Strategies for deep sleep when you have insomnia

I dream I fly

For many years during my late teens and early twenties, I dreamt not so much of flying, but a kind of hovering just about ground level. I would spring off from one foot and then float above the ground for a few hundred yards before touching down lightly with the other foot and then springing off again.

In my dreams, I would clearly see myself moving through the streets, sometimes of the town in which I lived but on other occasions, I would move through areas I did not know. The architectural details of the buildings, the smells and sounds of the area were always so vivid that I felt as if I would recognize the place instantly if ever I went there.

Often, I was even able to control where I was going, so if I did not like what lay around one corner, I could turn round and go back the way I had come. The streets were always empty, with no other people around.

Sometimes, I felt as if I was searching for someone, so I could watch over them as they slept. These kinds of dreams occurred on a frequent basis. Then one weekend, I attended a workshop at university. Having sat for two or three hours during a lecture, I was relieved to break for lunch. As I left the building, I lifted one foot and fully expected to take off from the ground exactly as I did in my dreams.

Naturally nothing happened, and I quickly realized what I was doing and came back to my full senses. The strange thing is that since that day when I recognized that I was having these dreams so often that I almost felt I really could fly, I have never again had a dream like that and really miss them. There was a period when I was quite interested in the mystical side of life and I read quite a bit about astral projection.

I liked the idea of being able to visit those I cared for, and watch over them without them knowing that I was there, and of being able to travel and explore new places at night. I have wondered whether the dreams were related to that wish, or whether I was truly able to astral project but lost the ability when I realized what I was doing.