(11) Sleep Process 1

Gather into your memory all the intentions that you have set for dreaming; what you want to cultivate in your dream life and likewise in your waking. No matter what these are, there are three specific intentions that we can establish first that will nourish all others. These precursor intentions are Biodiversity, Community, and Shapeshifting, each for the purpose of healing and transmutation of energy. As you are preparing yourself for sleep, shift your awareness from your headspace to the lower parts of your body; your stomach and abdomen, so that the subtle buzz of neural activity dies down in your headspace and lights up in your gut area. Making this shift in focus is the first step to tapping into your dream layer.
 
Now, imagine that you are standing in a circle of people holding hands. These are the people you wish to increase your connection to; your spiritual family. Feel their presence. Now imagine that you all become trees shaped like humans, still holding hands in a circle with roots going into the ground below and branches forming a canopy above (you may prefer to envision the trunk of your body/bodies as more of a hollow vine like structure rather than solid all the way through). Various birds are in the canopy, and a diverse variety of animals appear both on the ground and among the branches. In this way, you have woven all 3 intentions, biodiversity, community, and shapeshifting, into a single resonant image. Hold onto this image as you are falling asleep, because it is generating the energy that will support the fruition of your more specific intentions. 

In the center of the ring, create symbolic representations of your more specific intention, say for example abundance translated as a chalice of wine, or a fountain, or an old tree, or a combination of  all of those things. Your intention should be resonant with all those in the community, as all those in the circle are seeding this for the collective dream. Feel their desire for it as well. Hold this image for as long as you can until you fall asleep.