Reconnect with your inner wild as you unwind and relax with tonight's sleep story.
Welcome to Michelle's Sanctuary.
I'm Michelle,
Your mystical guide and sleepy ally,
As you drift across the bridge to sleep.
You are listening to Summer Journey with Wolves,
A magical escape beneath a starry sky.
Where the nocturnal world is in full bloom around you.
Tonight you'll experience the freedom of wandering beneath the summer moon and traveling alongside a pack of wolves on a transformative journey through the night.
Allow the mundanities of everyday life.
To fade away as you approach this story with the wonder and imagination of your younger self,
Letting this wild world unfold around you like a dream.
In the sleep story,
Anything is possible,
So snuggle up,
Settle in,
And customize this experience to whatever resonates with your inner wild tonight.
It's time to dream away.
I first wrote A Magical Winter Journey with Wolves many years ago and thought it would be nice to return to that,
This time exploring the woods beneath the light of a summer moon.
It feels different,
Revisiting the story as I now live with a little howling Chihuahua who cannot wait to join the sirens of Manhattan on our daily walks,
Alerting all the unsuspecting and eventually smiling pedestrians among us,
That something is awry.
I've taken to howling along with him sometimes,
At the moon,
At the city noise,
And at the incoming tide,
And to be honest,
I never realized how good something that seems so silly might feel.
We are our own special pack.
And that brings a new meaning to this reimagined tale.
Take a few moments to let everything go.
Letting out a sigh and all human concerns.
Imagine untethering yourself.
From all the things that dare interfere with this moment for release.
See them floating into a night sky.
As you inhale.
Sigh once more.
Expand,
Stretch and then become heavy.
And sink into the support.
All that is here to support you.
The surface beneath you.
The sanctuary of your room and mind.
My voice,
The earth itself.
Inhale once more.
Expanding and taking space.
Maybe yawn.
And then sigh again.
Making a sound.
Your own call into the night.
That claims this time for complete release.
Your breath returns to its natural sleepy rhythm as our journey with wolves begins.
Summer has brought a long spell of hot,
Humid days with the air as thick and heavy as a damp blanket.
You rest in a centuries-old stone cottage just beyond the leafy edge of an ancient forest.
Where wolves have wandered for countless generations.
Long before human footsteps ever touched these woods at some point in the Middle Ages.
At last the heat wave has broken and the night brings a crisp mountain breeze offers a reprieve like no other.
The weight lifts from your chest.
You settle beneath a patchwork quilt made with love by a villager.
Purchased at the summer market.
A few years ago.
Perfectly weighted.
And softened from many washes.
Moonlight spills through the dozens of window panes separated by weathered wood grills.
Cascading over your bed,
Beneath them.
Your eyes are tired.
Cannot help but focus.
The beautiful starry sky beyond.
Way the moonlight reflects off the mountain peaks,
The conifers.
And the dewy wildflowers in the clearing.
What is about to unfold.
May leave you wondering.
Whether you are dreaming.
Remembering a night that somehow feels as though you have lived it before.
Good morning.
Neither will matter much.
Because the impressions of this magical night will be felt just the same.
And forever change the way you feel.
When you hear the distant call of a wolf.
You do right now.
It's a song that pulls at your heart.
Stirs all the feelings you may have ever had.
When wanting to escape a routine.
Experience something.
Makes you feel more alive.
Tonight.
The distant echo of that lone wolf's cry.
You feel less alone.
And part of something ancient.
And enchanting.
Somewhere between wakefulness and slumber.
You feel yourself being drawn outdoors to stand beneath the moon.
The air is now cool and your bare feet meet the dewy grass.
That weaves between your toes in a pleasant way.
You notice your senses beginning to sharpen.
Your vision becomes clearer.
You're hearing even more so,
As if the sound of every single blade in the breeze plays its own solo.
Your consciousness changes as well.
