Thread: Possibly novel flying technique?

So last night I had by far my most amazing lucid dream, and towards the end of it I discovered a way to fly that seems to eliminate all the prior issues I was experiencing with flight.

It started out as just a way to move quickly, which just sort of popped into my head. I was in a big grassy area with lots of people around, and I just took a pose like I was water skiing. I reached my hands out and grasped invisible reins and then put my feet forward, and as I leaned back I accelerated. The further back I leaned the faster I'd go, to the point I was skimming along the ground quite fast, and then I pulled back further and realized I could take off. This method offered a ton of control because it was basically like I was holding a joystick in front of myself to turn and rotate, while leaning back and forward increased/decreased my speed.

The best part of this was that it required no concentration at all, where other forms of flight I've always had to think VERY hard to keep it going. Of course, it ended up killing my lucid because I went way too fast and shot up into the sky, and realized the whole dream I was in was basically an island of land in the middle of infinite, vast cloud banks, and something about the idea of flying off into that cloudy nothingness freaked me out and woke me up. But still!

Probably work well for those that water ski, probably not so much for those that don't.

I find assuming the position of driving a car works well, and since more people drive than water ski, this would be more useful for a larger segment of the lucid population. But still not everyone drives. Flying from a standing position is probably the best all around way to fly because nearly everyone walks without any difficulty.

Sounds good man! Personally I have no trouble flying (in fact more often than not it requires more effort to stay on the ground!), so I've always thought it was simply a case of 'believing' you can, though thinking about it, some people may have difficulty in imagining the sensation accurately enough.

Cusp, I've actually never water skid... skied... what the hell is the past tense for ski? Anyways, I've never done it, and I have no idea why it occurred to me to try it. I've never regular-skied either. I also wasn't intending to fly with this method, just skim the ground very quickly. Once I started flying it became a bit less like I imagine water skiing would be since you can't dive/ascend while water skiing, it started to seem more like controlling a plane. When you say flying from a standing position, what do you mean?

Mosh, that's exactly my problem. When I try to fly I have to actively imagine the sensation and it even seems like I have to actively move the world AROUND me. For example, the first time I tried to fly, my method was more like 'zooming out' of the world. I looked down at the ground at imagined it getting distant, and this only worked so far because I found myself unable to imagine enough new territory around the edges to fill in the new space. This technique amounted to basically flying an invisible skimmer and something about that context made it easy to just GO.

Originally Posted by ThisWitheredMan

When I try to fly I have to actively imagine the sensation and it even seems like I have to actively move the world AROUND me. For example, the first time I tried to fly, my method was more like 'zooming out' of the world.

Yeah I can see that being difficult! Thinking about it, I actually have no idea how I first knew how to fly. Perhaps TV is to thank, with all its helicopter images and whatnot.

In that case it probably only worked well because you had people doing it in front of you. Likely if you tried to do it out of the blue with no example, it wouldn't work as well.

I'm not sure what you mean. As far as I'm aware, I've never seen anyone water skiing, except perhaps on Television and then not with any sort of regularity. At least not any more regularity than anyone else might have.

Never mind, I totally misread your initial post.

Well mate, I had a brilliantly realisitic lucid dream last night, and I must say, this technique WORKED! It was tricky a first, as I had previously figured out my own flying techniques (eg. imagining I was standing on a giant springboard), but I kept having a crack at it, and wayhey, it worked! Best flying session I've had so far, and I've never even attempted to water-ski in real life!
Thanks for the tip.

Awesome! Glad it worked out for someone else. I'm quite curious where information like that comes from. Most of the stuff I do in my lucid dreams just kinda pops into my head without any forethought or planning, it's strange.

Originally Posted by ThisWitheredMan

Awesome! Glad it worked out for someone else. I'm quite curious where information like that comes from. Most of the stuff I do in my lucid dreams just kinda pops into my head without any forethought or planning, it's strange.

It must just be your subconcious filling in basic laws of physics, and then your belief bends them... As for the dream itself, well, I dunno...

Originally Posted by HARRISANDERSON

subconcious:

Subconscious

Well, you should try doing DEILDs or FILDs- they let you go straight back into your dream even if it wasn't a lucid one, fully lucid.
The thing is, people have the laws of physics buried deep within their brains. It's like the Matrix- To bend the spoon, you must realize that there is no spoon!
It's very hard to do this, as even the thought of failure in a dream might prevent you from succeeding. Also, you can't say "I won't think of failure", as your subconscious interprets this as "I will think of failure", it ignores negatives.
If I were you, I would have created an environment you felt comfortable in before flying, to avoid "freaking out". Hope all goes well next time, congrats on finding a good method!

I'm gonna give them a shot tonight I need a more reliable method than WILDS. And your correct. The laws of physics are buried deep in our understanding of the physical world. Thats the key. "There is no spoon" is just another way of saying "You have to realise that this world is not only a dream, but that it is also purely mental and has no physical properties, meaning you can create the rules yourself!"
The biggest issue, like you said, is training your brain to couple the realisation of a dream state, and the knowledge of the absence of set physics. This is easier said than done, and as you said, it can freak some people out when they have to go againt their lifelong- imbued logic.

Originally Posted by HARRISANDERSON

I'm gonna give them a shot tonight I need a more reliable method than WILDS. And your correct. The laws of physics are buried deep in our understanding of the physical world. Thats the key. "There is no spoon" is just another way of saying "You have to realise that this world is not only a dream, but that it is also purely mental and has no physical properties, meaning you can create the rules yourself!"
The biggest issue, like you said, is training your brain to couple the realisation of a dream state, and the knowledge of the absence of set physics. This is easier said than done, and as you said, it can freak some people out when they have to go againt their lifelong- imbued logic.

WILDs, when mastered, is the msot reliable method- but certainly not the easiest for newbies!
Anyway, I'll personally try doing mantras to get rid of all barriers in my dreams.

I gotta say I'm a little surprised this is working so well for people who don't water ski and don't have DCs setting and example in front of them.

Possibly this method uses the car driving archetype, similar how flying horizontally often shifts into a swimming archetype. The basic position is very similar to how you sit while driving, legs bent like you are sitting, arms out like you are holding a steering wheel.

Interestingly enough, although I have never driven a real car, I do play ALOT of racing games and a LOT of racing sims (rfactor,iracing, GT5 etc), and I do own a full setup including a wheel, pedals and a seat, so it could be the mental image of forward movement that I witness in games that feeds into my dreams

Yeah, even though I thought of it as water skiing for whatever reason, I suppose it was much closer to driving in that you don't really turn or control much with the reins in water skiing as far as I can tell, it was sort of like holding a joystick, and the tilt of my body was acceleration.