How Do You Fly In Your Dreams?

Flying is a common activity in regular dreams or lucid dreams.  There is still debate as to why flying dreams are so common and what flying dreams could mean.  The ancient Assyrians believed that if you had too many flying dreams, you'd lose all of your property.  Considering the Assyrians are no longer around, I wonder how many flying dreams they had.  Sigmund Freud stated that dreaming of flying really meant that you were dreaming of sex.

 Many dreamers report flying as a joyful activity in and of itself without any metaphors to tie up interpretation.

But not everyone flies the same way in dreams.  For example, I walk through the sky in my dreams.  I never manage to do the cool Superman imitation that other dreamers talk about, such as author and President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Robert Waggoner.  Other people swim through the air or sit as if seated in Wonder Woman's invisible aircraft.

How I Fly

In a typical flying dream, I walk up into the sky as if climbing invisible stairs.  Sometimes I can just will myself to fly, but this doesn't happen often.  I move through the sky at about the pace of a fast walk.  That may seem slow, but last week I had a nightmare where I was trapped in the sky and could not control my flying speed or direction.  I'm fine now with the slow speed.

If I want to ascend, I stretch out both of my hands, palms down and push down.  It's a little harder to descend, although sometimes I can push above my head.  Hovering or stopping in the air is usually not an option, as I keep gliding along.

Rarely, I ride the sky like I would ride a horse.  But the horse was way below me and I floated over the saddle, holding an incredibly long pair of reins.  It all makes perfect sense in the dream, but it's a really unsatisfying way to ride a horse.

Why Are My Flying Dreams So Weird?

I can't be the only one who flies through the dreamscape air in unusual positions.  I think our imaginations may be slightly hampered as we age.  Perhaps our subconscious can't quite get the hang of the Superman way of flying and so fly in ways more familiar to our bodies.  Perhaps it's fear of moving really fast in a new way.  Perhaps it's just me.

How do you fly in your dreams? Can you control your speed and direction?  Do you have fun?

Image of a flying fish from Wikimedia Commons