[14]Our Sleeping Space & Dream Protectors, Guides, Allies
2:28AM Nov 13, 2024
Speakers:
Chelsea Waves
Katie Love
Keywords:
sleeping space
dream protectors
lucid dreams
joyfulness
sacredness
safety
cozy pillows
sacred objects
dream guides
dream allies
mineral kingdom
plant kingdom
dream dakinis
Blue Lotus
lucid dreaming
This week. So we're going to introduce today, introduce everyone to our sleeping space and dream protectors, guides and allies. So that's today's topic. All right. And Katie,
welcome everybody. Nice to see many familiar faces and a few new ones here. Thank you all for being here on this beautiful autumn day. So we are sort of continuing the theme that we began earlier this month on nightmares and working with fear, but today, we're going to be speaking about creating both the outer environment of our sleeping space in such a way that it inspires us To become lucid, as well as creating protection, guidance and allyship within the dream space by connecting with protectors, guides and allies. So each night, when we go to bed, we have this incredible opportunity to connect more deeply with our dream world, to sleep, to rejuvenate ourselves, and we're going to be inviting you today to focus on what would be the qualities that would really create a sleep and dream environment externally, in Your sleeping space, that would invoke an inner sense of joy, of sacredness and of safety, so that when you drop into the world of sleep and dream, you feel like you can really surrender and let go into that space in a good way. So starting with the quality of joy, joyfulness, just a question. When you look at your bed, when you look at your bedroom, do you feel joy and enthusiasm to get into bed and go to sleep? Does the environment invoke that quality in you, if not, or if you feel like, yeah, maybe, but I could enhance it a little bit. You might look at things like adding cozy pillows to your bed, adding really beautiful, nice blankets and sheets, yeah, adding pumpkins like Marion is holding up, or any other objects that really bring joy to you personally? You might put beautiful artwork. You may consider what kinds of colors really invoke joy in you as well, and also having a mindset of joyfulness like, Wow, what an incredible opportunity I have every night I get to go into my bed, go to sleep, and enter this amazing world of sleep and dream. So having that mindset of enthusiasm and passion for sleep is really, really supportive to lucidity, and is it acts as a positive feedback loop for lucidity. So when we feel joy about sleep and dream, when we feel joy about the dreams that we have had, anything we can remember, any lucid dreams, it reinforces lucidity in the dream state. I recently had a bit of a dry spell in my lucid dreams, and as I felt into why that was, I noticed it was because I was relating to a couple of aspects of my life from a place of this kind of heaviness and seriousness, like, this is a big deal. This is I have to think about this a lot, and there was a lot of density in my mind. And so when I recognized that, I decided to shift to the mentality of this is a dream. I can create whatever I want, and I can relate to it with joy. My lucid dreams returned that like two nights after starting to do that. So joy is huge. It's a massive piece of the lucid practice, also in creating your space for sleep, inviting in the quality of sacredness. So what can you do to make your sleeping space feel more sacred? Maybe this means that you have sacred objects or sacred images in your sleeping space. Maybe you have an altar at the foot of your bed or at the side of your bed. You can light candles. We recommend using electric candles for safety, although I have to say I use actual candles because I like the fire energy. However, I always am having my eye on them when they're lit. So I'm always sitting in front of my altar when the candles are lit. And that way, there's there's safety there. You can also bring in objects from nature, like pine cones or feathers I have bear is one of my dream guides, and I had, I found this little tuft of bear fur on the land where I live. So I keep this on my altar close to my bed. Makes it feel more sacred for me. You can light sage or Palo Santo, or you can bring essential oils or aerosol sprays, like aromatic sprays into your space to bring a nice scent that makes the space feel sacred for you. You can also go around the room. You can light your palo santo or your sage and state an intention, such as, may this space be protected while I sleep? You can also recite mantra, such as the Dream Yoga mantra that we reviewed a couple of months ago, and you can infuse the space with other sound. So could be mantra, but it could also be beautiful music, or some instruments like you can use ting SHA bells and ring them around your space to cleanse the energy you probably can't hear that I know Often they don't come through on Zoom.
And then, thirdly, you also want to make sure that your sleeping space feels safe for you, whatever that is. So some of us like to have the space really closed in, like doors, locked, windows, closed, curtains closed, everything really held. And others like it to be more open, fresh air moving through doors, open, more of a connection to the world outside of the room. So whatever that is for you, create your sleeping space in such a way where it honors your needs for safety, so that when you're going to sleep at night, you feel you can really relax and surrender into the experience, and you're not worried about anything happening externally. You may also choose to imagine a protective light, like a protective white light or blue light surrounding your bed, your room, your house, your neighborhood, however far out you want to go with that to make yourself feel safe and protected, you can use your imagination in other creative ways, also to create a sense of safety. So one thing I sometimes imagine is that there's a giant green plant growing up from the earth that lifts up my bedroom and my bed high up into the sky and clouds, and that makes me feel safe. You can also imagine dream dakinis. So this is more from the Tibetan wisdom traditions, Dream dakinis are feminine enlightened beings that you can imagine, filling your space, protecting you while you sleep. You may position them at the doorways of your room, at the windows of your room, on the edges of your bed and really feel the presence of these spiritual beings protecting you while you sleep. Great. So I want to invite now for everyone to think about, what do you do, what do you already do, or what would you like to do to make your sleeping space feel more joyful, more sacred or more safe, and put that in the chat so that we can get some of the group field ideas on This and start to weave more with that.
