The Cosy Canal Trip (Meditation Sleep Story)

In this long bedtime story, you find yourself leisurely enjoying a trip along a canal on a narrow boat. You enjoy the peaceful environment as the sun sets. You find somewhere to moor for the night, settle down and drift asleep.

You dream that you are walking along a seashore through slightly damp sand. You build a sandcastle on the beach. The next day, you continue traveling along the canal. The next night, you moor by a pub, head into the pub in the evening, and encounter someone who claims to be a wizard.

They create a portal in the beer garden. You both step through the portal and find yourselves at the Mad Hatter's tea party. The wizard guides you into a tree, where you descend a spiral staircase. You pass through a door and into a quantum realm. The wizard explains that they are advanced beings. After your experience with the wizard, you head to sleep on your narrow boat.

Transcript

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,

I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.

And in this bedtime story,

You find yourself travelling along an English canal in a narrow boat.

And your boat is travelling along very slowly.

You're carefully manoeuvring this boat along the canal,

Enjoying the leisurely journey through the waterways.

The sun gently setting in the background,

Casting the most beautiful glow across the water and the landscape as you gaze out over the flat meadows and fields,

Pocketed with the occasional patch of woodland.

That golden light,

Bringing a deep sense of peace and calm.

The sound of the motor of the narrow boat chugging away gently as you hold the rudder,

Steering,

Making small changes to keep that boat on track.

The slight sloshing sound of the wake as it reaches the bank of the canal.

Perhaps noticing the sound of ducks some distance down the canal taking off,

The sound of their wings flapping as they build up speed and run on the surface of the water.

While the pumping of their wings cause them to cool out and verbalise their experience.

Maybe even noticing the occasional person walking a dog on the bank of the canal.

Perhaps seeing the excited face of the dog,

Its tongue hanging out,

Panting,

Its tail wagging.

Maybe occasionally chasing after a bull.

Perhaps seeing a dog that jumps in the canal water,

Paddles around for a bit before swimming back to the shore,

Planting its feet just right.

Shaking itself dry,

Its fine mist created,

Forming a soft rainbow through that mist as the low sunlight shines across the landscape.

Finding this life on a narrow boat to be so relaxing,

Like really slowing down time,

Allowing your mind the time to wander and drift and dream.

That golden light shimmering as it bounces along the water's surface.

The early evening birds announcing their arrival as you continue along in search of a place to moor up for the night.

And after some time,

Beyond the sunset and the heavens are dappled with twinkling stars,

Like diamonds hanging in the night sky from ethereal threads.

Each one twinkling ever so slightly,

Dancing ever so gently,

Like a celestial mobile above your head.

You see a place to moor up.

You slow down from the already slow speed cutting the engine and gliding gently into the mooring.

Throwing the rope onto the dock as the boat comes to a halt,

Tying the boat to its home for the night,

Appreciating the silence now the engine's turned off.

Where you can hear the gentle sloshing of the water against the side of the boat,

So gently,

Such calm water.

You can breathe in and feel the freshness to the air,

A certain calm stillness and the scent of nature and the delicate watery fragrance of the canal.

As you head into your narrow boat,

Turn on a light,

Descending those steps,

Hearing on the sides of the boat that wrapping of the gentle water,

Almost lulling you to want to sleep before you're ready,

As you cook yourself up some food and then sit down on the most comfortable sofa you've got within this narrow boat.

And this narrow boat has a bedroom at one end,

And just above the bedroom,

At the front of the narrow boat,

There's a slightly raised roof,

With a stained glass window,

And half that window is above the bedroom itself,

But it moves beyond the bedroom,

With the other half the window,

Allowing light into the living area.

And you have a kitchen area on one side,

You have a bathroom and some storage on the other side.

You have a wraparound sofa,

Only parted by the steps down into the room,

Finding this area so cosy and so snug.

And although you've got some spotlights in the ceiling of your narrow boat,

You use lamps you've got dotted around,

Which allow for softer light,

More focused light,

More atmospheric light.

