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'm just going to count down from 10.
And while I count,
You can imagine a healing light passing slowly and gently through your body,
Healing and softening the muscles,
Calming the mind.
From 10,
Relaxing the muscles around the top of the head,
Around the face,
Around the jaw,
Relaxing those muscles around your temple and your forehead.
Gently soothing those muscles out,
Calming,
Softening,
So peaceful,
9.
As the relaxation continues to work its way around the back of your head,
Slowly relaxing down the back of your neck,
Perhaps tingling gently with a sense of peace and comfort.
And with each out breath that you take,
You can find yourself relaxing deeper and deeper asleep.
And I don't know as you continue to relax deeper and deeper asleep,
Whether it'll be the sound of my voice or perhaps the spaces between my words that help you drift deeper asleep,
8.
And as that relaxation moves with the next out breath,
Down your neck,
Around your neck,
Deep within you,
Drifting,
Floating,
Deeper and more peacefully relaxed,
Your mind can begin to drift and dream,
7.
As the relaxation moves down those arms,
Around those shoulders,
Around the shoulder blades,
Softening and relaxing the muscles,
Perhaps making those arms begin to feel heavier and heavier,
Just as the eyelids can feel heavier and more relaxed,
6.
With that relaxation moving down those arms,
It can begin to reach the fingertips,
Bringing a deep sense of peace and comfort to those fingers,
Relaxing down around the chest,
The upper back and deep within you,
And the relaxation can move gently with each out breath,
Moving down to your stomach and your lower sides,
Around your lower back,
Softening,
Relaxing,
So calmly as a mind and body,
4.
With the relaxation moving down to your bottom and continuing down around your legs,
Carefully moving down towards your feet,
3.
Moving all the way down those legs,
Deeper and deeper,
Bringing a deep sense of peace and calm,
Taking you to a place in your mind where you drift deeper and deeper asleep,
So easily and effortlessly,
Where your mind is so calm and peaceful,
Where you just seem to be so drawn in by sleep and pleasant dreams,
Where the mind slows right down,
That's it,
2.
As that relaxation spreads around the lower legs,
Around the ankles and down into the feet,
1.
Feeling that relaxation through your whole body,
Like a wave of peace and comfort,
And you know the process of sleep involves the body relaxing fully,
As the mind begins to drift and dream,
Almost into its own reverie,
As you continue listening to this and we move gently into the story,
So you can sleep deeply and sleep well all night long,
And as you rest and sleep,
You're heading out camping in an SUV,
You're driving along a long straight road,
Sun shining overhead,
Trees and fields lining the road,
Shadows and light dancing as the sun passes through the canopies of those trees,
The breeze blowing in the window,
The sound of the motor running,
The gentle movement of the vehicle as it continues travelling along the road,
The occasional vibrations,
Sometimes bobbing and weaving,
And as you continue on,
You can feel relaxed on this comfortable drive,
Where it's a clear open road and you're heading to a specific destination to camp for a few nights,
And as it approaches late afternoon,
You arrive at your destination,
The blue sky now showing the faintest tinges of beginning to change colour towards evening,
The sounds softening as the first signs of the dimming light appear,
And you pull up the SUV,
Park it up for camping,
And you're the only one in this space,
Wrapped within a meadow,
Flanked by the most beautiful trees,
And in the distance you can see the river flowing through this meadow,
Cutting straight across the meadow and disappearing behind the trees,
You can see the way the water is flowing as it weaves around rocks and flows over small waterfalls,
And you have an awning attachment for your SUV that pulls down from the roof and then opens out into a tent space,
As you pull that down and you pull the sides down and the back and the front and the base,
And you carefully attach that to the ground,
Stretching the ropes tight,
Bashing the pegs into the ground holding those ropes in place,
You clear a space a short distance in front of the tent,
You build a small campfire,
You pop out a chair,
You go and grab some food and drink,
Place that beside the chair,
You light the fire,
Which crackles to life,
You rest back in the chair feeling the warmth of that fire,
As the sun begins to set,
And while the sun sets,
You hear the sound of crickets in the background,
The occasional sound of a bird,
And the gentle sounds of other animals,
Some settling down for the night,
Others perhaps just waking up,
And as the moon rises over the horizon,
So you can see the way that silvery light dances and sparkles across the distant river,
