I used to have them pretty regularly but not for years now. I kind of bounced or jumped but there was some element of body positioning to prolong the glide to the next touchdown point. Sometimes I could grab something I was passing, or kick off it to refresh the flight.
My vote was other - I was swimming in air that felt thick as molasses, so it was a struggle to make any progress. Haven’t had that dream in ages, but it recurred a few times eons ago.
I’m another one of the running with really long steps. Sometimes I step too far and “fall” up. That’s somewhat disconcerting.
Multiple!
Air-swimming, flapping, directed levitation, and one really weird dream where I was skipping, but each skip could cover as much distance vertically and horizontally as I wished…
I picked other.
Once in my life I’ve had a lucid dream where I was able to start controlling what I did. In the dream I was back in high school, outside at lunch playing catch with a football. We didn’t have a cafeteria, so we ate lunch in shifts in a classroom and the rest of the time were outside, yes, even in winter. So I was jumping up to catch a ball and I was able to jump way higher than I can in reality, so at that moment I knew I was dreaming. I started jumping higher and higher to test it out. I ended up jumping in huge bounds, way up in the air for a bit, and then I woke up. But for that few minutes (in dream time) I was “flying” in a way. It felt like a superpower. If I hadn’t woken up, I probably would have figured out how to stay airborn indefinitely.
My dreams about flying involved actual real-life flight implements, but in wildly unrealistic ways.
I would have recurring dreams about parasailing, but it would be using something simple like a bedsheet, then, voila, I’m flying. And usually, levitating just a few meters above other people, as they tried to grab me or scowled at me.
I picked other. Usually I fly by jumping up and before I hit ground I jump again. That way I stay up and can control the height by how hard I jump.
The funny thing is, last night, I had a dream that involved flying and thinking of this thread “Okay, so THAT’S how I do it. I’ll have to report back.”
Any time I’ve ever had a dream that involves flying, it takes a lot of effort. I’m never just soaring around. In the one last night, I would jump and then sort of kick my legs very hard to keep going higher. I didn’t have to get very high (and couldn’t have if I’d had to)- just high enough to catch some branches and hang on or climb. There was some reason I had to do this, but I don’t remember really anything but that.
That’s pretty close to the norm. I’ve never had a freeing flying dream. Something like that I sort of realize I can do this and someone sees and tells everyone I can fly and now I have to prove I can, but I’m not really sure I actually CAN fly because really, I can just barely get off the ground and it takes a huge amount of effort. Or something is wrong with the ground and I have to keep moving by “flying,” but it’s so laborious and I’m not sure if I can keep going.
Mine is levitation with effort. If my concentration is broken I return to the ground. The fact that it takes effort often tricks me into thinking that I can levitate in real life and the realization that I can’t disappoints me every time.
Superman-style with both arms out in front of me
Me. I can also dive during the dream to build up speed and sail much further.
This was my type of “flying” dreams, was impossible jumps. I’m not sure if that is really flying or not, but I could go up bundreds of feet in the air.
I could also jump off buildings and land of the ground unhurt.
I guess it was actually hang gliding in my case, but I had hang gliding dreams a lot when I was a kid.
It requires a bit of focus and concentration, then I simply fall in whatever direction I want to go. Kind of like Christopher Walken in the Weapon of Choice music video.
In the dreams I used to have long ago I would just kind-of concentrate and activate some strange part of the back of my brain and be able to control my altitude. A recurring progression would be me holding my breath and concentrating just to be able to go up and down, learning over time that I could control horizonal motion and speed as well, and later learing that I didn’t need to hold my breath but I did need to maintain an awareness of my flight in order to maintain control and either not lose altitude or not drift into dangerous things like high voltage power lines.
The dreams were often set in the neighborhood where I grew up and I’m sure my detailed familiarity with the area helped me imagine where things (including trees and telephone poles) would be from a higher perspective.
There’s an old video game I like to play in which the character uses a partly damaged jet pack, and when I break it out and play again after a long hiatus, I tend to have those flying dreams again. I’m sure it’s due to the similarity of activation methods – think about it and get accustomed to controlling it – but in my dreams it’s all about willpower and there’s no technology involved.
–G!
ETA: I think I had more of those dreams after watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the first time, as well.
I don’t remember flying (except as a passenger in an airliner that was flying terrifyingly low through uneven terrain). Instead, I seem to often have dreams in which I “glide” at essentially zero altitude. Imagine being on roller skates, and whichever direction you lean in, you just accelerate in that direction, no legwork required. And I can lean hard, almost parallel to the floor, sending me whizzing around corners, down hallways, and across open fields, smooth as glass. Stairs aren’t any kind of obstacle either.
This. I answered “swimming motions, with effort” because that’s probably the most common variant but I experience many kinds of flight.
Actually, even more common than true flying for me is gliding; if I run fast or jump in a dream I often find myself gliding along above the ground afterwards, indefinitely. And then remark to myself “Huh, I guess it’s not only in dreams that I can do this” 
Bumping this to report that I had a dream about flying the other night.
In the dream, I remembered that I often dream of just taking impossible jumps, so I decided to fly by swimming instead. It worked!
I have to say that flying is much funner than just taking jumps, and in my dream it was perfectly logical that I was really flying but taking hints from previous dreams.
As near as I can recall, I just float along. No effort required; but I sometimes start to worry that I’ll lose elevation too fast. I don’t think I’m usually trying to go anywhere in particular, I’m just moving along looking at the ground under me.
But it’s been a long time since I had a flying dream, at least one that I remember.
Jeez, is that really him dancing? I never would have expected that. And perfectly creased pants! But yes, that is exactly how I fly, just lean forward and down. But he ends up floating where I carry on like a cruise missile.