So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax.
And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep.
I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.
And as you comfortably fall asleep,
You can take a moment to allow yourself to get comfortable and imagine a healing light softly,
Slowly,
Slowly and gently.
Passing down from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Relaxing gently down through you.
As I count down from 10 to 1.
And with each count your mind can quieten and calm as the muscles soften and relax.
And you can begin the process of drifting peacefully asleep.
From ten.
That healing light relaxing the muscles.
Around the top of the head.
Around the back of your head.
Gently,
Carefully.
Relaxing the muscles around the side of your head.
Around your temple,
Your forehead.
With each out breath that relaxation can deepen so peacefully.
So comfortably.
As it flows down around the eyes.
And around the ear.
9.
Relaxation moving down around the jaw.
Relaxing that jaw.
Allowing the tongue to relax.
The lips.
To relax the nostrils gently.
Relax.
With that relaxation.
Moving carefully,
Slowly.
As that healing light.
Passes down the back of your neck.
Softening and calming those muscles.
Around the sides of the neck.
The front of the neck.
Down from the head gradually.
Moving that,
Calming.
Healing light out across the shoulders,
The shoulder blades.
Relaxing those muscles like a deep massage.
Passing through your mind and body.
8.
As that relaxation.
Begins to move down those arms.
And I don't know which arm the relaxation will move down fastest.
Whether it'll be the right arm or the left arm.
But you can be aware of that healing light spreading gently down those arms.
Around the biceps,
The triceps.
Down into the forearms.
Seven.
Moving all the way down to the wrist.
The palms of their hands.
Down to the fingertips.
And perhaps.
.
.
As that relaxation continues through those arms with each out breath.
The arms begin to feel heavier.
Lighter or some other sensation as relaxation sets in.
And you know the process for sleep.
Is that the body begins to relax.
And while the body becomes physically relaxed.
So the mind begins to drift and dream,
Initially to brief reveries before settling on the first dream of the night.
Six and that healing light.
Can spread down from the shoulders and down around the chest.
The upper back.
Softening and relaxing those muscles,
Gently calming the breathing.
Helping you drift deeper.
And deeper into the experience.
Five,
The healing light.
Moving down towards the stomach,
The lower back.
The sigh.
Relaxing those muscles as it goes.
Bringing a deep sense of peace and calm to your upper body,
Releasing any tension,
Perhaps occasionally finding yourself shifting just a little to get more comfortable.
4.
With that relaxation spreading down around your buttocks,
Down into the upper parts of your legs.
Three,
Passing that relaxation down towards the lower part of your legs.
Perhaps those legs feeling heavier and heavier.
Maybe as the body becomes deeply relaxed and you focus drifts inside.
You lose some awareness of that body.
As it becomes incredibly still.
To.
The relaxation spreading down to your feet.
Harming.
Softly relaxing.
All the way down.
The tips of your toes.
And one,
As a final wave of relaxation pulses gently through you from the top of your head down through your body.
All the way down to the tips of your toes.
As your mind begins to drift and dream.
And wonder.
Enter tonight's sleep story.
And you find yourself.
Relaxing in the entrance to a cave.
Just waking up.
To the sounds of mourning birds outside the cave.
Noticing.
The morning light.
Wrapped across the landscape.
The morning mist gradually dissipating.
Sounds of those morning birds.
A slight coolness to the morning air.
And you relight your fire.
You have something to eat.
Or gazing out across the landscape.
And from where you're looking.
You can see undulating hills.
Distant trees.
A river crossing the landscape.
The morning light glistening on the surface of that river.
And birds circling in updrafts.
Against the crisp blue backdrop of the sky.
You enjoy your food.
And enjoy the view.
And you've just finished a mission that you went on.
Few days earlier.
You sitting at home.
Relaxing in a comfortable chair.
Enjoying a good book.
When there is a knock at the door.
And you went to the door and answered the door.
Nobody was there,
But on the floor was a letter.
So you picked up the envelope.
Close the door behind you.
As you went back to the seat.
He sat back down in that chair and handled that envelope.
You felt the weight of the envelope,
The texture of the paper,
Ran your fingers around the sides and the corners.
