So tonight as you drift asleep,
You find yourself relaxing in the golden haze of the setting sun,
On a bench outside a quaint old windmill,
Before setting off on a magical journey of inner discovery.
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 fall asleep,
You can take a moment to allow yourself to get more comfortable and imagine a healing light softly,
Slowly and gently passing down from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Relaxing calmly 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 10,
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,
And with each out breath,
That relaxation can deepen so peacefully,
So comfortably.
As it flows down around the eyes and around the ears.
9,
That relaxation moving down around the jaw,
Relaxing the jaw,
Allowing the tongue to relax,
The lips to relax,
The nostrils to gently relax,
With that relaxation moving carefully,
Slowly,
As that healing light passes down the back of the 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 will 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.
7,
Moving all the way down to the wrists,
The palms of the hands,
Down to the fingertips,
And perhaps as that relaxation continues through those arms with each out breath,
The arms begin to feel heavier or 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.
6,
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.
5,
The healing light moving down towards the stomach,
The lower back,
The sides,
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 feel more comfortable.
4,
With that relaxation spreading down around your buttocks,
Down into the upper parts of your legs.
3,
That relaxation passing down towards the lower parts of your legs,
Perhaps those legs feeling heavier and heavier as the body becomes deeply relaxed,
And your focus drifts inside to what's going on for you in your mind,
And perhaps you lose some awareness of the body as it becomes incredibly still.
2,
The relaxation spreading down to your feet,
Calming,
Softly relaxing all the way down to the tips of your toes.
1,
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,
Into tonight's sleep story.
And as you rest and drift and dream,
You find yourself sitting on a bench in the most calming beautiful meadow,
At the foot of an old stone windmill.
And there are some shrubs around the base of the windmill,
The sound of the turning creaking wooden sails above your head.
The canvas on the sails,
Occasionally flapping slightly in the wind.
Attached to the windmill is a small cottage.
And it's the most beautiful spring evening,
The sun is setting,
And this windmill is along a dirt track that weaves its way over the undulating hills of this meadow.
And while resting on this bench,
Hearing the stones grinding,
The flower,
Those turning sails overhead,
Songbirds singing in trees.
The sheep,
Bleating peacefully as they eat in the meadows.
And the distant sound of cows,
Mooing through the landscape.
And the even more distant sound of the church bells of a distant town.
The sound of those bells carried on the breeze.
In the same way that sometimes,
There are sounds you can't quite hear from your location,
But when the weather is just right and the air pressure is just right,
The sound carries and you hear those sounds you don't ordinarily get to hear.
As you rest here,
With the setting sun,
Casting its golden light across the landscape,
You can notice that there are sounds of robins,
Sounds of blackbirds and blue tits.
There are sounds of crows settling down into the tops of the trees,
In their bulbous nests.
That gentle rustling sound from the trees as the wind blows a breeze.
The scent of the wildflowers wafting their way to your nostrils,
Dancing around your nose.
Almost bringing a deep sense of peace and comfort to your senses.
The scent of roses from some of the bushes at the foot of the windmill.
And you're sat out here on this bench,
The air just the perfect temperature as you take in the environment while the windmill turns and the flower is formed.
And as time goes on the flower fills sacks.
So from time to time you head in,
You move one sack,
Seal it up,
Place another sack ready to gather up more flower.
The grain feeding through to the stones powered by that windmill.
And from within the cottage attached to this windmill,
Wafts the scent of baking bread,
As you take some of that flour and you bake loaves.
And once a day,
Every morning,
You place those loaves onto the back of a cart and you travel into that town you hear in the distance.
You deliver the baked bread that was baked the night before and then travel back to the windmill.
And the windmill is wrapped in the most incredible stone and flint that seems to always feel so cool to the touch.
The flint being so smooth under the fingers and the coarseness of the grains between the flint.
When you sit here and rest and drink a drink,
Enjoying the setting sun,
You hear a small bell,
Tring to let you know it's time to head into the cottage.
Take the most recent batch of baked bread from that oven,
You prepare that baked bread,
Ready for transporting it in the morning.
And after the sun has set,
You still have a few more hours of baking bread.
And even in the evening after the sun has set,
The air temperature is comfortable,
You just have to put on an extra layer.
The bird sounds have calmed down,
You hear some of the other night time sounds of animals,
Until you reach the end of your working day.
The grinding coming to a halt,
The baking finished,
You make yourself some dinner,
And after eating dinner and relaxing for a while,
You head to bed and drift peacefully and comfortably asleep.
And the next morning,
You begin your journey,
Down into that town,
You load all the bread onto the cart,
Cover that bread over.
You climb up onto the cart,
And travel with that horse,
Along the dirt track,
Till you eventually find a more substantial track,
That you follow all the way down to the town.
The wheels,
Jiggling,
Rolling,
Creaking,
The sound of the wood,
The clopping of the horse,
The occasional breath and pant and neigh of the horse.
