Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Get comfortable,
Get ready to relax and lay down and be still and quiet for a while.
Make sure that everything is just right in your room and you're ready to listen to a story.
Jonah was in the bookstore with his puppy,
Marshall.
Jonah was reading a dinosaur book.
He was looking through the pages of all the different dinosaurs,
Trying to memorize the names and what they ate and what they did.
Marshall,
His puppy,
Was sat next to him reading a scratch and sniff book.
Jonah looked closer and he was rubbing his paw on a cupcake and then sniffing it and rubbing his paw on it again and scratching it and then sniffing it as if he could really smell the cupcake.
It looked like a fun book.
Marshall leaned over and scratched on one of the pages that was open on Jonah's dinosaur book.
He was trying to scratch and sniff the dinosaurs.
Jonah thought it was really funny and started laughing.
But Marshall was persistent and he kept scratching on his page and trying to sniff at the different dinosaurs.
This led Jonah to think about something.
He closed his eyes and thought,
Wow!
Actually,
That would be awesome if you could scratch and sniff a dinosaur.
I wonder what dinosaurs smell like,
He thought.
Jonah leaned back in his chair in the library with his eyes still closed and started to drift off into his mind.
Him and Marshall were in Dinosaur Land.
Dinosaur Land was the bestest place on earth.
Obviously it was filled with dinosaurs.
The land was rocky and hilly.
There were parts of the land that were grassy with flowers and valleys that were very sweet to eat.
There were lakes that the dinosaurs drank out of.
There were areas of Dinosaur Land that had forests with trees abundant with different fruits all over them for the dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Land was cool,
Thought Jonah.
In his mind he could see himself walking through Dinosaur Land,
Just walking down a general path saying hi,
Hello to different dinosaurs.
Obviously some of the dinosaurs were very dangerous and he had to be on guard and be careful.
But in his mind he was kind of a bit like Indiana Jones.
He was an adventurer,
Tough,
Ready for danger,
But at the same time almost like a paleontologist.
He was an adventurer,
A tough go-getter,
But at the same time he studied dinosaurs and fossils and things like that.
So Dinosaur Land was literally the best place on earth.
On his travels as he was walking through the land,
He came across an old man,
An old man with glasses on.
He looked like he was dressed like someone that had just fell out of a safari.
He had tanned shorts on and a tanned shirt and a tan hat.
His glasses looked like old round barnacle glasses and he had white hair and he was picking at the dirt with a very very small shovel.
Jonah stopped to talk to him.
Good morning,
He said.
How is it here today in Dinosaur Land?
The old man turned around and said,
Very pleasant,
Very pleasant.
All of the dinosaurs are smelling delicious.
Hmmmmm,
Said Jonah.
How is that then?
Well,
Said the old man,
You do know that here in Dinosaur Land,
Every time you hug a dinosaur,
You can actually taste and smell a flavour.
Oh,
You can,
Said Jonah,
Looking down at Marshall.
He was thinking at this time that maybe Marshall's scratching sniff was interfering very very strongly in his imagination of what Dinosaur Land would be like.
But he was intrigued,
So he went with it.
He looked at the old man and he said,
So you just hug a dinosaur?
That's all you have to do?
The old man nodded and said,
Yep,
That's it,
But you be careful.
Some of these dinosaurs don't like to be hugged unless you feed them something nice to eat.
Oh,
Right then,
Said Jonah.
We'll be on our way to do some hugging.
Once again he looked down at Marshall.
Marshall had like a smiley grin on his face,
As if he was ready to do some hugging and smelling and tasting.
The first dinosaur that they came across was a Tyrannosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Obviously not a very friendly dinosaur.
But this was Jonah's imagination,
Right?
So he imagined that the dinosaur was very welcoming and since this was going to be the first experience of a hug that smelled and tasted delicious,
He didn't want it to be scary.
He started to walk up to the Tyrannosaurus,
Gave him a big smile and said,
Good morning,
Let's have a hug.
And he just went straight in for a hug.
Marshall's puppy wrapped his little paws around the dinosaur's big giant leg and gave him a hug.
