Levitation Levitating
Ernest Wood in his book Yoga says, “Levitation, or the rising of the body from the ground and its suspension a few feet up in the air above the seat or couch, is a universally accepted fact in India. I remember one occasion when an old yogi was levitated in a recumbent posture about six feet above the ground in an open field, for about half an hour, while the visitors were permitted to pass sticks to and fro in the space between. Princess Pena Choki, second daughter of the Maharaja of Sikkim, related, regarding her uncle: He was the most extraordinary man I have ever met. I remember that when I was a little girl he … did, what you would call exercises in levitation. I used to take him a little rice. He would be motionless in mid-air. Every day he rose a little higher. In the end he rose so high that I found it difficult to hand the rice up to him. I was a little girl, and had to stand on tiptoe … There are certain things you don’t forget.’”
These are quotes from books, and unfortunately I have not witnessed anything like it myself. But in dreams it is a different matter. Dreams of levitation are quite common and usually are the result of uplifting feelings, often of a religious nature. They usually indicate the dreamer has touched a level of consciousness that has given them such dreams. Levitation should not be confused with flying in dreams. Sometimes it indicates that the dreamer has broken free of the sense of just being a physical body.
An explation that is the cause of many levitating dream is that the dreamer is having a hard time, and so dreams of getting away from the difficulty. See Flying; Levels of Awareness in Waking and Dreaming
Of course the person’s attitudes create much of what one dreams, so if a person had a sense of themselves being special or ‘above’ ordinary human beings, it could also result in levitation in one’s dreams.
Example: I was floating on the very tender tips of a tree in a sort of effortless levitation. The tree was about 30 feet high and was standing in what looked like walkways near a shopping mall. One walkway was rising so it came to about halfway up the tree. A few people gathered to look at me and wonder how it was possible for me to maintain my position. At first they thought it must be a publicity stunt and were wondering where the cameras were. But as nothing happened in that way it led them to question further. Suddenly one of the people watching – I think it was a woman – suddenly realised it was not a trick or to do with publicity. She realised that this meant it was possible for a human being to do this, and was immediately floating beside me. Shortly after that another person was with us, floating effortlessly. Then there were several more, until there were about six of us in a circle at the tree tip. We reached out to each other and held hands, then we lifted upwards, climbing to an enormous height, leaving a trail of smoke behind us as a sign for people to see from miles away.
Example: I am a worshipper in a group, gathered together in one accord, in praise and supplication. I am lifted up, levitated, floating above the heads of the assembly. From within I am moved, as by the spirit, to sing a beautiful Polynesian chant. It is clear and lovely, and signified the spirit is entering the assembly. Prior to this we were only praying for the spirit, now we had contacted the spirit. Then suddenly I was rushed upwards at great speed until I was unconscious. Then just as suddenly I was rushing downwards and came with such force that when I landed on the courtyard of the assembly a force shot out of me and etched letters into the statue of a man fixed on a wall in front of me.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Did you feel and sense of inspiration in the dream?
Have you in fact been levitating – lifting up your emotions of thoughts beyond normal?
Did I realise anything new during the experience?
See ASC – Being the Person or Thing – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Edgar Cayce
Comments
I have had a few dreams that it’s got to oh no I hate this dream here we go again and am absolutely terrified and I fight it. They are all similar, the 1St time I had dreamt I was on the ceiling looking at myself in bed asleep and tried pushing myself from the ceiling to get back to my body to wake up. It was scary, then I told someone and they go oh that’s natural and I’m like I never want to dream that again. Then 2Nd time it happened, about 2-4 months later, I dreamt my bottom half of body-legs were lifting and in my dream I thought to myself oh no not again and fought it waking myself. Then my next dream from that now 4 yrs later I dreamt I was on a bus home and was being stalked and noticed the scenery wasn’t as it should be and thought I’m dreaming I’ll try some magic to see if I am, and thought I’ll make this kid talk like a frog to his mum and he did and I laffed of relief I’m dreaming and the stalker was gone..it was weird. Then just recent 3 weeks later I’ve dreamt I was floating but not outta b.e., but grabbing onto my boyfriend to stop floating. I hate these dreams though people say it’s a gift. Or such like. Can you please not publish this but reply to me what you can relate to this please..
