Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that you're laying down in your bed.
Everything is just right so that you can relax and let go of your busy day.
Take a nice big deep breath in for me and then breathe out with a sigh.
Like you're verbally releasing all of the good stuff and all of the not so good stuff from your day.
Take another big deep breath all the way down to your tummy.
Breathe in,
Breathe in,
Breathe in.
And then a nice big sigh.
Now you're ready.
There was a dance performance happening deep,
Deep down below the ocean.
Chloe,
Chantelle,
Ella and Belle were four mermaids that have been practicing very,
Very hard for their school dance performance.
It had been quite a crazy two weeks.
Two weeks of practicing every single day.
Trying to get along with each other,
Trying not to get stressed,
Trying not to blame one another for the mistakes that kept happening over and over and over again.
Trying to stay friends because they were super good friends.
They really,
Really got along normally and liked each other.
But in a situation like this that they were in where they had to be with each other an awful lot because they were practicing so many hours a day,
It got a little bit stressful.
And sometimes when you're stressed,
You're not really your best person.
Chloe and Chantelle,
Ella and Belle had a really good dance that they were doing.
It was so cool.
It was fun.
The music was awesome.
They had their own band.
They were called the Water Babies and they were basically a bunch of crabs.
You wouldn't think it,
But crabs are actually really good musicians.
And there they were.
There was a crab on the piano,
A crab on the violin,
A crab on a bass guitar that made it sound really funky,
A crab on the drums and a crab finally that was a singer.
He had an amazing voice.
The Water Babies were a really good choice to be able to dance to.
And the song that they chose was called Never Ending Waves.
It was a really catchy tune.
Anyway,
They'd been practicing with the band almost every day because obviously they didn't just have like a record player or a CD or the phones or anything that they could just play the song over and over and over again.
So the poor Water Babies were exhausted too because they'd been playing the song over and over and over for days and days and days and days.
They got the dance down so that it was practically perfect.
But this dance that they were doing was really complexed.
And it had parts to it where they had to swish their mermaid tails at exactly the right height,
Exactly the right time,
Exactly the right speed.
So everything was on time and in tune and they were all in sync with each other.
That was really difficult.
Have you ever tried to do a dance where you all do the same steps at the same time and you're supposed to all look exactly the same?
You think you can like swish your tail back and that's that.
But no,
When you have to swish your tail back at a certain speed and a certain height and a certain time so that everyone looks like they're swishing their tails back at the same time perfectly,
Then it gets really challenging.
It was the day of the performance.
Chloe said,
I don't think I can do it.
The other three girls were trying to support her and make her feel better.
Ella had her blown into a bag.
She'd heard that if you feel anxiety or a panic attack or anything like that coming on or if you feel faint,
Then it's good to blow into a paper bag and that helps you to calm down.
Belle said that wouldn't work because the bag would just melt and go soggy because they were under the ocean.
But she said you're supposed to put your head through your legs and bend over and that's supposed to help you to not feel bad and feel faint.
Chantelle said,
How is she supposed to do that when she doesn't have any legs?
Chloe thought that was really funny and the more she laughed,
The more she calmed down.
So they were all supporting each other.
They were backstage.
A bunch of other different groups of mermaids and creatures that live under the ocean that went to their school had all done the performance.
It happened to be that they were the last of the day to do the performance,
Which had pros and cons.
The con was they had enough time to get super duper nervous.
The pro was they would be the special last performance.
Everyone would remember them.
The dance went so well.
They did everything,
Every swish,
Every step,
Every swim,
Every turn,
Every dive was perfect.
And at the end of it,
The girls just hugged each other and congratulated each other and had the bestest,
Funnest time ever.
Afterwards,
They were going to have a sleepover.
They all went over to Chantelle's house.
Chantelle's mom had made them loads of sea snacks.
They had special drinks.
You know,
There's certain flowers that grow on different corals underneath the ocean and those flowers make a really nice cup of tea.
So the girls had got Chantelle's mom's special tea.
They were all chilling in their mermaid pajamas at the end of what felt like a very long two weeks.
But right now in this moment,
They felt super,
Super happy.
Oh,
And they won,
By the way.
They won the competition.
They were voted the best performance of the night.
The girls were all sat reflecting.
Chloe said,
What do you think you've learned?
You know,
Through the whole process.
Belle said that even when things get rough,
We're really good friends.
Ella said,
When I'm stressed,
I get really angry easy.
And I never knew that before.
Chantelle said,
When I'm super stressed and super busy,
I have to remind myself to eat.
I didn't realize I'd go all day sometimes and not eat.
Chloe said,
I think I learned that I'm really good under stress.
I stay quite calm,
Except for the performance.
I mean,
I got really anxious before the performance.
But during the practices and everything,
I think I did really good.
I surprised myself.
Overall,
It was a really good experience.
Belle said,
I don't know about you guys,
But I'm so tired.
I could really do with just listening to the waves and having a really good sleep.
The girls all agreed.
They all got comfortable on their coral beds.
Some of the corals down at the bottom of the ocean are really spongy and soft.
They relaxed their mermaid tails and closed their eyes.
The long mermaid hair was floating all around their heads as the water moved back and forth around them.
They were listening to the swishers and the noises and the sounds from far,
Far away.
They could hear dolphins and whales.
They could hear the corals communicating with each other,
The bubbling sounds.
And if they listened really carefully,
They could hear the sound of the waves rippling across the top of the ocean.
The moonlight was quite far away,
So it was dark and cozy.
It was very peaceful.
It was perfect.
They just listened and relaxed.
They let the mermaid bodies get heavier and heavier.
All four of them felt very happy and content,
Which made it even easier to fall to sleep.
They weren't worried about anything or stressed about anything.
They were just happy and peaceful.
They sank deeper and deeper into the soft,
Comfortable coral and started to drift off into dreamland.
As they listened to the water and the waves talking away in the background,
And they just got heavier and heavier.
Sleepier and sleepier.
It was the perfect day.
The end.