Feeling of the reins in your hands,
The tension and relaxation as the horse knows its way,
And requires very minimal input from you.
And you ride that horse down towards the town,
And on your way towards the town,
As you're passing through the wide meadows.
Under the early morning sun,
That's just beginning to peer its light over the horizon,
Where the actual disk of the sun is yet to make an appearance.
You hear the sound of sparkling,
And see some sparkling light among some grass,
A little way from the road you're on.
You stop the horse,
Dismount from the cart,
You head over towards that sparkling light among the grass,
And you find a tablet.
And the tablet is like a stone tablet with text on it,
And you understand the writing on that tablet.
And it suggests that there's a way of learning,
A special healing meditation that requires a magical silver bell,
And it gives the instructions on how to find that bell.
And so you take the tablet and continue your journey to the town.
When you arrive at the town,
As the church bells begin to sound for the first time in the morning,
And the sun has just broken above the horizon,
Beginning its journey of climbing up into view.
You head to the bakery,
You drop off the bread at the bakery,
And you share with the baker about the tablet,
About how you plan on seeing if you can find this silver bell,
And learn this meditation.
And you say that,
As the bakery tomorrow will only be open for half a day anyway,
With it being a Sunday,
Hopefully the bread you've delivered will last through tomorrow.
And you plan on having more bread for them come Monday morning.
And you set off from the town on the horse and cart,
You head back to the windmill,
And after,
Sorting everything out,
Feeding the horse.
You gather up a bag of items and set off on foot,
Finding your way to the location described on that tablet.
And you walk across those hills through the meadow,
Walking off of the path,
Smelling those wildflowers,
Watching bees and butterflies and other animals and insects.
Moving from plant to plant,
Hearing the songbirds,
Watching as different birds fly past in the sky,
Some birds shooting past fast and settling down in trees and bushes,
Other birds leaping up into the air en masse.
Flying around in the most graceful patterns,
Before diving in formation into trees and hedges.
You find your way through the meadow,
Down to walk along the edge of a comfortable relaxed flowing river,
The air smelling so peaceful here.
As if that flowing water is purifying and cleaning the air,
You follow that river as it bubbles along beside you.
Working your way round and into the woodland,
Continuing to follow the river as it passes through the woodland,
Birdsong echoing among the trees,
The sight of a deer a little way off.
With its head down into the water,
Having a quick drink,
Before moving away from the water to vanish back into the woodland.
Enjoying how peaceful this walk is,
As you continue walking,
The dappled light dancing before you as it creeps its way through the canopy overhead.
Finding your way out of the woodland,
Continuing to follow this river,
Until you come to a lakeshore.
And now,
Late afternoon,
You gaze across from the lakeshore,
To the island in the middle of the lake.
You head back and forth among the trees and the lakeshore,
Gathering up some wood and making yourself a small raft.
And the first signs of the sky beginning to darken,
As the sun quickly begins to move towards the horizon.
You feel there's just enough time to make it across to that island,
Before darkness sets in.
You climb onto the raft and push off from the side,
You leave the lapping water behind,
As you row towards the island.
And as you row towards the island,
So the bird sounds in the distance,
Quieten down.
And on arriving at the island,
The sun now,
Well on its way to setting,
You dismount from the raft,
Pull the raft up onto the shore.
You begin to explore this small island,
And you've never visited this island before.
You visited the lakeshore,
You've sat and enjoyed picnics on the lakeshore.
But you've never crossed from the shore to the island.
And you find on this island,
The most magical walled garden,
And you can't see over the wall,
There's a gate into that garden and you pass through the gate.
And in the heart of the garden you can see a small cottage.
And in that garden,
Is a gardener,
And you call out very friendly to that gardener who looks up and smiles.
And this gardener is more than welcoming and kind,
They share about this garden,
How it came about,
That they live in the cottage here.
And tend to the garden all year round,
Making sure that it's exactly as it's supposed to be.
And they make you a warm drink and you sit down with them in the garden.
The sun setting,
The sky gradually turning a dark blue,
As stars begin popping into existence overhead.
You explain about that tablet and show the tablet,
And the gardener invites you to follow them into the heart of the garden.
And in the heart of this garden is a tree stump,
And with the sun now fully set,
And the area around you just illuminated by a handheld torch the gardener is holding.
You see some sparkling in the garden near that stump,
The gardener crouches down and you copy them,
That sparkling gets closer and closer.
And a fairy flies over to you,
You can hear their wings almost buzzing as they move so fast.
And this friendly fairy is told by the gardener about why you're here,
And the fairy waves her magic wand over your head,
And sparkles of light sprinkle down from that wand,
Spreading out and wrapping around you.
As you shrink down in size,
To being the same size as the fairy,
And the fairy flies down to be walking alongside you,
She takes hold of your hand,
Guides you among the towering plants,
And through the tall grass.
