Good morning,
Good evening,
Good afternoon,
Good night.
Once again,
Whatever time it is,
Welcome.
Welcome to Time Out.
Today journey six.
And congratulations to you all for taking this time for yourself,
Allowing your body the chance to settle,
To calm,
To build up a store of resilience and peacefulness and creating a habit that can become automatic.
The ability to just drop into that place of calmness and peace,
Stillness and clarity.
So if you're all ready,
Make yourself comfortable and let's practice.
Remember to count four breaths in,
Seven out.
See the numbers,
See colors.
So,
A deep breath in and a long slow breath out.
Just return to your normal breathing in between.
Your body will automatically start to relax.
It knows the trigger.
So,
A deep breath in,
A long slow breath out.
And once more,
A deep breath in and a long slow breath out.
Closing your eyes now and taking yourself inwards into that place of safety and softness.
And just watching the screen of your mind as if you are waiting for a film to start at a cinema.
Watch it come into view,
A sandy track on a slight incline surrounded by grasses.
Soft,
Slightly warm sand.
Blue sky.
Just feel,
Smell and listen before we step through the screen onto the sand.
Barefooted.
If you have your shoes on,
Take them off so you can feel the warm soft sand beneath your feet.
Feel the slight breeze move the grasses on either side of the track as we walk up the slight hill.
Each step into softness and a sense of moving into a place of peace as we move towards the blueness of the sky.
The shadows that just move gently on either side,
Their colours,
The patterns they make.
Notice the ripples and indentations in the sand.
Feel the soft warm sand beneath your feet as we make our way one step at a time up the path until we reach the crest.
As we step on the highest part of the path,
The breeze catches our hair and we can see a beautiful beach,
The whole beach spread before us.
The blueness of the sky meeting the blueness of the water.
Waves gently breaking onto the sand.
A wide expanse of beach.
Rocks to one side.
Sand and cliffs to the far side.
And the dune that we are standing on stretching down towards the water.
Birds,
Waves,
Sand,
Sky.
Rocks.
Perhaps a soft cloud or two drifting in the blue sky.
And listen.
Listen to the sound of the waves.
Just gentle waves.
That suffering sort of sound as they break white and soft and foamy onto the sand.
And you get a sense of space,
Of peace as we make our way down the dune towards the water.
Notice how the sand changes color as we move into that part of it that is wet.
So it becomes firmer and cooler under our feet.
And let's stand there now where the water gently rolls up onto the sand and over our feet.
And it seems that as it rolls back to take away our tension,
It's as if our tension is rolling down off us just like the water.
As the water rolls in,
It draws tension down from us.
Those anxieties,
Those stresses,
Those fears that we have held within us.
As it washes over our feet and drains back.
And let's walk now in the shallows a little deeper so the water comes up to our shins and our knees.
And feel the gentle pressure of it as you move through it.
The sand beneath you,
And you can look at the water and notice the patterns it creates with the sunlight on it as it lightly swirls around your legs,
Moving through the water.
The warmth of the sun above,
The coolness of the water below,
Cleansing you,
Clearing you,
This sense of freedom.
The wind,
The soft breeze creating spoons of salt.
Breathe in the salt,
Breathe in the smell,
The spray.
The birds,
The vastness.
Let's head now towards that broad band of rocks,
Flat rocks.
Leave the shallows of the water and step onto the smoothness of these rocks,
Flat rocks,
Pitted but smooth.
Many little pools where little seaweed and shells and maybe crabs live.
Until we come to a large rock pool.
Standing at the edge of this large rock pool,
On one side you and on the far side,
The water.
And watch now as a wave gently breaks across the far rock,
Rolls across the rock and disturbs the pool.
Then ebbs back,
Leaving it still and calm.
Like the flow of life,
Touched by the storms and worries,
But letting it flow away and ebb back,
Leaving us peaceful and calm.
And let's sit now on the edge of the rock and dip our feet into the clear,
Cool water.
Let deep and the color changes as the water becomes deeper,
Where the sunlight touches it and becomes light and dark.
And as the wave rolls in,
Notice the patterns that create.
It'll ripples towards you.
Sense of stillness,
Being cleaned and washed.
And that sense of absolute calmness as the water recedes and the pool settles and reflects the sky and everything about it perfectly.
Now let's leave the rock pool and let's make our way back and find a beautiful,
Sandy,
Warm place where we can lie back and relax.
Find it there now,
Soft,
Warm sand.
You can picture a towel or something to lie on,
But you might like to just lie on the warm sand and feel the warmth beneath your back.
And lean back and look up into the sky.
Looking into the sky.
Deep into the blue.
Upper and deeper into the blue.
The space.
The stillness.
The peace.
And as you look and sit there within that space,
In that peace,
You may like to ask a question or ask for some advice or perhaps even ask for help.
Maybe something small,
Something large.
It may be for yourself or someone else.
Just take a moment,
Whatever thought comes immediately to mind,
No matter how unexpected it may be,
Is what you need to ask.
So just ask and let it settle there out into the deepness,
The blueness,
The stillness of the sky.
And know that if you are patient,
Somewhere the answer will come to you.
It will come.
And it's time now to return to your day or night.
So bring yourself back,
Back to where you're lying on the sand.
And let's retrace our steps across the sand,
Across the rocks,
Past the rock pool,
Along the edge of the water on the firm,
Damp sand,
Where our footprints are immediately erased.
And now back up the dune.
And you can see the footprints you left when you came down.
Follow them back.
Back up the path,
The track.
Back to the screen of your mind.
Bringing with you that sense of space,
Of freedom,
Of stillness and peace.
And bringing yourself right back now,
Back to where you are sitting or lying or standing.
Back to this time,
Your time and place.
Bringing that sense right the way back with you,
Ready to take with you into your day or night.
And once again,
Thank you for joining me on the journey of time out.
And I look forward to seeing you next time for journey seven.
Take care.
Stay safe.
