Are "flying" dreams typical?

Question

I often have dreams where I can fly- I fly by making swimming motions in the air. In my dreams people always yell at me and say "knock it off, quit flying!" Just wondering if other people have these kind of dreams, or if they're unique to me.

Answer 1

i allways had dreams like this when i was in grade school- i dreamt i could fly ( by swimming) through the air , over everyone, touch the top of the tree's-
i could do somersaults through the air , and i felt at peace.

i believe it was a sense of freedom-freedom from the unwanted taunting-freedom from reality-it was peaceful.
no-one else could fly, everyone just reached up to me-i only flew over the school grounds-i think the significance of the tree also-was an escape-i used to climb tree's ( had a favorite one) with my books, and read the day away, noone bothering me, not a care in the world-sometimes i even fell asleep-

for me, i think it was a time in my life that was awkward-and my dreams were an escape from all of this-again flying represents-peace-freedom-

Answer 2

Wow!! Yes. I constantly have dreams like that too where I could float, fly, breath underwater, jump real high, and do all sorts of wild acrobatic dance moves in mid air. There's another cool dream I have a lot where I am killed but am not really dead and come back as a ghost-like entity that is invisible (all of this in a first person perspective), but able to tell what's going on. Sometimes I even realize I'm not awake and if know I'm dreaming then I try to play along and make it last as long as possible, but eventually you can't fool your mind forever and you end up waking up a bit disappointed it wasn't real.

Answer 3

I have dreams of flying, and I am always happy when I have the flying dreams. Sometimes I know that it is a dream, and try to stay asleep cause I wanted to fly some more, but I ended up waking up.
I believe that the day when I die, I will be in my flying dream, and this time there is no waking up. I will be free to go to the other side that I could never go before.
Sweet dreams to you.

Answer 4

I fly all the time in my dreams, Mario 64 style! If you haven't played the game, Mario jumps twice and flips the thrid time, becomming airborne.

Answer 5

people usually have flying dreams when they have reached a goal or gotten over a stressful situation. Enjoy it.

Answer 6

interesting you should mention this

check into lucid dreaming

once you realize you are dreaming and gain control over your dreams,

you can do wierd things like fly and breathe underwater

its so cool like virtual reality but REAL and FREE

Answer 7

YEs

Answer 8

yup

Answer 9

1. How common are flying dreams?

More than a third of the dreaming population reports having had at least one flying dream. And, if you have one, you're very likely to have more. Your chance of having a flying dream doubles if you are a lucid dreamer (you are able to become awake and aware as you dream).

2. Did flying dreams exist before the invention of airplanes?

Yes, they can be traced back to earliest recorded history (the Babylonians and Egyptians). They have also been found world-wide: throughout Europe, Asia and Africa; among the Pacific Islanders and North American Indians; in Australia and South America.

3. Why do I have them? Am I weird to have them? Or not to have them?

Are you especially creative? Do you have an imaginative personality? People with these characteristics (poets, writers, musicians, painters, graphic designers, etc.) are more likely to have flying dreams than the average population. People who do public speaking are prone to have them, too. Not surprisingly, folks who fly planes and hang gliders have flying dreams, although they tend to fly without their vehicles, like Superman.

4. How old do you have to be to have a flying dream?

Flying dreams have been shared by 3, 4 and 5 year olds. At the other end of the age spectrum, flying dreams are reported by the physically infirm elderly. Children and young people tend to have more flying dreams than the older population. But with deliberate dreaming, the numbers increase.

5. What do flying dreams mean? Doesn't flying in dreams mean that I'm not grounded in physical life? Or have sexual problems? Or am too proud? Or...?

There are many, many interpretations of flying dreams and some contradict others. They are metaphoric (sign of freedom), prophetic (omen of death), spiritual (journey to other realms) and cultural (for the Crow Indians: you are sick, but in Central Africa: you have good health). My favorite is that flying dreams are symbolic of the out-of-body experience.

6. Will you interpret my flying dream?

No, I don't do symbolic interpretation for other people. I'm more interested in what's initiating your dreams (the cause), and only you can track that down. When you do, you can use that information to vary the quality and quantity of your flying dreams.

7. So, what causes flying dreams?

Many explanations have been offered. Here's a few examples: psychological (expression of emotion), physiological (due to breathing), physical (movement of bed), psychic (precognitive of airplane trip) and astral (consciousness in motion).

8. Why do I have the same flying dream over and over?

A symbolic interpretation: it's an omen that you will lose everything you possess.

A causal explanation: the dream was induced by something in your life that had a great impact (environmental, bio-chemical, work-related, etc.). Either the impact hasn't dissipated yet, or the dream is being triggered by a similar stimulus, again and again.

9. What is it so hard to get off the ground?

A symbolic interpretation: the dream is a pun for being "grounded" in waking life, that is, restricted or limited in some way.

A causal explanation: you are still dealing with physical, psychic, emotional or mental fatigue that hasn't yet been processed by a full, deep night's sleep.

10. Why would I want to have flying dreams?

Because they're fun! How many enjoyable dreams do you have?

11. How can I have flying dreams?

One technique: develop a phrase (such as "Tonight I fly") and hold it vividly in your mind as you fall asleep. (See also Incubation of Flying Dreams.)

