Levitation

Reports across traditions

Christianity: well-documented levitations of canonised saints throughout history, including: Saint Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663, Italian Franciscan friar, with hundreds of witnesses including kings and academic doctors who described his levitations during religious ecstasy), Saint Teresa of Avila (16th century, described her own levitations in her writings, asked the nuns to hold her by force during the masses to prevent her from rising), Saint John of the Cross, and many others. The Catholic Church canonically considers levitation as one of the rare possible "charismata" (extraordinary spiritual gifts) — neither requirement of holiness nor proof per se.

Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist tradition: levitations of advanced yogis are described as one of the siddhis (psychic powers) achievable through advanced spiritual practice — though traditional Hindu-Buddhist masters generally warn against pursuing siddhis as goal (the spiritual goal is liberation, not impressive abilities; the siddhis are sometimes natural by-product of advanced practice but should not be exhibited or pursued for ego). The legendary tales of Hindu yogis levitating, walking on water, materialising objects are common — although verified occurrences are difficult.

Modern spiritualistic mediums of the 19th century reported physical levitations during séances. The most famous case is Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-1886), Scottish-American medium with reputation of multiple physical levitations witnessed by aristocrats and scientists of his time, including the famous case of "passing through windows" levitated. Investigation of these cases is technically difficult; many turned out to be fraud, some remain ambiguous.

Considerations

From critical perspective: 1) Most reported "levitations" turn out, on rigorous investigation, to be cases of suggestible illusion, fraud, or psychological-cultural confusion. 2) Independent scientific studies under controlled conditions of contemporary mediums or yogis claiming levitation have not produced confirmed evidence. 3) But: cases like Saint Joseph of Cupertino are extremely well documented historically (multiple independent witnesses of high credibility, over decades, including investigations of suspicious authorities) — explaining them away as mass illusion is also problematic. 4) The phenomenon, if real, would imply forces of nature that current science does not understand.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (founder of Transcendental Meditation) developed in the 1970s the famous "yogic flying technique" practised in TM advanced courses. Practitioners demonstrate "hopping" — short jumps from sitting position. The TM movement claims that this is "preliminary stage of true levitation" and that some advanced practitioners actually achieve it; sceptics observe that the visible hopping is just hopping with crossed legs (impressive but explainable by basic physics) and that "true levitation" never actually occurs for the cameras.

Healthy approach

In serious spiritual practice, do not pursue levitation as goal. The traditional Hindu and Buddhist masters insist on this: pursuit of siddhis (psychic powers) is spiritual trap that distracts from the real goal (liberation, awakening, integrated consciousness). If extraordinary phenomena spontaneously emerge in advanced practice, accept them with humility without exhibiting; if they do not emerge, do not feel that something is missing — they are not the spiritual goal. Most modern mature spiritual teachers do not levitate; their wisdom value lies in deep moral-conscious teaching, not in flashy feats.