Settle deeper now,
Find that perfect stillness,
The heavy,
Wonderful weight of your body pressing into the mattress,
The soft give of the pillow beneath your head.
Feel yourself completely safe,
Completely supported.
Take a deep breath in and as you slowly let it go,
Imagine a soft,
Cool wave washing over your feet and then gently pulling you down.
You are descending now,
Not into the dark,
But into a gentle,
Luminous blue.
It's the color of peace,
The color of twilight,
The color of a dream that is just beginning.
The surface of the water fades above you,
Becoming a shimmering,
Silver ceiling.
All the sounds of the world,
The traffic,
The clock,
The worries of the day,
They grow distant and muffled.
They can't follow you here.
You are suspended,
Perfectly weightless,
Drifting into the deep,
Quiet and ancient world of the ocean.
Look around you.
You are in the open water.
The light is soft here,
Filtered and serene.
You notice the first signs of life.
Before you see the fish,
You see the water itself.
Alive with tiny,
Glowing specks.
These are not dust.
These are minute,
Beautiful organisms.
Some of them the first form of life to ever exist on Earth.
They twinkle faintly,
A living constellation moving all around you.
Feel the coolness of the water on your skin.
It is clean,
Silky,
And carries you effortlessly.
You don't need to swim.
You only need to be.
As you continue your slow,
Tranquil drift,
The water begins to change color.
The blue deepens,
But now it's punctuated by brilliant splashes of color.
You are approaching a coral garden,
An underwater city built by tiny,
Ancient beings.
Let yourself take in the coral.
See its surface,
Looking like stone,
But not stone.
The coral is an animal,
A living,
Breathing architect.
See the structures they have built.
Towers that spiral up into giant,
Purple fingers.
Vast,
Undulating beds of brilliant orange and sunny yellow plates.
And massive,
Brain-shaped mounds of pale green,
Their ridges perfectly symmetrical.
Each piece is a home,
A shelter,
A world unto itself.
A small school of fish flashes past you.
They are tiny,
Perhaps no longer than your thumb,
And they move with impossible,
Synchronized grace.
They are a beautiful,
Glowing blue,
Almost neon,
With delicate black stripes.
Their sides are covered in specialized scales that reflect the light,
And this allows them to communicate and to confuse predators with a sudden,
Shimmering flash.
They are electric jewels in the soft,
Deep light.
Closer to the reef,
The plants begin to sway.
Not leafy plants of a garden on land,
But long,
Flowing ribbons of kelp and seagrass.
They reach up,
Tethered to the reef below,
And their movements are slow,
Hypnotic,
And gentle.
A perfect,
Quiet choreography,
Guided by the ocean's subtle currents.
You spot a much larger fish,
A parrotfish,
With colors so vibrant they seem impossible.
Turquoise and magenta,
Green and gold,
It nibbles quietly at the coral.
These parrotfish are responsible for a lot of the world's sand.
The parrotfish eat the coral,
Digest the hard skeletons,
And excrete it as soft,
White sand.
The very beaches we walk on are built by these colorful,
Hard-working fish.
The air bubbles rising from its gills are a soft,
Silver chain,
Floating toward the surface.
Everything here is quiet,
Gentle,
And utterly devoted to its existence.
Let this perfect peace settle around you.
Now drift away from the busy coral garden,
Back into the open,
Tranquil blue.
You are moving deeper still,
Where the world slows down even further.
Here in the water around you,
The light shifts to a dimmer,
More magical glow,
And you see them,
The jellyfish.
They are the most perfect manifestation of stillness and flow.
They are silent,
Translucent bells,
Gently pulsating,
Moving with an almost unbelievable slowness.
Watch the largest one.
It is a soft,
Milky dome,
Perhaps the size of a dinner plate.
Its movement is mesmerizing.
It expands softly,
Drawing in the water,
And then slowly,
Gently contracts,
Pushing itself forward a fraction of an inch.
It is an act of pure,
Silent meditation.
Look closer at the bell.
It is faintly patterned with four pale circles,
Like four soft moons.
These are the clovers of the four-leaf clover,
In the elegant moon jelly.
See its fringe of tiny,
Delicate,
Almost invisible tentacles trailing below.
They don't swim so much as they float,
Surrendering completely to the water.
They have no brains,
No heart,
No bones.
They are simply a collection of cells organized to drift and to look beautiful.
Their bodies are over 95% water,
A nearly perfect embodiment of the ocean itself.
Allow yourself to feel that surrender,
That peaceful,
Complete flow.
You are suspended in the most perfect,
Most peaceful moment.
The vast,
Cool ocean is holding you,
Rocking you.
Another,
Smaller jellyfish passes by.
This one is the color of sunset,
A soft,
Glowing pink-orange.
It has long,
Ribbon-like oral arms that wave softly,
Like silk threads in a gentle breeze.
Look at the light catching the surface of the jellies.
They are the most luminous,
Weightless things in the whole ocean.
They are reminders that the simplest existence can be the most beautiful.
You are just floating.
All you can hear is the gentle,
Whooshing sound of the water,
Which is the soft,
Rhythmic sound of your own quiet breath.
Let the colors fade now.
The vibrant fish,
The sturdy coral,
The soft glow of the jellies,
All dissolving back into the beautiful,
Deep,
Peaceful blue.
You are completely surrounded by quiet.
You are far from the surface,
Far from any sound or light that can disturb you.
This deep,
Still place is your perfect resting spot.
Your body is completely relaxed,
Heavy,
And yet buoyant.
You feel the constant,
Gentle pressure of the water on every surface of your body,
A feeling of being completely and securely embraced.
