Sleep Story: The Night Train

An ambient sensory piece. The rhythm and sway of a cosy train ride through dark countryside, with fields and imagery passing by. Good for people who need a sense of motion to relax, the rocking, the passing landscape, the being-carried quality.

Transcript

Close your eyes, There's nothing you need to look at right now, Let the weight of your body settle, The back of your head, Your shoulders, The length of your spine, All of it resting Take a slow breath in and out, Let your exhale travel a little further than usual, No forcing, Just following it, Imagine you're on a train, It's evening, The platform is already behind you, You've been moving for a while, You have a window seat and the carriage is warm, The kind of warm that comes from a small space and a little dim light, Your seat is comfortable in that slightly warm lived-in way, Upholstered, Well used, The carriage is mostly quiet, A few other passengers settled into their own journeys, Nobody you need to speak to, Nobody looking your way, You don't have to be anything right now, Except a person on a train, Feel the rhythm of the train, That gentle regular sway, Side to side, Moving forward through the dark, It's not a dramatic movement, It's the motion of something very large and certain, Doing what it does, The tracks, The wheels, The particular sound of it, The low continuous rumble with a rhythm underneath, Let your body receive the sway, Don't hold against it, Let it rock you gently, The way being rocked by something reliable eventually lets the body go, Outside of the window you see the countryside move past in the dark, You can see shapes, Fields, A line of trees, Black against a dark blue sky, A farmhouse with one light on, Gone, The window has a slight reflection, Your own face soft and dimmed by the light in the glass, Looking back at yourself without any particular expression, Just here, On a train, Another small cluster of lights go past, A village, A level crossing, Gone, Nothing stays in view long enough to need your attention, Everything passes, Everything moves through, Your hands are resting somewhere, In your lap, On the armrest, Notice them briefly, Then let them go, Your jaw can soften, There's nothing to hold there, Allow your eyes to release any tension, All the muscles around them, The space behind your head, Let it all go slightly heavier, The train sways, Your wheels turn, You're being carried, You don't need to navigate, You don't need to steer, Someone else is doing all of that, Your only job is to sit here and be carried, Time has become soft, You're not sure how long you've been moving, It doesn't matter, Outside the landscape has changed to something flatter, Open, Long stretches of dark where there's very little to see, Just the train moving through nothing, The rhythm of it is inside you now, Your breathing has found its pace, Your body knows how to be here, The carriage is quieter, The other passengers have settled, The light is low, The sound of the train is almost a kind of silence, You do not need to stay awake for any of this, The train will keep going, Doesn't need you to watch, You don't need to track where you are, Just the sway, Just the rhythm, Just the sound being moved through the dark, Let it take you, You are safe, You are warm, You are on your way.