Naughty Flying
October 28th, 2007 by Rose Rosetree
What better day to celebrate flying than today? I’m about to spend 14 hours United airlining, sandwiched between low-lying heavens, en route to Japan.
Besides the amazing convenience that so many frequent flyers take for granted, this form of travel is also a way to enjoy sacred time. Prayer is my favorite activity during liftoff, also during landing. In between, I love the sensation of traveling through sky and clouds.
That sensation intensified for me around 1980, after I studied the TM-Sidhi program in Iowa. There I made my first clumsy ventures into yogic flying, where a particular technique causes your body to lift several inches or feet off the ground before you come crashing down.
When you’re new to this kind of levitation, the big social no-no is “inappropriate flying.” Uh-oh.
Most definitely, you are not supposed to be showing off in public. You aren’t to let people see just how silly you look, with that silly meditator’s grin on your face and less contact than normal with reality.
In public places, it is considered so very inappropriate to fly, even a little. Losing control over your normal, sane gravity creds—oh so shameful, right?
But there I was, back in the day, back when I spent some six hours a day either “doing program” or driving to program or changing into my program clothes. A newly graduated Sidha, I was flying from
Really, this giving in to sensation was not unlike the impulse that causes babies to pee when they hear running water. Of course, I considered my levitation abilities way more advanced than that. Back in the day, back in that plane, I sat, grinning over my naughty secret.
Mitch Weber (now my husband) sat on my left. Vincent Garone, another friend from the course, sat on my right. Protecting me from inappropriate flying (and, by implication, maintaining the dignity of the entire Transcendental Meditation movement) each friend grabbed me by the arm. Oh-so-politely, they held me down, or tried to.
But the match remained irresistible: Physically flying and plane-ily flying. Naughty or nice, I was in bliss.
Never forget, while you’re in a plane, that one person’s seemingly drunken wobble could inwardly be just a tad more profound.
And what do you love or loathe about flying? How does it link to your Deeper Perception?
Hi Rose,
Hope you’re having a wonderful time in Japan.
If you know how to do yogic flying, I’d sure like to learn that secret. As dumb as it seems I’ve always felt that I could fly, sans plane of course. Please respond before the guys in the white coats arrive!
Thanks from Kathy (Lilylady)
I read that some Tibetan lamas do or did yogic flying. I guess there must be something behind it, but we ‘normal’ guys are too far away from that to judge it. Rose could explain the ‘mechanics’ of this to the ignorant readers when she returns from Japan.
Hi, Kathy:
Of course you have felt that you could fly, Remember the subtitle of “Empowered by Empathy”? It’s “25 Ways to Fly in Spirit.”
I know you have a copy, Kathy. Go into the parts near the beginning of the book where I explain what I understand about the mechanics of conscousness moving in and out, flying.
Unskilled empaths fly in consciousness. Skilled empaths do it on purpose. Because this is a theoretical part of the book, often readers skip over it the first time they read. But if you go back and read there again, it will make new sense to you.
Hey, I had to read the book again, many times. You may know that I wrote “Empowered by Empathy” during three months of absolute inspiration… and then spent 3 1/2 years re-reading and editing it so it would make sense to other human beings!
As for doing yogic flying, you would learn that as part of the TM Sidhi program. It isn’t one quick secret. You cultivate certain abilities of your nervous system and then use techniques to lift off!
Karin, what fun to write to you in Switzerland while I’m in Japan, and with full eavesdropping permission for all our Blog-Buddies all over the world. What a great context for discussing yogic flying!
Having done some of it, and flown in groups with hundreds of others, I can attempt a little bit of explanation about mechanics as I understand them. None of these other yogic flyers were Tibetan lamas, however. They were my fellow Transcendental Meditation practitioners.
I never received training to teach these techniques; I only taught the basic meditation technique from 1970 (starting as a meditation “checker”) and then an official “initiator” from 1971-1986, when I resigned and left the TM movement permanently.
So what follows is not an official explanation, just my personal observation.
As a basis for yogic flying, you must become intimately familiar with pure consciousness, the basis of all thought and perception. You must be able to move there at will. You must also be comfortable enough with That to maintain thoughts ALONG with pure, abstract consciousness.
Then, to do the flying practice, the first practical thing to do is to gather the equipment you need: High density foam rubber is best, though sometimes I would just use a mattress. Seriously!
Yogic flying is fun but what goes up must come down, and you come crashing down pretty hard on your backside; I’m sure that many chiropractors and osteopaths have worked hard to undo the damage of lofty-sounding yogic flying.
To do the actual flying, your consciousness must be able to make a connection between moving in spirit and moving your physical body. This can take practice, but once you get the knack it is unforgettable, like riding a bicycle.
Then you do the technique for flying, which you are taught in a sacred manner, and soon you find yourself lifting off.
Yes, it is big fun. In the halls where group flying is practiced, people sit around the edges. When they start flying, they either pop up and down where they sit or, usually, they join a big circle of people who are flying clockwise around the room.
You take off and land, then do it again.
Physically, I think the most enjoyable thing I experienced in group flying was one time when I was in the air and saw another lady about to crash into me, so I changed direction mid-air and moved backwards.
Most flyers would keep their eyes closed while flying but I quickly became more comfortable doing it with my eyes wide open, and in this case, my eyesight paid off. Not that we were going at super-high speeds, but who wants to smash into another yogic flyer. Besides, car insurance won’t cover any collision damage
Yes, Karin, I definitely gained something valuable from the experience, but I haven’t done group flying for many years, and have personally done the technique maybe once in three years, just for fun or inspiration.
Hi Rose,
Thanks for the response. The Yoga Sutras warn of pursuing sidhis (they should come to you). What’s your opionion on this?
Thanks,
Kathy