Bedtime with Mrs.
Honeybee Today we'll be exploring the world of Mario.
We're going to meet my friends Mario,
Luigi,
And Princess Peach on our adventure.
They're so excited to see you.
All you have to do is close your eyes,
Get cozy,
And listen to the sound of my voice.
Mrs.
Honeybee will be your guide.
Let's begin.
You are walking along a block platform that's built up beneath you brick by brick.
Each step forwards aligns with brick one after another.
The sky above you is bright blue with a couple of puffy clouds hanging high above.
To one side you can see hills of neon green one after another protruding higher and higher into the blue sky.
Up ahead of you,
Along the path you are walking,
You can see several open pipes sticking up from the ground.
There's one just ahead of you.
Let's go check it out.
As you approach the pipe sticking up from the ground,
You notice someone standing right by it who appears to be waiting for you.
As you get closer,
You can clearly see who's waiting for you in his bright red hat,
Bright red shirt,
And blue overalls.
It's Mario.
He waves you hello with his white gloved hands as you walk up to greet him.
He gives you a big hug and is so happy that you're here.
He swiftly hops up onto the green pipe and reaches down a white glove to help you jump up.
You reach your hand up to grab his and jump yourself up onto the pipe with him.
The pipe under your feet is solid green metal.
You know that jumping on this usually takes you to a fun underworld.
He instructs you to close your eyes tightly,
Bend your knees like you're going to jump up to the clouds,
And then jump with all of your might while reaching your arms high into the sky.
He goes first to show you how to do it.
First,
He closes his eyes.
Tighten up that little wrinkle's form around his eyes.
Then he bends his knees and jumps as high as he can while reaching for the sky.
As if by some magical,
Invisible force,
Something grabs him from midair and he spins around and around and around so quickly that he blurs into a stir of red and blue color.
Then he disappears.
Now it's your turn.
Make sure your eyes are closed tightly,
Tight enough to make wrinkles.
You bend your knees like you're going to jump straight up to a cloud.
Then you do.
As you feel your feet leave the solid pipe,
A magical force spins you around and around without making you dizzy and you are pulled instantly down through the pipe.
You can feel your belly drop like you were on a roller coaster.
Now you are in the fun underground world beneath the block walkway.
When you meet Mario again in the underground world,
He greets you with a high five.
His white-gloved hand is soft to the touch.
The underground world is much darker,
But not at all scary.
You are deep underground and the space above you is dark like a silent nighttime sky.
The walkway beneath your feet is a bright turquoise color that seems to glow against the rest of the darkness.
There are turquoise blocks the same color as the walkway stacked on top of each other,
Like steps floating in midair.
Shiny gold coins twinkle above each midair step like stars lighting up a nighttime sky.
Mario wants you to know that a fun adventure awaits you in the underworld and that there's so much to explore.
One of Mario's favorite superpowers is changing his size with the help of super mushrooms.
He scurries away quickly,
Then jumps up onto one of the floating steps to grab something.
As he jumps back down to return to you,
He's carrying a big red and white spotted mushroom in his hands.
He sets it down between the both of you and stands right next to you.
In an excited voice,
He instructs you on the count of three to take a big breath in through your nose and jump as hard as you can onto the mushroom.
Ready?
One,
He grabs your hand in his.
Two,
You both bend your knees ready to jump with all your might.
Three,
Take a deep breath in through your nose as you jump onto the mushroom.
When you land on it,
Breathe all the air out through your mouth.
The mushroom squishes down with a squeak that sounds like its own kind of exhale.
The mushroom then bounces both of you up,
Up,
Up into the air like a trampoline.
As you soar through the underground space,
You can feel yourself expanding in size.
It feels like you're floating,
Inflated like a balloon.
You and Mario glide gently back down onto the turquoise walkway.
You are both three times larger.
You are now big enough to simply reach your super-sized hand up and grab a shining gold coin from above one of the floating steps.
It's tiny in your super-sized hands.
Your feet feel heavier as you begin to walk forward with Mario.
Right foot,
Left foot,
Right foot,
Left foot.