Great. Barb says, I love making my bed beautifully in the morning to create a wonderful space that is just waiting for me to slip into at night, an investment in my future. Beautiful. Tim, just the thought of getting horizontal makes me happy. Awesome. Me too. Tim Paul then says it's actually more healthy to fold the bed covers at the foot of the bed right give a little space for the feet to breathe. I sleep in the room with my shrine a sacred space and. Morgan, hang more artwork, Hamish, swinging chimes from India, nice. Yeah, it's nice to have things that the air element can play with in your space. Dominica, keep the bedroom area tidier, makes it easier on the eyes and illuminates that clutter energy. Yeah, more color Marian holiday decorations. Yeah, lovely. So, yeah, keep putting those in. I'll continue on, and we'll get more of the group's wisdom here. Yeah, so, so next, focusing on Dream protectors, guides and allies. So this could be physical or non physical beings or entities that can support you in both becoming and staying lucid in the dream state. So often, the the calling forth or the imagining of these dream protectors, guides or allies can start in the waking state and then carry over into the dream state. But sometimes it can also be the other way around, where we meet a dream protector, guide or ally actually in the dream, and then we bring them back with us to the waking state as well. So just a few distinctions between these three areas. So dream protectors will provide a feeling of safety and reassurance in the dream. They might help you feel safe, or give you courage to explore the dreams without fear or negative consequences. I speak with quite a few people who say that they are actually afraid to have a lucid dream. There's there's a fear that blocks them from having it. And so if we work with protectors that can be a way of moving through that obstacle, Dream guides are typically teachers, mentors or other beings that bring wisdom, knowledge or insight and help us understand deeper aspects of ourselves or of the dream environment, and then allies are more like figures that assist you in some way in navigating the dream environment. So they could be a friend or a companion, could be an animal, they could give you advice or encouragement. So we want to look at all three of these areas, protectors, guides and allies. And sometimes there's you might have a being or an entity that covers all three areas for you. And the idea with working with protectors, guides and allies, is not to create a co dependent relationship with any of them. We definitely don't want that. It's more about recognizing that we have so much support and we are interconnected with all of life, and so if we can recognize who are our constituents, in this regard, who are our beings that are meant to support us, and we can reach out to them when we need help, that can really benefit our lucidity and our practice. But it's good to be mindful of that. I've definitely, I have a strong connection with the mineral kingdom, and I've definitely, at times, gotten, like, a little bit codependent with my minerals, and then I realized I need to break that codependency and let go of that connection to that mineral. And because it's these protectors, guides and allies are really meant to be a bridge and not, you know, a constant forever source of codependency. Cool. So I'm going to just go over a few categories, a few classes of protectors, guides and allies that we can we can work with. And I have some slides I'm going to share for that, some visual imagery I'm okay,
so starting with animal protectors or guides or allies, so we can choose any animal with which we feel a connection. Could be an animal that is alive or that has passed away, a domestic animal or wild animal, simply the spirit of an animal that we are connected with. The animals you see here are some of the more common ones that are chosen as protectors in the Tibetan wisdom tradition. Oceans. So lions in the center there is the Garuda, which is a mythical bird, elephants, horses and dragons.
We can also explore working with the plant kingdom as protectors, guides or allies. We can choose trees, we can choose flowers, bushes or healing herbs. Some of the images here are again drawn from the Tibetan wisdom traditions as natural allies or guides in the dream world. So nettle, saffron, ginseng, I love the ginseng. It looks like, kind of looks like Mandrake, a little bit the magical root that is referenced in the Harry Potter movies and also in a lot of magical circles, the juniper tree and the blue lotus Flower.