Mine is the most similar to yours Sonia. Please someone reply because it’s bothered me since it’s started happening. As I’m starting to fall asleep in my bed I get a weird feeling in my brain (I actually feel something, not sure how to describe it) then my legs are the first to lift up and I think oh no. Then the rest of my body levitates. The first time I floated up to the ceiling and it was scary for me because I didn’t know what was going on, it was in my exact same house with only me there and I frantically wanted to get down. I’ve had the same “dream” just as I’m falling asleep over and over and have no clue what it means! I’ve learned to fight the levitation as soon as I start to feel my legs raising off my bed by trying to wake myself back up and roll over. Any advice on what this is would be such a blessing because I’m unsure what it means.
While we sleep our conscious self is largely or totally unconscious, and while we dream our voluntary muscles are paralysed – therefore another will or motivating force moves our body. So we have a Conscious Will, and what I will call a Life Will. The first one we have experience of as we can move our arm or speak in everyday activities; but the second will takes over when we sleep. See Sleep Paralysis
This Life will can move us to speak, to move our body, and in fact do things that we cannot do with our Conscious Will. This described more fully in http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/
It’s strange, because I’ve got anxiety and depression issues and had been taking an SSRI mood elevator for two years without dreaming at all. But I stopped taking that in January–although nothing has changed and I’m still socially anxious and depressed.
My “levitation” dreams started in May, where during the regular flow of the dream (my dreams are very realistic and continuous until I wake up) I would jump or otherwise be in the air…and simply wouldn’t fall. It’s a weird thing to explain, since I’m actually still walking, only on air instead of the ground. So if I jumped 2 feet high, I would remain 2 feet off the ground, and walk around as usual, and nobody would comment on it. Weirder still, I could only go higher by jumping again (2 to 4 to 6 to 8, etc.), and I could only go lower by curling into a ball.
I have no clue what it means, since it’s much odder than flying or levitating. And it was a constant aspect of my regular dreams for over the summer months, even though I am still depressed and unmotivated in my waking hours. I haven’t had one of these dreams since the beginning of August. Sometimes, the feeling was so overwhelming that I’d wake up and think I could levitate. Of course, it was disappointing each time I realized it was just a dream… 🙁
Josh – Taking drugs to get rid of anxiety doesn’t often work. I know because I myself found a way beyond depression and anxious feelings. And I get the idea from your dreams that they describe a situation of not being able to get your feet on the ground, and you need to be grounded. It may even be an after effect of the SSRI.
Example: I know what I am about to say will be taken as stupidity by people who suffer depression, but it is largely a matter of imprinted habits. Having suffered depression for years and having found a way out of the dark place, I know the route out. It is not a route for people who are in the habit of believing there is no cure, that drugs are the only way to deal with it, or suffer enormous fear about change or meeting new aspects of self. Some people actually believe that depression is normal, and so it is our real nature to be depressed. But having found my way out without antidepressants and am on stable ground – much more so than normal – I know that we are not destined to feel pain and despair. Life is not all about pain as Buddhism states. It is all about a stable emotional life with so much to offer us. But it takes work and consistency to remove all the rubbish put into us from our cultural upbringing, and to clear all the dark debris that is the cause of depression – debris that block the light of our being.
The way I found out of long depression worked, and even though I am an ordinary guy, am on level ground. But it takes personal application to and persistence to break through. It is all summed up in http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/
Tony
I read through all the comments and none matched my experience until yours (Josh). I can’t describe my experience as levitation rather flying for lack of a better word. It always begins with jumping in the air and then returning to the ground, the next jump is 2 to 3 times higher than the first and the next is higher again. I can easily reach the roof of a factory in 3 jumps. I know that I can do this when I start jumping and the people around me see what I am doing but think nothing of it. Once I get to a specific height (it depends on the environment) I begin to hover in an upright position and can direct myself in any direction including up and down with relative ease. The thing that is strange is that I had this dream regularly for many years but it stopped about 5 years ago and now it has started again?
My dream is similar to your dream Josh.. i jump or walk on air, goes higher and higher and i can walk literally fr miles on air. Its normal for everyone watching me. I see this dream more often
Hi – I must take time to upgrade the dream dictionary, so must halt from answering your posts – I started revising the dictionary in 2006, and haven’t neared the end yet. I believe someone else may start giving interpretations.