Suddenly your thoughts can only exist in the summer moment in the present there's no yesterday or tomorrow yet there is a deep intuitive understanding that guides you a knowing without words.
Just feeling and instinct.
The night air carries the smell of balsam fir and cedar.
From the tall evergreen trees.
That's lying the edge of the clearing.
Hear a single pine cone fall into a bed of rust-hued pine needles.
You become so acutely aware.
Everything at once.
Feel a familiar pang of longing for connection.
Somehow knowing.
Feeling will soon be met.
The blue-black midnight sky provides an endless canvas of glittering stars.
The moon is high and full,
A luminous peachy gold to the human eye.
It seems a different muted golden shade.
As your vision changes.
You feel a change in your body.
Suddenly closer to the earth.
As you look down at the transformation,
It's taken hold.
Perhaps while asleep.
Perhaps in that liminal space between slumber and wakefulness.
You have become something else.
Your eyes are drawn to the front paws of your new body.
The paw pads expanding and contracting over the damp earth.
You venture forward curiously.
And feel a sense of strength.
Each step is so buoyant.
That it feels like an invitation to sprint.
The night breeze travels over a stream deep in the forest.
You can almost taste its water.
Certainly can smell its flinty stones.
The breeze whispers through the feathery branches.
Before brushing through a thick coat.
Gray and white fur.
It now covers your sleek body.
Before you get lost.
In this physical transformation that lonely sensation disappears.
As a trio of wolves.
Emerges from the wood.
You recognize them somehow.
That you cannot remember meeting before.
As though some part of you.
Has known them all along.
And I certainly recognize you.
They yip in a friendly greeting.
And joy fills your heart.
As they eagerly await you joining them.
On this adventure beneath the moon.
You meet their glittering,
Warm yellow and amber eyes.
Sensing their intelligence.
Trusting this pack to guide you with their wordless invitation.
And wear the swiftness.
You feel the aliveness coursing through your veins.
As you take on their invitation.
Speeding off with them.
You feel unbounded.
And free to follow your intuition.
Living only in the moment.
Your paws press into the soft earth.
As you inhale the intoxicating summer scents.
Damp malls and crushed ferns.
Wildflowers blooming somewhere unseen in the darkness.
Scarlet mushrooms sprouting from the forest floor.
Your breath becomes heavier.
It remains effortless.
As you inhale the earthy sweetness.
Leaves warmed by the Sun.
And cold beneath the moon.
Feeling the night air.
Moving through your fur.
As you pick up speed.
Every muscle works in harmony.
As you follow the wolves.
Deeper into the woods.
What a delight it is.
To move with such ease.
Witnessing the pack members flowing through the darkness.
With an almost otherworldly grace.
Their paws barely make a sound.
The wind moves through the canopy above.
There is no destination you need to reach.
Nowhere else you need to be.
There is only this moment.
Extraordinary feeling of movement and freedom.
Being completely present within your body.
And within the wild world.
Unfolding around you.
And like all the magnificent beings.
The woods and mountains.
You no longer feel.
If you own the land around you.
You at last remember.
That you belong to it.
Everything is heightened.
The sense.
The sound.
You lift your nose toward the air.
Instinctively sensing the forest around you.
Noticing the subtle changes in scent.
Temperature and energy as you travel You can hear the distant call of an owl.
Somewhere beyond the trees.
Rustling of small creatures hidden beneath the undergrowth.
Soft chorus of insects.
Chirping their nighttime songs.
The summer canopy stretches toward the sky.
Leaves and needles shimmering silver and green beneath the moonlight.
They open every now and then.
Reveal a vast expanse of stars.
The distant silvery blue mountain peaks.
You realize.
You have never noticed.
So many details before.
All at once.
Perhaps because you have never looked at them from this perspective.
Perhaps because tonight You are seeing the world differently.
With a keenness of a wolf.
As you continue deeper into the woods.
The forest becomes more alive.
With every passing moment.
Shadows shimmer with movement and sound.
Alive with a secret activity.