We can also look to the mineral kingdom. So some of these are some of the more common minerals that are associated with the dream state and supporting us in lucidity. So the first one there is Celestite. That's very powerful. I highly recommend if you work with Celestite. You only need a tiny piece of some distance from your bed. It's a really powerful third eye opener, Moonstone, Amethyst, lapis lazuli and fluorite. I
Yes, yeah. So I have a short dream story about working with the mineral kingdom. I was on a trip to Sedona, Arizona, and was staying in a house very near to some of the really beautiful, massive boulders of Sedona, Arizona. And my second night in the house, I awoke in a lucid dream, and I was in the house where I was staying in that lucid dream, and one of my teachers had shared with me that whenever you're having a dream that takes place where you are, where you're actually sleeping, in real time, to pay attention, because often there's some significance to that dream. So in the lucid dream, I'm wandering around this Sedona house, and I feel drawn to move over towards the coffee table in the living room, and I lift up the coffee table, and underneath the coffee table there's a secret compartment, and inside the secret compartment there are four fluoride octahedron stones which look like this. I'm and they're surrounding a central stone, which is a golden colored stone, which looks like Citrine, but is more of a light golden color than I had ever seen in a Citrine stone pour. And so when I awoke from this lucid dream, I felt inspired to go find the stone in Sedona. I felt like I was meant to find that stone. And Bodhi and I went out, and we went to four different rock shops, and at the fourth shop, we finally found this Citrine stone that had the coloring and the shapes of the crystals, and that looked, then looked and felt like the stone from my dream, which was this stone. And so I began sleeping with this stone next to my bed every night. And at the time, I was working on meditating in lucid dreams, and it's I have done work with moving meditation and lucid dreams, but I had wanted to do more sitting stillness meditation, which is quite difficult because there's not when you're sitting in stillness, there's not the movement of the dream scene, and so your eyes aren't moving as much as they would in a normal dream in the REM state, and a couple of weeks later, I think it was maybe three to four weeks later, after sleeping with this stone next to my bed, I had a lucid dream in which I sat down to meditate, and this stone showed up in front of me in the dream, and. There was light glimmering off of the crystals, just enough to keep my eyes moving just a little bit, and my attention engaged to where I was able to enter a very deep meditation in the dream because of the stone. So I'm super grateful to the mineral kingdom for their allyship and assistance and yeah, I highly recommend exploring connections with plant, mineral, animal kingdoms. For your lucidity, practice,
great. So a few other areas categories we can look at for guidance, allyship, protection are humans. This could be our human friends, teachers, co creative partners, ancestors. We can also work with the elements of nature, earth, water, fire, air space, they can be great supports to lucidity, and we can also call upon other spiritual beings, such as deities, angels, nature, spirits, Buddhas, or dream dakinis, as I mentioned earlier on. So Chelsea has a brief story, Dream story now as well.
Thanks. Katie, so yeah, I just wanted to share a brief story about an ancestor guide that I was blessed to meet. And so this last April, on the Scorpio Full Moon, I went to a breath work session to, like, really clear out the winds. And I made the an intention, before I went to sleep, to meet my spirit guides. And so I had this lucid dream that I was in the Azores, which I've never been to before, but I've dreamt about frequently throughout my life, because that's where my ancestors are from. It took me until, like, my early 30s to recognize, like, this is the place that I was dreaming about, which is pretty amazing. And there was this older, kind of grandmother figure there. And in the dream, she was kind of standing out of the in, outside of this natural looking home, kind of like in the earth. And she brought me in, and she showed me all these photos of me as like a child that I had never seen before, and all of these photos of like ancestors that I'd never seen before, and I was just kind of in amazement. And in it, she told me that my family had asked her to leave when I was very young, but she had, like always, kind of stayed with me, and there was something that happened in that breath work session that allowed her to, like, Come to me, and it, like, kind of opened up a portal, and she shared with me that she continued to support me as an angel, and then she shared her name with me, which I can evoke when I want to connect with her. And so I just wanted to share that with you as a form of inspiration, of connecting, being open to connecting to these other spirits and guides and allies and protectors and like how they can support us in the journey you
hmm, yeah, I'm complete with my part. Chelsea, so you can, you can move on now. Okay, all right.
Well, thank you, Katie, so we're going to go into a bit of journaling. Now I'm going to share my screen and we'll put it up,
all right, so we'll be journaling for about five minutes, and the question that we have for all of you is, what beings or entities do you experience as protectors, guides and or allies for the dream world and why and so, just as a reminder, this could Be, animals, plants, minerals, humans, elements of nature spiritual be the beings and anything else that you can imagine that resonates within you. And so we invite you to use your intuition to choose one being or entity to work with um, and maybe just take the time to describe them a bit. When you're writing about them. So I am going to put a timer on for five minutes, and I'll let you know when we have one minute remaining.
Yeah, and yeah, just to clarify. So write down all of the ones that you feel a connection with or that you'd like to work with first and then choose just one of those to work with For the upcoming process. You
one minute left and
Okay, so feel free to write in the chat if you want to Share who came up for you in that process.
Katie says Raven Manjushri from Glenda, you
paldin writes, animals, my late dog, Miri, humans, my late partner, Valerie and spiritual beings, my Lama, rinpo toku, Rinpoche, chenrezie and Padma Samba, Dominica, green. Tara. Tim, golden, Python. Donna nettle or dog. Floyd, Mary Ann. I have a human guide, a woman who has long blonde hair.
