Once Upon A Castle | Sleep Meditation Story

Journey to a far off castle in this sleep story. On the night of the full moon, castle dwellers and villagers forget their daily roles and join in a spontaneous ball in the garden. Free of responsibilities and egos, they are equal as they find joy beneath the stars as the music swell. You enjoy the spring night and connect with your most authentic self. As the ball ends, you retreat to a royal suite and fall asleep by a crackling fire. Come a new day, the adventures will be but a distant dream.

Transcript

Are you ready to relax and enjoy the splendor of a bedtime story before you fall asleep?

You are listening to Once Upon a Castle,

A soothing fairy tale and sleep story for grown-ups.

Travel to a far-off land to a medieval castle nestled within a forest surrounded by snowcapped mountains.

A full moon rises and residents awaken at midnight to wander beneath a magical pergola and enjoy a spontaneous ball in the garden.

The princesses,

Princes,

Servants and soldiers forget their daily roles and statuses.

They embrace the purest expressions of life and joy beneath the starry sky.

You attend the ball and forget about your earthly existence as you dance among the blissful souls as if in a waking dream.

Untethered and carefree,

You connect with the best feelings of the human experience.

Before sunrise,

You return to the castle and fall asleep in a royal suite.

It's time to dream away.

I would like to welcome you to Michelle's Sanctuary.

I am Michelle and as you listen,

Imagine I am the soft voice of a loving guide.

I am here to remind you of all your special qualities and help you connect with your most authentic self,

The self that you are when you peel away the constraints of the outside world and connect with inner silence.

This part of you is capable of great things and is a compass that may help you navigate and live a rich life.

You deserve to heal and relax at the end of each day.

This is a special time before you drift into your dreaming life.

I am here to help you cross over that bridge with a mystical story.

Remember that I am merely a guide with suggestions and you have total creative control to change details and customize this experience to what works best for you.

You may enjoy some relaxing breathwork or go straight to the story.

You may succumb to sleep at any point and return to listen in the future.

And even should you fall asleep before the story ends,

Your subconscious mind may embrace its whimsy and its hope will inspire your dreams.

Settle into your bed and feel your body become heavy.

Sink into the comforts of the sanctuary in your room as you savor the sanctuary of your mind.

Take in a deep breath,

The deepest of the day.

Fill your belly and ribs with air.

Think of the words I am as you inhale until your collarbones rise and you cannot take in another sip.

Open your mouth into a guilt-free yawn and then sigh.

Think of the words ready to imagine as the air slips out of your mouth.

I am ready to imagine.

Inhale again in another healing round of conscious breathing.

Inhale the words I am.

And then open your mouth into another yawn.

A signal to your body it may stand down and prepare for sleep.

Sigh as you exhale and think of the words ready to dream.

I am ready to dream.

One more time.

Inhale deeply.

Sipping in the air through your nose or pursed lips,

Whichever feels best.

I am,

Then yawn and exhale on the words ready to relax.

I am ready to relax.

Notice how relaxed you feel from head to toe.

This deep serenity supports your imagination and enhances your experience.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote,

Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.

Each day you are living and creating your own story.

Never forget the power you have to write and craft each moment.

Now nestled in your bed,

Safe and sound,

It is time for the story to begin.

If it weren't for the lingering perfume of lilies on the morning breeze,

The memories of the full moon balls would have remained deep in the subconscious minds of the castle dwellers.

The sweet yet spicy smell became stronger at nightfall when the night-flying insects spread pollen throughout the garden and the dwellers danced with no thought of class rank or earthly roles.

The candied notes softened in the preceding misty morning as dew drops in the castle garden gleamed in the golden promise of a new day.

The sense of smell is a powerful trigger.

The aromatic lilies stir a sense of intimacy and deep familiarity between soldiers and servants and royalty from a nearly forgotten night.

The fortress walls of pretense came down in lingering moments of shared smiles and eye contact.

Something felt different in the mornings after these spontaneous gatherings,

But amnesia set in as the hours passed on.