Of a summer night.
Your paw pads press against the moss-covered stones beneath the trees.
The faint musky presence of other animals who have traveled through the same carpet of leaves remains.
So different to move through a world this way.
Without a map or GPS to dictate.
Every turn is based on instinct.
Led by Sai.
Sound.
And the subtle shifts in the air.
Your body knows so much more.
You have allowed it to remember.
Is all you've ever needed to explore The packed trail full of paw prints.
Leads to a clearing.
Were tiny pinpricks of chartreuse light.
Flicker among the trees.
Hundreds of them.
If not thousands of fireflies.
Hover above the meadow of daisies and forget me not.
" They drift between the branches.
Flitting around the long needles of a white pine.
And the green foliage.
White birch trees.
And pops of neon yellow green.
The pack slows down.
And you slow your pace as well.
The wolves come to a quiet stillness.
To take in this extraordinary sight.
The fire flies,
Unthreatened.
Continue their quiet dance around you.
Unbothered and bright.
There is something sacred in this meadow.
Breathing along with the pack.
As your heart slows down.
The forest breathes along.
From the gentle sussurations of the cool breeze through the grass and trees.
The distant babble of water nearby.
It's a world of two constellations.
One.
Vibrantly yellow and flickering.
And close enough to touch.
The silvery expanse overhead.
That flickers with less urgency.
You're very small.
In this enormous living world.
Somehow at the same time.
Deeply powerful.
Once more you remember.
But you aren't separate from it.
You certainly don't need to be in charge of it.
Because you are part of it.
You are part of the moonlight and the earth.
Trees and the water.
The insects buzzing in the blue shadows.
The sleeping beings.
Huddled in their nooks,
Their nests,
And their hollows.
It is timeless.
It has existed before you.
Will continue long after this one magical night has passed.
And suddenly ahead.
A wolf with playful eyes turns toward the path.
Begins to jump around exuberantly.
Lowering her forearms.
In an invitation to play.
You bow as well.
To accept the challenge.
Chasing after this playful maze.
You run gleefully through the tall summer grasses.
Weaving around trees.
Leaping over fallen branches and hardy roots.
Fireflies scatter around you.
Swept up in your joyful movement.
Four other wolves enter the meadow and join in.
Soon the entire pack is moving together.
In a burst of spontaneous energy.
Racing through the forest.
Simply because it feels magnificent to run.
Cannot remember.
When you last felt so free.
Plugged into the beauty of a moment.
The creatures of the forest.
All make time for play like this.
Never grows old.
Or out of fashion.
Tonight there is no yesterday or tomorrow.
Only the exhilaration.
Being alive.
Beneath this magical summer moon.
Playfulness ensues.
Leading you through the other side of the woods the sound of rushing water becomes louder.
You follow the wolves.
In a single file.
Until you come upon a mystical stream.
The silvery blue water flows over large purple gray stones.
Smoothed by time.
Sparkling in the light.
The stream narrows and then widens into a pool.
Reflects the night sky.
And the silhouette of the trees in its gentle ripples.
You slow at the edge.
And follow the others.
Leaning forward to last.
It's the cool purifying water.
It tastes so clean.
So pristine.
You step into the shallows.
Feeling the cool current.
Move around your paw pad.
Refreshing your body.
After the warmth of the run.
For a moment.
You simply stand there.
Watching the ripples travel outward from you.
In a mesmerizing pattern.
A dragonfly skims across the stream.
Its pearly emerald markings.
Catch flashes of moonlight.
Everything moves according to its own ancient rhythm.
And you feel yourself moving according to yours.
No need to hurry.
A race to the next destination.
You remain beside the water for a while longer.
Allowing the stillness to settle into you.
The forest stretches endlessly around you.
Filled with creatures you will never see.
And sounds you will never learn to name.
While above you,
The stars continue shining.
With her hopeful light you look toward the leader of the pack.
And find its amber eyes already watching you.