This helps you to bring your attention to your strong legs as they move you through this world.
As you walk with Mario,
Giant step by giant step,
He points his giant gloved hand to a tiny blue-spotted mushroom that's hiding behind another green pipe that's sticking out of a wall right ahead of you.
You both walk up to the pipe and he plucks the mushroom from where it is wedged between the pipe and the ground.
He holds it in his hand and tells you that this mini mushroom will help shrink you back to typical size,
Or even smaller if you focus your mind.
Since you've experienced being bigger than you usually are,
You want to see what it's like to be teeny tiny.
He holds out his hand for you to cup your hands around his holding the mushroom.
He tells you to focus your attention on your feet,
Holding you steadily on the ground.
Feel how steady you can be held up by your feet.
Then focus your breath on your feet.
Take a big breath in through your nose.
When you breathe out as your chest and lungs collapse back to their typical size,
Focus your shrinking exhale down into your feet.
You feel a blur spin around you and all of a sudden everything that just appeared so small is now massive around you.
Mario jumps up excited that he has shared his superpowers with you.
Since you are tiny,
You both get a running start.
Then you use your tiny legs to jump as high as you can into the pipe.
Mario goes first.
He runs,
Runs,
Runs,
Jumps up as high as he can,
Then disappears into the pipe.
Now it's your turn.
You lunge your tiny legs like you're about to start a race.
Then you run,
Run,
Run and jump as high as you can.
You close your eyes as you fly tiny through the air.
When you open them back up,
You are in a whole new area underground.
Mario's brother Luigi meets up with you too in this underground compartment.
He smiles and he waves you a white-gloved hello,
Wearing his bright green hat,
Green shirt and blue overalls.
Luigi explains that this level presents a new challenge.
Instead of finding mushrooms here,
There are zooming blue turtles who will try to run into you with their shells.
To avoid them,
You'll have to use your strong legs to jump up high over them.
Mario and Luigi are expert jumpers,
So they will show you how to do it.
The three of you walk forward along the turquoise path with the same nighttime sky darkness all around.
Mario and Luigi are ahead of you.
Luigi looks back to warn you that a turtle is coming up.
Get ready to jump.
You bend your knees and once you see Mario and Luigi jump ahead of you,
You push off the ground with all of your might and jump all the way over the blue zooming turtle.
You land gently back on the turquoise ground.
Mario and Luigi are expert jumpers and they think you did a great job jumping and bringing your attention to your legs.
Now that you've jumped all around this world,
Let's focus our attention on a technique Mario and Luigi use to relax their feet,
Ankles and legs.
Take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
As you inhale,
Make your feet,
Ankles,
Knees and legs as strong as you can.
Flex and strengthen every muscle you have from the bottom of your toes all the way up your legs.
Then as you breathe out slowly,
Releasing all the air from your lungs,
Let every single bone and muscle in your feet,
Ankles,
Knees and legs relax.
Let your feet be limp and choose where they fall.
Let your ankles and knees be soft.
Let all of your leg muscles be as squishy as the squishy squeaking mushroom.
Now that your feet,
Ankles,
Knees and legs are relaxed,
Mario and Luigi want to take you back to the above ground world.
You look up above you and see another green metal pipe protruding from the ceiling.
Mario and Luigi each grab one of your hands in their puffy white gloves and jump you up through the pipe in a blink.
When you open your eyes again,
You're back up on the stone walkway under a bright blue sky with a few puffy clouds hanging up above.
Next,
Mario and Luigi are going to introduce you to each of their friends because they each have special characteristics or abilities that will help you calm the rest of your body as well as your mind so you can experience a deep sense of relaxation.
Relaxing your mind and body is an important part of being as strong as you can and you are a very strong person.
We've already focused on relaxing your feet,
Ankles,
Knees and legs.
Next,
Let's meet up with Bowser to relax your hips,
Back and neck.
Here he comes walking towards you.
Bowser looks a little intimidating.
He is gigantic,
A turtle-like creature that lumbers his massive body forward.
He has a big bright green shell on his back that is protected by sharp ivory horns that protrude outward.
