Everybody wants to learn to levitate, but they want to do so without being demonically possessed like in the movies The Exorcist or Ghost Busters.

Let’s get started:

The idea that some monks can levitate has been a part of certain cultural and religious traditions for many years, particularly in regions where Buddhism and Hinduism are practiced. Is it a topic of only folklore and illusion? No. Accounts genuinely describe a spiritual or meditative practice that enables the monk to rise off the ground.

In the teachings of these traditions, the ability to levitate is not typically framed as a skill to be learned or used casually. Instead, it’s often spoken of as a side-effect of deep spiritual practice or enlightenment. The practices associated with these levitations often involve intense meditation, asceticism, and control over the body through practices such as yoga.

From a scientific perspective, human levitation conflicts with the known laws of physics, particularly the law of gravity. Human bodies are simply too dense to float in the air without assistance. Many instances of levitation are likely to be illusions, exaggerations, or misinterpretations of other phenomena. For an aspiring levitator, this is a lot to overcome.

In fact, some ‘levitating’ street performers use hidden structures or supports to give the illusion of floating. These tricks can be quite convincing but are not related to any kind of spiritual practice or physical discipline.

Religious traditions speak of levitation as a possible outcome of deep spiritual practice, so it’s important to note that acquiring the skill to levitate will likely take lots of time and discipline.