Both of them hugged.
Oh my goodness.
Can you taste that?
Jonah said to Marshall.
Marshall said,
Whoop,
Meaning yes.
It tasted like strawberries.
I can actually taste strawberries,
Said Jonah.
And then he closed his eyes again and he hugged the Tyrannosaurus Rex really,
Really tightly and sniffed with all his breath.
I can smell strawberries.
Not only do I smell them and taste them,
I can see them in my mind like big red juicy strawberries,
Like the bestest strawberries ever.
Wow,
This is an amazing hug.
He pulled away from the Tyrannosaurus Rex and looked up and smiled at him and said,
You have a nice day.
And they carried on walking.
The next dinosaur that they got to was a Velociraptor.
Again,
Not such a sweet dinosaur,
But this was Jonah's imagination.
Morning,
Velociraptor,
Said Jonah.
Care for a hug?
The dinosaur,
Of course,
Because this was Dinosaur Land and everybody hugged in Dinosaur Land apparently gave him a big hug.
Both Marshall and Jonah closed their eyes and sniffed a big,
Big sniff.
Raspberries.
Can you taste raspberries,
Marshall?
Said Jonah.
Marshall,
Whoop,
Yes,
He could.
I could taste them,
I could smell them and I can see them.
Red.
Perfect.
They look delicious,
Said Jonah.
These hugs are amazing.
They're like the bestest hugs ever.
Well,
We'll be on our way.
Bye Velociraptor.
The next dinosaur along their path was a Triceratops.
Triceratops' taste and smell of chocolate when you hug them.
Yes,
Chocolate.
These are dreamy hugs,
Said Jonah.
Marshall held on tight,
Wrapping both sets of paws around the dinosaur,
Closing his eyes with a big smile.
Ruff!
Said Marshall.
Did you know that Stegosaurus' taste like vanilla cookies?
And did you know that the Diplodocus dinosaur tastes just like red velvet cake?
I mean,
They don't literally taste like this.
You smell them and when you smell them,
You can taste them and you can see them in your mind when you hug them.
So you're not actually chewing on a dinosaur to taste that they taste like red velvet cake.
You're just hugging them and when you hug them,
All of the flavors come alive in your mind in Dinosaurland.
Jonah and Marshall were having a whale of a time,
Smelling and tasting all of the different dinosaurs.
Abrontosaurus' taste like tropical punch,
Did you know that?
Tropical punch!
Who would have thought it?
Eventually Jonah opened his eyes and he was back in the bookstore with Marshall,
Who was still rubbing his paws on the scratchin' sniff bug,
Sniffing at the different pages.
Jonah thought about it,
Looked down at Marshall and said,
Do you know that in Dinosaurland you can hug a dinosaur and they actually taste and smell like strawberries or chocolate or tropical punch?
Marshall just looked up at Jonah and went,
Ruff!
As if to say,
Yep,
I know.
I knew that all along.
Now,
How cool is that?
Okay,
Time to relax now.
Time to use your imagination,
Just like Jonah.
Where would you go in your mind?
Would you go to Dinosaurland where every hug has a different flavor?
Would you go to Cupcake Valley where everything around you you can eat and taste and smell?
Would you go cloud jumping and jump through the clouds?
Would you sail on the ocean where every fish can speak a different language?
Or how about falling down into a rabbit hole,
Just like Alice in Wonderland and finding yourself in a whole different world?
When you close your eyes and you relax your body,
You can allow your imagination to play,
To take you anywhere you want to.
There's absolutely no limits to what you can create with your mind.
All you need to do is allow yourself to play and have fun.
Imagine you're going through a magical door.
What would be on the other side?
What kind of world would you create as you lay down and relax and get ready for sleep?
Allow your mind to take you to far away places.
Places that maybe don't exist but would be awesome,
Right?
Maybe you could go to a deserted island where every grain of sand tastes different.
Let your mind play.
Let your body relax.
Allow yourself to start to fall asleep and dream and have fun.
Hmm.
.
.
You You You You You You You You You You You You
