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| Incubation of Flying Dreams |
Illustration by Norma Churchill |
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How To Create A Flying Dream Dreaming is consciousness in motion. Whether it includes internal sensations of floating, a reaction to the body changing position in the bed or rapid-eye movement, the state of sleep is seldom a frozen zone. Indeed, sleep paralysis is a surprise to the system. Dream imagery hitches a ride on this motion. Our perception scans the background, the scene shifts and people cross our paths. Most often, the dream is not a snapshot, but a slide show or movie. And it is rare to be just a member of the movie audience. Rather, you enter onto the dream stage and become an actor in the play. You stand or sit. You walk, run or drive across the landscape. You can also fly. There is no one-size-fits-all interpretation of flying dreams. My favorite explanation links flying dreams to the out-of-body experience. In this view, flying dreams signal a shift in perception and travel in altered states. The key to dream flying is to match the movement of your consciousness with the appropriate imagery. Successful incubation of a flying dream does not start 5 minutes before you go to sleep. It begins when you wake from your last dream. 1. Recall Smooth Dream Movement As you lay in bed, review your last dream to see how you traveled through each scene. Pay special attention to smooth movement like skiing, skating or surfing. Notice when walking or riding in a car is so free of jiggles and bumps that it's like sliding across glass. You're half-way there. 2. Re-enter And Re-visualize The Dream What if you discover, instead, that you were a dream couch potato? Take the next step forward. Imagine that, instead of sitting, you are standing. If you stood in your dream, imagine yourself walking. If you walked in your dream, run in reverie. If you ran, pretend you can run right off the surface of the earth. Then, take the next step upward. If you were dreaming at ground level, picture yourself walking up the stairs, climbing a tree or hovering above your bed. 3. Build Up A Library Of Flying Memories Your psyche needs strong flying memories with which to construct your dream. Start in the observer mode. During the day, watch birds, butterflies, balloons or planes overhead. For a literal depiction of people in flight, view TV or the movies. 4. Move And Imagine In The Waking State Begin at a comfortable height. Eye level is the height with which we are most familiar, and it's most easy to practice at that level in the waking state. Flowing forward motion is best experienced as a passenger in a car, plane or train. Look out the window and watch the scenery go by. Now, imagine that, instead of sitting, you are flying. Let the sense of vehicle fade away. Concentrate on the moving scenery and your moving body. Then request your dream psyche to form a dream like this. Don't be surprised if you get a sitting-flying dream. To avoid this result, get out of your seat and go for a brisk walk while you exercise your imagination. For a standing-flying dream, picture yourself flying while you're standing upright in a bus, subway or boat. For easy upward or downward movement, the escalator and elevator are your best places to practice. 5. Intend To Fly Just Before Sleep Use regular incubation techniques, like suggesting to yourself, "Tonight, I fly in my dreams." Make sure that your recording tools are ready when you wake. Relax and visualize yourself flying while you are stretched out on your bed in your favorite flying position. 6. Avoid The Falling Dream Imagine yourself a few inches above your bed, over a pool of warm water or within reach of a huge mound of whipped cream. Higher up, parachutes, hot air balloon tethers, flying carpets and planes can aid your flight, if you wish. Do you think you'll need a safety net? Pack one in your imagination before you sleep. In the waking state, stand on one foot to encourage inner-ear balance. Bounce, twirl and fall on your bed. Imagine flying while coming down the stairs, then jump the last step to practice landing with a satisfying flourish. A comfortable dream trip is closely related to your experiences in the waking state. You won't be troubled about the idea of flying, falling or having an out-of-body experience when your physical body feels safe moving around in physical space. OBE expert Robert Monroe was, first of all, a glider pilot. Perhaps the best flying dreamers are those firmly grounded in waking reality. |
Holding the intention to incubate flying dreams while swimming in my San Jose, California, pool had successful results during the summer of 1995. It took more than just visual imagination. I pictured myself flying plus I felt the sensation of flying while I swam. Then subvocally I urged my dreaming self to remember the same feeling after I fell asleep. Falling backwards into the pool translated into a dream of falling back off a ledge on the building that houses the David Letterman Show. The dog-paddle, crawl and breaststroke actions were copied by my dreaming self in nonlucid dreams of flying. But not the sidestroke. Instead, I had an astral dream of lying on my side, in bed. Perhaps my waking movements were too lazy to inspire dreaming flight. |