Also Gaia. I um,
let's see Tracy Garuda, I love all miss things mystical, Hamish. Name girl Rinpoche, my root teacher of who I have had reoccurring dreams, funny from a dream Cynthia and Kitty, mannish and horse, and then Elaine, wise old tree, white lotus, Crystal medicine man. I love reading all of these. Thank you so much for sharing. I feel like them surrounding us by just like bringing them in. Yeah, Gaia is her name, and she appears regularly. So what we're gonna do is we'll do an imagination process to actually bring what Katie has shared about creating a joyful, sacred and safe space for sleep as well as our protectors, allies and guides more into a relatable and familiar form of experience through an imagination process. So what I'm going to do is ask you to find a comfortable seat. You can also lay down if that sounds more comfortable to you, whatever you need in this moment. And just as a reminder with these imagination practices, if you are not able to visualize, then just really tap into how it feels in your body. Notice how it feels in your body. And even if you are able to visualize, still pay attention to how it feels in your body. So a balance of both. So as I said, we'll find a comfortable position. This could be either seating, seated, standing or lying down. And once you find this comfortable position, really make sure that you're not too tight and not too loose. So finding the Middle Way in whatever posture you have chosen, we're really cultivating a presence of relaxed attention and and if you have not already, please close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath as we settle in together and
just noticing what is arising. Nothing to change, nothing to do in this moment and.
And once you've settled in and relaxed,
bring your attention to the darkness behind your eyelids and
notice what it feels like to be in this experience of darkness.
Could this be a blank canvas for your imagination?
As you focus on this empty space, you begin to notice a path unfolding before you. You recognize that you're on your way towards your place of sleep and
as the scene unfolds, imagine yourself Creating a joyful, sacred and safe space for sleep and
as you're taking in the scene, you notice, if there are cozy blankets, are there pillows that are inviting you to bed, heart opening colors and beautiful artwork that brings you joy.
What can you bring into this space that inspires you? I
Are there sacred objects, candles, minerals and items present from nature and
do You smell a cleansing scent?
Is there a chant, Mantra, or sound emanating from the air?
Be open to what is arising, and let the scene come to you. And
now we'll ask ourselves, What must we do? You do to feel safe?
Are there doors that need locking, windows that need closing?
How would it feel to imagine a protective light surrounding you, or some other container I
use your imagination To create a feeling of joyfulness, sacredness and safety in your sleep space and
as the scene becomes clearer and more vivid with details, you recognize that you feel safe in this space and.
Now imagine yourself getting into your cozy bed and mindfully guiding yourself towards sleep.
Allow this experience to arise naturally and be curious about what unfolds and
while in this place, you invite your chosen protector, guide or ally, into the space with you.
You You're not able to visualize the notice how this feels.
Fully immerse yourself in your imagination without judgment.
How is their appearance manifesting? I
Where are they located?
How does your heart feel and
feel the support of your protector, guide or ally, embrace you In the dream world And
as we close this practice, thank this being For showing up for you.
Notice any insights you received from this experience, or if anything was revealed you
let go of this scene as It dissolves into space like awakening from a dream and
I start to notice the sounds that are around you.
Begin to feel the sensation. Shins in your body,
stretching if you need to, slowly waking up your body, gently and slowly returning to the group by wiggling your fingers and toes, maybe taking some deeper breaths, and when you're ready, open your eyes and return to the group, I see some smiles and some laughs and some giggles and a floating pumpkin.
All right, thank you all for allowing me to guide you in that. I hope that it was helpful to you to connect to those beings and entities so that you can bring them more fully into your life. And I noticed when I was sharing my ancestor story that I also wanted to share with you all, that if you're wanting to connect with ancestors, something that is important and valuable is to invite them, invite the benevolent, healed ancestors into your life when you're making that connection and creating that relationship. So we are going to go into the Q and A, and really this is a time for any kind of questions. They can be about, the topic they can be shares, really, anything that's alive for you that you would like to share and connect with within this group about lucid dreaming.
And you're welcome to raise your hand. We'll take you off mute. You can put questions in the chat.
