🌬️ Walking Between Worlds: The History and Mystery of Levitation

 

Have you ever heard a story that made your whole body pause—like something ancient inside you suddenly remembered it was real?

That’s how I felt the first time I read about monks floating during deep meditation. About yogis who seemed to rise above the earth. About saints said to lift off the ground in moments of prayer.

It sounds impossible. And yet… something in those stories has followed humanity for thousands of years. Something that speaks to a different relationship with gravity, with matter, with spirit itself.

So I began to research. Not just as a Wiccan, but as someone who deeply respects other spiritual paths—gurus, monks, prophets, mystics. And what I found was that levitation isn’t just folklore. It’s a shared memory across cultures, times, and traditions.

Let’s explore that together.

📜 A History Carried by the Wind
Levitation, or the act of rising off the ground without physical support, appears in sacred texts, oral traditions, and eyewitness accounts from every corner of the world.

✨ In the East: Yogic Flying and the Power of the Mind
In ancient India, yogis have long spoken of siddhis—spiritual powers attained through deep meditation, breath control, and devotion. One such siddhi is laghima, the ability to become weightless.

The great sage Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, wrote of levitation as a byproduct of spiritual mastery—not a trick, but a natural state of being when the soul remembers it’s not bound by the body.

Even today, some schools of Transcendental Meditation claim that levitation—or at least “yogic hopping”—can occur during advanced states of practice. Whether symbolic or literal, the experience is described as euphoric, light, and otherworldly.

🙏 In Christianity: Saints Who Rose in Ecstasy
The Catholic tradition offers dozens of reports of levitating saints—those who, in moments of intense prayer or divine rapture, were seen lifted off the ground.

St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663), perhaps the most famous, was said to rise into the air during mass, so frequently and so dramatically that he had to be hidden from public view.

St. Teresa of Ávila described the sensation as both beautiful and terrifying: a spiritual force pulling her upward, away from the world.

St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, and others have similar reports—some documented by church officials of their time.

Were these moments miracles? Manifestations of divine love? Or simply spiritual truths beyond science?

🧘 In Buddhist Traditions: Monks and the Art of Weightlessness
In Tibetan Buddhism, advanced monks are said to enter a state of deep meditative absorption called tummo, which generates intense internal heat. Some believe this mastery over bodily energy is tied to moments of levitational lightness—if not full flight, then a defiance of physical density.

There are legends of monks crossing rivers without touching the water. Of walking over snow without leaving a footprint. Of rising during chants—not for show, but as a side effect of total spiritual union.

🌀 Is Levitation Real?
That’s the question, isn’t it?

As someone rooted in both spiritual practice and curiosity, I don’t dismiss these accounts as fantasy. I also don’t cling to them as proof. Instead, I ask:

What are these stories trying to tell us?

Maybe levitation isn’t just physical. Maybe it’s also energetic. Symbolic. Spiritual.

When you meditate so deeply you forget your name—haven’t you felt lighter?

When you pray with all your heart, or feel overwhelming love, or let go of grief—don’t you feel something lift?

Levitation, in that sense, is real.
It’s a rising of the soul.
A moment where the spirit breaks through the body’s limits.

And in very rare, mysterious cases—maybe that shift is so strong, the body follows.

✋ Stories and Spiritual Exercises That Invite Lightness
Over the years, I’ve collected more than just texts. I’ve listened. Watched. Sat with elders who told me things they wouldn’t say in public. And what I learned is this: levitation is often linked to one thing—release.

Release of thought. Of fear. Of identity. Of weight.

Here are a few practices and moments people shared with me that point toward that feeling of lightness—that spiritual rise:

💨 1. The Stillness Breath
A monk once told me to "breathe as if the earth is letting go of you." You sit in complete stillness, slow your breath to match the rhythm of the wind outside, and imagine gravity loosening its grip.

It sounds simple. But I’ve seen people weep doing this.

🔊 2. Chanting Into Trance
A woman in a temple in Nepal shared how she used repetitive chanting to reach an altered state. She said, "I forgot I had feet." Whether she levitated or not, something inside her lifted. That was clear.

Try a mantra like Om Mani Padme Hum or even simple toning. Let the vibration move through your bones.

✨ 3. Sacred Movement
Sometimes it’s not about stillness at all. Some mystical traditions dance, sway, or whirl (like the Sufi dervishes) to reach a trance where the body seems to leave ordinary reality. Lightness can be born in motion.

Try intuitive movement in candlelight. Let your spirit lead.

❤️ 4. Forgiveness and Letting Go
One of the most powerful ways I’ve felt levitation—not of my body, but my soul—was when I finally forgave someone I never thought I could. It felt like a thousand pounds left my chest.

Energetic levitation is real. And it starts with lightening the heart.

🌙 Closing Words: What I’ve Learned
Through researching levitation, I’ve come to understand that every tradition carries its own version of this miracle. Whether it’s called laghima, ecstasy, spiritual ascent, or rapture, the pattern is the same:

Stillness leads to openness.

Devotion leads to transformation.

The soul, when fully surrendered, becomes light.

And maybe, just maybe… that’s how we were always meant to be.