The Magical Ancient Civilisation: Bedtime Tale

This is a slice-of-life bedtime story about you walking beside a river. You cross a bridge before heading into the nearby forest. In the forest, you find ancient ruins. You find a place to sit and meditate. During your meditation, you learn about these ruins and explore them as they once were. You learn that the people who once lived here lived in harmony with nature and could communicate with the animals.

You meet a woman scratching behind the ear of a tiger while singing a lullaby. You find a secret garden and find yourself as an observer, learning about the people of this civilisation. After your experience, you find your way out of the meditation, find a space to set up camp and sleep for the night before heading back to your boat the next day. Sleeping on the boat that night, drifting peacefully asleep into Slumberland.
This story includes sound design and music created by me.

Transcript

So as you relax,

I'll be your guide as you wander along the edge of a tranquil river,

Before heading into a magical forest,

Where you discover the old ruins of an ancient temple.

You meditate in the heart of that temple,

Before heading back to the river,

Settling down for the night,

Drifting and floating peacefully and relaxed,

Asleep into slumberland.

And before we begin the story,

You can take a few moments to settle down comfortably,

And when you're ready,

You can let your eyes gently close,

And as the story unfolds,

You can take a few deep,

Relaxing breaths,

And as you relax,

You can find yourself walking along the edge of a tranquil river,

And as you walk along the edge of that river,

So you can hear the way the water bubbles by,

And you've been travelling down this river on a small boat,

And at the end of every day,

You moor up that boat,

And you settle down for the night,

And the next morning,

You unmoor the boat,

And slowly continue travelling down the river,

And now you've reached your destination,

You've moored up the boat,

And you're heading along on foot,

Beside that river,

The soft sound of reeds rustling as the wind blows a breeze,

The gentle way the water flows past,

The way the sunlight dances on the surface of the water,

Like a million diamonds sparkling with life,

The softest of breezes tickling your cheeks,

And the warmth of that sun,

Applying its gentle pressure to your face,

The occasional sound of a duck,

And other sounds of the birds in the water,

Perhaps noticing some of those sounds around you from the nearby fields,

And the sounds of the rustling of the leaves in the trees,

And as the sun edges its way across the sky,

So it passes behind some of the trees,

And the dappled light dances down on the grass before you,

And some of the dappled light dances across the surface of the water,

And the water smells so clean and fresh,

And you can notice the fish swimming in the water,

The way they seem to leap out of the way any time a shadow passes over them,

And you continue along the side of the river,

Following the bank of this river,

As it very gently curves around,

Until eventually,

You see the bridge in the distance,

The way the bridge reaches up and over the water down the other side,

The way the stone of the underside of the bridge arches carefully within the water,

You can see the way the water is pushing against the stone supports of the bridge,

Almost indenting itself,

As it backs up trying to push past and squeeze around those supports,

And the eddies,

Which carefully weave their way away from the edges of the bridge,

And a stick,

Floating down the centre of the river,

Twisting,

Bobbing,

Weaving with the undercurrents,

Turning,

As it passes under the bridge before straightening up again as it heads out the other side,

You imagine some children standing on that bridge,

Having perhaps thrown some sticks into the water,

And then ran along the bank up onto the bridge to watch those sticks approaching,

Watching those sticks race,

Seeing whose stick passes under the bridge first,

And as you reach the bridge,

You walk around and up onto the bridge,

And the bridge has some stone and gravel that crunches gently underfoot,

You pass over the bridge,

Stopping momentarily in the centre,

To look down the river,

You can see your boat off in the distance,

Resting gently against the bank of the river,

You look the other way,

You watch as that water flows by,

And you pass down the far side of the bridge,

Continue following the river bank,

As the river continues to curve gently,

And you follow that river bank,

And notice that the trees alongside you are getting more dense and taller,

And so it isn't long before you find that path which leads into this forest,

You can hear the sounds of songbirds deep within the forest,

And the changing sounds of your footsteps as you join them,

You walk into that forest,

Following the path,

The dull thud of each step,

You hear the softly rustling leaves overhead,

You see the dancing shards of sunlight before you,

You feel the stillness of the air as the forest around you catches that breeze,

And you walk for some time deeper and deeper into the forest,

And while walking deeper into the forest,

You see fungus dotted around the trees,

Glowing and pulsing with light,

Some of the fungus seeming to pulse rows of light,

Almost as if trying to direct you in where to go,

And you continue to follow this path,

To the point where you need to turn off the path,

And you turn off the path and begin to push through the trees,

You shimmy around tree trunks,

Feeling the bark of the trunk beneath your fingertips,

Smelling the scent of that bark,

Occasionally noticing sticky patches of sap and the scent of that sap,

And pushing branches out of the way and ducking under branches,

And finding that it's taking you so long to walk even a short distance when you're off the path,