His shell goes all the way from his dinosaur-like tail to his neck,
Just under the ivory horns that protrude from the sides of his head.
Usually Bowser is trying to beat Mario and Luigi at their own game and conquer Mushroom Kingdom,
But he heard that you were here today so that he has decided to be friendly instead.
Bowser waves hello and smiles a happy,
Toothy grin as he approaches you,
Mario and Luigi.
Bowser is an expert at keeping his hips,
Back and neck strong.
He uses his hard shell to protect this part of his body and keep him stabilized.
Like a shell,
You have a strong spine that rests sturdily on your hips.
Imagine your strengthened spine and neck is a hard shell like Bowser has.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Feel your belly expand outward as it fills up with fresh air.
Then,
Breathe all the air out through your nose,
Bringing your belly back to its typical size,
Softened.
Throughout the movement of your breathing,
As with the movement in your life,
Your spine and neck stay strong,
Always supporting you from your hips to your shoulders like a protective shell.
Now that you've focused your attention on and relaxed most of your body,
Bring your attention to your chest and the beating heart within.
Mario and Luigi have a good friend who knows all about taking care of your heart and practicing gentle kindness.
Here she comes now.
It's Princess Peach.
Her long blonde hair and puffy pink gown trail behind her as she walks gracefully towards you.
She's very excited to see you.
When she arrives,
She walks towards you with her gloved arms wide open for a hug.
You hug her warmly.
She then explains that paying attention to your heart,
Both physically and emotionally,
Is just as important as paying attention to your body.
Your heart is a strong beating muscle that keeps you going most of the time without you even noticing.
For this reason,
Princess Peach suggests it's even more important to appreciate all that it does for you every single moment of every single day.
One way to appreciate your heart is to place both hands directly over your heart on your chest.
Place your left hand first,
Then your right hand.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel your hands placed gently on your chest.
Rise as your chest expands and fills with fresh air.
When you cannot take in any more air,
Pause for just a quick second and feel your heart beating even when you're not actively breathing.
After two beats of your heart,
Slowly release the air through your mouth.
Feel your hands placed gently on your chest.
Fall back down.
When you cannot exhale any more air,
Pause for another quick second and feel your heart beating even when you're not actively breathing.
Keeping your hands on your heart,
Breathe normally at a rate that is calm and comfortable for you.
Princess Peach thinks you're doing a great job bringing your attention to your heart.
She reaches her hand towards you,
Holding something that she'd like to give to you.
You reach your hands out to accept a little,
Sparkling pink heart with two cartoon eyes blinking lovingly at you.
As you accept the gift from Princess Peach,
She tells you that this heart is overflowing with love and kindness and will protect you from any opponent in any world as long as you carry it with you in your heart.
As you place the pink heart over your own,
Promise yourself that you'll carry a heart overflowing with love around with you.
This will help you practice kindness to both yourself and others.
If you allow yourself to be led by a soft heart,
It will lift you up.
To show you exactly how a kind heart can lift you up,
Princess Peach grabs your hand and asks you to take another focused breath in and out.
This time,
Focus on opening your chest on the inhale and softening your chest along with your belly on the exhale.
Breathe in,
Focus on opening your chest on the inhale and exhale,
Softening your chest along with your belly.
Part of you hold yourself strong,
Which allows another part of you to be soft.
Your feet,
Hips,
Spine and neck are your strengthened Bowser-like shell so your heart can remain overflowing with gentle kindness.
Focusing your attention on your softened heart,
You and Princess Peach begin to float up into the air.
You two soar into the bright blue sky,
Reaching out for a puffy cloud.
You reach your hand out closer and closer until you feel the cotton candy-like clouds hanging in the sky.
Since you were softened,
You were able to reach out and be met by softness.
If you allow yourself to be led by a soft heart,
It can show you a gentler world.
On the way back down from the cloud,
Princess Peach's gown acts as a parachute that delivers you gently back down to the stone walkway.
When you land,
You see that a new friend has joined the group.
You have focused your attention on your relaxed feet,
Legs,
Hips,
Spine,
Neck,
As well as softened your heart and belly.