And as you rest back and close your eyes a moment,
So you can focus just enough,
To be able to hear that river flowing in the distance,
And as the sky goes from brighter blue through to oranges and pinks,
And dark blue and almost black,
You watch the dancing light and shadows from the fire,
Hear the crackling and popping,
Feel the warmth of that fire,
You make yourself some food,
And sit and have a drink,
When the air temperature is still reasonably warm,
And a very comfortable temperature to be sat outside,
And you rest there,
You eat the food and drink the drink,
Planning on doing very little,
Just having time for yourself,
To relax,
To quieten your mind,
Find a deep sense of inner peace,
To really take a break from your daily life,
And as you rest there and the stars begin to twinkle in the night sky,
And you see the occasional shooting star,
Fizz across the sky,
And your eyes begin to adjust to the dark,
You begin to have this sense like there's an orangey glow beyond the woodland,
Perhaps on from that river,
And at first you don't think too much of it,
You just continue relaxing and drifting and enjoying your time with nothing to do,
Yet the more your eyes adapt to the dark,
And the more your fire burns down to embers,
Allowing the dark to encroach even more,
Curiosity builds within you,
And you take torch,
When you put out the remnants of the campfire,
You zip up your tent,
And you set off to see what the glow is,
And you walk away from where you're camped,
And as you walk away,
You turn and look back,
And the moonlight is illuminating your camping space,
And you continue walking down towards that river,
Crunching your way through the meadow,
The gentle scent of wildflowers wafting up to your nose as you disturb them while walking,
And the sound of the flowing water,
Getting louder and louder as you get nearer and nearer,
And as you near that water,
So you can smell the fresh,
Clean scent of the water,
As if the flowing water is purifying the air around here,
And from down here by the water's edge,
You look up and left and can see,
The river curving around between the trees,
And the glow off in the distance,
And that now you're a little closer,
You can notice,
The glow is gently changing over time,
It's not a static glow,
And so you follow the river,
You head into the tree line,
Sounds of the rustling leaves of the trees around you,
The air seems to change as you pass into the woods,
And you walk through the woodland,
And you notice as you're walking,
That the river is gently widening,
And after some time of following this river,
It flows out into a clearing,
And in this clearing,
The landscape under the gentle moonlight looks very swamp-like,
Almost like the river here has flooded this large area,
And yet one side of the river can be seen to be flowing around,
Continuing on it's journey,
And within this swamp space,
You catch a glimpse of what it is that's glowing,
You see a phoenix,
Flames flickering from it's body,
Flying above the swamp,
Landing on different trees,
And you stop where you are,
And watch that phoenix flying around,
Curious what it's doing,
It seems to fly so quietly and gracefully,
Despite looking like it's wrapped in a flamethrower,
Leaving a soft trail of flames as it flies,
And then you see,
Forming near the tree line in the distance,
What looks like a ball of lightning,
Bursting alive,
Crackling and moving,
And floating through the landscape,
It's bluish glow,
In contrast to the orangey glow of the phoenix,
Tendrils reaching out from that ball lightning,
Almost like legs dancing across the earth,
And as those legs dance across the earth,
So you can see,
The glowing light at the foot of each leg,
On the surface of the water,
That envelops this swampy area,
And small tufts of steam rising from each footstep the ball lightning takes,
And you watch as that crosses the landscape,
Before fizzling out,
And you continue to watch the phoenix flying around and landing,
And then another ball of lightning forms from another area,
And repeats what you just saw,
And although it's formed in another area,
It travels to the same destination as the last ball of lightning,
Only this time,
As it extinguishes,
You think you catch sight of something in the air,
Almost like an outline or a shadow,
Just a hint of something there,
You decide to walk a little closer,
But you do your best to keep to the tree line,
And keep out of sight of the phoenix,
And a third ball of lightning forms,
In another location and travels to that same destination,
And as you get closer and closer,
You notice,
That what it is that you can see,
Where all the balls of lightning are going,
Looks almost like a mirrored sphere,
Making it incredibly difficult to see as it reflects its surroundings,
And as you get closer,
You notice,
It isn't smooth,
It undulates and moves,
And another ball of lightning forms,
And as this one reaches the sphere,
You see that it passes straight through,
