Douglas Adams called flying "learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss".
I also seem to have progressed from a "swimming" style of flying to a more subtle control. I haven't been aware of any need to 'bounce' energy off anything, but it does often seem to be the case (in very life-like dreams) that the height I reach is limited - a few meters is easy, but going much higher than a house becomes more difficult.
RedFox said:
I always felt that the height was linked to my 'energy level'...and definitely concentration....and if I felt weak/dispairing I'd sink/stop floating.
Yes, flying definitely needs confidence. I've sometimes found that the presence of the Dark Man worried me enough to bring me back down to earth. I've found that centring my attention in my chest area (possibly heart chakra related) seems to help flying a lot. A favourite at the moment is to blast along in a fairly upright posture - chest first.
That same feeling/energy/power/chakra once appeared as a glowing pink/purple er...
pentagonal bipyramid crystal which I flew around opposite some sort of female anti-me (perhaps my anima) in a decaying spiral until we came to touch the crystal, at which point we both lost the ability to fly and crashed to the ground.
The main thing with flying, for me, is that it's very much dependent on the environment of the dream. The more like waking reality it is, the harder it is to fly. As the environment becomes more abstract, flying (and using related psychokinetic powers) becomes easier.
I had a dream last night where I said the name of the first girl I ever really loved 3 times and she appeared, looking somewhat surprised. I felt a strong presence of 'other' in the dream, which kicked me out. Hmm, just reading up on the Jungian concept of Anima and
"Helen" might be relevant to how I relate to this girl.
I enjoyed the film
The Good Night in which Danny DeVito gives advice on Lucid Dreaming to Martin Freeman.