Walking, Running, Falling & Flying In Dreams

In a nutshell, movement. Sometimes in dreams it’s uninhibited. We’re walking along peacefully, running freely, or flying effortlessly through the sky, high up in the clouds. I recall a dream of jumping playfully from one cloud to another, almost like a game of hopscotch. It was one of those dreams you don’t want to wake up from.

But I’ve also had my fair share of those dreams that jolt you awake. Dreams of falling uncontrollably or dreams where you’re trying to run from something (or someone) only to feel like your feet are stuck in concrete and you can’t get any traction. You know the ones, your heartbeat starts increasing and you may even begin to sweat as your pursuers gain on you. It’s actually a relief to wake up from those dreams!

In today’s post, I’m going to talk a little bit about what all this means. I’ll also be following it up next week with a FBLive session in my online community “Dreams, Riddles & The Prophetic“. (Which by the way, have you joined us yet?) These FBLive sessions allow me to interact more personally with those of you who are interested in discussing and learning more about dreams, biblical dream interpretation, spiritual gifts and operating in the revelatory ways of the Spirit. I hope you’ll check it out. But for now, let’s get back to movement.

As we’ve discussed prior, dreams are highly metaphorical. Dreams that involve us walking or running quite simply are meant to speak to the condition of our “walk”. How we’re progressing. How we’re moving forward. How our overall journey of life is going. Spiritually speaking, it can of course also point to our personal “walk” with God.

Not to overstate the obvious, but a walk is a paced out speed, while running points to acceleration. But both, walking and running involve our legs. So, depending what our legs are doing (or not doing) or what is happening with our overall sense of movement in a dream, this paints a metaphorical picture of what we may be experiencing or what we are capable of when it comes to our walk. What’s important to make note of in these dreams is “how” we’re operating, “where” we are, and if applicable, “what” seems to be enabling or hindering our movement.

For example, if I’m walking along in a garden, surrounded by flowers and vibrant green foliage, and in the distance I can hear the trickle of a peaceful river, I’m basically having a 23rd Psalm experience in my dream. “The Lord is my Shepherd…He causes me to lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures…He leads me beside restful waters….He refreshes and restores my soul….” (language inspired by the Amplified translation). So with this dream, I’m either being beckoned into this type of experience, or my dream is revealing to me that I’m in a really great place, (or will be arriving at a great place) and it’s all because He is a great Shepherd.

But if in my dream I’m trying to walk (or run) and it seems like I can’t get anywhere, or like I said earlier, my feet feel like they’re stuck in mud or concrete….that dream is most likely meant to indicate that something (or someone) is hindering my progress. We have to pay attention to other details in the dream that could give us an idea of where this hindrance is coming from.

Is it something we’re doing that’s causing us to stall? Are we running in place, exerting all this effort without getting anywhere? That could indicate we’re trying to do things in our own strength or simply that we haven’t found our footing…yet. It may mean that we’re still in a season of learning but we want to get out there and run when quite frankly, we’re not ready yet. And the reason we’re not getting the traction we want to see is because we’re trying to bypass the process that’s going to give us our footing.

Or sometimes in dreams we can’t move forward and we’re being pursued by an unknown, dark being or force. If this happens, God’s revealing to you that you’re facing opposition – something that’s trying to hinder you from what you’re called to do – and you’re in the middle of some type of spiritual warfare. Like I’ve said before, this is not meant to cause us to become distracted, intimidated or overwhelmed by what may be against us. We must remain alert, but God is giving us this dream to remind us He’s aware of what’s going on and if we’ll draw closer to Him and keep our focus on Him, He will help us continue moving forward in victory.

Falling in dreams is another popular one. Whereas walking/running mainly involves our legs, falling involves our entire being. And what I’m referring to here is an uncontrolled fall. The kind that make us feel panicked. Typically these dreams are meant to indicate that something in our life overall feels “out of control”.  I typically see these dreams come up in seasons of overwhelming panic or chaos. Again, we have to “zoom out” as I like to say and look at what the dream is communicating big-picture. And more importantly, what kind of encouragement is God trying to give us in the midst of this dream? Are we out of control? Is God calling us to ground ourselves in Him again? Do our circumstances feel beyond our control? Are we trying to control something or someone we don’t need to be controlling? Could we afford to let go and release it into God’s hands? Other details in the dream or the context of the dream can really help us understand what’s being communicated. A popular, truth-filled quote comes to mind, “Where order is restored, blessing is released.”

Lastly, flying in dreams. In my experience, these are some of the best dreams we can have. Flying involves “catching the wind”, and these dreams typically point to an ability to operate in the things of the Spirit. They’re usually….if I may use this term, euphoric in nature and are one of the signs that point to a revelatory call. As followers of Christ, we all have been given the ability to operate in the things of the Spirit, but sometimes these dreams can help point to an enhanced gifting or desire to grow in this area.

I’ve covered a lot here today but I know I’ve barely touched the surface. I do hope you’ll join me for my FBLive session on this topic next week. I’ll be discussing this further and I’ll be interpreting some of your dreams that involve walking/running/falling and flying. Click on the link below to join the community. And until we meet again, keep dreaming!

Linda G. Riddle