Hello dear listeners and welcome back to Drift Off,
I'm your host Joanne.
Tonight I'm sharing a special rebroadcast of an episode first aired in July 2022,
The hypnotic sleep story of the Princess and the Pea.
This isn't just a simple bedtime story,
It's a carefully crafted sleep experience,
Using the tool of repetition to allow you deeper and deeper into relaxation.
You'll hear the story three times,
Each reading a little slower,
A little softer,
All set to the gentle sound of falling rain,
Inviting a sense of hypnotic sleepiness.
In the Princess and the Pea,
A single tiny pea hidden beneath layers of mattresses keeps a restless Princess awake.
In many ways,
Our minds can be the same.
One small thought,
One lingering worry,
Can press into our awareness,
Keeping us from fully sinking into rest,
But just as we can soften the layers of a bed,
We can soften the layers of our thoughts,
Gently smoothing them out with each breath,
Each soothing word,
Until all that remains is a deep sense of comfort and ease.
So let's take a moment to settle in now,
Allowing your body and mind to unwind completely,
Find a comfortable position,
Letting your body sink into your bed,
Fully supported,
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
And as you exhale,
Feel a wave of softness beginning to wash over you,
Gently bringing your awareness to your forehead,
Smoothing away any tension there.
Let your eyebrows soften,
Your jaw loosen,
Your shoulders drop just a little more.
With each exhale,
Imagine tension melting away,
Slowly and deeply,
Letting go of all tension coming down and out of your body like ripples in a quiet pond.
Feel your arms and hands grow heavy,
Warm,
Completely at ease,
Your chest rising and sinking,
Your belly softening,
Your legs and feet sinking deeper into relaxation,
As if wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and peace.
And now,
Take one more deep breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Feel a wave of softness coming over you,
Letting go of any lasting bits of tension or worry,
Just letting them drift away like leaves floating down a gentle stream.
And so my friend,
When you're ready,
Let's drift off with the hypnotic sleep story of the Princess and the Pea.
Once upon a time,
There was a prince who wanted to marry a princess,
But she would have to be a real princess.
So he traveled for months and months all over the world to find one,
But he could never find the one he wanted.
There were plenty of princesses everywhere he went,
But it was difficult for him to tell if they were real ones.
There was always something strange about them that didn't seem quite right to him.
So he came back home,
And he was very sad and disheartened,
For he would have liked very much to marry a real princess.
One evening,
A terrible storm came about.
Heavy torrential rain began to pour down,
And the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder were frightening.
Suddenly,
A knock was heard at the town gate,
And the old king himself went to open it.
A young girl was standing in front of the gate.
She told the king that she was a princess,
But good gracious,
The torrential rain and wind made her look shabby,
And not at all what a princess should look like.
The rainwater ran down from her hair and clothes,
And down into the toes of her shoes and out of her heels.
Yet,
She insisted that she was a real princess.
Well,
We shall find out soon enough,
Thought the old queen to herself.
But she said nothing to no one,
And quietly went into the bedroom,
Took all the bedding off the bed,
And laid one dried pea on the bottom of the bed.
Then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on top of the pea,
And laid twenty eiderdowns on top of the mattresses.
Here was where the princess was to sleep that night.
In the morning,
She was asked how she had slept.
Oh,
Terrible,
Said she.
I hardly slept the whole night.
Heaven knows what was in the bed,
But I was lying on something very hard that made me black and blue all over.
It was dreadful.
Upon hearing this,
The royal family knew right then and there that she was indeed a real princess,
Because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eiderdowns.
Only a real princess with soft,
Tender skin would be able to feel the little pea that lay beneath the layers of mattresses and eiderdowns.
So,
The prince happily asked the princess to marry him,
For now he knew for certain that he had found a real princess.
And the prince was happy to this day.
Once upon a time,
There was a prince who wanted to marry a princess,
But she would have to be a real princess.
So he traveled for months and months all over the world to find one,
But he could never find the one he wanted.
There were plenty of princesses everywhere he went,
But it was difficult for him to tell if they were real ones.
There was always something strange about them that didn't seem quite right to him.
So,
He eventually came back home,
And he was very sad and disheartened,
For he would have liked very much to marry a real princess.
One evening,
A terrible storm came about.