12. Can I control or influence my flight?

Yes, using the tools of incubation (before you dream) and lucidity (in the dream).

13. What experiments have been done with flying dreams?

Flying dreams are related to the vestibular system, which regulates body equilibrium. With this in mind, lab research confirms that certain physical stimuli that affects balance can induce flying dreams when the subject is asleep (wearing a blood pressure cuff, rocking in a hammock, raising and lowering the bed). In the laboratory, lucid dream subjects have more flying dreams than do nonlucid subjects. As measured by an electrooculogram (record of eye movement), a lucid dream of flying took the same time as the dreamer's account related upon waking.

14. What about field research?

Field research experimentation, case studies and statistical analysis of dreams has found flying to be positively related to nightmare resolution, superheroic dream feats, lucid dreaming, astral projection, extrasensory perception and mutual dreaming.

15. How can I use flying dreams to deal with nightmares?

At the very least, you can fly away. View the situation from a wider perspective or turn and confront your problem backed with a sense of strength and flexibility. Deliberate incubation of flying dreams promotes a positive dream experience, overall.

16. What's their link with fantasy?

Flying without technical support is a magical event. Flying dreamers are also likely to experience similar fantastic feats such as mutability, time travel and teleportation in their dreams.

17. What's the link with lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences?

Even more than sexual dreams, flying is the favorite activity of lucid dreamers. Lucid dreams of flying score low on confused thinking and perhaps this is why some dreamers can use flying as a cue to lucidity. Flying dreams can induce lucid dreams. They foreshadow, parallel and merge with the out-of-body experience.

18. What is their link with psychic dreams?

Flying dreamers tend to believe in and experience extrasensory perception. Flying dreams have been produced in telepathic experiments in which the sender used a picture target with a flying theme.

19. Are flying dreams just for loners?

No, people like to talk about their flying dreams. Flying dreamers are more likely than most to call someone on the phone to share their dreams. The majority of mutual dreamers (those who deliberately dream with other people) have the ability to fly in their dreams.

More Flying Dream Facts

Flying dreams are the key to proactive and interactive dreaming. The willful pursuit of flying dreams sparks the emergence of many types of extraordinary dreams. Here are some facts to support this claim.

1. Flying is a favorite activity of lucid dreamers.

Susan J. Blackmore's 1982 study of two groups of psychology students at the University of Bristol (n = 60, 55) yielded the fact that "the same people tended to report both lucid and flying dreams."1 The next year readers of the Bristol Electoral Register (n = 321) responded to her questionnaire. "A significant positive association was...found between lucid and flying dreams."2 Deirdre Barrett's 1987 study of undergraduates at the University of North Carolina (n = 56) yielded 10 lucid dreamers. 6 of them also reported flying dreams (out of 9 dream flyers). "This was a statistically greater than chance overlap between the subjects to whom these categories of dreams occurred."3

2. Twice as many lucid dreamers have flying dreams as the general population of dreamers.

In R. Griffith, O. Miyagi and A. Tago's 1958 study of students in Kentucky (n = 250) and students in Tokyo (n = 223), about 39.3% of the students in both groups reported flying dreams. But Jay A. Vogelsong's 1994 study of lucid dreamers (n = 60) reported that 80% of respondents found flying experiences "common in their lucid dreams."4

3. Flying dreams can induce lucidity.

The following avid lucid dreamers have reported that non-lucid floating and flying dreams preceded or were concurrent with the onset of lucidity: Frederik van Eeden, J. H. M. Whiteman, Oliver Fox (Hugh Callaway), Robert Monroe, Mary Arnold-Forster, Patricia Garfield, several of Celia Green's subjects and six of my own subjects.

4. Flying dreams are associated with the out-of-body experience.

Eight authors from Hereward Carrington to Jane Roberts relate flying dreams to OBEs. Susan Blackmore's 1982 study found a significant positive correlation between flying dreams and OBEs (her 1983 study results were inconclusive).

5. Flying dreamers tend to believe in and experience ESP.

Blackmore's 1983 study found a positive association between flying dreamers and those who had experienced telepathy and those who believed in ESP. Vogelsong's 1994 study of 60 lucid dreamers (80% who were flying dreamers) stated that "45% thought it is possible to interact with other people or with the real physical world through lucidity. 20% said sometimes, 25% maybe, and 10% said they did not think it possible. Some people qualified their positive answers as psychic rather than literal contact."5 Astral projectors who floated to obtain verified information include Robert Monroe, Sylvan Muldoon, two of Celia Green's subjects and Charles Tart's famous "Miss Z."

6. Willful flying promotes a positive dream experience.

A review of the published literature reveals that spontaneous precognitive flying dreams involve negative themes - airplane disasters predominating (all were nonlucid). However, 5 of the 6 published mutual flying dreams are positive; the other is a "fly to flee" theme. The positive 5 involved dreamers who could achieve lucidity. Only 2 (6%) intentional mutual flying dreams in my projects had negative themes - again, these dreams were nonlucid. Patricia Garfield and I, among others, have both experienced the ability to shift dream content from negative to positive using flying themes in either lucid or nonlucid dreams. Fly to flee becomes fly to enjoy.