And so you have something to eat and you sit down,

And you rest for a little while just listening to the water,

Or turning the lights off,

Heading through to the bedroom area,

And heading to bed,

And drifting and floating into the most peaceful night's sleep.

And while you drift and float,

Asleep deeply,

You dream that you're walking along a seashore,

Walking through slightly damp sand,

The sound of the sea,

Gently rolling over alongside you,

Trying to decide whether it's more like a gentle hiss or a gentle rumble,

A bit like white noise,

With that sea rolling in.

And it's a little distance from you,

But you can still smell the salty air.

You can see as you walk barefoot across the sand,

The way your feet leave their mark on that sand,

The way the sand changes colour with each footstep,

And you find a location where you feel the sand is just right,

Just the right level of dampness for you to build a sandcastle.

And so you start building up that sandcastle,

Filling a castle-shaped bucket with sand,

With a small spade,

Patting that sand down,

The gentle thud with the spade,

Before tipping the castle over,

Giving a little shake to the bucket,

Tapping the top of the bucket with that spade,

Carefully giving a little bit more of a shake,

Wiggling that bucket ever so slightly,

Paying close attention to the information you're receiving through your fingertips,

To the subtle changes and feeling from the bucket,

Where you notice how the sandcastle is loosening from the walls of the inside of the bucket,

As you carefully and gently twist and shake that bucket,

Very,

Very gently,

In very small motions,

Until the bucket feels empty and you know underneath the bucket,

The sandcastle should be stood proud,

And so you carefully lift the bucket up from the sandcastle to reveal the perfect castle,

And then with the spade you dig a moat around the castle,

You rub around that moat with the spade to neaten it up,

You build up a bit of a wall from the sand from the moat around the foot of the castle,

You then start to carefully dig from that moat in the direction of the sea,

Carefully digging over to the sea to make a channel to the water,

And you dig that channel close enough that as some of the waves gently roll in and slide along the surface of the sand,

They start to flow into your channel and you watch as that water rolls gently down that channel and starts to fill up the moat,

