So tonight as you drift asleep,
You'll find yourself relaxing on a boat on Loch Ness in Scotland,
Listening to the lapping of the water on the underside of the boat as the boat gently rocks and you gaze up at the pristine night sky overhead,
Looking forward to exploring around the shoreline in the morning where you follow a cat to a magical bakery.
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 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 ten to one.
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.
And with each out breath,
That relaxation can deepen so peacefully,
So comfortably,
As it flows down around the eyes and around the ears.
Nine,
That relaxation moving down around the jaw,
Relaxing that 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 side 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.
Eight,
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.
Seven,
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,
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,
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 backs,
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.
Four,
With that relaxation spreading down around your buttocks,
Down into the upper parts of your legs.
Three,
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.
Two,
The relaxation spreading down to your feet,
Calming,
Softly relaxing,
All the way down to the tips of your toes.
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 wander into tonight's sleep story,
And you find yourself resting on a reclining chair,
On a boat on Loch Ness.
The sounds of water lapping gently against the underside of the boat as it's moored at the shore.
And it's late at night,
And overhead you can see the night sky arching from horizon to horizon,
Stars twinkling,
The dusty milky way smeared across the middle of the sky.
The occasional shooting star fizzing past,
The gentle scent of the fresh water as it continues lapping against the underside of the boat,
The slight rocking of the boat in its mooring.
Perhaps noticing the occasional hoot of a distant owl,
And the coolness of the air across your cheeks,
With that gentle breeze softly tickling your skin.
As you continue resting back in that reclining chair,
And you lean over and pour yourself a warm drink,
As you bring that drink up to your mouth.
Aware of the warm vapour rising up beneath your nostrils,
Up across your face and your forehead,
The sensation of drinking that drink and the feeling of the warm drink soothing its way down through you.
And really enjoying the deep sense of peace and relaxation of resting on this boat,
Just watching the night sky overhead.
And as you finish that warm drink,
You begin to feel tired.
As you head down into the boat,
You close the door behind you,
Head through to the bedroom,
Climb into the bed and settle down.
And begin to drift asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat,
The soft lapping sound of the waves against the underside of the boat.
Drifting into the most pleasant sleep and dreams,
And the next day you awaken,
You head up onto the deck of the boat.
You enjoy some breakfast as you see the sun's rays carefully peering over the top of the hills surrounding the lock,
Seeing the way the light dances on the surface of the dark blue water.
Looking out across the greens and the browns of the hills,
The gentle mist in the distance on the lock,
Gently being evaporated by the sun's warmth.
And after eating your breakfast,
You set off from your boat,
Walking up the jetty and following a path.
And you follow that path along the side of the lock,
Listening to the water lapping along the shoreline,
Before the path veers off among some trees,
Comes out the other side among countryside.
You can see a small village in the distance,
And as you're walking towards that village,
You encounter a cat,
Sitting on an old stone wall.
And it meows at you as you pass,
And so you slow down and stop,
And the cat stands,
Makes eye contact with you,
Before lowering its two front legs down partway down the wall,
Wriggles its bum a little before leaping,
Scurrying down the wall,
Onto the ground and over to you,
Weaving its way around your legs,
And you reach down and stroke that cat,
Feeling the warmth of its fur.
It flops down on its side,
And you stroke its side,
And it moves over onto its back,
And you stroke its belly between its two front legs,
And then the cat leaps up and begins to walk,
Seeming to guide you towards that village.
