ready steady go

[psipsy]

Levitation in dreams is nothing new to me; I've been doing it for years, and it happens enough that I can often use it as a flag for the presence of dream logic, and from there, manipulate the dream itself. It's a handy ability that's gotten me out of many a sticky situation in Dreamland, but it's not without limitations.

Taking off itself is fairly straightforward. There's walking, which involves taking steps. Of course, we all knew that. Then there's what I call a step+. To do a step+, it starts off like a normal step, but then I put a bit of extra effort like I'm going to take a longer step, with a well-timed burst of concentration to stay up. That, dear readers, is a step+. I dare say it took awhile to get that timing right, but it's much like riding a bike.

Once in mid-air I can stay up and even change velocity (it's easier to speed up than slow down), but control over altitude is iffy at best (higher speed = less control), and changing direction entails either grabbing on to something to swing around corners, or come down just enough to alter my direction with my feet or use the wall as a landing pad. It's fine if going from point A to point B is a straight line, but if I have to make a turn while over something unpleasant, then you can see the problem.

Now, this time I was going to try something a bit different. I picked out a decent stretch of hallway, with a corner at the end. Power level is ok. Step, step, step+. Up I went. Speed was kept to about 10ft/second (roughly that of a good jog), so that I could limit to about 2 feet off the ground. Nothing too crazy, mind you. Approaching the end of the hallway, instead of making the usual efforts to slow down, I put all my concentration into a mid-air turn. I was changing direction, which was a pleasant surprise, but not as much as I wanted. Or needed. I ended up hitting the wall with my shoulder. It was somewhat expected, and I was going slow enough that I didn't get hurt, but I almost didn't touch down properly (via feet instead of face). Nevertheless, this experiment was a success, and I'll surely continue to develop that ability.


/yume

Comments

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

Good point, but I find my dreams tend to take a turn for the awesome when I figure out that it's a dream. Like, one time I dreamt I was inside a large building with long hallways, and figured out I was in a dream, so I thought "it would be awesome if I had a go-cart right about now" and lo and behold, I was on a go-cart, speeding down the hallways, and drifting around corners.