But in those first awakened hours,

The unexpected camaraderie carried the hint of a waking dream,

And reality didn't feel quite real after all.

You arrive at the stone castle late one evening by horse and carriage.

The twilight sky is a velvety shade of violet.

Stars begin to twinkle,

But the full moon has yet to rise.

The carriage wheels turn over twigs and branches of a forest path.

You inhale the sweet tobacco smells of the rich damp earth that mingles with the fragrant needles of balsam pine trees.

A twinkling ebony stream runs parallel to the bumpy path that leads to the fortress.

The castle stands on a rolling hill between snow-capped mountains,

Where the snow remains pearly white even on balmy spring nights like this.

Your invitation to the castle was delivered on luxurious handmade paper.

Feathery and accented with gold leaf,

You enjoyed running your fingers across the rich black ink.

The inscribed words left deep indentations by a confident hand and a sharp fountain pen.

It felt good to be invited,

For you have needed an escape from your current reality.

So comfortable in routine for so long,

The unlimited options for your life became muted by familiarity and daily patterns.

The world around you is defoiled of the modern hum of airplanes and electronic devices.

The silence creates space for the songs of crickets and tree frogs,

The gentle rustle of the trees and tall blades of grass,

And the babbling sounds of the stream.

The nocturnal music crescendos in the purity of the night.

The sparkling stream widens and the forest narrows as you come upon the entrance to the castle on a hill.

Irises and forget-me-nots cascade down the high ground in a purple veil.

Your driver guides you on a curvy stone path to the entrance and pauses before a moat surrounding the castle.

The drawbridge slowly lowers,

And you take this moment to run your hands across the ruby jacquard silk that lines the plush seat in the carriage.

The supermoon ascends above the white-capped mountains and shines its pearly light on the castle spires.

Dozens of ornate towers with terraces and sacred rooms jet against the dark sky.

The castle is a keeper of whimsical secrets.

These secrets indicate there is so much more going on in our waking lives than we realize,

And on this night you have a spine-tingling awareness that you will be witness to more than meets the eye.

Light reflects off the silver-stone spires onto the carriage,

And you bask in a reflection of a reflection from the glorious sun.

You imagine being like the sun,

And your light shining and reflecting off others,

Even when you are not around.

The chains of the bridge jingle,

And the wooden boards creak as the bridge lands.

Horse hooves clack on the wooden planks,

And you inhale the metallic,

Crisp aroma of the moat and the smell of fresh spring grass.

You arrive at the main entrance and the carriage parks.

The driver helps you out,

And an awaiting attendant stands at the main doors and comes to gather your luggage.

The moments play out in suspended animation.

Your mind is like a camera,

Capturing each moment in pieces for later recall.

The cool stone castle walls contrast the roaring fires and fireplaces that take up half a room and stand as tall as you.

Long soft rugs flow like jewel-toned streams down lofty corridors that connect the many castle wings.

You follow your attendant,

Who walks sprightly through the dark and quiet castle halls.

Everyone is asleep,

Tucked in their beds,

But for the knights who stand guard and protect the castle,

You arrive at a suite designed how you would expect your castle accommodations to be.

Windows run from floor to ceiling,

The dozens of glass panes surrounded by cast iron grates.

Sheer curtain panels dance on the spring breeze that finds its way through the slight crack in the windows.

A fire burns in the room and makes the room so warm you welcome the night air.

You look out the windows to see a garden maze of verdant green shrubs lit up in the moonlight.

The shrubs rise out of the earth at the edge of the castle garden that overflows with an array of pastel-hued roses,

Lilies,

And orchids.

The softest scent of the flowers rides on the breeze.

The attendant closes the door behind you and you sit by the fire in a velvet armchair.

A silver tray sits on a side table made of walnut wood that has been carved to resemble braids of licorice twists.

You pour the tea into a cup.

The silky beverage is warm on your tongue when you sip it.