Took in the size of that envelope.
Held the envelope up to see if you could see anything through it.
Ran the envelope under your nose to see what it smelled like.
Before carefully opening that envelope.
Inside the envelope.
With some high quality thick paper.
Folded into thirds.
You unfolded that paper.
And written.
On the paper.
Was a coded letter.
And you got up out of your seat,
You went over to the dining room table.
You sat down at the dining room table where you could put the letter in front of you.
And you went through.
Trying to work out the code.
You try to look at the different permeations of the letters and the numbers on the page.
You try to think about what are the most common letters likely used.
And which points in the code might be those letters.
And there was no clue as to what the code was.
You had to figure it out for yourself.
And you worked on it for many hours,
Trying different ideas,
Testing out those ideas and seeing what worked and what didn't.
Until eventually you manage to solve that letter.
And the outcome of solving the letter.
Was that you grabbed a bag.
And a few supplies.
You made a couple of phone calls.
And then you set off.
On an expedition.
That just a few hours earlier you didn't know you were even going to go on.
And before setting off you.
Watered all your plants,
You didn't know how long you were going to be gone for.
Then you left your home.
And began your journey.
You found your way to this land.
You got dropped off by a boat.
At a dot.
And near the dock was just a few houses,
Barely even a town.
There was a couple of shops.
And then in.
And so you checked in that in.
You placed your stuff into the bedroom.
You went back downstairs and had yourself some food.
Sat down in a comfortable chair by a crackling fire.
Enjoying a drink in the evening.
Just watching the people who came in and who left.
Listening in to snippets of conversations.
Until it got late and the bar was closing and she went back up to the room and settled down for the night.
And drifted into the most pleasant night's sleep.
And the next morning.
You set off.
Leaving that in.
Following the road into the open countryside.
And once you left,
That small settlement.
You're able to just enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.
Sounds of birds.
Sounds of crickets in the field.
Rustling of the leaves in the bushes and in the trees.
And the road gradually.
Became more stony.
As if not many people travel this far from the town.
Until eventually you come to a crossroads.
The footpath that crosses this road.
And you know which way you need to head So you follow the footpath,
The direction you need to go,
Heading off of that road.
And this footpath was much narrower than the road.
And all the plant life was far more overgrown and wild.
The scent of all the different wildflowers wafted up to your nose.
Crept their way into your senses.
And from time to time you would stop.
Begin the view,
Absorb yourself in the nature.
Stopping watching butterflies on plant in the bushes.
Bees going plant to plant.
Stopping and watching.
The birds flying in and out of the branches of the trees.
Noticing the way that the birds in the bushes would go quiet just as you approached.
Start singing again just after you pass.
This path leads around and eventually starts to head east.
Into the woodland.
As you follow the path into that woodland.
Near the sound of an owl in the distance among the trees.
The way its hoot echoes.
On the wood of the trees.
And you notice.
Sky beginning to darken,
You can't see the sky.
You can see the effects of the sky darkening as the woodland darkens and so you set up camp.
And your camp is a tent strung up among the trees so that it's not directly on the woodland floor.
And you climb up into the tent and rest down.
Hearing the sound of the sides of the tent.
Waving gently in the breeze.
The sounds of birds settling down in the evening.
Some sounds of bats squeaking as they fly high overhead among the trees.
The continued occasional hoot of an owl.
And all these sounds.
Help you feel more relaxed.
So deeply and comfortably.
That you easily and effortlessly drift,
Peacefully asleep.
And the next morning you wake up.
And there's no direct sunlight on your tent.
The outside of your tent has a gentle glow.
And you can see.
The water that's gathered on the outside of your tent overnight.
Individual drops.
Clinging on to the fabric of the tent.
Occasionally some of the drops.
Becoming so full they just tumble down the side of the tent.
Leaving a trail behind them.
You have a curious experience of touching the fabric of the tent on your side.
Before touching it it looked dry but once touching it you felt the dampness as if somehow it's transferred through the material from your touch.
You open the entrance to the tent.
Letting some air in.
You sit with your legs hanging over the edge.
Having yourself some breakfast and breathing in.
Some of that fresh morning air.