This new friend is going to show you some techniques that he uses to relax his shoulders,
Arms and hands.
He's a big strong gorilla-like creature with muscular shoulders and arms and giant fists.
It's Donkey Kong.
Donkey Kong spends his days moving obstructions out of his friends' ways and tossing things aside,
Which means that he has to keep his shoulders,
Arms and hands strong.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and imagine that your shoulders,
Which are aligned with your hips and supported by your spine,
Are big and strong like Donkey Kongs.
As you breathe out,
Imagine your breath deflating your big shoulders and traveling down each of your arms,
Past your elbows and your wrists and finally escaping through your fingertips.
Just as strong as your shoulders and arms can be,
They must also be able to be equally as soft.
Take a moment to clench a strong fist,
Just like Donkey Kong,
As strong as you can.
Then,
Slowly release your fists,
Allowing each finger to unfurl one by one,
Starting with your pinky fingers.
Mario and Luigi have two more friends to introduce you to.
They think you're doing a great job relaxing each part of your body.
Here comes the next friend you're going to meet,
Yoshi.
When he appears in front of you,
He greets you with a squeaky.
He's so excited to see you.
Yoshi is a delightfully green dinosaur creature with big,
Happy eyes,
A big,
Puffy nose and an even bigger smile.
He's always smiling and always joyous,
So he wanted to meet you to help you soften and relax your face muscles.
He knows just how tired a face can get,
Even just from smiling so much and being happy.
He starts by gently closing his eyes.
Gently close your eyes with Yoshi if they're not already closed.
Then bring your focus to your forehead.
Make sure it's softened and relaxed.
Are your eyebrows wrinkled in toward each other?
If so,
Gently let them rest comfortably where they naturally are.
One thing Yoshi loves to do is puff out his cheeks with air to stretch out his cheek.
Take a big breath in through your nose and stop for a quick second when you cannot take in any more air.
Pretend as if you're going to exhale through your mouth,
But instead puff up your cheeks like air is trying to escape but cannot.
Push out your cheeks as far as you can,
Then exhale all the air through your mouth and soften your cheeks,
Your teeth and your jaw.
Throughout the day Yoshi notices that he holds his teeth tense and clenches his jaw like a fist.
Have you ever noticed yourself doing this like Yoshi?
If so,
Bring your awareness and your breath there and let it be soft for a moment.
The last friend Mario and Luigi want you to meet is little Toad,
And here he comes.
Toad is a tiny mushroom-like creature who has a big puffy red and white mushroom cap on his head.
He's focused on always happily helping his friend Princess Peach.
One of the ways Toad is able to focus so well on his work is by clearing his mind.
And that's what he came to show you how to do.
In addition to softening your heart,
Clearing and relaxing your mind is essential for your well-being.
You must allow your mind to wander and then rest if you want to try to focus.
Your mind is a multifaceted thing that's creative and logical,
Dreaming and questioning,
And you must exercise each part of your mind every day as well as rest it.
With your whole body and heart relaxed,
The last step is to quiet your mind and experience deep relaxation.
Take one last deep slow breath in through your nose.
As you inhale,
Imagine your head and your mind becoming big,
Soft and puffy like the mushroom cap Toad wears.
As you slowly exhale through your mouth,
Imagine breathing out all of your thoughts,
All of your worries,
And all of your fears.
Keep your mind to focus only on the sound of my voice.
If thoughts,
Worries,
Or fears come back,
Imagine them bouncing off your squishy mushroom cap head.
Relax here for a moment comfortably with all of your friends in the Super Mario World.
If you enjoy my bedtime stories and want even more,
Visit honeybeelibrary.
Com.
Honeybeelibrary.
Com is my private podcast with hundreds of exclusive bedtime stories.
If you chose a different bedtime story to listen to every night,
It would take you six months to listen to all of them.
There are over 200 exclusive stories available and I add new stories every Sunday.
Oh,
And you can listen online or use your favorite podcast player.
Listen to tons of new bedtime stories about all my favorite movies and video games at honeybeelibrary.
Com.
I can't wait to see you there.