So, for a while I urge you to read http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/i-am-no-longer-interpreting-dreams/ – It describes ways that can help you. And often it would help too if you looked at http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing
Tony
Dreams love doing this, playing with ideas and possibilities and seeing them from a another perspective. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dimensions-of-human-experience/
Levitation/special abilities in my dream was a bit different. To start I remember walking down a boulevard and helping a group find missing people, relaying such precise info about them and finding them via strong feelings and thoughts. My dream then turned to a sit down interview with authorities asking me if I wanted to participate or be contacted by the news, also the government and its agencies. I clearly remember giving direct “No” answers to everything they asked. (My mother even peeked in my dream to say “Nope, no none of that” lol) Next moment I look across the room at my interviewer and at the same time, both our chairs tipped backwards and we both levitated in the chairs at the same time and moved up towards the ceiling. I tried to exclaim “Whoooa!” Or “Wowww!” And it was like a slowed record..I couldn’t speak hardly. I was trying so hard to talk and express my amazement and it freaked me out I couldn’t. I woke instantly! A bit shaken and a mind full of questions!!
Christina – We all have such abilities, but usually they only happen in the dream world where we exist beyond time and space. The only way they happen to people is when the person can learn how to dream while awake. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-waking-lucid-dream/
But your dream gives you an example of using such abilities – while in the dream state – but it suggests you could learn to manifest something of them. Maybe it might help reading http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/using-your-intuition-1/
Also your wise adviser your inner mother said it is best not to get involved in the news, also the government and its agencies.
Tony
This has happened to me also. You need to stand firm and say NO, when it first starts happening. When you give in to the pleasure of levitation ( and it is a wonderful thing-at first) you are opening yourself up to demon/evil spirits. You are inviting them into your mind. I know most of you will make fun of what I have said, but I have experienced this, allowed it to happen because it felt awesome. But it comes with a price. Please do not give in to the temptation. Shut it down when it comes at you with a firm NO! Control your own life! Do not let these demonic influences into your dreams or your life.
I just awoke from a dream that I was in church, and we were celebrating summer solstice and the fact that the time was auspicious for baptism (no idea if that is true). There were baptisms happening to the left of me, but I stood on the front row, far right, looking to the right where a white banner with baptism symbolism hung from a beam. I was happy and smiling. Suddenly I realized the priest had left the baptisms to bless me. I felt as if he took me by the top of the head and pulled up, and I heard him say something like “berritch!” and then I rose to the ceiling. At first I rose head-first, then became perpendicular to the flat white ceiling. I was rising fast, and got scared. I still felt pulled by my head. My whole body began tingling hard and I woke up that way, either fearful or in awe, I can’t be sure.
Dear Heather – What a wonderful dream experience, which may have caused both fear and awe; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
Breaking free of the idea of being a physical body and having a direct (dream) experience of this one way or another can be perceived as fearful and simultaneously release feelings of awe for the Mystery of Life that we are; http://dreamhawk.com/news/my-body-is-a-moving-sea/
I chose to share this experience of Opening up to Life, for it reflects your experience of your body “tingling” hard; which is a universal experience; the way towards “It” may be different though.
What I see in your dream is the idea of “timing” or of using the opportunity that Life (you may prefer to call “It” God) offers you.
The summer solstice in your dream may reflect a stage of being more aware and how you use this moment to explore more of your potential; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/potential/
Both being blessed and rising to the ceiling may reflect the positive feelings that are released in this process of opening up to Life; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/vibrate-vibration/
You do not mention if the word “berritch” means anything to you.
If not please also read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/language-foreign-or-strange/
Anna 🙂
I have dreams about levitation. Now everytime i levitate while sleeping in my dream im never noticed by anyone. Although I eant everyone to notice. I channell my spirutual energy to lift me up from my palms. I keep my arms straight and focus pushing energy out to take lift off. Its like every time i levitate i go into a lucid dream. Last night in my dream i was at work levitating effortlessly. Still no one noticing. I was surrounded by a black mist of darkness and i stood in mid air without having to use any energy to levitate. Everytime im lucid dreaming i figure new techniques to capitilize on my flying skills. Because ive only flown once before in a dream.
i got a dream that i m at the entrace of a room which has minimal yellow colored light with bodies suspended in air. bodies are near the ceiling suspended freely in air. particularly i saw 1 male n 1 female at 2 corners of a room. moreso i recall fixing my eye on male wearing black neck downwards (facing towards ground) eyes closed..like body is resting. i quickly move out of this room as i am a bit scared and i getup its 6:30am.
Most of my dreams before were that I was on top level of a stadium and while going down I tripped and started to fall and when I was about to hit the ground I felt that I was able to stop the free fall and just levitate or float in the air and after that I was able to control he levitation and fly also
Thank you for the post, it is incredibly helpful! I had a dream this night that let a terrifying feeling inside me. In the dream I was talking with my husband and suddenly our 2.5 years old son came there. He started to levitate 1.5m high in lying position. It completely scared me and I wanted to take him down but I couldnt reach him, it felt like a bubble around him. When he came down on his feet, I felt that I am levitating as well few centimeters above the ground. I was scared and woke up immediately.
