How Do I Land?

[radman32]

So, in my dream last night, I lifted off the ground with relative ease trying to cross over some trees to land on the next street over. I kinda took a squared route, but my descent was blurred as I approached the ground and I lost consciousness. That was last nights dream, but I've had instances where I've landed, but in a warped way, where I appeared in where I guess I was supposed to be but didn't intend to be.

So, has anybody else had problems landing while flying through dreams?

[Xanth]

This particular issue will be related to some kind of belief you hold.
You're able to take off and fly around okay... but for some reason something is holding you back from attaining a "good" landing.

but I've had instances where I've landed, but in a warped way, where I appeared in where I guess I was supposed to be but didn't intend to be.

This sounds like you're looking down to where you WANT to be, and then you just appear there instead of "moving" and "landing".
This is fine too.  This is, in my opinion, the better way to travel around...

You don't need to physically "move" around the astral to get to where you want to go.
You simply need to THINK where you want to go and put some desire behind it... this is what I believe you're doing with your landings. 

[radman32]

The funny thing was, in this dream, I was looking for my car, and I swore it was on the next street over, and I didn't want to walk through the trees, so I decided to fly up and find my car that way. Once i flew up and came down around the next street I remember coming down to tree level and then consciousness faded.

[Xanth]

So, tell me... how consciously aware were you during all of this?

Did you have what I would refer to as a "Dream Awareness"?  Where you would describe yourself as the actor not knowing you're in a play?
Did you have what I would refer to as a "Lucid Awareness"?  Where really, the only thing you knew was that you were "in a dream" at the time?
Or did you have what I would refer to as "Astral Awareness"?  Where you knew you were in a dream AND had full waking awarness (or close to it)?

[Jarrod]

The past few times I've been aware in dreams I've noticed that it's hard to keep the environment around me stable.  I figured out that if I fly too fast or let my vision blur in any way, the environment changes or I end up floating in blackness or I start to get pulled back to my body.  So if you want to do anything specific in a dream, I think the best way to achieve that is to proceed slowly and deliberately and try to be as aware as you can of the whole process.  And I think using that "Awareness Now!" technique before attempting to do anything else would probably help a lot too.  I can just never remember to do that though because I'm just at what Xanth calls lucid awareness.

[radman32]

My state was different. I 'knew' I was in a dream from 3rd person, but I still engaged the dream. I know it wasn't astral awareness. My awareness was altering a couple times. I remember seeing myself 3rd person for a while, then transitioning to 1st. Like when I was about to fly and during flight I was 1st.

So what is your opinion about states and sustained lucidity Xanth?

[Xanth]

My state was different. I 'knew' I was in a dream from 3rd person, but I still engaged the dream. I know it wasn't astral awareness. My awareness was altering a couple times. I remember seeing myself 3rd person for a while, then transitioning to 1st. Like when I was about to fly and during flight I was 1st.

So what is your opinion about states and sustained lucidity Xanth?

Well, if you KNEW you were dreaming, yet still went along with the dream... I'd call that having Lucid Awareness.

But you're right, throughout even a single dream, your awareness can shift dramatically through the entire scale.

So, how do we SUSTAIN Lucidity?
I have a trick... if I ever feel myself drifting off or feeling that I'm about to wake up, then I start to spin like a top within the dream scene.
It has two strengthening effects.  First, it strengthens your presence in the non-physical and secondly, it strengthens your awareness.

Other than that... keeping yourself focused, keeping your thoughts under control and not accepting "dream" content you might see... are some things you can do to sustain your lucidity. 

[radman32]

Ok, thanks man. Now is this just a couple spins?? I've had one instance where I've spun myself too hard, and lost consciousness. And for accepting dream content, I can see how buying into that stuff can lower consciousness. But buying into it and playing along are two different things. I was aware of it being a dream state, that's why I was able to fly.

[Xanth]

I spin like a top... as fast as I can, as many times as it takes until I start to feel "grounded" in my astral awareness and where I feel like I'm NOT about to wake up.

[Naykid]

So, in my dream last night, I lifted off the ground with relative ease trying to cross over some trees to land on the next street over. I kinda took a squared route, but my descent was blurred as I approached the ground and I lost consciousness. That was last nights dream, but I've had instances where I've landed, but in a warped way, where I appeared in where I guess I was supposed to be but didn't intend to be.

So, has anybody else had problems landing while flying through dreams?

You weren't totally lucid, period.