Flying in a dream gives a feeling of freedom, lightness and power that is difficult to reproduce while awake. Flying in a dream can give you the impression of being able to do impossible things: with a little practice in the art of having lucid dreams you can learn to fly in dreams on command.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Training while awake
Step 1. View the flight record
Surround yourself with images that represent the act of flight. Watch movies with scenes featuring different subjects in flight: superheroes, birds and people flying with the help of equipment. See images of aerial shots and fantasize about soaring above them. See images of space and fantasize about effortlessly flying through total emptiness.
- Close your eyes and imagine yourself hovering above the panorama below;
- Spend a few minutes a day imagining experiencing sensations related to flying. Imagine bouncing on a trampoline, making an upward turn at full speed on a roller coaster or jumping off a trampoline.
- Play video games where your character is able to fly. Playing video games can help you have lucid dreams and, in any case, the graphics can give you ideas for your flying dreams.
Step 2. Write your dreams in a journal
Making an effort to remember dreams helps raise awareness, which in turn helps you control them. Immediately after waking up, take a few minutes to try to remember the dream and write it down. Reread your journal every so often and take note of any constant elements.
- When visualizing yourself in the act of flying, try to focus on scenarios that you frequently dream about.
- Start from a position where you often find yourself in a dream and imagine yourself circling in the air or taking a leap.
Step 3. Check if you are dreaming or not
During the day, whenever you feel the need, check that you are fully awake. It may seem obvious that you are, but getting used to doing this awake check can make it easier to do it while you sleep. The only way to have this type of dream is to be completely lucid. To check, try circling in the air or flying.
- Another way to check is to look at the time twice within a minute. If you are dreaming, it is difficult for the clock to strike the same time both times.
- If you haven't been able to spin through the air yet, try another physically impossible action, such as sticking your fingers into the pillow.
Part 2 of 4: Falling asleep with a Goal
Step 1. Set yourself a goal
After training for a while to visualize, remember dreams, and check whether you are awake or dreaming, you can begin to focus on a specific type of flight. You can try to reproduce this type of flight if this is your first time trying to fly in a dream. Were you able to soar as if you were an eagle? To float like a bubble? To swim in the ether? Imagine the way and in the context in which you will fly.
Don't give yourself a deadline. It can take a few days or months for you to have your first lucid dream. Once your attempts have begun, take your time and try one method at a time
Step 2. Define your goal before falling asleep
Whatever it is (circling in the air, flying, or soaring), tell it to yourself right after you go to bed. Repeat to yourself: "I will fly in a dream", or "When I dream I will realize it, when I realize it I will fly". Act your goal to yourself, calmly and firmly. Alternate this practice with visualization.
Step 3. Fantasize about the dream you would like to have
Imagine falling asleep and having a dream. Visualize yourself realizing that you are not dreaming, perhaps checking if you are awake or noticing something strange in the landscape. Finally, imagine yourself flying and notice all the details of the scene.
- As you foreshadow your lucid dream and repeat your goal to yourself, try to go back and forth.
- If you fall asleep doing this, your chances of having a lucid dream increase.
Part 3 of 4: Flying during a Lucid Dream
Step 1. Realize that you are sleeping
Look around for signs related more to the dream world than to reality. Check if you are awake or asleep, looking at the time or trying to hover in the air. You are dreaming? If from checking you realize that you are not awake, tell yourself that you are dreaming. Don't panic, or you may wake up.
The first few times you happen to be lucid in a dream, you will probably wake up soon after. Train yourself to stay in the dream by focusing on actions that you perform in the dream itself, such as swimming or, indeed, flying
Step 2. In the dream, keep your feet on the ground
Notice where you are and try to move. Doing something practical is a good way to increase clarity when you notice how you feel. Try to interact with the environment. Bike, run, try to smell, touch or move something.
Step 3. Practice circling in the air
Take a leap and see if you can swing through the air. You can try jumping down from the top and flying away. As you whirl through the air, try to move left and right, taking different postures. The trick is to be convinced that it works. During your first lucid dreams you will find it hard to believe in your "ability" to fly.
- It can also happen that you fly for a while and then crash. A breakdown in self-confidence is common if you are not fully lucid.
- Tell yourself that it is only a dream and that you can fly because it is YOUR dream.
- Don't be discouraged if you wake up due to the effort to stay alert. A first lucid dream is a striking sign that others will follow.
Step 4. Fly
When you are fully lucid (sure that you are dreaming, able to interact with the environment and convinced of your ability to fly), you can fly as and when you want. Pry to the ground or take a run. If you are in a room, flit around the room and then step out the window. If you are feeling reckless, go to conquer space.
- You may run into obstacles several times, such as trees or power lines. Whenever this happens to you, practice flying around them or simply crossing them.
- If you begin to fall, remind yourself that in a dream you are able to fly.
- Remember: you can wake up, but you can't get hurt. It's just a dream.
Step 5. Stay in the dream
To stay clear, focus on the flight and your surroundings. If you let your mind wander, your dream will too. Keep your gaze fixed on the land or sea below, or on the stars around you. Try to challenge yourself by trying to pay attention to all the details of the flight: what feelings you feel, what temperature is there, what is the dominant color of the landscape, what it feels like to pass through a cloud.
Part 4 of 4: Flying during a WILD dream
Step 1. Learn to enter the dream directly
If you have already experienced lucid dreaming, are able to remember dreams and know whether you are dreaming or awake, it is likely that you can practice a particular type of lucid dreaming called WILD (Lucid dreaming started while awake, from English "Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream"), which occurs when you fall asleep with the intention of directly entering a lucid dream. When you enter a lucid dream directly, you can try to maintain a state of relaxation and concentration that allows you to be aware of the act of falling asleep.
The act of flight is characteristic of all lucid dreams, but it is even more characteristic of WILD dreams, which are often compared to out-of-body experiences
Step 2. Wake up early and go back to sleep for a nap
Set your alarm clock an hour and a half before your normal waking time. Go to sleep at the usual time and wake up when the alarm goes off. If you had a dream, write it down. Stay awake for an hour and a half and then go back to sleep. If you wish, you can read your dream journal or other lucid dream texts while awake.
- When in bed, take a comfortable position and relax with slow, deep breaths.
- Repeat to yourself your goal: "I will go straight into the dream" or something similar.
- Imagine repeating a dream you had recently. If you were dreaming when you woke up, try re-entering the dream.
- Morning naps are best suited to inducing WILD dreams.
Step 3. Notice how you feel as you go back to sleep
Focus on all the details of the situation, but don't try to rush things or control them. Keep your eyes slightly closed. Observe each of the scenes that appear and, if possible, interact. Feel the limbs getting heavier and the heartbeat slowing down.
Step 4. Fly out of sleep paralysis
This is a state that occurs when your body begins to fall asleep and makes you feel awake in bed but unable to move. Look for the first signs of sleep paralysis so you don't get scared when it happens. Sleep paralysis can be unpleasant, but it is a good stepping stone to lucid dreaming when used correctly.
- During a sleep paralysis it may happen that you dream of a disturbing presence entering your room. Remind yourself that you are only dreaming and send it away.
- If you want to get out of a state of sleep paralysis, persistently move your fingers and toes.
- Exit your body by floating. If you can enter a WILD dream from a state of sleep paralysis, you can fly around the room.
Step 5. Fly away immediately
You can enter a WILD dream just by observing the images that flow under your eyelids. While you are lying down and observing the images produced by your mind, begin to focus on the details. If you see a scene, join it. Start flying or walking, touch objects and keep telling yourself that you are dreaming.