All right. Jillian,
hi, hi. Thank you guys. This was so right on time, like everything today, and Katie, I've got amethyst, kind of like from a dream that told me to get amethyst. So I thought I'd share, because Bodhi always does the poll. And honestly, thanks to I want to say it was May, but one of these sessions with you guys, um, Katie said to me, and it was about, I do collage writing, and I like to get out of my own way, like, I like to just open the window and let things fly through, like a bird would, like, oh, I don't know what's happening, so let it just come. And so I've had dreams where it's not, and we talked about this before, it's not my llamas, like me dreaming about my llamas, which I do a lot. I've had a couple of dreams where it was the llama. And so I think because of that, I was like, I don't want to control and I never read a lot of books on lucid dreaming, but you see the word control, and I'm always like, I don't want to control, and I think I'm very primitive, because it's like the idea of collaborating, like I'm just learning. I'm like, a real newbie. And so I will stop chattering, but I will say I was in I got long COVID Right now, and I'm really sick. Like, I am sick, and I was in the cardiac hospital all last weekend, which was very surprising adventure. And like, three in the morning, one of my teachers that I do get to see on Zoom, I was on a ridge at night, in the dark before dawn, looking out at a valley, and the teacher was like, Come on, let's go, you know, like it was sort of, and I was able to check with the teacher, and they were like, Oh yeah, you know, yeah, you know, we were we were there. So that wasn't me. But I think what that did is, this week, I had my first lucid dream since childhood. So thank you all you know, for just kind of working with me and planting a seed. Like, no, it's collaborative. Like, it's not you controlling anything. It's not your everyday brain being busy and silly. But it was lovely. And I'll say one more thing, because I'm a bit of a rough it's kind of a joke. Part of it was, I don't want to fly, like, I don't feel like I need to fly. Or sometimes when people talk about lucid dreaming, it sounds like it's all about but what's hilarious is that's what happened. So I was in the dream. I was in Nepal. This is my regular mind, and I'm going to go tell some teacher something I'm sorry about, or something that's just me being me. And there was gravel on the ground like pebbles. And I went, I'm gonna throw that up in the air. And it's kind of like, float there, like it started to go lucid. And my dreams have been wanting to go lucid, and I keep suppressing it. And I think I even mentioned that here before, but I threw the gravel up, it didn't, it didn't stick, and then it turned into the color of pollen, but it was still gravel, and I threw it up, and it didn't stick. And then I'm like, fine. And then I just started, like, pumping myself up in the air, and then I started yelling, I've gone lucid. And then I don't know what happened, I didn't wake up or anything. But thank you, and thank you all, and it's just a joyful, sweet group. And I, I appreciate you all. Thank you really.
Thank you. Thank you so much for being here, and thank you so much for sharing about your lucid dream. That's so exciting,
a funny little journey, yes, yeah.
I love how you didn't want to fly, and then you ended up flying all of our minds,
and it was wonderful. So thank you.
That's nice stuff. Thank you.
This feel better soon.
Yeah, it's really beautiful. And I'm I'm also inspired to comment on the just the control piece, because there is a masculine and a feminine approach to lucid dreaming, right? And a lot of the teachers focus more on the masculine approach. Not all of them, but a lot of them do, or like, Okay, this is, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do XYZ, and I'm going to, like, make this happen and make this happen. And that's, you know, can be totally fun and totally valid approach, but the feminine approach is more receptive, it's more spatial. It's more witnessing and seeing what arises. And so I think it sounds like what you're speaking to is that's what's more natural for you, is is allowing. And there's a whole field of lucid dreaming that is, is totally served by that feminine receptive state? Yeah, absolutely. And I think when, when we're more feminine beings, not necessarily even in a feminine body, but just we have more of a feminine nature, that kind of lucid dreaming is actually more powerful for us, so it's good to play with both. And thank you so much for sharing. That's so inspiring, and I love that the mineral kingdom was there helping you get lucid. Thank you.
Okay, Dana, I saw that you don't know how to raise your hand, so I'm just gonna find you and ask you to unmute.
Hi, somebody just typed in that you select something from up top. But I'm not seeing anything up top to select from, so I don't know which screen I even need to be on. I have a lot of dreams where I'm on a stage and either you don't have your script or you don't have your part memorized, and those kind of frustrations. And I was having some stage dream, and it's like, Okay, I'm going to test if I'm dreaming and try to fly, but I would go to jump, and I'd be very, very, very heavy, but I looked out across the stage and it was undulating. It's like, I know I'm dreaming, even if my body is heavy right now. So I wanted to share that.
Yeah, thank you, Dana, yeah. So like you were even able to recognize that you were dreaming, even without, like, the dream sign of, like, jumping up and potentially flying. And something that you can do other than flying to kind of like test that as well, is you can let your body fall into the ground like a mole, if your body is really heavy too. So you don't necessarily, sometimes our like minds don't want us to go up, but they want us to go down. Like I've had experiences before where I'm like on ice, and then all of a sudden I drop down, and then that helps me become lucid. So like, see where your imagination wants to take you. And you didn't even need that in that situation, because you were just like, the stage is moving. This is not wake the waking state.
That's funny, because we were in doing a drumming thing where people were to see their guides and stuff, and this other lady saw this worm going by, and it said, I'm not yours. I'm just on my way over there, and I had had this worm guy come over, and that's very much about burring down. And the whole way that I got into that whole drumming space was to go in and under the tree and under the lake. So, yeah, thank you. That's helpful.
Yeah, thank you. You.
