Reverie On A Beach: Bedtime Story

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep meditation in the background.

And I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense of a woman walking through a field of sunflowers at sunset and many of those sunflowers are as tall as her shoulders and she's walking through those beautiful yellow flowers noticing that orange sky with that Sun setting on the horizon.

Perhaps noticing the occasional wispy clouds in the sky catching the last glimmers of light.

And as she walks through this field of sunflowers,

So she can feel what each footstep feels like.

Hearing that slight crunch of the mud under her feet.

Noticing the way that her feet sink slightly into that mud with each step that she takes.

She can hear the rustling as her body pushes through the rows of sunflowers and she can begin to hear the evening sounds set in as that Sun continues to dip lower and lower over the horizon.

And after a while of walking through that field of sunflowers,

So she notices the stars appearing in the sky and the slightest slither of color on the horizon following behind that setting Sun.

And she walks out of that field and she can feel the beginning coolness of the air as she walks across grass and heads towards a cabin a little way from that field.

She can notice the glow of light coming from the cabin windows.

She can just about make out the faint sight of smoke at the chimney.

She can walk past an old tractor and heads into that cabin.

Hearing the sound of the door as she opens it.

Wiping her feet,

Entering the cabin.

Feeling the warmth in the cabin.

Noticing the flickering fire of a fire in the fireplace in the living room.

And she settles down in a chair near that fireplace and takes a few moments to begin to comfortably relax.

And as she begins to comfortably relax,

She takes a few deep purposeful breaths and allows her eyes to gently close.

And as her eyes gently close,

She can feel the air passing in through her nose and out through her mouth.

She breathes calmly,

Methodically,

Allowing her mind to wander as she begins the process of relaxing so deeply and so soundly into the experience.

And as she listens to the crackling of that fire and the slight sound of the dancing flames,

As the occasional slight breeze down the chimney disturbs the flame of the fire,

She starts to have this sense of the crackling,

The sound of the flames dancing,

Being almost like the sound of bubbles rising from scuba gear with each out breath that she takes.

And the sound of the dancing flames being almost like the sound of waves passing overhead.

And she begins to form this mental image in her mind's eye of being underwater,

Floating so peacefully,

So calmly scuba diving underwater with the sound of the bubbles with each out breath,

Slight tickling of the bubbles on her cheek as they pass beside her face,

Sound of the waves overhead.

And that feeling of the pressure change as those waves roll past.

And while she has that feeling of floating in the ocean,

Scuba diving,

She begins to have that sense of hearing some distant whales calling out to each other,

Of seeing fish swim by,

And of the way that everything seems to move almost in slow motion,

So peacefully,

So calmly down here.

And that something about being underwater seems to encourage her breathing to relax further and deeper.

And while her breathing relaxes,

Deeper and deeper,

She has that sense of noticing the colorful fish of a coral reef,

And swimming towards the shore,

And hearing the increasing sound of the waves as they roll into the shore,

As they crash on the shore.

And as she approaches the shore,

So she reaches a point where the sea is shallow enough for her to walk up onto the shore.

And she begins to walk towards that seashore.

And as she does,

She notices as her head and shoulders and then her body exit the water,

How heavy and cumbersome the scuba gear is,

While walking with the weight of the tank on her back,

Making her have to lean forward to compensate.

And once she's nearly fully out of the water,

She takes the tank off her back and carries it beside her.

And she walks up onto the most beautiful tropical beach,

Places her tank down on the sand,

Sits down next to that tank,

Takes off the face mask and gazes out over the most beautiful sparkling ocean.

The way the sun glistens and sparkles as it catches the tops of the waves of the rippling water,

Noticing the areas of the beach where the water's rolling in,

The white horses crashing onto the shore,

The areas of the beach where the water's calmer,

And just seems to almost gently lap onto the shore.

And while sitting down here on the sand,

She rests her hand down on the sand,

Feels the warmth of that sand,

Notices the texture of the sand,

The sensations of that dry sand under her hand,

And grasps the scoop of that sand,

Feeling what it's like for that sand to flow through the palm of her hand,

Through her fingertips,

Catching in the breeze,

And blowing away from her in the breeze.

And how some of that sand just beneath the surface is so cool and refreshing.

And she rests back,

Places her tank behind her head,

Rests her head on the tank,

And just watches for a while,

Feeling the breeze on her face,

Watching those clouds pass overhead,

So wispy and infrequently,

And just enjoying being in the moment.

She can hear the rustling of the wind blowing through the trees on this island behind her,

Hearing the sounds of birds among the trees.

Notice some birds flying overhead,

And gazing out to sea,

She can see the occasional bird dive into the ocean before rising out of the water again,

And see other birds come down and land on the ocean,

And just bobbing up and down,

And little groups of birds on the ocean,

As the waves seem to pass from behind those birds straight under those birds,

As they just rise up as the wave passes by,

And then lower down again,

Keeping just far enough out to sea,

So that the wave passes under them,

Almost unnoticeable,

Before curling over as it approaches the shore,

And bubbling its way along the shore.