Wearing Clothes To Induce Flight After a few years of dream recording, I reviewed my journal and discovered that colorful clothing could show up in my non-lucid flying dreams. Sometimes the colors were symbolic; often they were the literal hues of waking attire. I wondered, what would happen if I deliberately donned clothes during the day with the intent to go flying at night? The most obvious option was an aviator's suit, but that seemed too bulky to permit easy movement in waking life. And it wouldn't have fit the dress code of the work place very well. Jumpsuits So I decided on a more feminine alternative, the jumpsuit, a one piece blouse-and-pants combination. I bought several over the next four years: black, white, turquoise, purple and green. Every one of them was incorporated into a flying dream. I dreamt I could fly just because I was wearing that turquoise jumpsuit. Wearing the green made me a mundane airplane passenger, but when I put on the violet, I became a purple sprite. The white version was a super suit for both me and another dream character (in waking life she liked to wear white, too). But the winner for inducing the most flying dreams was the black jumpsuit. So I made sure I bought a replacement when the first one wore out. Black worked well during the cold months; I switched to white for spring and summer. Either way, I wore them with boots. After all, Superman wears boots, doesn't he? But my boots were black, whereas his were red. That didn't deter me, however. At Christmas time, I bought a pair of knee-high red socks to wear underneath the boots. Then one cold winter night, I wore them to bed. That's when I discovered the Red Socks Technique to induce lucid flying dreams. Red Socks Whenever I wore the red knee-high socks, I'd simply sleep the night away, deep as I pleased. The socks warmed my feet and dried my mouth, gradually making my body uncomfortable, and thus allowing me to come back to the waking state very, very gradually. This usually happened about 4 or 5 A. M. Because I came to consciousness so slowly, I was closer to the sleep state than the waking. It was quite easy to do an about-turn and head right back into the dream. Sometimes I was so drowsy, I could even get up, go to the bathroom and return to bed to dream. In that case, I stretched out on the bed in a flying position and took on the attitude and alignment of Superman-style flight. I tensed myself mentally into a super ball of strength and gave myself an hearty directive to go lucid. Then, I dived into the dream. Sometimes I could go directly from hypnogogia, literally propelling myself into the imagery in order to start a lucid flying dream. Sometimes there was a break in consciousness; afterwards I simply found myself in a lucid dream, and I could launch flight from there. Clothing of Flight I think clothing inspires flight because it's an image that literally surrounds me during the entire day. Even if I don't mentally recall my flying intent, my body surely does. The most effective method is to give myself the strong self-suggestion as I'm getting dressed in the morning (when I still recall some of the feelings of sleep). In a way, it's like "loading" a talisman with magic. But it's not a teeny bit of symbol on a string around my neck. It's a whole body icon. Awake or asleep, it places me fully into the middle of the action. |
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How To Fly: Tips From Flying Dreamers I don't know a way to explain how I get airborne. But when I'm asleep, it seems the most natural thing in the world to fly. Sometimes I fly high up. At other (times), I'm low to the ground. I've only once been able to verify a place I was later to visit: the Board of Education where I applied for a substitute teaching job, in Connecticut. DK I believe it was Stephen Laberge who wrote about jumping as a prelude to flying in your dreams. I attempted this with limited success but noticed my focus was not on flying, but rather how far off the ground I was leaping. By switching my focus into the sky instead of the on the ground, it greatly facilitated the process. Also, leaping for joy instead of to gain attitude gets me into the air quickly. Many flying stories. I mostly enjoy flying into/through barriers, people etc. Maybe I'll fly into the sun next. MH When I fly in dreams, it is accomplished by running as hard as I can until I have the sensation of treading water. Then I seem to rise effortlessly and float at a height determined either by the ceiling of the room I'm in, or, if outdoors, around treetop height. I often tell the other characters in the dream, come on, you can do this too, but they never seem to want to. One exception was a childhood dream where I found my sister and cousins already up there and I was not the first flier. (A scene from Mary Poppins?) Apart from enjoying the "swim" in the dream air, I fly to people I want to talk to. I often get good advice from the "others" in my dreamsI know that they are really hidden aspects of my own mind. BM The most important thing for me is first to isolate the gravity field that is pulling on my body. When I become aware that, yes, gravity is pulling down on me, flying is just a short step away. Once I identify the force of gravity, I will the gravitons (small quantum sub-atomic particles that theoretically pull or exert all the forces of gravity in the universe) to cease pulling on the gravitons in my body. Suddenly I am free, like a hot air balloon released from its moorings. When I fly, my basic attention is usually on what is happening below me. In 80% of my flying experiences, when I need altitude, I allow myself to be pulled by the mass of the sun. This usually pulls me out west, over the Pacific Ocean. I stop and let the sun set and then I fly over California. KD I had a long series of flying dreams in which I was learning how to fly, gaining confidence in my flying abilities. At first, when I became lucid, I would doubt myself, and I inevitably could not maintain the necessary flying altitude. Then, I reassured myself that I could do whatever I wanted, since it was my dream. Often, I just enjoy the sensation of being lucid and flying at the same time, and I have a great time. I try a maintain lucidity as long as possible. In one flying dream a voice told me that now that I had mastered flying, the next step was going to be for me to learn how to go through walls. So far, no "lessons" on this. CW I've had many flying dreamsthey are one of three different types. Usually, I push off the ground and very easily, fly by gently waving my arms up the down with an occasional sculling motion with my legs. It's always easy to do. Years ago when having such dreams, I was always showing off to people how good I was because they couldn't do it, but the the past few years, it's changed to my trying to teach others how to fly the same way. I'm also a substitute