And so you follow the cat,
Chatting with your companion,
As you walk along through the countryside,
Seeing a large bird of prey circling overhead,
Hearing the rustling of the leaves of the trees,
Feeling the wind as it blows a breeze,
Watching the clouds pass by in the sky,
Ambling along,
Slowly,
Peacefully,
Until you eventually arrive at the village,
And follow the cat through the village,
And the cat stops at the foot of a bakery,
And you see the sign for the bakery,
And you head into that bakery,
The door trings as it opens,
The bell rattles as it closes,
As soon as you're inside,
You can smell the smells of this bakery,
The smell of baked bread,
Of sweet treats,
Different jams,
And a curious baker greets you and smiles in your direction,
They introduce themselves as Dougal Sconson,
They tell the story about how they come from a long line of bakers,
They tell you that this is the only place where you can buy dreams on toast,
And then start to explain about how 8 generations ago,
His relative was exploring some caves around Loch Ness,
When they stumbled upon a secret,
They found themselves in a strange landscape,
With pulsating purple trees,
Containing golden dream berries,
That glistened and sparkled,
And slumbering glena birds,
Which eat the berries,
And these birds eat one of the berries,
And then fall asleep beneath the tree,
Having the most pleasant dreams,
And this relative found this fascinating,
Took one of the berries,
Tried the berry and found it the sweetest,
Most pleasant taste,
But they also found that they became incredibly drowsy,
And they fell asleep beneath the tree and had the most pleasant dreams,
So they took some of those berries away with them,
And they made some jam from the berries,
And this jam proved to be incredibly popular,
Bringing dreams to all who ate it,
And so they tried to grow dream berry trees in their orchard,
But the trees just never grew,
And they realised that the trees only seem to grow in this strange landscape,
And so each generation they've passed down the knowledge of where the landscape is,
And how to access it,
Keeping the location secret to anyone else,
So as not to disrupt the landscape,
And to work in harmony with the landscape,
The baker offers you some of this jam on toast,
You take the jam on toast over to a table by a crackling log fire in this bakery,
You have just a single bite of that jam on toast,
Find yourself falling asleep in the chair,
Having the most pleasant nap,
With the most wonderful dreams,
And you find the experience so pleasurable,
So calming and healing,
That you decide to buy some jars of the jam,
And each jam jar comes with a warning label,
Warning will cause drowsiness,
Sleep and pleasant dreams,
Do not consume if anything requires your attention,
The cat curls itself up on the rug in front of the fireplace in this bakery,
You pet it for a moment,
Saying your goodbyes,
Before heading back to your boat,
And back on your boat you make yourself dreamberry jam on toast,
And you eat that toast before having the most pleasant dreams,
Drifting into the deepest sleep,
And the next day,
You leave that mooring,
Continue along the coast a little further,
Watching as Urquhart castle comes more and more into view,
Mooring up near Urquhart castle,
Leaving the boat and exploring the castle,
Taking some photos of the castle and the lock,
Before walking to the nearby village of Dramnadrachet,
And in Dramnadrachet,
Among a pair of white stone buildings,
You find an old mottled stone bookshop,
And there's something deeply curious and interesting about this bookshop,
You open the door and are instantly met by that old book smell,
And the sight of dust moats hanging in the air,
And the fuzzy beams of light creeping their way through the windows,
You speak with the bookshop owner,
Who's an old man with the most striking green eyes,
They explore among their books until they find an old book,
An almost antique looking book of ancient legends,
And they hand you the book and tell you that the knowledge you seek is contained within that book,
And you're curious to learn more,
About where those dreamberries come from,
And so you explore through the book,
Until you find a story with some pictures,
About how this landscape is dotted with invisible doorways to the other world,
A place where time is fluid,
Where trees are purple,
The purple hazel trees drop nuts which contain wisdom,
And the purple dreamberry trees drop berries which contain dreams,
And this other world is the home of beautiful fae who dress in green,
And this race of fae,
They're called she,
And they live here in the other world,
Rarely seeing people anymore from the regular world,
And this book metaphorically describes the locations that you can use to access the other world,
And explains about how the portals only open at dawn or dusk,
The bookshop owner suggests that perhaps you should go searching for the nearest entrance,
And they help you to interpret one of the invisible doorway locations,
And so that evening,
As the sun begins to set,
You head to the location where the portal may well be,
And you find yourself walking through a portal,
Heading into the other world,
You see the dreamberry trees,
You see those birds,
You meet a friendly she who shares about this place,
Explains about how times have changed,
The world of man has changed and they prefer now to keep themselves to themselves,
They hand you a purple hazelnut which you consume,
Gaining deep wisdom,
Understanding why you can never share about this place,
The she show you around this location,
They show you to the different types of trees,
They show you the differences in the environment,
How the colours here are very different in the other world,
And after you've looked around for a while,
You head back to the portal,
Pass through the portal,
Knowing you'll never tell anyone where this place is,
How to enter it,
Being aware of the importance of that,
And you head back round through the village,
Down past Urquhart castle,
Back to the boat,
And you arrive back at the boat just as rain begins to trickle its way across the lock,
You head into the boat listening to the rain on the outside,
You make yourself something to eat and drink,
Sit down on a bench within the boat continuing to listen to the rain,
Feeling deeply relaxed as it falls,
Reading a book for a while,
And then you have a slice of toast and dreamberry jam,
You begin to feel deeply relaxed,
So you lie down in bed and to the sound of the pitter patter of the rain,
You drift and float so deeply,
So peacefully asleep into the most pleasant dreams as you fall asleep into slumberland.
