Can you fly?

My whole life I have been able to fly in my dreams. Not only can I fly, but I know that I can fly at any time I choose.

As a child I did not know I had the ability but would suddenly find myself able to fly at time I needed to move faster in a dream. This could be a time I needed to run and escape from something, or simply at a time I needed to get somewhere faster than I was walking.

Flying for me involves simply leaning forwards and lifting my legs up behind me until I am horizontal, parallel to the ground at about waist height, and then it is a matter of moving through the air using a breaststroke swimming motion with my arms. It is a far faster method to move around than walking or running.

Now as an adult I am aware of this ability and can invoke it any time I wish, not only for escaping (which fortunately I do not have to do often) or moving faster, but simply for getting around. It is a comfortable and easy action and is preferable to walking or running. I can also go higher than parallel to the ground at waist level, though I very seldom do so - there doesn't seem to be any need.

The dreams in which I fly vary. There is no theme to the times I use this ability. It is simply something I know instinctively that I can do, often without even needing to think about it, like breathing when I am awake.

So I'm curious - Does anyone else have this ability. Or similar flying ability that has a different action?

a reply to: Mura44

I can recall one time I had a recurring dream where I was able to fly in one and then in the next I was unable.
In the first one I could just jump and be off, in the next I would jump and it would be a rather high and long jump but no flying.
It was years ago, probably 10 but I can still recall it rather well.

I wish I had as much control in my dreams as you do.

I've only had a few flying dreams. But they end up me swinging about in the air as if im on a bungy rope. Uncontrolable swinging. lol

Same goes for me. It used to wake me up as a kid ( a real wtf moment). But since I got over it I have been a bit lucid about it aswell.

You got to love it.
I know I do :-)

a reply to: Mura44
Yes, I can as well. In my dreams and through astral projection. Quite the experience. 'Wish I could in real life without buying a ticket.

originally posted by: Daalder
Same goes for me. It used to wake me up as a kid ( a real wtf moment). But since I got over it I have been a bit lucid about it aswell.

You got to love it.
I know I do :-)

Lol, I do love it when I wake up and remember, but at the time of dreaming I 'love' it no more than I love breathing when I am awake. It is just something I can do but in dream time it is nothing special.

It has however become an indication to me that I am dreaming, a kind of "pinch me" test - some dreams are so realistic that I can only be aware that they are not real by using this ability. "Oh, I can fly in this situation therefore this situation is a dream." Sometimes that can be enough to relax me in a weird or strange situation and allow me to enjoy the adventure.

a reply to: Mura44

My first flying dreams were as a child. If I wanted to fly, I would have to sit in what I later came to know as a lotus position. Flat on the ground, back straight, legs folded in front of me with my arms at my sides and my hands folded or fingers laced in front of me.

Then with deep concentration and focus, I could lift myself up into the air, maybe five or six feet and then once having reached that height, I could then unbend from my position and move about at will as the air was thinner there. Almost like once having gotten past the thick air it was possible.

These early dreams changed a bit as I got older. I would most usually be out in the front of our house. I would go out into the middle of the street and run as fast as I could down the street until I was just about to fall over and I would jump into the air. This was never enough so I would turn around in the air, land and run back down the street in the other direction and repeat this process several times, each time jumping a little further into the air until finally I would reach escape velocity, or height and be back into that thinner air where flying was possible.

I recall dreams of flying around the, yard just out of reach of the other children. No one seemed as impressed with my flying as I did though.

Then I had a phase of flying dreams that I was flying so high and happy that the earth in it's rotation was turning below me and as I lived on the west coast, the earth was turning my home away from me. These got scary because all that was below me was ocean and I would have to fly all the way back home to catch up with the earths rotation.

This then evolved into flying so high that the earths revolutions around the sun and it's orbit would carry it away from me even further. Those were scarier still.

I think that those scared me so much that for the most part I quit flying in my dreams. Almost. I did for a very long time then have the ability to stand straight and still, take a small hop up on to a small, invisible cushion of air that was sometimes a foot and some times an inch in the air. For a while I could then launch from that location but most of the time just maneuver around instead of walking.

Most of those dreams with the cushion of air I had an urgency to demonstrate to other people that it was possible to fly, that it could be done, but as I recall now years later, though I could do it in practice, when the time came to demonstrate it to others I could never find the invisible cushion. These were dreams as an adult.

By this time many of my flying dreams came with the doubt that it was only a dream and that I would wake up and not have the ability outside of my dreams. Only a few times did it occur to me that even though I was only dreaming, I could still enjoy the flying as if it were real, and in those I soared. But I have had none now for a decade or so that I can recall.
I suppose that it may be for the best. I am nearing 70 now and I suspect that were I to still have flying dreams, I would not be able to get up in the morning. Any psych majors around, feel free to interpret.

