Welcome to this sleepy space.
I'm going to read you a beautiful poem called,
Before You Sleep Tonight,
By Chelan Hawken,
Who has very kindly given me permission to read this to you.
Then we'll move into a reflection and meditation to help you drift away into sleep,
Feeling really loved and looked after,
And in touch with all the beautiful things about the night that you're resting in.
And about your body that is resting in such a healthy,
Beautiful space.
Let's begin.
Before you sleep tonight,
Consider all the night-blooming flowers opening this moment before the moon.
Consider all the owls leaping off their branches to fly on silent wings into the night.
Consider the earthen majesty of the combined dreams of the forest.
Consider the light exchanged between the stars in their great web of the night.
Consider the sentence within each living thing,
Everything alive with reverence.
Consider the ancient temple of the hills and the monks at other mountains donning their silhouetted robes to hold vigil for you each night.
Consider all the God inside of you tends to while you sleep with such tenderness and incredible intelligence,
Organizing your whole inner life,
Soothing its edges,
Doing all it might to make you more hospitable to love.
Consider the whirlers up all night to dance their prayers while the dervish planets do the same.
Let the lullaby of the worldwide chorus of crickets wrap itself around you tonight.
Be held by the blanket of stars.
Sleep well,
My dear.
All existence is spun of magic and you are outside of nothing.
Receive all the blessings this earth is perpetually trying to give you and rest soundly on a deep bed of awe and thanks.
Before you drift into sleep,
Let's take a moment together.
Close your eyes if they're not and take a slow,
Gentle breath.
Let your body soften into its resting place.
Feeling its weight supported completely.
Exhale with a sigh as if the day is just falling away from your shoulders.
And as the poem says,
With so much wisdom and truth,
Consider that while you are drifting into rest,
The world around you is alive with quiet miracles and keeping you company in that because inside of you is the quiet miracle of all the processing and repair that goes on while you're asleep in dreamland.
Somewhere,
Night-blooming flowers are opening their petals to the moon.
Owls are lifting silently from their branches and gliding into the dark.
The stars are exchanging light in a vast conversation across the heavens.
And within you two,
Something holy is at work.
And as you sleep,
Your body and soul tend to you with extraordinary intelligence.
Edges are softened,
Order is restored and love is made more welcome in you.
Organizing,
Soothing,
Making you more receptive to the beauty of life,
Your life.
And you don't need to do anything for this to happen.
You can simply rest in the knowing that it is.
And somewhere the mountains like monks cloaked in their dark robes are keeping vigil as you rest.
You're not falling asleep alone.
You're being held.
You're being held in the knowing that it is.
By the chorus of crickets,
By the hush of the forest's dreaming,
By the blanket of stars above you.
As you're breathing,
Feeling you're not alone and letting yourself be completely held.
Let all be the bed you lie down on tonight.
Let gratitude be the pillow beneath your head.
And may you rest knowing that all existence is spun of magic and you are outside of nothing.
Sleep well,
My friend.
You are profoundly loved.
You are completely looked after by the night.