To that stump,
And then into the stump,
And initially on passing into the stump,
Everything gets darker and darker,
With the only glow being the sparkling the fairy gives off.
But then while continuing to walk,
Everything starts to get lighter and lighter,
And you find you come out into a fairy world,
And it's night time here like it is where you just came from.
And you can see sticks with flames lining streets,
Houses built within mushrooms,
Fairy lights hanging in the fronds beneath the mushrooms.
The occasional sparkling dust wafting around this space,
Weaving among trees,
Weaving among plants.
You gaze up and notice it's night time but the sky looks different overhead,
When you follow the fairy.
As she guides you through this landscape,
Then she takes you to the heart of this landscape,
Where there's a giant mushroom.
Together you walk into that giant mushroom,
You descend a staircase in the heart of this giant mushroom,
Going down 10,
9,
8,
7,
Deeper and deeper under the mushroom,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
And deep in the heart of the mushroom,
Deep down among the mycelial network,
You come out into a chamber,
And in the heart of this chamber,
A silver bell is hanging on string which is weaved across the ceiling in this space,
A silver bell is hanging on the mycelial network like string weaved across the ceiling of this space.
She unhooks one of those silver bells,
Hands the bell to you and tells you,
If you sit still and tring the bell just once with a hand,
Holding it between your thumb and forefinger,
And whilst still holding it,
Focus your ears on that sound of the bell as it rings and reverberates until the reverberations fade and disappear,
And then ring the bell a second time,
Doing the same again,
And then a third time doing the same again,
Each time keeping your focus on the sound of that bell.
Then that focus will help to focus you,
Your inner frequencies,
And with each ring of the bell just keep breathing in and out,
Allowing the out breaths to lengthen and deepen,
Allowing the shoulders to relax,
The arms to relax,
The muscles through the body to relax,
While your mind gets absorbed just around the sound of the bell,
And begin in your mind to see the sound of that bell as light,
As a sparkling twinkling light,
And the way that sound spreads out further and wider,
The way the sparkling spreads out further and wider,
And have a sense of that sparkling passing down through you,
Synchronising within you as you drift deeper into the experience,
And so with her guidance you practice this here under this mushroom in the heart of this space,
And you feel your cheeks warming as you relax deeper and deeper,
And once you've mastered the technique,
The fairy guides you out of the meditation and tells you to take the bell with you,
And you one will grow in its place when the time is right,
And she guides you back out of the mushroom through the fairy world,
Back out into that garden,
And back in the garden she waves her wand over your head once more as you grow back to full size and the bell grows to be the same proportions in relation to you,
And the gardener smiles and asks if you found what you sought,
And you acknowledge that you did,
They invite you to spend the night,
They prepare the most beautiful food,
You sit and have the most interesting conversation,
You can't help but be drawn to their library of old books,
And so in quiet moments between the conversations,
You ask if you can take a look through the books,
You look through those books smelling the old book smell,
Before being shown to a room with the most comfortable bed,
Settling down for the night and drifting peacefully asleep,
And the next morning you awaken to the first rays of sun creeping in the window,
And the sweetest scent of breakfast,
You enjoy that breakfast before making your journey back home,
Setting off from the island,
Back to that bank of the lake,
Making your journey back following that river,
Back round to the woodland,
Through the woodland back to the meadows,
Over the undulating hills of the meadows,
Until you can see peering over the hills in the distance,
The tip of your windmill,
Finding your way back to the windmill,
On arrival back at the windmill,
You settle back home for a bit,
Have yourself something to eat and a brief rest,
Before continuing to make that flour,
Bake that bread,
Doing that well into the night,
And then trying out that meditation,
Ringing that bell,
Focusing on the ringing until it fades,
Ringing the bell again,
And repeating that process of breathing in and out,
Those out breaths lengthening and deepening,
The relaxation spreading through the mind and body,
And noticing that healing setting in,
As your mind and body synchronises and the frequencies through your mind and body seem to form an equilibrium,
And sing in harmony,
And you notice at the peak of the meditation,
Everything seems so much more vivid,
And you seem to be a part of everything around you,
Like there's a greater connection with all things,
As if somehow the world feels richer,
As if you can smell the differences between the smell of the baking bread,
The nuances to that smell,
Each individual part that makes up the smell,
While still enjoying the smell itself,
And the same with the sounds and the sights,
And then heading to bed,
Knowing in the morning you'll awaken,
Make your journey into town like every day,
But for now just finding yourself with a deep sense of calm and relaxation,
And this new meditation that you know you can do better each time you engage with it,
And while going over the experience in your mind,
You find yourself so easily,
So effortlessly,
Drifting and floating peacefully asleep into slumberland,
And you find yourself so easily,
So effortlessly,
Drifting and floating peacefully asleep into slumberland.