Before climbing down onto the floor.
Of this woodland.
And you wander around and stretch your legs for a while.
And really what you're doing is trying to just leave it a little while.
The tent to dry out.
In the morning air.
When the tent is dry,
So you pack it away.
Taking that head down and rolling it up.
Placing it in its bag and attaching its bag to your backpack.
Before continuing on your journey.
Through this woodland.
Unless you will.
You hear a noise in the distance and you slow down and you see that there's a clearing up ahead.
Can notice the sunlight illuminating that clearing.
And you creep very slowly and carefully towards the clearing.
Notice in the clearing.
And unusual.
Be in.
Body of a horse.
And at the front,
A body of a person.
And then you see another and another.
The whole gaggle of these beings.
With the top half of a human at the front of a body of a horse.
And they're males and females.
And they're all chatting with each other.
They'll seem so happy.
And friendly.
And one walks over to a tree,
Takes some fruit from a tree and eats that fruit while talking.
Another picking some berries from a bush and eating those while they carry on talking.
And you sneak carefully out into the clearing.
And they notice you and stop talking.
One of them.
Trots gently over to you.
And in a soft voice.
Seeming so caring and kind.
They talk to you and ask you who you are and what you are doing here.
You explain about being on a mission and you show.
The letter you transcribe.
And they sound interested in this mission.
And the way they interact with you.
Makes it seem like they don't see that there's anything unusual about themselves.
As if your experience of seeing them.
Shouldn't have been unusual.
Just a normal,
Typical occurrence.
And they direct you.
In the direction that you need to go.
And you thank them.
For their help although you actually already knew what direction you needed to go.
You didn't need to be told.
But you smile and say thank you anyway.
You set off.
Heading deeper and deeper into the woodlands.
And while walking through the words.
You spot what looks like a snake.
Wrapped sleeping around a tree.
Only it's a large snake and it's wrapped around the entire trunk of the tree.
But then you notice it actually has legs and wings.
And looks more like a dragon.
Its breaths in and out.
Rumbling gently.
While it sleeps there.
Its colouring,
Blending it in well with the tree.
And you'd imagined.
The dragons.
Had rounder bodies,
Forelegs.
The head on the tail,
And the head on the end of a long neck.
And yet,
This dragon looked more like a snake with wings and four legs.
Where the body versus the neck wasn't particularly pronounced.
You crept past the dragon.
It didn't look dangerous or anything like that.
You just didn't want to disturb it.
You continued on deeper into the woods.
And you wondered how much further through the woodland you needed to walk.
And eventually you don't know the exact time.
You know based on the light.
That the sun was beginning to set again.
You finally found your way out of the far side of the woods.
Into a large clearing.
You could see.
.
.
Mountain rain.
And a cliff face in the distance.
Within this open space were dotted some large oak trees.
And so you sat down and set up camp,
Just outside the edge of the woodland.
Facing out over towards the meadows,
Over towards the mountain range and the cliffs.
And you watched how beautiful the landscape was as the sun set.
Most incredible orange light.
Illuminating the landscape.
And then just as the last slither of light passed over the horizon,
All of the oak trees that you could see burst into flames.
And from each oak tree.
Raised a phoenix.
And those flaming phoenix fly up into the sky.
And they gathered in the sky hovering for a while.
Them flying in formation,
All the oak trees still flaming.
The sound of the burning oak trees could be heard all this way over to where you are.
The crackling,
The popping,
The flickering sounds.
And you watched.
Those phoenix flying in formation.
Almost like birds.
Before rising up high in the sky,
Spiraling around each other,
Intertwining the flames that were coming off from beneath them as they flew.
Then almost like a firework going off in the sky,
They shot off in different directions.
And flew out of view.
And after they'd flown out of view,
There was a stillness to the landscape.
Gradually the sounds of crickets.
Began to reverberate.
Through this space.
And you had yourself something to eat.
Sat in the tent.
You felt so deeply relaxed being out in nature.
Absorbed in everything you're seeing.
All these mythical animals that you're encountering.
In this unusual landscape.
On this island.
And once you're tired you head to bed.
Settle down and so easily and so effortlessly you fall asleep.
And you awaken.
