My Struggles with Flying

[MRH92]

I've managed to do quite a few things in my dreams but flying has always been a massive challenge. I think it's safe to assume that flying is one of the things people try to accomplish quite early on in their lucid adventures. However, I've never been able to do is successfully. I think the problem is my brain tries to approach it logically. I can't simply jump and fly as my brain tries to figure out exactly how much force is needed to propel myself from the ground. About 90% of the time I manage to jump really high into the air but at the peak of my jump I start to slowly fall back down and at best all I can really do is glide. I think I've probably tried flapping my arms like wings but that only keeps me in the air a bit longer and doesn't allow me to move about much. Last night I jumped from a window and again I just started to fall. Superman style flying doesn't do anything as again there's no force propelling me forward. Feeling a bit fed up of this I realised something. For those of you who aren't gamers, or who haven't had a chance to play, the main character in inFamous, Cole, has an ability that helps him fly/glide where he uses his power to manipulate electricity in order to fly. The video below shows what I mean: inFamous 2 non upgraded static thruster VS upgraded - YouTube Whilst falling down I managed to use the same power and before I hit the floor I fired out electricity and was propelled very fast into the air. This force kept pushing me and I was able to fly around with no problems what so ever. I hope I can continue to do this in future dreams.

[TranquilityTrip]

That is a very interesting way to fly. It does seem as though a lot of people struggle with flying in their lucid dreams, it's as if their brain won't let them fly unless they are given a reason why it's possible. The most common way I've seen people accomplish this is by imagining wings or jetpacks on their backs. Others like to thrusters out of their hands or feet. These mechanisms trick their brain into thinking human powered flight is possible and completely logical, allowing them to override their mental obstacles. Rather hilarious when you think about how easy it is to fool your brain. Oddly enough, I have never had trouble flying in my lucid dreams but my dream character has run into trouble trying to fly in my normal dreams. Not sure why that is. Anyway I'm glad you discovered a way to overcome your difficulties though . By the way, how did flying feel sensation and emotionaly wise?

[MRH92]

I've attempted to conjure up a jet pack before but I just couldn't seem to make one appear. To be honest the sensation wasn't that great. I've had dreams before where I've done my jumping and gliding thing and I've felt cold air against me but in this dream I couldn't feel that. It still felt pretty good emotionally but in terms of physical sensation there wasn't much at all. I guess I probably need to do it a few more times. Plus the dream itself was quite unstable so I guess that probably contributed to the lack of sensation.

[TranquilityTrip]

I've attempted to conjure up a jet pack before but I just couldn't seem to make one appear. To be honest the sensation wasn't that great. I've had dreams before where I've done my jumping and gliding thing and I've felt cold air against me but in this dream I couldn't feel that. It still felt pretty good emotionally but in terms of physical sensation there wasn't much at all. I guess I probably need to do it a few more times. Plus the dream itself was quite unstable so I guess that probably contributed to the lack of sensation. In general, the sensation one person feels in their dreams is usually completely different than what another person feels in their dreams. There are a number of examples that prove this, lucid sex is probably the most well known. Some people say it feels good (to them) and others say they feel nothing at all. For me flying is absolutely a terrific experience, feeling the wind across my face and the flapping of my clothes in the wind all make for a unforgetable moment. But these feelings seem to come by default for me, you may have to work at it a bit more than I did to recreate the same sensations.

[MRH92]

Yeah my ability to experience sensations and senses often goes up and down. I tend to have periods of really clear and vivid dreams with a great amount of sensation and then periods of rather poor control and general instability which means my battle for staying lucid takes up all my mental energy so all my senses suffer for it. Unfortunately I've been stuck in the latter period for quite a while now. This is normally down to how much stress I have in my waking life that dictates the level and quality of lucidity I experience.