this is sleep paralysis (which it is), then if you de-stress yourself, the problem should go away in time.

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## TheCosmicOctopus

I have the same phenomenon in my dreams. However, that's a good thing in my opinion. Something like that is a good dream sign to signal that you're dreaming if you are doing anything with lucid dreaming.

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## Flame_Ace

I can't run very fast in my dreams either, and also I noticed that in most of my dreams I can't talk very well either, it always sounds like I'm just whispering. I think it's neat though like the above poster said; it helps me realize that I'm dreaming.

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## one3rd

Slow running is a dream sign for me.  I'm at the point where slow running automatically make me lucid.  From there I can make myself run normally, or on occassion slow everything else in the dream to my speed.

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## mel_noah

Normally I can't run fast at all - but only when I'm being chased! lol If running to get somewhere in my dream isn't a very important aspect of said dream then normally I can run, walk, and move quite well. 

I agree with the others that not being able to move fast is dream paralysis. It's there to help you. Or else you would be thrashing around the bed, which I do quite often. I can't tell you how many times I have awaken my dear fiancé' by hitting him with one limb or another. The other night I was fishing for silver fish in my mail box, and I kept hitting him with my arms when I would cast the rod back. lol

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## Forsightings

Heh - I can't run properly too - so I jump! For me its a lot easier as I propell myself along very far!

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## Njd1990

When I run in my dreams it is exhilarating...I'm not going at super human speed but I'm going fast and I can feel all of my momentum bounding with me lightly.

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## ladoys

If you run slow when being chased, it doesnt necessarily you run slow ALL the time, 
it might just be your mind playing out your worries. The same might happen if you
needed to catch someone, but your mind does the opposite. This is how things
normally work out for me.

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## RetracingMySteps

yes, i experience this very often in dreams.  in times of danger, i'm weakened.  can't run fast, or scream loud, or punch hard.  very frustrating, losing your defenses just when you need them the most.

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## Lëzen

> Heh - I can't run properly too - so I jump! For me its a lot easier as I propell myself along very far!



I also find jumping is easier than running in dreams. I used jumping to escape a wampa ice beast one time...then, of course, I got a little too cocky, and he caught up with me.  :tongue2:

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## camera_man1231

Yeah, so i kind of figured this out as a kid.  The same thing happened to me in all of my nightmares, so for some reason, i just decided not to look at my feet or legs, and as a result i ran normally.

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## Ozzi99

I cant not because i go to slow just because everytime i try to take a step i fall over.

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## Sylph

Moving slow is a very rare ocurrence in my dreams, hardly ever happens. In fact, a lot of times I can move as good as an olympic athlete - running, jumping, fighting (and I don't even do martial arts IRL  ::shock::  ). It's pretty cool.  :smiley:

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## Kanano

I used to have that a lot. I'd just start going super slow. I'd have to use rails and whatnot to move myself forward. I don't anymore though for some reason. In fact, I just had a dream where I kept doing really high running jumps. 



As for getting over it... I'm not really sure. You could always take a few minutes everyday and imagine yourself running fast in your mind. That's how I got over my nightmares, and not being able to control my dreams very well. Solidify it in your mind. Tell yourself you can run fast in dreams, give yourself a reason to run fast if you have to, or a way, like rockets on your feet. It worked for me.

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## Deaf Cow

You slowpokes!
In most of my dreams, I'm really, really fast, or even teleport between locations.

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## Meowth

I'm like that alot. Except I was sort of floating out of my bed veeeery slowly to the floor, my dad was a werewolf and there were homicidal ghosts living in my desk, which I was then floating towards. It was one of those dreams where you think you're awake, but not. From a dream to another dream. I hate those...

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## Sara[h]

If someone or something is chasing me in my dreams I run abnormally fast at first but just as I am about to get away my body feels almost weightless and I cannot run fast enough but the people I am running from are running much faster than before.

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## LobbyDonut

I don't run in dreams anymore. Many years ago I used to have nightmares and I couldn't run properly. Eventually I adapted to flying instead. Much more efficient and fast!  ::banana::

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## Serith

A lot of the times when I've tried running away from things in dreams, I found myself to be paralyzed, and a lot of the times when I've had to catch something in a dream, I found I was running really slow.  In other conditions, I usually run at an average speed, maybe slightly faster than I can run in real life.

The only time I remember being able to run extremely fast was in a non-lucid dream where I was a former government super soldier or something like that, trying to escape form government agents.  I was running really slow at first, but since I was about to be caught, I tried as hard as I could to run faster, and found I could run at superhuman speed.

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## Gez

Differs, sometimes it feels as if ive got concrete boots on, other times a can almost glide at 100mph.
It's all to do with the situation.

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## Dreamhope11

I used to have this, getting chased, or i can only whisper when calling for help.

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## Scarhand

I broke my knee very badly in February, so I can't run very well at all in real life. (It doesn't help that I am overweight either)

But in my dreams I am a track star, I run so fast I seem to be flying directly over ground and sometimes can't even stop myself at first. But when I look down I see my feet somewhat spinning behind me as though I am Sonic the Hedgehog!