And then you watch,
As the phoenix flies towards the sphere,
And vanishes within it,
And you head over to that sphere,
You reach up with your fingertips,
And your fingertips pass right through,
You just feel the gentlest tingle,
And you jump up off the ground towards the sphere,
And as your head and shoulders pass through,
You see a vastly different landscape,
And so you do your best to run across the mounds protruding from the swamp,
Leaping up towards that sphere,
Almost diving through it,
And you find yourself rolling the other side of the sphere,
In the most beautiful sunny landscape,
You see what looks almost like a grand eagle,
With wisps of smoke fading from its wings,
And you realise that here,
That's the phoenix,
And you see the balls of lightning,
That are here,
Forming,
But it's daytime here,
And so they're harder to notice,
But you see as they form,
And one by one,
Are travelling towards that sphere,
As if perhaps that's the energy source,
Or has something to do with this sphere empowering it,
And you explore this unusual landscape,
It looks very familiar,
It has trees and plants,
Grasses,
A blue sky,
And yet at the same time,
It seems very alien,
You don't recognise any of the trees or plants,
On closer inspection,
The blades of grass look different,
And this intrigues you,
And here there's something slightly different about the air,
About gravity,
You notice that sound seems to be different,
Each footstep you take,
Sounds a bit lighter than where you've come from,
And then you notice the sounds around you,
Also sound a bit lighter than you're used to,
When you explore this landscape,
You see creatures that look very deer-like but aren't,
Grazing in the meadow,
You see a lake in the distance,
And within the lake,
You see ripples that look like something large is swimming beneath the surface,
And down by the lakes edge,
You see what looks like a tent made of broad leaves,
And so you head down towards that tent,
And you approach the tent slowly,
Quietly,
And within the tent,
You can see that there's somebody sitting there,
Enjoying the sound of the lake,
The water lapping onto the shore,
You see their feet poking slightly out of the tent as you approach,
They're wearing shoes but nothing like you've seen before,
You make a little bit of noise as you approach,
To make sure that they hear you,
And they poke their head out of the tent,
To see who's approaching,
And they look so kind and friendly,
They look humanoid but not human,
They have the kindest,
Widest eyes,
And the most beautiful,
Friendly smile,
And the softest,
Soothest voice,
They introduce themselves as sapphire,
You introduce yourself,
They say you don't look like you're from round here,
They've never seen a being like you,
You explain where you came from,
And they say that there are these portals dotted around everywhere,
That normally it's just the phoenixes who use them,
Most others avoid them,
Not because they're necessarily dangerous or anything like that,
Just because they don't understand them,
And so they keep away,
And sapphire invites you to sit with them as you talk,
And they watch the ripples on the surface of the lake,
They watch the movement of whatever the large creature is in this lake,
And they see that there's a slight glimmer of concern within you of the large creature of the lake,
And so they reassure you,
It's totally harmless,
The lake houses many animals,
It just happens there are some larger ones than others,
And they share some of their food with you,
Foods you've never tasted before,
They tell you stories of this place,
They describe where here is,
And as the sun begins to set here,
So you can see two moons in the sky,
A smaller one seeming to orbit the larger one,
And the moons are much darker than the moon you're used to,
And the sounds as the evening here sets in,
Are familiar yet different,
And you and sapphire talk well into the night,
You're curious how long the nights here are,
But as it begins to turn to light,
You realise the nights here are a similar length,
And as morning arises,
Sapphire excitedly gets a canvas,
And despite having not slept at all,
They're incredibly excitable and full of energy,
As they set up the canvas,
And with tears in their eyes from the beauty,
They begin painting the scene of this sunrise,
They ask if you'd mind sitting down near the water's edge,
They'd like to include you in the painting,
Their unusual friend from another land,
And you oblige and sit,
Peacefully and patiently,
Being as still as you can,
Enjoying the sound of the gently lapping water on the shore,
The sploshing and sploshing of creatures in the lake,
The soft rustle of reeds around the water's edge,
The occasional sound of birds overhead,
And after their finished painting,
They let you know and you head over,
And they show the painting to you,
And you sit and talk some more,
They then walk with you along the shore of the lake,
You ask about places people live here,