Dear Michaela – Thank you for your appreciation for Tony’s Life Work.
I wonder if your son is reflecting your inner child that feels threatened in some way when you talk with your husband; http://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/inner-baby-and-child/
One of the ways levitation in dreams can be understood is that it reflects being “above” other human beings and this can be used as a defence mechanism as well; “I couldn’t reach him, it felt like a bubble around him.”
Perhaps because you identify with your inner child, the adult part in you starts to levitate as well?
A way to explore your dream and to reach your inner child could be to use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson for your son and your dream figure the way they appear in your dream.
Another way could be to observe how you respond to talking with your husband in your waking life; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
When you step into the role of observer, you are less likely to identify with the fears of your inner child.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-animus-jungs-view-of-the-male-in-the-female/
Anna 🙂
My dreams however are always when I’m standing. In my dreams I am aware that I am able to levitate and when I’m amongst people, I want to show them that I’m able to do so. It’s normally only about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and I have to concentrate in order to levitate. It feels very real in my dreams and is a recurring dream. I can only levitate in short bursts, no longer than perhaps a few minutes at a time
i have the same a the last comment on this page and for some reason i think that i am special and have have super powers and i dont know how to use them in a woken state but i love the feeling its a powerful uplifting sensation …. and i told my kids lol… reply please
I have dreams about all different kinds of things and I’d say maybe half of them also turn out to be pre-cognitive in some way. But the predominant thing in all my dreams is levitation. I’m always levitating. Sometimes it’s secondary to the plot, the plot is happening and everyone else is normal but I’m moving through the dream levitating. Other times I’m levitating just a little off the ground and people notice, then I spend my dream trying to explain to others how to levitate. One time I decided in the dream to see how high I could go and went outside and started going higher and higher. It took a lot of effort but I got very high above some very tall trees and actually felt scared of the height and pushed the air above me to bring me back closer to the ground. Usually when I’m levitating it’s only maybe a foot or so off the ground and it’s not essential to the plot of the dream at all. But it feels very natural, like its the state I prefer to be in. The sensation of levitating and moving within that space feels so real and I can always seem to understand how it’s happening, in a scientific sense. In my dreams levitation is all about energy and relationships between matter. I levitate for most of the time in every single dream I have. I’ve read the ” what levitation means” stuff and I don’t necessarily feel enlightened. I’ve been having these dreams since I was a teenager and in the last decade it’s become every dream. I have had some very severe health issues over the last five years, most recently resulting in a bone marrow transplant that was particularly difficult with lots of complications. And during that process I feel I gained a new perspective and greater awareness of life, mortality and my own relationship with the universe. But these dreams have been happening since way before that. In fact levitation is such a comfortable state in my dreams that I often wake and wish I could be in that condition in my waking hours. I find it very perplexing.
That is ridiculously bizarre because this is the closest I’ve come to reading about a dream or dreams so close to ones I have. Everything is about the same with the addition that I somehow tense up my shoulders to activate the levitation and that I’m often doing it around people naturally. It makes me mildly upset when I wake and realize it’s not possible even though I vividly remember the dream and actually felt it.
these are exactly what i dream of as well. you two described my dream and how i feel about it perfectly. i feel i have a great perspective over my relation to the universe and my own mortality. maybe that is the enlightened part
I read your blog from last year and i thought i was the only one going through this. But, not. My dreams are perplexed with different scenarios so i sometimes cant remember them but i do remember levitating at times above houses and tall trees but not out into the sky. From my last dream i learned that babies can too. But how do i learn from this what is it saying cause i can do tjis in my dream from time to time?? Curious of whats happening. Thank you
I had a dream where I had 2 small children that I just put to sleep. In life, I have no children and in the dream I didn’t actually see them. I just knew they were in their rooms sleeping.
People kept knocking on the door trying to come in and visit. I kept telling them no, it’s late I just put the kids to bed. It was a different person each time and I didn’t recognize them.
Then I turned from the door after turning several people away, and saw an old man standing in my house. He never said anything, but somehow I knew he was sick and dying. He kept trying to kill himself because he wanted to control how he would die.
Each time I kept him from killing himself, he would try again. Finally I told him I was going to find a place for him to go, and mentioned again that I had children in the house.