And as she rests there,

Just watching the environment,

Just watching those birds on the ocean,

Watching the clouds pass overhead,

Feeling the cool breeze and the warmth of the sun,

She allows her eyes to close,

She turns her head towards the sun,

And begins to have that feeling almost like the sun is channeling energy inside her,

Feeling the warmth of that sun on her face,

Noticing the slight orangey glow behind her eyelids,

While listening to those rustling trees,

And as she rests there listening,

And drifting into the moment,

She begins to channel her attention around the different aspects of her experience,

To really narrow her experience down,

To being just in the moment,

And after a while,

She starts to have the strangest experience,

Almost like everything was grinding to a halt,

And as she carefully and slowly allows her eyes to open,

She notices that time seems to have stood still,

That it's almost like she's so in the moment,

That for her,

Time is standing still,

That time is still passing internally for her,

As she looks around,

She's able to think,

She's able to move,

But externally from her,

It's as if time has stood still,

And she stands up,

And notices time still seems to be stationary,

She can see stationary birds mid-flight,

A stationary bird mid-dive into the sea,

She can notice stationary waves about to break on the shore,

And she's curious about this experience that she's having,

And then she sees as she looks around,

A little way down the beach,

Seems to be a little shelter,

Made with wood and leaves,

And she walks down towards that shelter,

And she sees what looks like a person sitting in that shelter,

And they don't seem to be moving,

So she assumes that they are also stationary,

But as she gets nearer to them,

They look over towards her,

And for just a moment,

She's taken aback,

Because she thought that everything was stationary except for her,

And they say to her that time has stood still,

And that time has stood still,

Where only the two of them are able to notice that they saw the way she seemed to be drifting in her mind,

Drifting into the moment,

And as they saw this woman down the beach,

Drifting into the moment,

They were curious to enjoy the experience with them,

And so they matched the breathing of that woman down the beach,

They matched the body language of the woman down the beach,

And they allowed themselves to be drawn into the same reality as the woman down the beach,

And have noticed that now the two of them are almost existing outside of time,

And the woman sits down with this person near their campfire,

Only the campfire is stationary,

And there appears to be no heat given off by this campfire,

And they explain that while everything is stationary,

There is no way for heat to transfer,

And the woman is surprised that they can hear each other,

And they explain that hearing isn't just about the sounds,

That perhaps something about being in this state of mind triggers that ability to take all of the information and create the sound of speech,

Where there perhaps is none,

In the same way that you can look at a moving image of something heavy thudding on the ground,

And despite there being no sound attached to that moving image,

Your brain can fill in the blanks and make you feel like you're hearing that thudding sound that isn't there,

And that if you're capable of stopping time,

Then your brain is probably more capable than just making a thudding sound happen where there isn't one,

And the woman felt that this sounded plausible,

And she asked this person questions,

And they responded with some answers,

And they generally spoke about the nature of reality,

Of time,

Of space,

Of consciousness,

Of perception,

And after a while,

The woman felt that it would be time to go back to the other point on the beach,

And that she just had this feeling like the experience should begin to come to an end,

And so she headed back along the beach,

Rested back down where she was,

And then in a moment,

She suddenly heard this massive splash,

As a wave crashed on the shore,

And a bird completed its dive,

And the sounds of birds circling overhead could be heard,

The rustling sound of the trees,

And as she continued to just enjoy the experience a little longer,

Resting on this beach,

Gazing at the way the sun sparkled on the water,

The sounds of the sea rolling in and rolling out,

Sounds of rustling leaves of the trees behind her,

The sounds of the environment,

Sounds of nature,

The feeling of the sand beneath her,

The smell of that salty air,

She took time to really,

Honestly and fully enjoy this experience,

Before she started to have a sense of the sound of a crackling fire,

And off in the distance,

She started to see her experience fading,

The sky turning darker,

Almost to a non-existent darkness,

That gradually got closer and closer,

Until she found herself just aware of resting there,

Near that fire,

The warmth of the fire on her cheeks,

Resting and relaxing near that fire,

The feeling of the chair under her arms,

Against her back,

Her bum and her legs,

Her feet on the floor,

And the warmth of that fire on her cheeks,

And almost like a slight glow through her eyelids,

As she allowed her eyes to open,

And she could notice that looking out of the windows,

Night time had fully set in,

She could notice the way the fire was now just embers,

And had really calmed down in the fireplace,

And she put out the last of that fire,

Before heading to bed,

And as she rested down in bed,

She had the window very slightly open,

Just to allow a little bit of air in,

And she could feel the coolness of that air,

As she breathed that in and out,

The coolness on her cheeks,

Could hear the sounds of nature outside,

The night time sounds,

And notice the moonlight,

As the moon passed across the sky,

And the moonlight began to shine into her window,

And feeling the warmth of being in the bed,

The comfort of being in the bed,

The softness of the mattress,

Of the pillows,

And the coolness of the other side of the pillow,

And she flipped it over,

The coolness of that pillow against her cheek,

As she allowed herself to give in to the process of drifting,

And floating so peacefully,

So calmly,

So comfortably asleep,

Knowing that she can awaken in the morning,

Having had the most incredible night's sleep,

To go back outside,

To explore the surroundings,

To smell the flowers,

To walk through the sunflowers,

To enjoy feeling so fully alert and awake,

From having such a wonderful and relaxed night's sleep,

And so with a sense of peace,

Of comfort,

Of deep relaxation,

She drifts and floats asleep,