But you continue on,

Knowing what it is you're seeking,

And after what was probably an hour but felt like four,

You notice,

Among the undergrowth,

Signs of rubble that's overgrown and you know you're closing in on your destination,

You continue on the same direction,

The sun now long set,

And the darkness illuminated by the glow of fungus and fireflies,

And while you push on,

You find your way to where the rubble becomes more substantial and seems more like the remains of structures,

And you look around the different structures,

Looking for one with specific dimensions,

And you find one and there's a large tree,

Half grown on the wall,

Almost like half a tree,

Like the base of the tree is on top of the wall,

And then half the tree is stretched down like roots reaching down the side of the wall,

Reaching all the way down to the soil below,

Anchoring itself there in the soil,

And then the roots from the other side,

Stretching along the wall towards the back,

And down towards the ground,

And the tree towering overhead,

And you know that this is the place,

And you walk into what would be the inside of the structure,

You pick up a stick and you begin to move vines aside,

Brushing everything aside,

Brushing rubble aside,

And in the heart of this space,

You notice something circular,

Like a ring of stone,

And so you brush everything off of that stone,

Revealing that stone,

And in the heart of this stone is a detailed mosaic,

And you carefully crouch down,

And with your hands you brush the top of the mosaic,

Clearing this space,

And in the centre of the mosaic is a symbol which looks like the sun,

With fronds of sunlight emanating from the heart of that sun,

And you sit yourself down in the darkness,

On the heart of that sun,

And you make sure you are deeply comfortable,

Placing your bag beside you,

Closing your eyes and for a moment,

Breathing deeply and comfortably,

While letting your ears hear,

Hearing what animals you can hear,

Trying to pinpoint where in space those animals are,

Feeling the sensation of the air as it passes in and out of your nostrils,

And then beginning to have this sense of a healing light,

Gently enveloping you,

Wrapping itself softly around the top of your head,

Calming those muscles,

Calming the muscles of the forehead,

The side of the head,

The back of the head,

Relieving any tension,

With each out breath,

That healing light softening,

Relaxing,

Calming down,

Around your cheeks,

Your nose,

Around your jaw,

Your mouth,

Your lips,

The lower parts of your head,

Relaxing down to your neck,

Softening those muscles around the neck,

Into the shoulders,

Down through the shoulders,

Tingling,

Relaxing,

Softening,

Calming those muscles,

Down both arms to the fingertips,

Helping those muscles feel deeply relaxed,

At peace and calm,

Just heavily resting there,

Almost unaware,

As the breathing calms and the wave of deep relaxation,

Of that healing relaxation,

Continues passing down,

Across your shoulders,

Across your upper back,

Around your chest,

Softening,

Relaxing,

Passing down,

Deep relaxation to your stomach,

Not just on the outside but on the inside,

With deep calming insight inside,

Deeper,

More relaxed all the way,

Finding a sense of peace which moves its way gently around the sides of the body,

The lower back,

Down towards your bottom and down your legs to the tips of your toes,

Helping to ground you,

Helping you meditate here in the heart of this temple,

Connecting you with this temple as it once was,

As it currently is and with all things here,

And you feel this meditation as it takes effect,

As your mind stills and calms,

As your body relaxes,

As you drift into seeing a gentle light glowing around you and as the light fades a little bit like walking from a dark room through a door to the outside,

The outside,

Outside the temple reveals itself,

And what it reveals is that this temple was at the heart of a community,

In front of the temple was a tall obelisk,

And this temple was built on the site of an ancient cave,

With deep spiritual significance,

And you have this sense of standing up,

Of walking through the temple,

Out the door into the community,

You see beyond the obelisk is open grassland and meadows,

And there's a woman sat in the most beautiful flowing dress,

With hair gently waving in the breeze,

And you notice that she seems to be resting with a large cat,

There's a tiger lying in front of her,

Purring as she gently strokes behind its ear,

And you look around and you see there are other tigers,

There are zebra,

There are many different animals here,

Some animals you never would have expected to share this landscape,

And all the animals,

Animals you never would have known would be here,

And yet something about here,

There seems to be a sense of harmony,

Of community,

Of connection,

Where all things are connected,

Where this community seems to be able to talk with the animals,

To interact with the animals in some kind of meaningful way,

But the animals aren't behaving how you would expect,

And neither are the people,

But there's something deeply harmonious,

Something you find almost tingles at the base of your skull,

Like it's resonating within you,

With the significance unspoken,

And you walk into the grass,

Past the obelisk,

As you get nearer to the woman,

Gently scratching that tiger,

You hear she's singing a soft harmonious lullaby,

And it seems to be synchronizing the rhythms of the lullaby,

With the rhythms within that tiger,

And you walk through this landscape,

You look around you almost in awe at how beautiful this landscape is,

The buildings here,

You head into a building,

Through that stone building,

And out the back of the building,

There seems to be a secret garden,

A garden of flowers of all kinds,

Where moving your head wafts different scents to your nostrils,

A plethora of smell,

With really curious combinations that all bring a deep sense of calmness to your senses,