Calm.
Knowing.
Into them.
One of the wolves begins to howl.
The sound rises into the summer night.
Deep and resonant.
Freeing and soulful.
You feel the sound vibrating through your chest.
Before another wolf joins.
And then another.
Until the entire pack is howling beneath the stars.
You lift your head.
Toward the enormous moon.
And let your call join theirs.
You feel the sound rise.
From somewhere deep within you.
From where your feet meet the earth.
Carrying with it.
Everything you have felt.
It comes out as a cry of joy.
A hell that declares your presence.
In this singular moment may never come again.
It says.
I am here.
I am alive.
I am free.
You howl again.
Your lungs and throat vibrating with life.
Feeling the extraordinary strength that comes from being fully connected to yourself.
Into the world around you.
Just like every other chapter of the night.
This one too.
Gently closes.
And one last burst of spontaneous bliss arrives.
The pack takes off.
Racing along the stream.
Deep in the night.
The air becomes cooler.
As the wolves move farther up the mountainside.
Forest becomes quieter.
The pines and cedars are more widely spaced.
Clouds dreamily drift across the moon.
Some stars are concealed.
Behind long silvery wisps.
And soon the pack arrives at a toppled tree.
We're one by one.
They enter a hidden opening.
Along the mountainside.
You gracefully tuck beneath it.
Following them into the secluded nesting place.
Feeling the air become warmer and stiller as you enter.
Layers of old leaves and the soft ground.
Create a natural bed.
Where you all may rest.
Coming to a communal stillness.
Cozy and safe.
You meet eyes with the leader of the past.
You get lost in the pool of golden embers within its eyes.
Glowing softly in the darkness.
This vibrant being.
Takes you in.
Of the quiet.
Telepathic exchange.
You feel the power of being present.
The magical world that exists beyond thought and words.
You curl up near the edge of the hollow.
Peer out at the mountain and landscape below.
Forest stretches beneath you.
Dark and peaceful beneath the fading moonlight.
The stream winding through it.
Like a silver silk ribbon.
The last fireflies flicker among the trees.
The sounds of the night begin to soften.
Your body becomes still.
As your heartbeat settles.
Your lungs now feel delightfully tired.
She let out a sigh.
Do you feel safe?
Hell.
And so very tired.
Sleep gently carries you between realms.
Taking you from the wilderness.
Your cozy bed at home.
As your heavy eyelids close.
You drift between this mountain hideaway.
In the safe confines of a bedroom.
Each place overlapping.
It's bringing the same sense of comfort.
Finding yourself.
Here and there.
All at once.
And if you could.
You would distill this memory.
This tale.
In this feeling.
You might imagine encapsulating it.
In a small glass vial on a necklace.
So it may rest against your heart center.
Holds within it.
The essence of this wild night.
Carries a reminder.
Of freedom.
And as sleep arrives with a night breeze.
Tugging at you gently.
With its invitation to surrender.
Your wild heart remembers.
All that being an adult.
Encourages it.
To forget.
Part of you that once ran.
Simply because running felt wonderful.
The part that knew how to be completely absorbed in a moment.
Follow a feeling without needing to understand where it would lead.
To find wonder in a field of fireflies.
The sound of water.
Moving over stones.
Beneath a starry sky.
This magical part of you remains.
Waiting to be heard.
Sometimes only stirring.
With an unexpected call from the wild.
A distant hell.
The scent of rain.
Sudden desire to run barefoot through the grass.
I lift your face toward the moon.
And simply breathe.
Sleep comes softly now.
Gauzy as the wispy clouds.
Drifting across the moon.
And you drift along with it.
Carrying that wildness gently within you.
Safe inside your little glass vial.
Glowing somewhere near your heart.
Into the quiet.
Into the dream.
Into that beautiful space.
Wakefulness and slumber.
Where everything is light and free.
Finding comfort.
Finding gratitude.
Finding.
Sleep.
It's time to dream away.