And thanks Mura, that was fun recalling those dreams. Yours seemed much easier than mine.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: Mura44
Yes, I can as well. In my dreams and through astral projection. Quite the experience. 'Wish I could in real life without buying a ticket.

Lol, me too! It would be a wonderful real life ability. It is so comfortable and easy to do and would help so much in getting around!

I have not experienced astral projection but you have aroused my curiosity. How do you work that? Is it something you control consciously when awake?

I tried so many times to fly in my dreams!

I would launch myself off the couch and hover for a second and then belly flop onto the floor.
I did that several times over the years, but it always felt like heavy air holding me down.

The one time I did actually fly, I couldn't come down and realized I was floating like a balloon over my hometown in my underwear....

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Wow Terry, you have so many different methods of flying. I was really curious about other flying methods so it was fascinating to read your post. I have only ever employed the one method. The only slight variation is lowering myself slightly to within arms reach of the ground and then using my hands to "walk" along the ground with the rest of my body parallel to the ground. But mostly I just use the swimming motion. My legs are not involved in the action like a real swimmer.

I can understand the fear of seeing your home move away from you. I might start worrying that I could not catch up with the rotation of the earth and reach home again. It makes me wonder if your further ventures into space were a follow on from seeing the earth's rotation, a kind of test of your abilities.

I love the idea of hopping onto a cushion of air. It must have been really frustrating not being able to demonstrate at will. In my dreams I have never seen other people flying, but I have also never felt the need to show them this wonderful ability, because in my dreams it is not wonderful but perfectly natural. They don't seem impressed but then neither am I!

I am finding all these replies fascinating. Are there any dream interpreters out there to shed any light on this subject?

originally posted by: Darkblade71
I tried so many times to fly in my dreams!

I would launch myself off the couch and hover for a second and then belly flop onto the floor.
I did that several times over the years, but it always felt like heavy air holding me down.

The one time I did actually fly, I couldn't come down and realized I was floating like a balloon over my hometown in my underwear....

ROFL Darkblade! Belly flops and underwear!!? That sounds more like one of those appearing in public naked dreams rather than a distinctive flying ability, but hey, you still managed to fly so it counts.

a reply to: Mura44
YAY!!


I can fly then!

When I was young, I had a few dreams where I was flying. Not lucid dreams. Once it was on a broom. I struggled to get into the air, but I got up above the houses, and came back down. The broom was backwards. Another time I could only float above the ground and push myself forward, so I would push myself to trees and grab hold.

I loved these dreams, and never forgot them.

Eventually, I tried some lucid dreaming techniques, which worked fairly well. And the first thing I thought of when I realized I was lucid, was flying! My mileage varies. Sometimes I have the speed and maneuverability of Superman. It really is like being a super hero. Other times I struggle to get up into the air (for whatever reason). It's weird, but I can get up into the air, above the houses, but then I can only push myself forward, at a moderate speed, for some distance, before I will come back down like a balloon. Sometimes I can get WAY up in the air, and I lose control a bit, and float about a bit aimlessly. I have no idea why sometimes I have superhero-like control and either times I struggle.

Being lucid and flying in your dreams is just mindblowing! Oddly, moving forward seems to be easy enough at times, but moving right to left is hard for me. One strange variation in one dream is that I could jump really high and push myself forwards, like the Hulk jumping, except it was like jumping on the moon with barely any gravity.

a reply to: Calalini

Wow a superhero has answered my thread! Another completely different and equally fascinating experience. I am loving the replies.

I have asked a few people face-toface the same question in my OP but never met anyone who said yes before, so I am enjoying discovering the other flying methods and abilities to control this. So far there does not seem to be any common theme in either method or control.

a reply to: Mura44

No. Just the opposite with astral projection....you let your UN-concious control it while awake in a meditative state. It would take to much to explain how-to here.

I have flown in dreams since childhood, I started off with the waist height leaning forward method too. I have also used objects as a mode of flying too, pieces of wood or cardboard. I am generally aware of this abilty in non flying dreams too ... like its there if i need it. I just thought eveybody got this

a reply to: Mura44

I've been a life long lucid dreamer, ever since I can remember I've been able to control my dreams. Flying is one of my favorite things to do in the dreamworld. I can also hop really high and far, exactly like the movie John Carter.

Looking in mirrors and walking through them is pretty fun and odd too.

a reply to: countingdown

That sounds exactly like my experiences. I am aware of my ability in non-flying dreams, just like if I am sitting on the sofa I am not walking around but aware of my ability to get up and walk around if I need to.

You are the first person I have met who has described a flying experience like mine. Thanks for replying.

i have twice achieved a lucid dreaming state. both times i attempted to fly. both times i got giddy and crashed to earth and woke up

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

Another controlled flyer. Okay, now the mirrors thing is different. I have not tried that one. Come to think of it, I can't remember a mirror ever featuring in a dream. They may be there but not significant enough to remember.

What is on the other side Alice? Wonderland?