It tastes exotic,

Sweet,

And unlike anything you have sampled before.

The flavor is familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time.

This sensation sets the tone for the night as it unfolds.

A grandfather clock stands in the corner of the royal suite.

The bronze hand ticks past midnight and you hear the swells of a violin echoing through the corridors of the castle.

The patter of feet on the decorative rugs that weave through the castle hallways precedes the music.

The conversation is quiet yet animated and you look through the peephole of the bedroom doors to see men and women of all ages walking in their cotton nightclothes.

Their eyes are glassy and they look off dreamily without focus as they travel outside the castle.

You return to your window and notice a pergola covered in ivy that drips like candle wax onto the grass.

The people walk together,

Led by an unspoken mission and cross beneath the pergola.

They exit into the gardens and walk through shimmering gold light.

As the people emerge from the opulent light,

Their pajamas become ballroom attire.

The wardrobe varies stylistically across eras past and eras to come.

All time exists at once and so all fashions exist as well.

Each soul expresses itself in a different gown or suit depending on their wishes.

Some guests are in velvet blazers with bow ties,

While others don royal capes in shades of emerald and sapphire with gold brocade trim.

Some gowns glitter with rhinestones and sequins that land in mermaid skirts.

Other guests wear corsets with silk skirts in a rainbow of colors that cascade over hoop petticoats and swing above the grass like gently wrung bells.

A band assembles in the heart of the garden and the music begins to swell.

Curiously,

You walk towards the heavy wooden door of the suite and creak it open.

You look down the hall and the sleepy dwellers continue to file out of the castle,

Including the knights.

Drifting through the historic stone walls with the fluidity of seagrass in an estuary,

You join them and mimic their gates.

Swafting down the hall,

You arrive at the main entrance where you first arrived.

The drawbridge is down and villagers and forest dwellers walk on the moonlit path towards the castle.

You walk by a library and then a dining hall that opens out into the courtyard.

One by one the people exit and file beneath the pergola.

You join them outdoors.

When you arrive at the pergola,

You reach your hand towards the waxy ivy.

It is cool and smooth to the touch.

The leaves are thick and you run your finger across their jagged points.

A foot soldier and princess are enchanted by the leaves as well and follow you laughing as they do.

Their awareness,

Like yours,

Makes you feel as though you are on the cusp of a dream.

You exit the ivy covered pergola and walk through a shower of shimmering golden light.

Your body tingles pleasantly from head to toe.

You feel a soft pressure and massage.

Your travel wear transforms into a wardrobe that makes you feel regal and confident.

If you were to pour through the fashions of hundreds of years,

This would be the outfit you would choose.

It fits your body comfortably and makes you want to move.

The supple fabric heightens the sensations you feel from every gentle breeze,

Every sharp motion and every move you make.

Your awareness of feeling alive and happy with your body's form is awakened.

This wardrobe makes you want to claim your space and celebrate the freedom you have to dance and move,

To smile and to laugh,

To sway to the rhythm of the music as you brush your fingers against the smooth petals of lilies in full bloom.

You stand still to watch the faces of the attendees as they pass through the structure,

As they leave their mortal roles behind them.

They leave their egos and judgment as well.

The need for power,

The need to serve,

The need to perform,

The need to be validated,

The need for approval,

The need to survive is gone.

You see it in their eyes,

In the creases around their lips,

In their postures and their movements.

Stepping into the garden removes the responsibilities and pressures of an invented society that brought struggle and suffering.

Beneath the moonlight in the garden,

There is an opportunity for reinvention.

This is not considered,

It simply happens.

In the garden,

Every soul may flourish and shine.

Everyone may simply be.

You walk to the heart of the garden through rows of rose bushes that flow onto the earth in petal waterfalls.

The full bloom roses open their hearts to the sky and bask in the moonlight.

The luminous petals are in shades of butter yellow,

Peach,

Silvery blue,

Pastel pink,

Ivory and lavender.

Three water stream tears shoot towards the sky and land in a formation of domes in a marble water fountain.

