1. Consider the purpose of flying in your dreams. Flying is a liberating feeling and not something that comes naturally to humans, so the ability to fly in a dream allows you to transcend everyday life. Flying can often be an ideal dream metaphor for release or freedom after you've experienced an emotional breakthrough, allowing you soar above hardships and mental blockages of the past. Given that the sky has no limit, this can be indicative that you don't feel constrained and that you're looking down on everything from a refreshed, new perspective that lets you see things differently.

• Flying dreams are considered to be normal dreams and they are usually associated with extremely positive and exhilarating feelings, with some dreamers reporting a "high" after a flying dream that lasts for several days following.

2. Understand that to induce flying in your dreams, you usually need to be aware of the fact that you're dreaming. This is a phenomenon known as lucid dreaming. Flying usually requires low levels of lucidity, which means that you may only be partially aware that you are in a dream, not that you fully understand that you are actually in bed and asleep.

• Flying dreams are excellent dream subjects for lucid dreaming as voluntary control of a flying dream is already a strong feature of such a dream.
• Read How to lucid dream for more information.

3. Keeping your awareness level high before sleep can and will help you remain aware that you are dreaming once you enter REM sleep.

4. Tell yourself that you're dreaming, and think of a story that involves flying.Your dream should mimic the story in your mind.

• Jump and get a little higher every time until you can fly.
• Step up invisible stairs.
• Give yourself wings to fly with.
• Materialize a jet pack or flying skateboard to use. Or, try to jump off a tall building. Visualize jumping off a diving board into the sky. 

5. Use external stimuli. In some cases, it can be possible to use external stimuli to change the direction of a dream. One dream investigator raised or lowered the hospital bed of dreaming test subjects and upon awakening, some of them reported dreams of falling or flying. Obviously, the reliability of this method is not certain and even the ability to do this can be challenging unless you're mechanically minded or have a dutiful friend who stays awake and tries to help you. All the same, if you can think of ways to manipulate your external environment safely, this might be another method for inducing flying dreams.

• An easier external stimulus is imagery. Some dreamers use imagery to encourage dreaming, such as posters or pictures of objects like rockets, planes, helicopters, parachutes, hang-gliders, etc. Looking at these intently, or perhaps landscapes taken from the air or space, just before sleep, can be another way to program your dreaming mind.

6. Interpret your flying dreams. While a lucid dream is driven principally by you, dreaming of flying generally can have myriad interpretations and the landscape and accompanying elements will have an impact on the overall interpretation. If you'd like to interpret a flying dream, then the following suggested interpretations might be of interest:

• If you've been flying during the day, then it's probably a by-product of your hang-gliding, helicopter, or light aircraft experience.
• Flying dreams that have you stopped by power lines, or you're barely able to get off the ground, can indicate that something you're trying to get going in real life is limited by your ability, or other things.
• Flying freely and with great pleasure can indicate a wide range of emotions, feelings, and possibilities, such as: escapism; facing the future with confidence; getting in touch with your inner self (spirituality); no longer being held back by prior hardships or blockages.^[9]
• If you're using a contraption to fly with, such as a bed, chair, machine, etc., it could suggest that while you're feeling adventurous, you're still either cautious or you're wanting to keep secure ties with home and family.
• Flying dreams can indicate a compensation for feelings of inferiority in daily life, or as an opportunity to get on top of things so that you can sort your priorities and assess where things currently stand in your life.