Dreams of Falling and Flying

What is the difference between falling and flying in dreams? Some people would say it is a matter of attitude, not altitude.

Several years ago on a long plane ride I fell into a fitful sleep, and dreamt that I was plummeting through the air. I startled awake from this anxiety dream, only to slip back into it as I dozed off again. The feeling of vertigo made my stomach lurch, and was not helped by the bumpy ride we were experiencing.

This happened several times, until I became lucid enough in the dream to remember some of my aikido training. When falling in aikido, the most important thing is to get our center under us again. We slip into a ready stance, a hanmi, and open our awareness to be ready for the next attack.

With this body memory in mind, I drifted back into the dream, where I was still falling from 35,000 feet. As I tumbled through the sky, the lucid "me" in the dream organized my energy and got into a ready stance. Effortlessly my body stopped rolling and became upright, and soft as a feather I landed on ground that was not two inches below my feet.

I felt buoyant and relaxed, as we do when we experience a moment of grace. It was such a profound reversal of fortune, such a sudden shift, that I think of it to this day when boarding airplanes. I also think of it when people talk to me about their flying dreams.

Many dreamers consider their dreams of flying some of their most ecstatic experiences. As a dream consultant, I have known people who choose to fly every time they become lucid in their dreams. They can't imagine a more positive thing to do in dreams, and are surprised when I offer them a few caveats.

Yes, flying is ecstatic. It can speak of great creativity and imagination, a capacity for joy that affects everyone around us. But flying can also mean avoidance, an inability to focus and follow through on things, and a lack of concern for others.

Questions I ask these dreamers are: What is happening immediately before you fly off? Is someone expecting you to do something, or have you just completed a task? Are you being chased and then take flight, or does the flying arise from witnessing something beautiful?

More often than not, our urge to fly is a combination of several factors. The important thing is to view it in the context of the entire dream, so we can better understand our own motivations.

And what about dreams of falling? Sometimes plummeting from great heights is good, or at least necessary, especially when we have been living beyond our means or have an unrealistic picture of what is going on. Falling can also be due to disappointment, being "let down" when we have relied on someone or something that fails us.

But sometimes we fall in order to learn that things are not quite as bad as we fear. It can be one of those sickening feelings that reminds us to re-center, take a deep breath, and let our inner calmness ground the situation. Maybe the earth will rise softly to meet us, as in my dream, or maybe we will suddenly remember that we can fly, and begin to soar.

 

 

 

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Comments

[starrynights]

04:03 AM on 04/16/2010

I'm not sure I understand the term lucid dream. I do know that if I have an unpleasant or frightening dream I can remind myself (inside the dream) that I am dreaming and steer the dream to a different subject.
Flying dreams are the best. The most annoying dream though is the repetitious dream. I'm always dreaming of being in an old Victorian era mansion and walking around inside. I'm really tired of that house.

[Anne Hill]

01:31 PM on 04/16/2010

That is the exact definition of a "lucid dream": realizing within the dream that you are dreaming, and being able to do things you would not otherwise do, such as shifting the action.

The other thing you can do in that Victorian house, if you remember that you are dreaming, is to call out, "Why do I keep dreaming about this house?" The answer may surprise you.

[85Percent]

11:05 PM on 04/15/2010

I do tend to have flying dreams, and they vary, but are good dreams. I have not been having as many flying dreams for a while, and I wondered if that could be related to poor health and/or strong meds. The falling dreams I don't recall ever having.

[Anne Hill]

01:33 PM on 04/16/2010

Many health factors affect our dreams, including prescription and non-prescription drugs.

[dulcis]

01:24 PM on 04/15/2010

I have had flying dreams for as long as I can remember. I have actually learned to fly better over the years, increasing my height and speed and range, as I began to recognize that i could fly in my half-lucid dreams. It is always a pleasurable feeling, one of being liberated. I have gotten to the point where I can even take off from water, which is not easy because you have nothing to push off from, and the water drags on your legs. Once or twice I have even left the atmosphere, and once I flew through the Sun, unscathed.

I taught a friend of mine how to have flying dreams, and now he does too. It's simple, if you ever have a lucid dream, remember that you can fly, and try to will yourself to do so. Then, each time you have a semi-lucid dream, remember you can fly, and try to fly a little further.

[Anne Hill]

01:41 PM on 04/16/2010

Thanks for the tip on flying in dreams! It is a glorious feeling. And just the beginning of the things we can experience through lucid dreams.

[spilkus]

02:22 AM on 04/15/2010

Here's the deal with dreams. Try to tell the story of your dream. Listen to it. If you like the story, then go with it. If it doesn't sound like it has merit, or heart, then change it.
Just like your life. If you can tell the story of what you are living with humor, passion, heart, then you go with it. If not then change it.
I ask my students what their story is. Most say: 'What story? I don't have a story.' Get a story, write the story. Dream the dreams you want to dream.