Okay, Mary Ann, so I have a question about the dream guides, and I have only had this one, and in my world, she comes unbidden a lot of the time,
and she tends to have this sort of cheeky, irreverent approach to things, mostly telling me not to try so hard. But she's, I guess I I'm sort of stuck on, I mean, obviously she's my imagination. I get that. But when you start, when you put up the prompt about all these different kinds of of potential guides. You know, it came to me. Well, why are Am I not producing other ones? And should I be doing something consciously, more consciously than when I when guy came along, because that just happened, because I'd heard Andrew say, ask the dream for help, and that's what I did. And she appeared, and she kept coming back. So now I'm thinking maybe I might want to take a more active role in the creation of another guide. Or should I? I mean, I and then I also thought about, you know, there's that stage in Dream Yoga where you become a dream character. And I'm thinking, maybe that's what I should work on. So any and all recommendations, insight,
help. Yeah, thank you for that inquiry. Rayne, and I think with all of these things, it's really about giving everybody options so that they can feel into like what is true for themselves. And it's really not using your intuition when creating relationship with these beings and with Gaia, like she just came to you, and you've created a relationship with her, and you can, if this speaks to you, create a deeper relationship with her by calling her in more actively before you go to sleep, which I Think you do, or having more of an altar space that connect with her, or practicing, like you said, doing the stage of Dream Yoga, where we actually become, you know, a deity or another person. And so just even by doing that, you can create a deeper relationship with her, and then maybe just explore if it is in alignment for you to have another guide. Like, is that supportive to your journey? Like, do you do you maybe need a protect? Like, does Gaia feel like a protector is? Like, is a protector, what you need?
Maybe I should ask, yeah, yeah,
you could ask Gaia.
Great idea.
Thank you. All right, so I saw a couple in the chat, so I'm just going to read those, and then I'll go over to Pelton. Um, Katie, do you want to answer the question, Where might I learn more about the Dream Yoga mantra and the dream dakinis?
Um, where might you learn more about the Dream Yoga mantra and the dream dakinis. So the Dream Yoga mantra, I would recommend, actually, some resources on nightclub we did teaching on the mantra. I think it was in August that we did that. September. Okay, yeah, so we can put the links to that in the chat we did. We did a couple of different sessions on the Dream Yoga and mantra Om ah, nu Ta ra, and also on nightclub. Andrew has done some sessions on mantra in general, and on the Dream Yoga mantra as well in his meditation group. So if you look at the meditation group on nightclub, you can find the session, and I might be able to look up. I have some of them bookmarked. I might be able to look that up and put that in the chat too. I haven't there may be like literature on the mantra, but I haven't seen any or. I haven't heard Andrew recommend it. Have you heard of any literature that Andrew recommends on the Dream Yoga mantra? Chelsea, yeah, my sense is it's more of an oral teaching, but it is from the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. So you know, if you have a teacher in that lineage, or resources in that lineage that could be a source as well for the Dream Yoga mantra and then a dream dakinis. I would recommend Tenzin wing yo Rinpoche as a source for that. He speaks about them in his book, The Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep. And and he probably has more. He may have more resources on his website about that, but I'm not totally sure. I've received a lot of that orally, the teaching of them that orally from him and through his book The Tibetan yoga. So dream and sleep actually has a couple of dakinis on the cover of the original version of that book. So yeah, and if anyone else has other resources they're aware of on those, please put them in the chat as well.
Thank you, Katie,
just reading through and then, okay, so Paul. Then,
hi everybody. Thank you for this group. My first time here. I just want to relate a lucid dreaming experience that I had, which was I found a little bit puzzling. I decided during this dream, it was pretty mundane dream. I was in a cafe with a lot of people, and I decided to talk to these people and tell them, You are part of this. You're part of my dream. I'm dreaming, and you're part of my dream. And funnily enough, I could talk to them quite normally about normal things, but as soon as I mentioned that it was like blank, they didn't respond. They couldn't hear me. And I tried several times. I even tried shouting it, and I had no response. And I just wonder what that's all about. Really, it's like the dream characters refused to accept that they were part of my dream. That's how it felt. I don't know if you have any input on that.
Yeah, I can share. So I've had some really kind of funny, interesting experiences with dream characters like that as well. I think one of the things, one of the reasons why that could have happened in your dream is this sort of duality that you're presenting in the way that you are communicating with the dream characters like you are part of my Dream. So sometimes I notice dream characters can respond negatively in certain ways, not engage when there's sort of this separation or control. And I'm not saying that you were controlling in that situation, but when there's that kind of energy in a dream, they can be a little bit more distant. Bodhi had an interesting like lucid dream like this recently, where he was asking, he was kind of telling some of the dream characters what they needed to do, and it totally backfired and shot him out of lucidity. And I've had a similar kind of dream. I had a dream one time where I walked up to my one of my dream characters, and I said, I said, What is the meaning? What is your purpose here? What is the meaning of this dream? And the dream character was like Katie, not everything is about purpose and meaning all the time. And so, so, yeah, hard to say. You know exactly why that happened for you, but sometimes it feels like a lot of times when I'll talk to dream characters about them being a part of my dream, or if I'm lucid, I might say we're having a lucid dream. They're not really responding with the same enthusiasm that I have, because they're just aspects of my subconscious mind. So, yeah, I'm not sure if that's helpful. But what is that? What does that bring up for you? Any? Is that inspiring, anything in you about your I think,
yeah, I think the key to that was, when you said, What? What? The way I phrased it was, you are part of my dream. Yeah, I was making a separation. I think if I'd said that, do you realize we're all dream characters, or we're all in, we're all in this dream, I might have had some response, so I'll try that next time. Awesome, great. I was making a duality, or I was I was owning. I was putting ownership on it. Yeah.
Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah, it could be an invitation from your subconscious to just frame it differently. Sure.
Thank you. Yeah,
thank you for being here. Really good to meet you in the space. Thank you
and John. Sarah Sharon, I have had the same experience, or they refused to accept it. I've had those experiences too. Okay, so Todd's asking, Where would you recommend sourcing Blue Lotus? How is Blue Lotus normally consumed? I'm not sure what Blue Lotus does, but it does resonate with me. So I've only sourced it from one place. I feel a little hesitant about sharing that, just because it is an herbal medicine, and so I suggest maybe finding a place that resonates with you. And as far as Blue Lotus goes, it is consumed, I think usually as a T and Bodhi. You can chime in here if you want to as well. And it's really a third eye opener. Is how I understand it. It does support dreaming. It can support dreaming. For some people, it's really interesting to work with different herbs and supplements, because each of us is different, and so some of us is going to have, they they can be allies, right? And so some of us are going to have a really reciprocal, you know, helpful, supportive relationship with a plant or mineral or a being, and then at other times, we have to readjust and be like, What is, what is right relationship with this mineral or plant? And so it's really about going into that new exploration with any of these beings and energies with like an open mind and an open heart, but also being really curious along the journey and asking yourself, Is this the right is this the right relationship for me? Is this the right plant for me? Is this the right crystal for me? And not just thinking that just because it is a herb or plant that is for Dream Yoga or for lucid dreaming, that it's going to work well for you. So I'm sorry Todd, that I can't give you like direct answers around that. I do know that there's like an herbal shop called Mountain rose herbs. They might have it, but I haven't bought from them before. And then Amanda Mundy, they have some, but I also haven't explored that either. So. And then, Bodhi, do you have something to share?
Yeah, it's been a while. I bought a huge bag of it, but it lasts a long time. It was quite a few years ago. But perhaps a clue on your quest would be, there's there's families that, for generations, have grown this. It used to grow in in Egypt, but I wouldn't recommend that. I don't know that you can get it there anymore, but your the clue I leave you with is Thailand. Try that. Yeah, yeah,
thank you, Bodhi. There's also some things popping up in the chat around it too. So Blue Lotus is a hallucinogen. It is used extensively in ancient Egypt. Barb wrote, I came across Blue Lotus tea at a Thai restaurant recently, which is interesting, that you said Thailand, buddy, and not knowing anything about it, other than it was unusual and I was curious about it. I drank a cup and had a strong allergic reaction that lasted several hours. I'm sorry. Barb, and then I Maria wrote, I've used blue lotus twice. Someone gave me some of the tea, no effect the first time. The second time, my dreams were far more colorful and vivid. I dreamt about the large, very yellow pineapple pie, um, so that's like, a great example of what I was just speaking to as, like, our bodies are going to be different and have different responses to anything. So just to be really curious about that. So thank you for sharing your experiences. Barb and Marianne, and then Barb said she's been experienced experimenting with mugwort tea instead, which is also known for its. Supportive, dreamy effects.
And I'm I'm also curious, John, John rising, I think you're here. Is that you John R because he has done some research on Blue Lotus as well. So not sure I see. Yeah. Would you be willing to come on on screen and just talk about that for a moment. John, since that's your area of expertise, not that particular herb, but just pharmaceuticals, medicines in general. See, I'm gonna ask him to unmute and see if anything happens.
Hmm,
not seeing anything. I see that he said yes in the chat, but yeah, if you do want to, like, come on camera or are able to chat, just raise your hand and we can, we can respond to you. Thank you.
All right, so Cynthia,
can you see me?
We can see you.
This is my first time here. I'm taking the offering through this platform with Mia on lucid dreaming. So thank you for this opportunity. I had a really joyful and one of the most memorable dreams of my life a few nights ago, so I just thought I'd share it, and in the dream, there had been a move, and the move had gone really, really well. And in the dream, my mom, who is still living, where I was living with her, for whatever reason, I didn't see her, but I was in a room that was her room, and she had this collection of bunny figurines, statues, and one of them had come alive, and it was moving around with the others. I was totally enchanted, and I thought, I'm gonna pet that. So I went to pet that bunny, and then it got really big, like in the movie Harvey, and gave me a hug, and I remember thinking so clearly, I must be dreaming. This couldn't happen in real life. But I did not become lucid. It was just a strong, wonderful dream that I'll be cold but a bunny, bunny spirit. I just wondered if you had any comments about that. Thank you.