When the walls of your tent.
Strongly glowing from the morning sun.
The sun like this time.
Not broken up by the trees.
And so any moisture on the outside of the tent.
Dissipates far faster than when the tent was in the woods.
You leave the tent,
Taking some deep breaths.
Instinctively the first thing you do after the deep breaths.
Is look at all of those oak trees and you see every single one of them looks to be in perfectly fine condition.
As if it wasn't on flames the night before.
You pack everything away,
Continuing your journey,
Heading in the direction of the cliffs and the mountains.
And walking through the meadow as you pass.
One of the oak trees,
You run your fingertips around the bark of the tree,
Feeling the sensation of the bark under those fingertips.
But also feeling there's a gentle warmth in the bath.
And even when you're not touching that part.
You notice around the oak tree.
The air is warmer.
And you find this very curious.
And you watch the wildlife in the meadow.
A herd of deer grazing in the distance.
Rabbits gnawing away at the tops of grass.
The tails flashing white as they hop.
The stillness.
In your mind as you walk.
And it takes you most of the whole day.
Make your way to the cliffs.
At the foot of the mountain.
And it's at those cliffs.
That you eventually find your way into this cave.
You head into the cave.
The wind.
Deeply rustling and reverberating.
And echoing through the cave.
You later taught.
Its light flickering and dancing.
Shadows dancing around the cave walls.
A certain stillness to the air within the cave.
You follow that cave until eventually you come to a wall of symbols You take a look at those symbols.
You work out the secret code.
Press and twist one of the symbols.
With a grinding crunch.
The cave door opens.
The war.
Into the chamber the other side of the cave door.
You see a single egg in the heart of the chamber.
And there's no way in or out of this chamber.
And you follow the instructions that were in the letter.
You tap that egg three times gently.
You then step back and wait.
And white.
Then you hear a crack and a slight movement.
Like scraping sounds.
And then the shell begins to break.
And as the shell breaks it tips on its side.
And a cute small dragon.
Emerges.
From that shell.
And it makes a noise as if it's attempting to do a roar that sounds like an extended kitten's meow.
Almost like the sound of a kitten yawning.
It looks at you with its cute eyes.
Heads over to you and rests its head gently on your leg.
You can feel its breathing.
The way it seems to be breathing in time with you,
As if it's created a connection with you.
And you show it back through the cave door.
All the way back down to the entrance to the cave.
It heads to the entrance,
Turns and looks at you.
Makes a noise as if acknowledging you and your health.
Turns back.
And then on its second attempt at flying it manages to get off the ground and stay off the ground and it flies.
And you watch as it encounters another dragon in the sky.
They both breathe fire as they circle around each other,
The larger dragon taking on a longer,
Straighter form as this new young dragon wraps itself.
Like a helix around the other dragon,
Not touching the other dragon.
But wrapping itself flying around the other dragons.
Before they disappear off.
As night-time fully takes hold.
And once the experience is over.
You settle down,
Have something to eat,
Decide to spend the night camping in the cave.
The letter had said.
About going to this land.
Finding your way to the cave.
And helping.
With the process of freeing the dragon.
That you had to get there at just the right time.
For the birth of the dragon.
Dragons grow incredibly quick.
So there was going to be no way for the dragon to get out from the chamber.
Unaided.
And dragon's eggs.
Normally rest buried.
Thousands of years before they had.
But someone had taken.
That dragon's egg centuries earlier.
Having found it.
They hid it in that cave.
And it was a small group of people.
And one of them felt so guilty for what they had done.
They'd spent time trying to work out when it would hatch.
And they've managed to work that out.
And then they passed that message on.
Through the generations.
And made sure a letter would arrive with you.
To get you there just when you're needed.
And you easily and effortlessly rest and drift to sleep.
Waking up the next morning.
And you take time to find your way home,
Heading back through the meadow.
Finding your way back.
That in.
We spend the night.
The next morning.
Leaving this place and heading all the way home.
And once home.
You ponder the experience,
The creatures you've encountered.
How curious you are by that land you'd never visited before.
Strange characters which reside there.
You head to bed.
And you drift and float so peacefully asleep.
Into slumberland.