Whether there are towns or cities,
You try and get an idea of the technology they use,
Of the lives they live,
Of the cultures here,
And Sapphire tries to do the same,
Learning from you,
And you find together you have so much to share,
So much so that it gets all the way round to nightfall again,
And neither of you have yet slept,
And this nightfall they are excited,
By the sight of an aurora in the sky,
The beautiful curtains of light moving and weaving and undulating in the sky,
They see that you are getting tired,
And ask if you'd like to fall asleep in the tent,
And so you tuck down in the tent,
Lying beside Sapphire,
And as you rest there feeling so calm and warm,
And so cosy,
They lie beside you and you feel their body temperature,
You hear their gentle breathing,
They talk softly,
As if trying not to disturb anyone,
Even though there's only the two of you here,
Continuing to ask you questions,
And you ask them some questions,
And between you,
You talk for a moment,
And then you'll begin drifting asleep,
And then talk for a moment more,
Until eventually the talking ends and you fall deeply and comfortably relaxed asleep,
And when you wake the next morning,
Sapphire has made some food,
And you smell that incredible smell of the food,
You leave the tent and take a deep breath of the fresh morning air,
You see the dew on the plants and grasses sparkling in the low morning light,
A wisp of mist weaving among the meadow,
Gliding across the lake,
So silently,
Calmly,
You feel like you've had the best night's sleep ever,
Feeling so rested and rejuvenated,
But you know that it's time to go,
So you eat the breakfast,
You spend the first half of the day talking,
A part of you finds it difficult to be able to say goodbye,
Unsure whether you'll ever be able to see here again,
They hand you what looks like a small crystal,
They tell you that perhaps this will work across dimensions,
When you place this crystal on top of silver,
It activates,
And when it activates,
It allows you to communicate,
And you think it sounds a bit like a telephone,
Only done in a very different way,
You say your goodbyes and head back through the meadow,
You see the portal still there,
You leap up through the portal,
Splashing down into the swamp the other side,
And here it's night time,
And you wonder how much time has passed,
And you head back through the woodland,
Back along the river,
You put your hand in your pocket and feel that crystal resting in your pocket,
Confirming the experience was real,
You head back up to your camp,
And at your tent,
You take a look at the date and time,
And see that an entire day has passed by,
And so the time must run very similar,
But where here it was night time,
When you went through there it was day time,
And when you returned it was day time there and it's night time here,
And you enjoy something to eat,
You enjoy the environment here,
Before settling down and drifting asleep,
And after your experience,
Out here camping,
You clear everything away,
And you head back towards your home,
And it's a very long drive,
And you make that journey with your mind frequently thinking of sapphire,
And you're curious to get home,
Find some silver,
And see if that crystal works,
And after many hours of driving and arriving home,
You find a small silver tray,
You place that silver tray on your dining room table,
You sit down on the dining room chair,
You take the crystal,
You hesitate for a moment,
Unsure what will happen,
And then place the crystal on the silver tray,
And at first nothing seems to happen,
It's just like you've put a stone on a tray,
But then there's a gentle hum,
And the crystal begins to glow ever so slightly,
And the glow gets brighter and brighter,
And seems almost like it's stretching out from the crystal,
Until there's this glow in front of you,
Almost like a screen of light hovering in space above the dining room table,
And at first that screen of light is dark,
And then from the darkness it flashes to light,
And you see sapphire on the screen,
And she smiles and you engage in conversation,
And you discuss how you might see each other again in the future,
Whether there's any way of creating portals that are located a bit more conveniently,
And you'd like sapphire to be able to visit your world,
And you know this is the start of a wonderful friendship,
And as you head to bed,
You think about it being curious,
That you can meet a stranger,
And just somehow hit it off,
And the stranger becomes a friend,
And sometimes even becomes so important to you,
That it's as if you've known each other your whole lives,
And you just want to see them again and again,
And you settle down in bed,
Feeling the warmth of your own bed,
The softness of your mattress and your pillows,
The calming temperature of your room,
The faintest sounds around you,
As you drift and float so peacefully,
So calmly,
So relaxed asleep into slumberland.