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## L_Dreamer

> Every time I am running in a dream it is like I am moving slower than a turtle and actually not really even going anywhere at all. I am usually getting chased by someone that is trying to kill me or harm me and I start to run and I my body feels like it ways a ton and I barely move and then the person trying to catch me is getting closer and closer very quickly then right as they are about to catch me I wake up sweating balls.



Yes! I experience the exact same thing. When im being chased and I try to run, it feels like something is holding me back, and I run really slowly, its sooooo frustrating!

I cant imagine being able to run fast in a dream, I wish!

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## whystherumgone

being chased = being criticized
running in slow motion = feeling helpless, lack of full control, struggle.
being killed = being put down

It seems like in reality you may be feeling some criticized in some way and you are having struggle and wanted to fight back with words. Projecting running slow shows emotionally you are having some struggle in defending yourself. In other words, you are feeling helpless in terms of protecting yourself in words. You basically wanted to show people what you can do, but due to low self esteem or confidence, you are losing control. 

Whether that criticizism is constructive, you are trying to avoid it. Deep down, you want to stay firm where you are and that is why you vent out this dream of being killed. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2234306AAWsaYM)

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## VasMasta

YES !  BUT only when its day time dreaming, i always feel very drunk in my dream a

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## JamesLD

in non lucid dream i always run really slow when being chased or something, but in lucid dreams i have hyper speed!

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## lucidreamsavy

Happens to me whenever I run in dreams.  I remember one dream in which I was running in, and I was running slow.  It was on a nature trail.  I was runnin from two ex friends of mine (not for real) and they were these two mean goth chicks, so, I started pulling on weeds and such on the side of the trail to propell myself faster, not sure if it worked or not.

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## keefers23

> Happens to me whenever I run in dreams.  I remember one dream in which I was running in, and I was running slow.  It was on a nature trail.  I was runnin from two ex friends of mine (not for real) and they were these two mean goth chicks, so, I started pulling on weeds and such on the side of the trail to propell myself faster, not sure if it worked or not.



I have been exactly there, pulling on weeds and tall grasses in attempt to move myself forward.  This is because, like someone earlier said, my feet 'can't simply get enough grip to propel myself forward', its really frustrating.

I'm looking very forward to using the information I've found ITT, it is brilliant.
Like jumping, and pretending that I have rocket boots or am on a rocket skateboard.  I'm new to looking into controlling my dreams, wish me luck, this site seems pretty dang useful, so I decided to register.

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## Bizarre Jester

never in my lucid dreams. It is a common dream theme to have to run away from something, or get somewhere really quick, and find that it is very hard to move, or your feet are stuck to the ground. I had this dream twice.

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## keefers23

an update

So, after reading into this, basically just that one day, and spending a couple hours on this forum, I had another dream where I was running, totally realized it and that I was dreaming.  Immediately I took over, someone had mentioned jumping, that popped into my head and I jumped up and to a tree a pushed myself off with my feet, I was still moving relatively slow like i was under water or something.  So I started thinking about being under water, I had wayyy more thought ability in this dream then I've had before, so I started thinking about that.  I started thinking too hard and it caused me to wake up.
I was really happy.

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## YULAW

Nice work  ::goodjob::  Slow motion running is pretty common in dreams and it's mostly impart to SP as someone mentioned here before. Your legs feel heavy because you are sensing your legs in reality. I overcome this obstacle by imagining that I'm as light as a feather while visualizing myself moving faster.

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## White horse

Well I remember 1 dream when I was chased by water, I couldn't run.  Another dream when I became lucid, I could run, very fast. I ran to a cliff and jumped off. 

I don't believe so much in dream symbolism. It's almost like horoscopes, vague and it could always be true. 

Still nice to read that many people share the same experience.

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## dave36333

I fly, run slow and run fast . its pretty disordered and makes no sense to me.  just electrical impulses jumping in the brain deciding what I will be doing next  :smiley:

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## Lucidpotential

YAY !!! Brave Dave is not afraid of the Necro Police. Welcome Dave. Keep up the good work.

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## Claws

This happens to me all the time. I usually use it to trigger a lucid though  ::D:

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## Phantox

I remember that used to be my problem a while ago. I don't know what changed but now it's easy and a lot of my dreams have to do with running and parkour

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## JJFrank

The answer is easy.

You are applying physical world responses to the non-physical world. Its like using an axe in cyberspace.

You have to accept that the dream world has its own rules. "Running" is a ridiculous concept in the dream world. It doesn't work because it is unneccesary. See axe reference above.

You are projecting the dream images. If you "run" in a movie theater, does it make you safer from the threats in the movie?

If you don't like the movie of your dreams. just start a new movie.

Or, decide that there is nothing to run from. Whatever it is that you thought you needed to run from, just turn and face it. Ha! No more need to run.

JJ

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## woblybil

I tend not to run in dreams at all... For some unknown reason I paddle about, Quite rapidly too.
 I seem to hover with my toes just above the floor and my feet paddle around like a ducks feet sometimes going really fast, I lean forward into it and bank the turns and its funny as hell but I like it, Don't know why I do this but it gets me there fast..

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