Welcome.
If you are listening to this,
Your body is ready for rest.
Your mind may not have received the message yet and that is completely fine.
That is exactly what we are here for.
Before we do anything else,
Let us send one clear signal from your body to your brain.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Feel your lungs completely.
And at the very top,
Take one more small sharp sip of air.
Then let it all go.
A long,
Slow,
Quiet exhale through your mouth.
One more time,
Deep breath in,
Quick sip at the top and a long,
Slow release.
Good.
Feel your shoulders drop.
Feel the weight of your body settling deeper into the mattress.
That breath just told your nervous system something important.
The day is over.
You are safe.
You can let go now.
One final time,
Breathe in,
Sip.
And release.
All the way out.
Now simply let your breath return to its own rhythm,
Slow and natural.
You do not need to control it anymore.
Now that the body is beginning to settle We are going to do something with the mind.
When we fall asleep naturally,
Our thinking changes.
It stops being logical and linear.
It becomes random.
Visual.
Unconnected.
Images arrive and dissolve without meaning or order.
We are going to gauge your mind into that state deliberately.
I'm going to offer you a series of simple,
Unrelated images.
Your only job is to let your mind briefly picture each one,
Then allow it to fade.
Do not hold onto any image,
Do not analyze it,
Simply allow each one to arrive,
Rest for a while and dissolve.
There's nothing to get right here.
Simply follow wherever the images take you.
Picture a wooden door at the end of a long corridor.
The door is simply open,
Soft light coming through.
Now let it fade.
Picture a white ceramic cup on a kitchen table,
Steam rising slowly.
Let it fade.
Picture a staircase curving gently downward,
Each step wide and wooden and unhurried.
Let it fade.
Picture a single candle flame,
Completely still,
Warm and golden.
Fading now.
Picture a stack of old books on a dusty shelf,
Their spines different colors,
Their titles unreadable,
Fading.
Picture a brass key lying on a stone surface,
Simply there,
Not belonging to anything in particular.
Folding Notice how easily the mind moves from one image to the next.
There's no story connecting them,
No problem to solve.
With no logic required,
The analytical mind is stepping back.
The dreaming mind is stepping forward.
Simply continue following.
Picture a rowing boat on a still blue water.
The water perfectly flat,
Barely any sound.
Fading.
Picture a single apple on a white plate,
Round and red,
And ordinary and unremarkable.
Fading.
Picture a long empty road at dusk,
Fields on either side,
Nothing moving.
Fading.
Picture a clock on a wall with no hands,
Simply the face,
Simply the numbers,
No time at all,
Fading.
Picture a stone bridge over a slow river,
The water underneath barely moving.
Fading.
Your body is becoming heavier now.
Your arms heavy and warm.
Your legs heavy and warm,
Your jaw slightly loose,
Your eyes still behind their lids.
Simply continue following the images,
There is no effort required.
Picture a wooden bench in an empty park.
Early morning,
No one there yet.
Fading.
Picture a glass of water on a bedside table,
The light catching it very slightly.
Fading,
Picture a grey stone on the bottom of a clear stream,
The water moving gently over it.
Fading.
Picture a door closing very slowly.
The sound of it almost inaudible.
Fading.
Picture a window and the curtains drawn,
A faint line of light at the edges almost nothing.
Fading.
Picture a single white feather resting on a wooden floor.
Not moving,
Simply there.
Fading.
The thoughts are becoming softer now,
More distant.
Like sound from another room.
You're not falling,
You're simply drifting.
Gently.
Without effort.
Following the images as they arrive.
And dissolve.
And arrive again.
Picture a hammock between two trees.
No wind,
No movement.
Simply resting.
Fading.
Picture a pair of hands folded in a lap,
Still,
Warm,
Nothing in them.
Fading.
Picture an empty chair by a window,
The window pale with early darkness.
Fading.
Picture a path disappearing into trees,
The light very low,
The path soft underfoot.
Simply following it.
Not arriving anywhere.
Simply walking slowly into the quiet.
Fading.
There is nothing left to resolve tonight,
Nothing that requires your attention until morning.
Every breath is slower than the one before it.
The mind is no longer searching.
It is simply drifting.
Following one quiet image to the next.
And the next.
Until there are no more words.
Omnitive music.
And the dark.
And the slow,
Ordinary miracle of a body that knows exactly how to sleep.
Simply let it.
You are already most of the way there.