Heavy torrential rain began to pour down,
And the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder were frightening.
Suddenly,
A knock was heard at the door,
And the princess was taken to the town gate,
And the old king himself went to open it.
A young girl was standing in front of the gate.
She told the king that she was a princess,
A good gracious.
The torrential rain and wind made her look shabby,
And not at all what a princess should look like.
The rainwater ran down from her hair and clothes,
And down into the toes of her shoes and out of her heels.
Yet,
She insisted that she was a real princess.
Well,
We shall find out soon enough,
Thought the old queen to herself.
But she said nothing to no one,
And quietly went into the bedroom,
Took all the bedding off the bed,
And laid one dried pea on the bottom of the bed.
Then,
She took twenty mattresses and laid them on top of the pea,
And laid twenty eiderdowns on top of the mattresses.
Here was where the princess was to sleep that night.
In the morning,
She was asked how she had slept.
Oh,
Terrible,
Said she.
I hardly slept the whole night.
Heaven knows what was in the bed,
But I was lying with my head down on something very hard that made me black and blue all over.
It was dreadful.
Upon hearing this,
The royal family knew right then and there that she was indeed a real princess,
Because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eiderdowns.
Only a real princess with soft,
Tender skin would be able to feel the little pea that lay beneath the layers of mattresses and eiderdowns.
So,
The prince happily asked the princess to marry him,
For now he knew for certain that he had found a real princess,
And the pea was donated to a museum,
And it still lives there to this day.
Once upon a time,
There was a prince who wanted to marry a princess,
But she would have to be a real princess.
So,
He traveled for months and months all over the world to find one,
But he could never find the one he wanted.
There were plenty of princesses everywhere he went,
But it was difficult for him to tell if they were real ones.
There was always something strange about them that didn't seem quite right to him.
So,
He finally came back home,
And he was very sad and disheartened,
For he would have liked very much to marry a real princess.
One evening,
A terrible storm came about.
Heavy torrential rain began to pour down,
And the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder were frightening.
A knock was heard at the town gate,
And the old king himself went to open it.
A young girl was standing in front of the gate.
She told the king that she was a princess,
But good gracious,
The torrential rain and wind made her look shabby,
And not at all what a princess should look like.
The rainwater ran down,
Down,
All the way down from her hair and clothes,
And all the way down into the toes of her shoes and out of her heels.
Yet,
She did not look like a princess at all.
She insisted that she was a real princess.
Well,
We shall find out soon enough,
Thought the old queen to herself.
But,
She said nothing to no one,
And quietly went into the room,
Took all the bedding off the bed,
And laid one dried pea on the bottom of the bed.
Then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on top of the pea,
And laid twenty eiderdowns on top of the mattresses.
Here was where the princess was to sleep that night.
In the morning,
She was asked how she had slept.
Oh,
Terrible,
Said she.
I hardly slept the whole night.
Heaven knows what was in the bed,
But I was lying on something very hard that made me black and blue all over.
It was dreadful.
Upon hearing this,
The royal family knew right then and there that she was indeed a real princess,
Because she had felt the pea through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eiderdowns.
Only a real princess with soft,
Tender skin would be able to feel the little pea that lay beneath the layers of mattresses and eiderdowns.
So the prince happily asked the princess to marry him,
For now he knew for certain that he had finally found a real princess.
And the pea was donated to a museum.
And you,
The listener,
Can let this story slowly fade away as you become even more relaxed than when you first started to listen.
Sleepier,
Drowsier,
Calmer and more relaxed.
And you can now easily drift into a sound and restful sleep.
And you sleep all through the night in a sound,
Undisturbed,
Restful sleep.
Your breathing is calm.
Your body is soft and relaxed.
Your thoughts slow down and become still.
You drift and float.
Your body is soft and relaxed.
You float and drift,
Dropping down into a sound and restful sleep.
Again,
You will feel well rested and refreshed.
There is nothing left to do,
Nowhere else to be but to enjoy this feeling of drifting and floating deeper and deeper down.
Drifting into a sound and restful sleep.
Comfortable,
Cozy,
Restful sleep.
As you sink deeper down into a sound,
Feeling heavy and relaxed,
As you sink into your comfy bed.
Just drifting and drifting into a sound and restful sleep.