And there's a bench at the back of this garden,

And so you head to that bench and sit,

Calmly,

Gazing out across the garden,

And you knew that you sought out that temple,

You knew you were going to meditate at the temple,

And that in doing so,

It was supposed to create a connection,

Where your brain almost falls in synchrony and harmony with the space,

The history of the space,

But you never thought it would be quite like this,

You sit on that bench in harmony watching the world go by,

The way butterflies and bees flit from plant to plant,

Songbirds jump from branch to branch in the trees,

People going about their daily business,

And everything being done as if with purpose,

As if everyone is paying 100% of their attention to exactly what they're doing at any given moment.

As if no one is thinking about the past or the future,

Or anywhere else in the present,

Just the gift they've been given.

You see a couple sitting in the garden,

Enjoying a meal together,

Paying each other their undivided attention,

And as night time falls here,

You watch the way the sun sets,

The way the stars appear in the sky,

The changes to the sounds around you,

You watch the changes to the people,

Those who head to bed,

Those who come out for the night,

Watch the animals that head to bed and those that come out at night,

And listen to the silence,

Here at night,

Noticing the silence helps you go deeper and deeper relaxed into the experience.

As if the silence somehow calms and silences something within you,

And you don't feel tired,

You feel this is a timeless space for you as an observer.

You can minimally interact,

But you're here as an observer,

No one here can see you,

You're observing and catching a glimpse in time.

And as the sun begins to rise,

And you see people waking for the day,

And the routines they have,

You follow some of them around learning their routines,

Learning about their connection with the world,

And after what feels like a week or two here,

You begin to have a sense of heading back to the temple.

You see a shimmer,

Where you are meditating,

You rest yourself down within that shimmer,

Discovering the shimmer is the real you,

The you you've been walking around as,

Is just a projection of your consciousness.

And you rest yourself down within your shimmer,

You feel a few deep comfortable breaths pass through you and a slight awareness of your body,

And a sense like you're closing your eyes and everything's going dark for a moment,

Before opening your eyes and finding yourself in the ruins,

And realising that only a couple of minutes of real world time have actually passed,

And yet this felt so much longer,

This feels so much longer.

You leave this temple space,

You set up a camp for the night,

You enjoy relaxing in that camp.

The sounds of this forest that glow from the fungus,

You easily and quickly drift peacefully asleep,

And the next morning you awaken to the sounds of songbirds within the forest.

You feel deeply refreshed when you awaken.

You pack up your belongings,

You find your way back through the forest.

You don't rush,

You just take your time to really take in the environment and your learnings and to give time to think about the experience,

To ponder over the experience,

Wondering what it all means,

What could be learned from it.

And you find your way back over the bridge and along the edge of the river,

And you see your boat in the distance and you walk towards your boat.

Arriving at your boat,

Putting your belongings onto the boat,

And that evening you sit at the back of the boat,

On a chair looking out over the river.

You enjoy some food and drink as the boat gently rocks side to side,

You enjoy the peace and quiet of this space,

And late at night when it's time for bed,

You head back into your boat.

You know tomorrow you're going to be making the journey home,

And it'll take some time to make the full journey home.

And the boat is far more cosy than people perhaps would realise,

With a lot more space than it may look like from the outside.

And you rest in the boat,

Finding your eyes getting heavier and heavier,

You try to read for a while,

But the eyes are too heavy for that.

You listen to something to drift asleep to,

But it doesn't take long for your attention to begin to drift from that,

And for you to begin to dream.

And so you decide to go to your special place in your mind,

A place of deep sleep and dream.

You have a sense of standing,

At the top of a garden looking down over some steps,

You ground yourself by taking your shoes off,

Touching the ground with your feet.

You touch the ground with the palm of your hand,

And then you stand and begin to descend those steps,

Going one tenth of the way deeper relaxed asleep with each step that you take.

10,

9,

7,

Finding it so easy and effortless to fall deeply asleep,

6,

3,

1,

Finding yourself in that garden,

And as you walk through the garden,

Smelling the roses,

The other flowers,

The sight of the moon in the sky,

The stars twinkling,

The way the moonlight illuminates the plants and brings peace and tranquility to this garden.

You walk through the garden,

You head to a large oak tree at the back of the garden,

And in that oak tree,

There's a hammock hanging from the branches.

You climb into the hammock,

You close your eyes and that hammock swings so calmly and gently in the breeze,

Illuminated by the moonlight.

And you drift,

Peacefully and relaxed asleep,

Into slumberland.

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