I turned to make a phone call and the phone was attached to the wall…not a cell phone. When I finished my call the man was gone, but I heard a noise outside. I opened the door to see that he’d hung himself in my front yard.
I prayed an prayed so hard asking God to lift him up. Please lift him up and take him to heaven. I said he didn’t mean it. Please forgive him. Lift him up, lift him up, please lift him up.
I was lifted up instead and was being lifted higher and higher into the sky. I kept saying no, not me….lift him up. Finally, I woke up extremely scared. Even though, it doesn’t seem so scary now.
Really confused on what any of this could mean…?
Dear Carly – What I see is that the end of your dream reflects very clearly that dreams are a magical mirror in which your innermost hopes, longings, fears/terrors and genius are made real. They are made real as external environments, people, animals and relationships. So the person you dreamt about is not them, but is a dream image made out of your feelings and memories.
So when you pray for this old man to be lifted up, you are actually praying for yourself and in your dream your prayer is answered.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Reflect
But let’s start with the beginning of your dream and the story it tells me.
You have given birth to something new in your life or in yourself or in your work and it has (they have) grown/developed already. This is symbolised by the two children in your dream.
See http://dreamhawk.com/pregnancy-childbirth/the-baby-in-your-dream/
You have put both children to sleep which I see as taking a rest and/or detaching from whatever you were working on or what was developing inside you.
This period of rest is also symbolised by all the people knocking on your door and you not letting them in.
Someone at the door is a symbol of an opportunity in your life; the unexpected; new experiences, business opportunities or relationships.
The sick, old man who is ready to die in your dream could also be a symbol of being aware of thoughts/ideas that you perceive as “sick” and suicide could be a symbol of “killing” the possibility of a business or a relationship developing; perhaps because you are aware that it is no longer useful in the way you want to live your life.
Your dream does suggest that there is a lot of conflict and guilt involved at first with the decision you took to “hang him/the idea on a tree”.
It could mean that you are struggling to free yourself from what you absorbed/took in from your (ambitious?) father.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/father-dad/#InnerFather
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-animus-jungs-view-of-the-male-in-the-female/
Because your dream reflects that you are exploring where some decisions about your (inner) life will take you, I suggest you have a look at your dream yourself as well.
I feel it will be helpful to try to start a dialogue with this old man; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dialogue-with-a-dream-character-or-object/
and to “Be the child(ren)”; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson.
For other approaches please see http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Let me know if you have any questions Carly.
Anna 🙂
I had another levitating dream last night. This time was was levitating above my bed like in most dreams that I have had. I decided to stand up to try levitating from my feet, I hit the ceiling. If course I thought this was funny, and tried it a few times. My new kitten was freaking out didn’t no what I was doing but very curious. She then grabbing a whole deck of playing cards in her mouth and started rolling them all over my bed. At this point I thought I should lay back down, but I still kept on levitating and hitting the ceiling. I shouted stop, by the third time I finally did. I had this scary feeling and a man walked out of my closest, I couldn’t see his face but he was pushing me down so I couldn’t levitate anymore. He then put something like twigs on the left side of my lips and disappeared. I wake up at that moment could not move. I was only asleep for 30 mins the time was 11:01pm. I’m very confused what this all means.
Levitation/Floating, I have the same dream over and over. Not every night, but often. I am floating through my home. No one can see me however. It is though my mind is in a sleep state, in and out, I can see yet I can not. When moving from room to room I actually have to pull myself down to get under doorways and such. This takes a lot of streangth. I feel weightless but also like a magnetic force is keeping me up and I feel that when moving. I am watching and waiting for something I think? Not sure. No idea what or who I am looking for. My vision is like a dream. That is the only way I can explain it, blurry perhaps. But I am fully aware what I am doing, just do not know why. Every time I have this dream I ( while a sleep) I say to myself, oh no not again. So in my dream I know what is happening and I am going to float again. ???? Why wouldn’t that thought alone wake me?
Dear Jean – I feel your dream creator wants to teach you something important, and so the dream keeps repeating itself until you have understood the message/meaning of it.
So why not decide to try a different approach in your dream and exercise the “power of thought” to move from one room to another?
Explore if there is a need to go through a door when you are in this “state of being”.
Since you are lucid in your dream I trust that reading Tony’s book Lucid Dreaming will give you a different perspective too.
See http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/lucid-dreaming/
I wish you wonderful explorations beyond the frontier!
Anna 🙂