And you watch as that moat fills,

And then to make this last a while longer,

Once the moat is filled,

You fill the channel back up,

And you dig a secondary moat,

An empty moat a little bit closer to the sea,

With the sand from that moat piled up behind the moat,

Between the moat and the castle,

So that as the tide slowly comes in,

The castle will have an opportunity to last a little bit longer,

Before being washed away,

As just something in a moment,

And you sit on the dry sand some way back from the seashore,

Gazing down towards that sand castle you've built,

Feeling the radiant warmth of the sun as it tickles your cheeks,

Breathing in the warm air,

Smelling the gentle scent of the salt,

Hearing the distant sound of the waves,

Lapping on the shore,

Enjoying this dream,

The peacefulness of the dream,

The simplicity of the dream,

Like having a still mind,

Just focusing on one enjoyable task,

On being in the moment,

While doing that one enjoyable task,

And you watch as the sea gradually comes in,

And starts to overpower your creations,

And begins the process,

Of eroding that castle,

Of wearing down the physical structure,

Leaving behind just the memories,

And while the castle wears down to just a smooth mound of sand,

And gradually that smooth mound of sand softens,

And becomes flatter and flatter,

You close your eyes on this beach,

Enjoying being in the moment,

Enjoying drifting and floating,

Deeper,

More peacefully asleep,

And as morning approaches,

You're awoken,

By the soft light filtering,

Through the stained glass window,

The various colours,

Arousing a sense of peace,

And calmness within you,

And you wake up feeling so refreshed and revitalised,

Having fallen asleep like every other night,

Where you have that sense of being rocked asleep,

So gently,

And you have yourself some breakfast,

Before continuing your journey on mooring,

Continuing to travel,

Along the canal,

And after a while you arrive at a lock,

You navigate your way through the lock,

Heading into the lock,

Closing it behind you,

Changing the water level,

Waiting patiently for that to occur,

Before continuing on your journey,

And then closing the lock behind you again,

Continuing your journey,

Along the canal,

Each day just being so relaxed,

So peaceful,

Very calm and leisurely way of life,

A very simple way of life,

And eventually,

As the next evening,

Begins to,

Knock on your shoulders,

And the curtains of night begin to draw,

You see a mooring by a traditional British pub,

You moor up by that pub,

You head into the pub,

There are some locals in here and great atmosphere,

Wooden beams,

And the outside is wooden beams and painted white and a thatched roof,

And this pub is the crow's nose,

And the picture above the pub,

The sign hanging out from the building,

It's like a shield,

With a crow's beak on that shield,

And crow's wings coming off the side of the shield,

And you head into this pub and you order a drink and some food,

And you go and sit down out the back in the pub garden,

And this pub has a front pub garden with some benches,

And people out the front,

And a back pub garden with some benches,

And more space and fewer people out the back,

And so you sit and enjoy your food,

And you enjoy your drink,

The gentle murmur of people in the background,

Talking,

Enjoying themselves,

And as you sit there,

So an unusual looking man,

In a purple cloak and a pointed hat,

Walks over to you,

Sits down at the table near yours,

And they declare that they're a wizard,

And you smile,

As if just to be polite,

Unsure really how to respond,

And they pull out a coin,

And they make the coin vanish in their hand,

And again you just smile politely,

Thinking many people know how to do a magic trick like that,

But you don't say that,

You just smile politely,

And then this wizard tells you,

That they can show you something really curious,

And they wave their arms around,

And nothing happens,

And you smile politely again,

And so they stand up,

Move to an open space in the garden,

They flex their arms and their fingers as if to psych themselves up,

They straighten their pointed hat on their head,

You watch with curiosity,

Little intrigue,

Unsure what they're trying to do,

As they make large arcs in the air with their hands,

Only this time there's a slight electrical buzz,

And hiss and slight electric blue sparks,

Coming from the path their hands are taking,

Then they move their hands faster and faster,

Before pulling their hands in opposite directions,

As if to pull open some curtains,

And as they do,

The space between the sparkling ring,

Opens out to show a different environment,

And this gets more than just a polite smile,

This gets you to stand up in shock out of your chair,

And walk over to them,

Looking more at the gap,

That goes somewhere else than at them,

And they gesture to the gap,

They say I told you I was a wizard,

And I'll show you something interesting,

And they take their hat off,

They walk through this portal they seem to have created,

They gesture back for you to join them,

You look around and see there's no one else in the garden,

No one else to defer your decision making to,

And so you shrug your shoulders,

You follow behind them and walk through this portal,

And you find yourself in a clearing,

Surrounded by woodland,

And it appears like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party,

Is taking place from Alice in Wonderland,

And you watch on with curiosity,

As these characters have afternoon tea,

In this strange clearing,

In this woodland,

And the wizard,

Not even acknowledging the tea party,

Walks to a tree,

Opens a door in the tree,

And gestures and tells you to come on,

And so you follow them,

Looking back at the tea party,

You find yourself entering the tree,

Discovering you're heading down a spiral staircase,

And the wizard is counting themselves down the spirals,

Down the steps,

20,

19,

18,

17,

16,

15,

14,

13,

12,

11,

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

You hear them stepping off the bottom step,

As you,

A few steps behind them,

Follow on,

You hear them opening a large metal door,

They walk through the door and you arrive at the door and walk through following them,