The pool is vast and lily pads and lotus flowers drift on the moon kissed water.

The full moon ball is a glimpse of a world where everyone is accepted as their authentic selves,

Beyond egos,

Beyond the protective fortresses of roles and social classes,

Beyond fear and beyond expectations.

The night whispers,

Come as you are.

You are loved and welcome,

And there is more than enough joy to be made and shared.

The waves of abundance interweave with feelings of safety and trust.

And from that comes beautiful music and silliness and spontaneity.

The woman who scrubs the palace floors is now hand in hand with a princess,

Spinning around in circles like an airplane propeller.

They laugh and sing out into the night,

Their souls reunited like long lost sisters.

The outsiders arrive,

Now welcome as well to enjoy the spring blossoms and joy of being alive.

Peace exists in places once burdened with dissent.

From a distance,

It may have been easy to see how all souls are connected,

But on this magical night,

It is witnessed up close.

Once sworn enemies now laugh and forget why they ever warred with one another at all.

It seems like a ridiculous game.

Someone asks you to dance,

And you emphatically say yes.

Gone are the insecurities,

The doubt,

And the moments of feeling self-conscious you may have ever felt in your waking life.

Feels liberating to move.

The cool night air offers a reprieve from the warmth of your body as you move to the rhythm.

Some of the dancers comfortably move in familiar patterns of popular dances throughout time,

While others enjoy moving in a freestyle motion,

Surrendering to the rhythm of the song like the tide surrendered to the lunar pull.

You look around at the eclectic gowns and wardrobe that represent all eras,

But share in common one thing.

They attempt to capture the elements of beauty already found in nature.

The sparkling light reflecting off a sea,

The rich color of spring found in a field of wildflowers,

The contrast of night and day in black and white tuxedos,

The capes that dare one to imagine what it is like to fly,

How obvious it becomes in this moment that all along the human experience has sought to reflect beauty and love in a myriad of ways like nature.

Just as everyone may dance with ease,

They also sing out in song,

More content to share their voices than to worry about muting them and avoiding the sound of judgment.

For in their waking lives,

The judgment only comes from those who are not comfortable with themselves.

And on this night,

Beneath the full moon,

Everyone is as comfortable as they will ever be.

And thus everyone feels welcome.

The party moves to the fountain as the revelers remove their shoes and step into the wide and long pool that runs half the length of the castle.

They stand and splash between the lily pads,

Careful to respect the mystical blooms.

You join them and feel the cool spray of the fountain on your lips.

Your smile brought back to the earliest of experiences of these earthly pleasures buried deep within your vault of childhood memories.

You take in a breath and wipe the clean droplets of spray from your face.

How wonderful it is to feel so alive.

How peculiar it is to at times feel more alive in a dream than in waking reality.

Everyone on this night feels more alive than they have in some time.

Daily life at the castle feels like a dress rehearsal for life as everyone goes through the mundane tasks that they have inherited,

Rarely defying what they have been told.

But in the night at the full moon ball,

They wonder why they ever cared about such silly things at all.

It's far less lonely when they come together and share the joys and reflections of being part of this world.

No one would tell the roses how to grow or impose judgment on the ivy as it expands beyond the pergola.

The night delivers a feeling of live and let be.

Before the dawning of a new morning,

The attendees return to the castle led by an internal clock.

They journey through the pergola and come out the other side,

Dressed again in their bedclothes and ready for sleep.

And while they may appear unchanged,

Every person has a sparkle in their eyes.

It is the shine of the truth they discovered on this night.

They may revisit it with each full moon.

And every visit has a more lasting impression to play out in their waking roles and lives.

The full moon nurtures the seeds within them.

It sparks change that empowers the slow but inevitable march towards a better world,

Towards an authentic life,

To a mission that brings bliss and passion for life.

The moon grants the vision to see that everything is temporary.

And everything in reality was once imagined.

So why not imagine more?

The band is the last to leave and they play for the moon,

The roses and the lilies.

