Dream Flying

I have touched upon this in a blog entry, but I decided to expand on it to make a hub.

I believe that dreaming about flying is supposed to be rather common, because the few dream interpretation books that I've glanced at have said so. Strange then that I have never received an affirmative answer to my question, 'do you ever fly in your dreams?' Who are these secret dream flyers I wonder. Well, I know that I am one of them, though I've never been secretive about it.

Let me tell you how my flying first started. There I was, walking along the kerb of a very ordinary and grey pavement, skipping along very carefully, trying to keep my balance, when I felt a bit of a change in the air. I was quite aware that something was different, either with me, or with gravity. I tested it out. I had no idea what might happen, I was just going with my instincts. The skipping slowed, and I started to leap. It was the kind of leap that gymnasts do on the beam, almost in the splits, with toes pointed, and arms outstretched for balance. The leap was so graceful and felt so natural, but I could feel that there was more, I had not reached the limit of my capabilities. I continued to leap, but each jump took me higher, and further. The landscape began to blur, because it was no longer important, only the leaping needed my attention.

I can remember saying to myself, 'I wonder how high I can jump.' I decided to find out, and began to launch myself into the air, with almost no effort at all. I could feel the air rushing past me, whipping my hair around my face, but feeling neither cool nor warm. It felt breathtaking, and yet my breathing remained at its usual resting rate.

After enjoying several giant leaps into the air I knew that I was ready to let go, ready to fly. So I did. I took one final jump, and just didn't go back down to the ground. I carried on, higher into the air. Not too high though, as I didn't know quite what to expect at the edges of my vision. When I reached a height where I began to feel uncomfortable, to feel nervous that I might not be able to get back down, I levelled out, and started to circle. I did not want to go too far away from home on my first flight.

And now I was just in a blissfully calm state of nothing. I weighed nothing, I felt almost nothing, I though of nothing but the sensation of freedom.

And then disappointment grew from a seed in my chest. Consciousness began to creep back to me, and I started to be aware that I was dreaming. It was like the scene from Ice Age, when Scrat the prehistoric squirrel is in heaven and is reaching out towards the most glorious acorn he has ever seen, only to be snatched away from it when his life is saved by Sid the Sloth. The disappointment was crushing and heavy. I had really believed that I was flying. That was how I felt when I woke up from my first flying dream.

The second flying dream was very different. I was dressed as Neo from Matrix Reloaded, and I was drifting through the air in an upright position, firing lasers and flames from the palms of my hands at my enemies. I woke up from that one with a grin, thinking how cool it was to be able to dream. I was also relieved to have had another flying dream, because it seemed to me to slightly increase my chances of having more. I have had a few more flying dreams, but not nearly as many as I would like. Often I will put my book down, and try to concentrate on jumping around in my head, hoping with all my might that I will fall asleep in midair and pop myself right into flight. It has never worked, but I still try from time to time. I'm not one of those people who can cleverly dream about whatever I'd like.

I also day dream about flying, but that's quite different and I'll devote a new hub to it shortly.