[llisa]

10:56 PM on 04/14/2010

Sleep apnea causes breathing cessation and lack of oxygen causes a falling/fainting/dying feeling just as you fall asleep, or sometimes at another point in your sleep cycle. High altitude is known to exacerbate central sleep apnea.

I'm not saying that was what caused your falling dream--just being in a plane as you fell asleep could certainly have contributed to that. Everybody has that feeling occasionally. But, people who have repeated incidents of "falling" and jerking awake should have a sleep study to rule out a very serious sleep disorder.

Yes, I speak from experience. My "falling" episodes started out as a minor annoyance and ended up threatening my life. This was decades ago. Much more can be done to help people with apnea now. Don't hesitate to get checked out if you wake up feeling like you've been run over by a truck even with adequate hours in bed, if you fall asleep (or want to) at all hours of the day, if your partner tells you that you snore or stop breathing in your sleep, If you constantly feel exhausted and depressed and irritable for no reason. In fact, I would recommend a complete physical, including sleep study, before you get checked for depression. No amount of anti-depressants will oxygenate your brain, so be throrough with the physical.

That's my two cents on dream falling.

[Anne Hill]

01:39 PM on 04/16/2010

That's a good point about sleep apnea. It prevents us from getting restful sleep, and can lead to other, more serious ailments. Not to mention disturbing dreams.

[Alexandra08]

02:31 PM on 04/14/2010

I've had a recurring flying dream since I was about 14 (which was nearly 50 years ago). It's always the same. I start "swimming" on the ground and begin to lift. I begin to fly in rising circles. People notice and begin clapping and cheering. But I'm trying to figure out how to get down. The more I try to come down, the higher I go. Everyone is still cheering and I'm shouting, "How do I come back?" But I just keep going higher, higher, and higher until I can't see anything but space all around me. (I'm not sure I could describe this as a happy dream, but I've always wondered what it was trying to tell me.)

[llisa]

10:57 PM on 04/14/2010

I would prefer that dream than my flying dream, in which people are after me, so I fly. But I fly very slowly and very low and they can pull me down. Or there is a ceiling (even if I am flying outside) and I cannot get out f the building, and they jump up and grab me. Why are people always after me, and why can't I fly higher?

[SF TKF]

01:51 PM on 04/14/2010

This is so funny. I don't "fly", I swim through the air in my dreams. It takes effort, and it's work, but it's fun.

[Alexandra08]

02:26 PM on 04/14/2010

Whoa -- I thought I was the only one that dreamt I was swimming through air! However, my problem is I can go up, but I can't come down. I just swim awwwwaaaaay. Kind of scary, actually.

[Anne Hill]

03:27 PM on 04/14/2010

What an interesting dream! I've been reading Robert Waggoner's book "Lucid Dreaming," and he has a lot to say about the different kinds of flying we do in our dreams. In some settings he does more of a swim stroke, others, it's more like Superman soaring.

Your dream reminds me of the old mother's adage: "don't swim so far out that you can't swim back!" If it were my dream, it might be telling me that I'm habitually overextending myself and can't sustain the output. Then again, maybe all I'd need to do is just say, at the beginning of these dreams, "all I need to do is imagine home in my mind and I will return there effortlessly."

[bmermaid]

12:57 AM on 04/14/2010

I often dream that I am flying. Usually in the dream, I am showing a dis-believer how to do it. In other words, yes, I can, and so can you.

[janeycat]

11:52 PM on 04/13/2010

I used to dream of me flying and it was the most wonderful feeling. I would just take a few steps and then urge myself to fly and up I would go and feel so light and free, I remember smiling so big and telling a few kids I saw that they could fly to and I would show them how and we all would fly over these green little mounds and hills and over the trees. Then we would land and the kids would go on playing and I would fly to my hearts content. If I woke up I would go back into this dream like I had never left it.

I have dreamed of falling before also but just as I fell I would wake up instantly with a jerk to my whole body and be nervous and a little afraid.
I wish I could learn to dream of flying anytime I want to, those were the best dreams of my life...

[auntabbie]

09:47 PM on 04/13/2010

I had a flying dream several years ago and it is the only flying dream I ever have had. It is the only dream where the feeling of it and many of the images I can still recall. My daughters and I were flying through the windows of houses, and as high as airplanes sometimes. We just flew around all over and we just were flying, not running approach or arm movements or anything like that. I remember that it was happening during twilight-not sure if morning or night. I would show my daughters the safest ways to thread through telephone wires and they would follow me. We all ended up at an airport and then..nothing! I wish I could have do-overs on that dream.

