St. Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) records the phenomenon herself in chapter 20 of her Autobiography. While she was at prayer — particularly during Mass at the elevation of the host — she would feel an irresistible force lifting her bodily from the ground. The first occurrence frightened her so deeply that she would later beg the sisters to hold her down whenever she felt the rapture approaching.
Multiple witnesses among the Carmelite sisters of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila testified at her canonisation process that they had seen her physically suspended above the choir floor. On one occasion, Sister Anne of the Incarnation observed Teresa during Mass elevated some yards above the ground for an extended period before slowly descending. Teresa herself describes the embarrassment of the phenomenon in her Autobiography: 'The Lord, in spite of my entreaties, has not granted me grace to be free of it, and I have had no choice but to ask the sisters to hold me down — but this they were not always able to do.'