They play for themselves.

The music lives within them and how blessed they are that it lives on in their waking lives as well.

You stand before the sun begins to rise.

You are the last remaining attendee.

You look at the mountain peaks just before the sun begins to rise.

You feel tired and refreshed all at once.

You realize the wiser you become in time,

The more you can experience and respect two dissimilar feelings at the same time.

There is peace to be found and nurtured in the acceptance of this and in the in-between.

You feel peace in your heart center and in your lungs as you inhale the perfume of the lilies and the damp spring air.

You look to the purple-black mountains still awash in moonlight,

Soon to be replaced by the light of sunrise.

You feel grateful.

You feel content.

You look down at your fancy clothes,

Damp and wrinkled from the fountain.

They may have lost their allure,

But they have become mementos of a night well spent.

There are more riches to be found in experiences.

And this night was quite an experience.

You walk beneath the ivy pergola and emerge on the other side in dry ivory cotton pajamas.

They are warm against your skin and in the brisk morning,

You look forward to the dark,

Cavernous sweet in the castle.

It is quiet throughout the halls and everyone has fallen into a deep,

Restful sleep.

They will awaken refreshed,

Sleeping later than normal without judgment or concern.

The flow of the routine during most days will naturally return,

But it has become accepted that for some unknown reason,

Everyone sleeps later in the mornings following a full moon.

You enter the royal suite and close the windows.

You draw the thick velvet curtains closed.

The room becomes dark before the soft glow of embers in the fire.

You stoke the glowing embers and add another log.

The soothing cracks and pops begin and offer a pleasant soundtrack as you climb into the bed.

You sink into the pillowy mattress tucked beneath a heavy quilt and close your eyes.

Like your new friends who danced beneath a healing moon alongside you,

You will dream of new adventures and expressions of yourself that await you in the future.

You will remember that you are far more than the roles you play each day.

You are the embodiment of life,

You are energy,

You are light.

Your eyes heavily fall on your tired eyes and you sink deeper and deeper down towards sleep.

And I am going to count you down to a night of deep healing sleep.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Finding peace.

Finding respite.

Finding bliss.

Finding sleep.

It's time to dream away.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Reviews

Thank you kindly Michelle for another amazing bedtime story that put me to sleep. I’ve seen many castles in Europe, but never got to stay in one. Magical adventure touring through the servants’ stone stairway at Balmoral & imagining who walked there so many centuries ago. Of course I fell asleep, & although on repeat, still missed some of the story, and will gladly have to play it again! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

Lovely story! Enjoyed the ball so. And a beautiful message behind it too. :)

Thanks, Michelle! Another wonderful story that put me right to sleep!

Lovely. I was happily drifting in and out, and woke up with beautiful images of aromatic flowers and magically transformed pajamas. Thank you and Blessings 🕊💗

Michelle that was fantastic, it literally put me to sleep within 5 minutes . I suffer from a sleeping disorder.
Thanks so much for all the effort that you put into presenting these meditations.
Namaste
🙏🏻

Michelle's Sanctuary sleep stories are wonderful especially in the winter when I can listen to the cold stories snuggled in my yummy warm polar fleece sheets

😴 🛌 💭 I can really visualize these bedtime stories and it’s so soothing and magical. The escape is much needed for me these days. I really love your stories. So grateful I randomly found snowy cabin in the woods one day a long time ago! Namaste 🙏 🧚❤️✨✨💫

I love this story & felt like I was in this beautiful garden, that feels like such a wonderful escape from everything. Thank you.

Wonderful as always
Thank you
Namesta

Last night, I was so happy when I discovered your new sleep story under notifications. Showed nobody had played it yet. Never got beyond the introduction throughout the night. This morning, I heard the beginning...and the very end with countdown. Curious how many nights it will take before I will hear it fully. Thank you, Michelle🙏🏻😴😇🙏🏻

Listening to your voice and the sleep stories always puts me to sleep within the first couple sentences. 🙏