And find yourself in a large dungeon under the tree,

And you walk through this dungeon,

Each footstep echoing off the walls,

And you head all the way to the far side of the dungeon,

Where the wizard taps on a few specific points,

That you would never remember,

And with this,

The back wall of the dungeon falls away,

To reveal,

What looks like the inside of a stone building,

With a staircase rising up,

And you follow this wizard up this staircase,

And after quite a climb,

You notice hanging down,

At this point,

There's a pendulum of a clock,

And you continue to ascend,

And near the top,

You can hear the loud ticking of the clock,

And eventually you arrive at a room at the top,

And find that you're surrounded,

By the inside of clock faces,

Looking at the reverse image,

Of each of those clock faces,

And the hands on the faces,

Surrounded by the mechanisms,

All the cogs of the clocks,

All attached to the pendulum to keep time,

And the wizard tells you that,

They're actually,

An advanced being,

But advanced technology,

Often appears like magic,

To significantly less advanced civilizations,

And everything you're seeing,

Is a representation to make this make sense,

To your mind,

To what your neurology can understand,

And that this clock tower,

And it's faces and it's cogs,

And it's keeping time,

It's just a physical manifestation,

Of a quantum realm,

Where you can travel through time,

And here,

This location is between time,

It's a point out of time,

Where in every direction,

Time runs,

In different ways,

And different spatial locations,

And beneath each clock face,

Is a door,

And they gesture for you to walk towards one of the doors,

And so together,

You walk towards that door,

They gesture for you to go ahead,

As you walk through the door,

And the other side of the door,

It's as if you're looking,

Over space,

From a point of nothingness,

As if the clock tower is floating in space,

Independently of anything else,

And you head back into the clock tower,

And you walk to another door,

You walk through that door,

And as you look,

It's as if you're gazing over a fantasy landscape,

You see dragons flying in the air,

You see tall,

Almost impossibly built castles,

And towns,

And you walk back in through the door,

And you go to the third door,

As you walk out of the third door,

It's as if you're floating over,

A massive thunderstorm,

With purple lightning striking,

And dancing through the clouds,

Unable to see the landscape below,

And you walk back,

Into the clock tower,

And you go to the fourth door,

And as you walk through that fourth door,

You seem to be on,

The strangest looking planet,

With pink clouds,

Golden landscape,

Golden landscape,

And strange sounds of animals,

And you head back,

Into the clock tower,

And you go back to that first door,

You walk back through the first door,

Only what you see this time,

Is the sight,

Of a steam train hurtling through,

An unusual landscape,

And the wizard says that,

Because the clocks are ticking,

And time is always changing,

What is through one door,

When you walk through it once,

Isn't what's through that door,

When you return to it,

It's forever changing,

And a reality collapses into reality,

At the point of you walking through the door,

But once you leave that reality,

It's as if that reality now passes,

And like a wave function,

Any other number of realities are through the door,

Settling just on one,

When you walk through it,

And then in the centre of this clock tower,

The wizard forms an orb,

Before them,

Weaving their hands around this ball of light,

They then seem to almost pull that ball of light,

Wider and larger,

With their hands,

And once this ball of light is the size of them,

They tap it with one finger,

And instantly you feel a deep sense of peace,

And tranquillity,

And they explain that,

That ball is a quantum flux of all reality,

Past,

Present and future,

And their civilisation has reached a point,

Of being able to create these quantum flux,

Balls like this,

That allow them to,

Connect with time,

To alter time,

To move through space and time,

As if there is no time passing,

And after they show you this experience,

You decide that it's time to return back,

To that pub garden,

And you take the slow way back,

Descending the steps,

Heading through the dungeon,

Finding your way all the way back,

And out the portal,

As they follow you,

Before,

Creating another portal,

Stepping through it,

Closing it behind them,

Leaving you alone,

In silence,

In this pub garden,

Where you know no one would believe you,

If you said what your experience was,

They'd probably think that you're making it all up,

Maybe you've had too much to drink,

Even though you know that's not the truth,

And you wonder,

Why this wizard appeared before you,

Why they chose to show you the things that they did,

Why they chose you,

Because you believe there must be a reason,

And so finding your mind going around,

And around that idea,

That there must be a reason,

That that must have been a real experience,

You finish up in the pub,

As it's getting late,

You leave the pub and head back to your narrowboat,

You settle down once again on your narrowboat,

And drift and float so comfortably,

So peacefully asleep,

Into slumberland,

Exploring your experiences in your dreams,

Trying to work out,

What it all means,

As you drift deeper,

And more relaxed,

Asleep,