public school teacher (in real life), and now I'm usually in a classroom showing high school kids how to fly. My second type of flying dream is when I find myself flying about twenty to thirty feet off the ground, occasionally touching down lightly, then again rising. I'm always either downtown or in some neighborhood around the city that I haven't seen for a long time in real life. People can't see me, but I see them and when they're doingit's nearly always at night and I notice the street lights and shops, neon signs, etc. I then get scared, and afraid that I'm out of my body and must get back. The only way I now for certain I can return is to call out. I manage to utter a sound and then immediately wake up with a feeling like someone poked me in the area between my rib-cage and abdomen, and it aches for ten to fifteen minutes. The third type is least frequent, but is most pleasant. In this, I'm soaring high in the sky with arms outstretched. I'm following the Oregon/California coastline or flying inland over lakes and mountains. The sun is shining and there's lots of color. It's very exhilarating and beautiful, and I feel wonderful. I awaken normally and feel happy all day. I've always though that flying in dreams, at least for myself, was a method to "get away from it all." When life is hectic or too fast paced, I often dream of flying, and it's like telling myself to "rise above it all." Maybe I'm giving myself some "quality time." GB |
During May of one year, I incubated flying dreams for two weeks straight. I simply affirmed aloud, "You can fly! You can fly!" several times during the day. I used this particular wording because I wanted to fly in the dream state along with other dream characters. Instead of the incubation phrase, in the first dream I declared to a dream character, "I can fly! I can fly!" Despite saying this, I did wonder if I really could get off the ground. I had a vague recollection of recently having difficulty doing so (in the dream state). I did make the attempt and surprised myself at how quickly and easily I got airborne. Rising, I automatically went into a sequence of loops and spins in the air, shooting off and soaring quite high, pursuing an automobile below me. I quickly overtook the cars on the highway beneath. I astonished and delighted myself with how well and fast I could soar, and with such smooth acrobatics, besides. In the second dream of this series, I realized that I could fly because a dream character called me a "shaman." (Not true in waking life.) I tried to get airborne by taking off towards the top of a hill in the hope that the wind would catch me and buoy me up. It did for just a few moments; then I would land again on the grassy slope. This happened a couple of times in a row and I became concerned that I would not get airborne before I reached the bottom of the hill. However, just before I did so, I was able to project myself mentally, so that I did indeed seem to be soaring across the tops of fog-shrouded hills. The one constant about these first two dreams was a disappointment, however. I was the only one who was flying. Indeed, I was flying to do something for the other dream characters. In the first dream, I was trying to retrieve a suitcase stolen by a couple who were fleeing in their automobile. In the second case, I was assisting in a search for a Native American boy. As wonderful as these flying scenarios were, they were both Lone Ranger adventures. As delightful as the soaring felt, I was the only one there to enjoy it. So I kept affirming that I wanted more people involved. Just before falling asleep the third night, I thought maybe saying, "We can fly!" might do the trick. This night I had just finished several days battle with the flu and was taking antibiotics for a bacterial infection. As with previous nights, the initial dreams had me on a long journey. There didn't seem much that responded to my flying request. I got up, went to the bathroom and returned to sleep. I fell into deep dreaming, so deep that the last dream of the night I can scarcely recall. I probably would not have remember it at all if it hadn't been so active. For my dreaming self had finally granted my wish. In the dream, I was one of three couples who were dancing...in the air! Flying together, dancing together. Using very graceful movements, rhythmic actions and vigorous acrobatics. At first the music was quite melodic. A woman with short, dark hair was swirling around in a full skirt with a slender man who had a beard. He may have been my partner at one point. We certainly did some partner switching, doe-see-doeing in the air. Then I was somersaulting with a young, dark haired man who was dressed in a black tuxedo with longer-than-usual tails. After flipping over, I raised my knees and playfully bumped against him, in time with the music, which has shifted into a rumba tune. The whole affair was very joyous. For the past year or so I had been experiencing a slowdown in my physical ability to get-up-and-go. In the morning it would usually take 10 or 12 robot-like steps before my body would loosen up and begin moving in its normal free-flowing manner. This morning I awoke at 6:28 A.M., two minutes before the alarm was due to go off. I reviewed the dream, reveling in the feelings of swirling and the joy of being with the other people. At 6:30 the radio came on with a rollicking rock-and-roll tune of the type of rhythm that always sets my toes to tapping. I just could not ignore it. Throwing back the covers, I leapt from the bed and starting bugalooing around the room, jerking and turning in time with the music. I ended up on the other side of the bed, where my husband was lying. He opened one eye, looked and me and said, "I guess this means you're feeling better." I kept flinging out my arms and legs, hopping and swirling around, all the way to the bathroom. It was then that I suddenly realized that my body had been demonstrating a degree of flexibility unlike any I had experienced in a long time. There was simply no problem of stiffness at all. |
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