In these extremely common dreams, you are lost and feeling desperate. You may be buried alive or locked in a cage. Or you dream of not being able to move; you are powerless to scream or breathe. Such dreams may occur when you feel confusion or conflict about how to act in waking life. The images are influenced by biological roots and experiences. Feeling trapped or unable to move also mirrors what occurs to the large muscles of the body during normal REM sleep, when they are paralyzed to prevent the body from acting out dreams. Such dreams could reflect frustrations in waking life, such as feeling trapped in a relationship or a deadend job. The flip side to such dreams is a dream of discovering new spaces; you may open a door in your home to find a new room or find something new in the neighborhood. These dreams occur usually when you feel that an aspect of your life is opening up.
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