The only dream that I have that repeats is taking care of babies-always taking care of babies I don't recognize as my own..just taking care of them-the story involved changes-I am pretty sure-but the babies are always there! I bet I have a dream like that 2 or 3 times a month. The 'taking care of babies' part is the only thing I remember though.

[Anne Hill]

11:23 PM on 04/13/2010

What a lovely flying dream! Thanks for sharing it.

Even though my kids are grown I still have dreams about taking care of other peoples' babies. I usually associate it with doing too much "caretaking" of other people, and not focusing enough on the things that are most important to me. Mothering habits are hard to break!

[auntabbie]

07:32 PM on 04/14/2010

Thank you for liking my dream! I do think my taking care of babies dreams involve me missing that happy time. It is hard to turn that mothering instinct inward but I am working on it!

[EllieSadie]

02:55 PM on 04/13/2010

I have dreams of flying all the time. I love them. What I enjoy most is that I use my mind to project my body. I am very aware in the dream that it's my mind that is moving my body to different heights and speed and turns. Anything that brings this much joy in a dream, can't be a symptom of anything other than the enjoyment of mind over matter and the spiritual connection I have with moving energy. I suspect when I am on my death bed that I will be flying somewhere and the boundries of sky will lift to other universes to release my spirit from dense earth. That's my take on it.

[ctchic]

02:51 PM on 04/13/2010

I just had another flying dream last night. I always fly when I'm being chased or in a dangerous situation and I don't want to wake up (cause usually I'll fall right back into the same situation). I don't look at that as avoidance I see it as self preservation.

[Anne Hill]

11:18 PM on 04/13/2010

That's a pretty normal response to being chased in dreams, though it doesn't usually stop the dreams from recurring. If you can learn to stop and face your pursuer though, and ask in the dream what it wants or tell it to stop, you might actually change the dream entirely.

[slightodds]

02:27 PM on 04/13/2010

I have had a bouncing dream . Falling and flying,I would bounce so high I could see the treetops then when falling I would be scared but just bounce higher!

[lmktacwa]

02:10 PM on 04/13/2010

That's weird to see this article today. I had a falling dream last night.

I needed to get to a place that was down in a valley, and I found what I thought was a long slick sliding slope... so I went over to it and plunked down on my butt and started sliding down it like it was a huge slide... but then the earth fell away and I realized it was a cliff... and I just started plummeting to the earth. I could see the rocks below... I thought "oh boy, this is it... I can't land on my feet or they'll get driven through my shoulder blades, should I land on my butt, or my side... wow, this is too far, too fast, I'm going to die... I hope its quick... don't people die before they hit?... " I could even feel the "g-force" in my head as I went down in elevation... and then I don't know what happened... I don't know if I woke up or just went on to some other dream.

I've never had a flying dream. I hear they are exhilarating.

[Anne Hill]

11:14 PM on 04/13/2010

Yikes! Hopefully next time you'll realize it's a dream and start to fly instead of crashing. But death in dreams is usually about undergoing a transformation of some sort--may it all turn out well in the end!

[lmktacwa]

01:24 AM on 04/14/2010

yes, that is the place I would like to get to. Start flying in my dreams. My dad has told me about his flying dreams and they sound wonderful.

I am embarking on a new transformational journey of sorts, so perhaps it has something to do with that. (or the potatoes I eat 3 hours after dinner every night... they lift serotonin levels and provide for great 3am REM w/dreaming (usually weird) dreams is a side effect)

I wish I knew how to "know" when I"m dreaming. I've meditated on it, tried to fall asleep with the desire, etc, etc... but I never seem to "know" it when its happening. Feels like it is some spiritual next step that I can't quite seem to grasp or attain.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

[littlepuffycloud]

12:55 PM on 04/13/2010

I've never had a flying dream, but several falling dreams. After going through a significant and scary earthquake, I dreamed I was on a school bus with my family and the bus fell into a deep crevase that opened unexpectedly. I was scared at first, but then calmed down trying to comfort my kids. The other falling was when I was involved in a bad relationship and I wanted to end it..my car drove into a heavy fog and then I was falling through unseen fog into an unknown place. Dreams are wierd.

[Anne Hill]

02:18 PM on 04/13/2010

Ugh, relationship breakups can definitely prompt falling dreams, as well as other dream unpleasantness. That description of "falling through unseen fog" is an apt metaphor for trying to move through something but not being sure of the outcome, don't you think?

[littlepuffycloud]

09:52 PM on 04/13/2010

Yes..when I awoke from that dream, I knew what it meant and ended the relationship within the week.