Hello,
I'm going to tell you a story about Sol the sleepy sloth.
Sol lived in a beautiful rainforest full of colours,
Full of different animals and Sol was very happy.
He was just a baby sloth really,
Just finding his way.
One day he'd had such a busy day,
He had climbed all the way down his tree,
Down to the bottom of the rainforest and he'd spent quite a few minutes looking for leaves,
Nice green tasty leaves and then he'd had to climb all the way back up his tree and hang from the branches.
By the time Sol had climbed all the way down and climbed all the way back,
He felt exhausted and so he decided it was time to go to bed.
But very strangely,
As he was hanging upside down on his branch,
Sol suddenly felt very awake.
He was sure he'd be able to go to sleep quickly because he had been very tired.
He closed his eyes but he didn't go to sleep.
He turned himself around and still he didn't go to sleep.
He could hear the monkeys chattering,
He could see the beautiful toucans up in their tree and the rainforest suddenly seemed very,
Very noisy.
Sol closed his eyes again,
Tried to go back to sleep but nothing seemed to work.
His head was full of things that he'd been doing.
He was thinking about the beautiful green juicy leaves that he'd eaten.
He was thinking about waking up in the morning and seeing his friends and he swung his legs up over the branch,
Turned around,
Hung back down again but still he couldn't go to sleep.
The rainforest was very hot and poor Sol was quite uncomfortable with all his moving about but he just couldn't go to sleep.
Suddenly a little moth appeared.
Hello,
I'm Mol,
Said a voice.
Well I'm Sol,
Said Sol in a low voice and I can't go to sleep.
Well have you tried,
Said Mol.
Of course I've tried,
Said Sol.
I've been trying to go to sleep for hours now and I just can't.
Well have you tried closing your eyes?
Of course I've tried closing my eyes,
Said Sol,
But I just can't go to sleep.
Have you tried,
Hmm I know,
Said Mol,
Have you tried breathing?
Well I am breathing,
Said Sol,
So I don't know how that's going to help because I'm already breathing and I'm already not asleep.
Oh but you might want to try some special breathing.
What kind of special breathing,
Said Sol,
And how will breathing help me to go to sleep because I'm wide awake now?
Well are you a two-toed sloth or are you a three-toed sloth?
I have three toes on each of my feet,
Replied Sol.
Oh that's good,
Said Mol,
That's really helpful for counting.
How,
Said Sol,
Well you might want to keep hold of the tree branch with your legs but with your other set of toes you can do some counting and that will definitely help you go to sleep.
Sol was not sure about this at all.
How is counting my toes going to get me to sleep?
If I don't use the ones that are dangling over the tree that means I've only got six.
Counting to six isn't going to help me go to sleep.
Well actually,
Said Mol,
You only need to count to four and it will help,
I promise.
Sol was very excited about this.
So if I count I'll go to sleep?
Well yes but you have to count and you have to breathe and you have to do them both at the same time.
Oh that sounds very hard work,
Said Sol.
I'm not sure I can do that.
Oh I think you can.
We're not counting very big numbers,
We're only counting to four.
So you've got three toes on each side.
So I want you to hold your feet up,
Press one toe to the other toe,
Take a deep breath and count one and then let that one go and then touch the second toe,
Two and breathe out.
Then on the other foot,
Press two toes together,
Breathe in,
Count one,
Let that one go,
Press the other toes together,
Breathe out,
Count two.
Hmm,
Not sure about that,
Said Sol.
Come on,
Said Mol,
Let's try it again,
Really slow.
So you can use one of your toes to tap both fingers.
Let's try it together.
So we'll do deep breath in,
Tap the two toes together,
Count to two and breathe out,
Touching your other toe with the first toe.
Then on your other foot,
Touch your toes together,
Breathe in for three,
Let go,
Press the other two toes together and breathe out for four.
Let's do it just with the breathing.
Take a deep breath in,
One,
Breathe out,
Two,
Breathe in,
Three,
Breathe out,
Four.
Again,
Breathe in,
One,
Breathe out,
Two,
Breathe in,
Three,
Breathe out,
Four.
Sol started to feel very sleepy,
Very sleepy indeed.
Keep going,
Said Mol,
Keep counting.
Let's do it one more time.
Breathe in,
One,
Breathe out,
Two,
Breathe in,
Three,
Breathe out,
Four.
Mol stopped because she could hear snoring,
Big loud snores.
And she looked at Sol hanging from the tree,
Fast asleep,
Swinging gently on his tree.
Well,
That worked,
Thought Mol.
And if you find it difficult to go to sleep,
You can practice your breathing too.
Breathe in for one,
Breathe out for two,
Breathe in for three,
Breathe out for four.
And hopefully you'll have a really good night's sleep too.
Good night.