Thank you for being here, Cynthia, and thank you for sharing that wonderful dream. It brought me lots of joy, just like hearing about it and imagining a giant bunny, and just like hearing you saying, I'm gonna pet that. Thank you. And I think it's important to celebrate, like the steps along the way, you know, and it sounds like that dream was very vivid for you, and also made you question, like, Is this a dream? I think this is a dream. And that's moving more towards lucidity, more towards becoming lucid, and so and then as far as, like a bunny spirit, do you feel like it's like a bunny spirit guide? Or like, how do you want to relate to it.
I don't. I really don't know. I'm so new to all of this spirit guide, I guess I'll have to wait and see if your bunnies come in my in my dreams, and then I will, I would know, yeah, right now maybe it was just about joy, just about dreaming. Because my intention for lucid dreaming, of a huge one, is just to just have that unfettered joy that I think you could have with lucid dreaming, and bring bring that joy into the world, like all of you do,
thank you. And it sounds like that's where it was coming from. Like even you speaking to it is just like so much joy, right? And so, like you said, being curious about it, but it sounds like you fulfilling your intention of that joy. So yeah, and then pay attention throughout the day. Maybe you'll see bunnies popping up in your waking state.
I live in an area where there's bunnies, and I love seeing
bunnies Good. Well, thank
you so much for being here. Thank you and share. Hearing. Did I see that John was trying to join everybody? Hear me? Oh, yeah, we can,
okay, yeah, I had the phone set where the microphone was not enabled. So sorry, I couldn't respond earlier. The only thing I would say about most of the supplements, is just to caution a couple of things for people. One is to make sure, if you do take a supplement, make sure your providers are aware you're on it, because they do interact, in many cases, with other medications, and you do want to also be aware that they are not regulated. So when you are buying a supplement, particularly, even more importantly, if it's coming from outside the US, a lot of them do not contain what is listed or are adulterated. So you have to be aware of that. But even in the case like with Blue Lotus, although they did, there are a couple of studies that did analyze Blue Lotus, and they did not see anything that should pose a significant health risk. But on the other hand, there were compounds that may not have been detected. And it was interesting that there's a lot of claim that Blue Lotus is an hallucinogen and that contains apomorphine and luciferin, but when they analyzed authentic Blue Lotus, they actually didn't contain that in those samples, and the samples they bought online had additional things added to them that were synthetic for either aromas or other things. So it's just word of caution. Whenever you are purchasing something like that, you know you are relying on whoever is selling it to have done the right thing when they make it and if you are, I doubt anyone here is, but if you work for the government, it is actually prohibited. You are not allowed to use the lotus. It's actually prohibited in Louisiana, Poland, Russia and Latvia as well. So just a few things that are out there, but just use caution and try to find, you know, a if you're going to use any supplement, try to find a reliable source. There are supplements that are verified by laboratories independently. They usually have a USP symbol on there. So I don't know if that would apply this, because it's still uncommon, but it is something you can look for when you're shopping for any supplement. So I just thought I'd share that.
Thank you so much, John. So appreciate your wisdom and all the research that you've done in this area. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. I think that we have gone through everything in the chat and all of the questions. And so I just want there
was one more question someone was asking for the saying the syllables of the Dream Yoga chant. Oh, okay, yeah. So Glenda, that's om, ah, nu, ta, ra, and I'm putting in the chat right now the link to our lucidity induction group page, if you scroll to the bottom, sessions 11 and 12 are on that mantra, and Andrew also teaches that mantra in nightclubs meditation group, so you can look through the past recordings and find where he teaches on mantra. And highly recommend that it's yeah. It's a fantastic mantra to work with for the Dream Yoga practice. Yeah. Thank you, Glenda, thank you for being here.
Okay,
so I'm going to put a couple more things in the chat, just as a reminder to sign up for nightclub if you have not already, and then please feel free to give us feedback via our feedback form. We're happy to receive any kind of feedback that you have, we will read it and talk about it and see if it if we feel inspired to integrate it within, within this bigger container. And so next we have one
more thing I want to share just before we go into the closing is next month, we're going to be working on the lotus, the red dream Lotus. So if you're able to bring a red pen to the session, that's great. We'll try to put a reminder about this in the email as well. But yeah, any red pen for next? Next month?
Probably a piece of paper with that pen.
Yeah, yes, piece of paper as well. Thanks Tony, yeah,
yeah, all right, yeah, so as we close this session in in the coming weeks, may we all have deep, restorative sleep, May we all be blessed with more recall of our dreams and more lucid dreams. May we all be blessed?
May it be so, and we dedicate the merit of this practice, this gathering, to the benefit of all sentient being. Thank you. Everyone. Have a beautiful next couple of weeks until we See you again.