If you’d like a chance for your dream question to be answered find out more about the The Dream Download™ here. This topic also features in my book Answers In The Dark: Grief, Sleep and How Dreams Can Help You Heal.
“Now and then, I dream I’m flying, like Superman (not in a plane). I love the feeling but I wondered what it means.”
Whenever I speak with people who have the flying dream, I always start by asking how they would describe the way they were flying.
For example, its not uncommon for people to say they’re doing breaststroke (eg swimming, but through the air); some say they sort of take a “running jump” and then find themselves airborne; while others like in this case associate it with a superhero, like Superman. (Incidentally, when I fly in my dreams, I fly like Iron Man. I have invisible thrusters in my hands, that when I activate them I go up, if I release them I go down, if I lean forward I speed up, if I lean back I slow down.).
It doesn’t necessarily mean we associate ourselves with that superhero (although for some it could be, and the why would be worth exploring), though perhaps more likely it’s a reference point that our dream can use to communicate a message to us.
I also ask how the person felt in the dream, as this can have a bearing on its meaning. If you love the feeling, that’s a really good sign. I explain in Answers In The Dark how helpful it is to think in metaphors with dreams, so when people are enjoying the dream, they may be “flying high” at that time in their life, especially if something’s going well. In the same way, “high achievers” might have the flying dreams if they have “high hopes” for themselves.
If someone’s not enjoying the dream, it might be that they need to feel more “grounded” – people will sometimes say they’ve had the rug pulled out from under them and that leaves them feeling groundless. It can also be a metaphor for trying to escape, wanting to fly free of our earthly worries, or not wanting to be tied down to something that’s happening in our waking life. For those that can associate with that, it might help talking to someone about how they feel and what they need.
I’m often asked if this type of dream is associated with astral travelling or an out of body experience. It’s fair to say, that in some places around the world, dreams are very much still seen as a portal for wisdom, communication with ancestors and other night-time adventures. One person joked with me it’s like free travel, they just haven’t worked out how to send a postcard yet.
One explanation I’ve also heard for the “twitch” we sometimes have as we’re dozing off or waking up, usually accompanied with a sensation of falling, is that it’s our soul arriving back in our body after a jolly to other places while we were asleep. This depends very much on your beliefs though, and for some people what jerks us awake might be a nightmare, a sign of stress or a reminder to slow down and unwind before bed.
People will sometimes say they become lucid in this dream, because their brain is probably saying “you can’t actually be flying”. This possibly alerts us that something’s different from our daytime experience, hence becoming aware we’re in a dream. Some actually manage to stay in the dream and continue to enjoy flying and exploring their dreamworld.
One thing I always recommend is keeping a dream diary. This way you can start to notice patterns in your dreaming, to help you understand why you might have this dream when you do (there’s a template idea in Answers In The Dark and a tip in the video below).
The flying dream is a fascinating experience because there are so many variables and possibilities why we have it. Try keeping a note of why you have this when you do, and who knows where the adventures may take you.
Delphi is the author of Answers In The Dark: Grief, Sleep and How Dreams Can Help You Heal, out now on Amazon and Hive. The Dreams Maven™ is part of the Helping You Sparkle™ portfolio. You might also like Monday Mojo™.
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The 4 am Mystery: That’s an actual thing by the way. Even before a global health crisis, people found themselves awake in the middle of the night. Answers In The Dark aims to join the dots between sleep, dreams and our mental health, specifically how grief shows up, even if no one has died.
It explores some of the Big Myths of sleep, offers a Sleep Cycle Repair Kit and tips on how to decode your own dreams. Out now on Amazon and Hive.
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© Delphi Ellis 2023 – please note this content may also appear elsewhere as promotional material for Answers In The Dark though may not appear in the book.
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