Just take a moment to get comfortable and allow your eyes to close.
With your eyes closed,
I'll just tell this story in the background.
And as you listen along to this story,
I don't know whether you'll drift off asleep faster with the sounds of my words or with the spaces between my words.
And as you drift comfortably asleep,
So I'll just tell the story in the background.
And it's a story about a young girl and she's desperate to become a world-class ballet dancer.
And so every day she goes down to the halls and practices her moves in front of the mirror.
And then every afternoon she heads home,
Often exhausted,
And relaxes down in front of a fire,
Closes her eyes and imagines her future.
Imagines a future of being in front of an audience in a theatre as a curtain draws back on a stage.
A silence falls over the theatre and a conductor taps and then music starts.
And she feels that music,
Almost like her movements,
Herself and the music are one.
Where she feels herself moving almost effortlessly,
Almost like she has no weight to her body.
And yet has a certain solidity and a certain groundedness to her body,
Almost like she's gliding around the stage.
So absorbed in the moment,
Where the audience just seems to fade to black,
The surroundings seem to fade away,
Almost like there's a spotlight just on her.
As she rises up and extends with a feeling of effortlessness and twists and pulls her arms in to speed up her spinning,
Stretching her arms out to slow her spinning.
Moving a leg in or out,
Higher or lower,
To control speed and the movement and twisting in the air and arching and swooping up and ribbon and other props.
Using the props,
Her movement,
Her body to create graceful poses and shapes.
Aware of how she almost glides across the stage,
Knowing that if the music wasn't playing,
You'd barely hear a sound from her movement.
Almost like a ninja,
Being able to sneak around,
Having so much control of the muscles.
Aware of everything that went into that,
All the aching,
All the effort and the hard work that went into making this seem so effortless.
And as she relaxes in front of that fire,
Almost mentally rehearsing the future she's striving for.
So that allows her body to relax,
It allows the tension from the day to pass out of her body,
To pass through her shoulders,
Her neck,
Down through her body with a sense of relaxation.
And as that happens,
So her breathing slows and she starts to drift deeper inside her mind,
Exploring this desired future for herself.
And when she then settles down for the night,
To go to bed,
She drifts off so comfortably asleep.
Asleep,
That's made deeper because of the hard work she's done through the day,
Sleep she feels she's earned from that day's work,
From that day's dancing.
And the next morning she awakens,
Feeling refreshed,
She leaves her house and she walks down the hill of a country village,
Down the hill into the centre.
The main street.
And as she walks down the hill,
So she can hear birds chirping,
She can notice the blue sky,
Perhaps a few clouds passing by.
And she starts to skip a little as she continues down that hill.
But not skipping in a random kind of way,
But practising her dancing,
Taking every moment to truly live as a dancer.
And she skips her way down that hill,
Feeling the breeze on her face.
And then down near the bottom of the hill is a bridge over a river.
And she crosses that bridge,
Listening to that rushing water passing under her.
And heads into the village,
Where the first thing she notices is the smell from the bakery,
Where she gets drawn in by that mouth-watering cinnamon bun smell.
So she follows that smell,
Heads around to the bakery,
She can smell the early morning cooking of the bread,
The cinnamon buns.
And she heads into the bakery,
Buys herself a bun,
And chats with the baker for a little bit.
And the baker enjoys how pleasant and friendly she is,
And how kind she is,
And she says goodbye to the baker and leaves the bakery.
And continues on through the town.
And she passes a few other shops,
And heads down by the market square.
And as she approaches the market square,
So she notices there's more activity here.
People milling around,
Chatting,
Laughing,
Looking for a bargain.
And she turns down a street,
A very quiet little street,
Almost like an alleyway.
And she sees a little doormouse,
Scurrying along a brick wall.
And as the doormouse sees her,
So it freezes.
And so she freezes,
And she then crouches down,
Breaks off some of her cinnamon bun,
Crumples it up a little bit,
And just rests there,
Crouched down,
With her hand on the ground,
And the bits of cinnamon bun resting in the palm of her hand.
And she just gazes at a point between herself and the doormouse,
And relaxes.
And while she relaxes,
She allows her breathing to slow and calm,
And as it does,
So she notices,
That doormouse begins to move again.
And twitches its nose,
And seems to show an interest in this strange person,
Who's crouched down in this street.
And it takes a few steps towards her,
And then stops,
And then looks around,
And then takes a few more steps,
And stops,
And looks around.
And with each few steps,
So that doormouse becomes more comfortable and confident,
That this girl isn't a threat.
Until eventually,
It works its way all the way over to her hand,
Rests its front feet gently on her finger,
Holding her finger gently,
To almost pull itself up a little bit,
Over her hand.
And eats some of that cinnamon bun out of her hand,
Before letting go of her finger again,
And scampering back off.
And the girl stands up,
And continues her journey,
Down this street,
And she turns out onto the next street,
And finds her way to the haberdashery.
And she loves the smell,
The different materials,
She loves the feeling of going to drawers of different buttons,
And just plunging her hands into those drawers,
Pushing her fingers down into the buttons,
Moving her fingers around.
Holding a few of the buttons,
Feeling the smoothness,
The softness,
The texture of each individual button.
Feeling the holes of the button with her thumb,
Touching the different materials,
And the ribbons.
And the person in this haberdashery,
Makes items of clothing as well.
Just simple,
Quick to make items.
And she asks them if they'd take some of their materials,
Some of their ribbon,
And make them a flowy dress.
And so she finds the softest,
Lightest material she can.
She gets measured up for a dress.
And then they get to work,
Making up that dress.
A dress that will flow,
That will flare out whenever she turns.
A dress that makes her feel so light,
That represents her dancing.
And while they work on the dress,
So she goes and sits in the corner of the shop.
And she sees their new kitten,
A little tabby kitten,
That nervously at first,
Looks her up and down,
Before coming over to her.
And then sitting by her foot.
And then it drops on its side,
On the top of her foot.
And then,
Because she doesn't react negatively to it,
It climbs its way up her leg,
Over onto her lap.
Pushes itself into her lap,
And drops itself down,
Loose and limp,
On her lap.
And she gently strokes that kitten,
And can feel the warmth of the kitten.
Can feel it purring,
Can hear its purring,
Can feel it breathing,
And can feel its fur in her fingertips.
And she wonders to herself whether the kitten is becoming more relaxed,
Because she's stroking that kitten.
Or whether she is the one becoming more relaxed,
Because of the kitten's relaxation,
And the purring.
And the way the kitten is breathing,
And trusting her.
And the two of them together get lost in time.
Losing track of time,
Just sitting,
Enjoying the moment.
And while she's just stroking that kitten there,
Her mind begins to wander.
And she begins to drift off into a daydream.
She begins to imagine herself,
All grown up,
Staying in a lodge in a snurry environment.
And just outside this lodge,
In a courtyard,
The most beautiful ice sculpture of a horse.
And she admires that ice sculpture.
The way movement is captured within the carving of the sculpture.
Within the way the muscles have been carved,
And with the posing of that horse.
And she goes and touches that sculpture,
Feels that ice.
Feels the coolness of the ice.
And the way the ice seems to melt ever so slightly under the warmth of her hands.
And she goes out from that lodge,
On a walk through a forest.
With snow-covered pine trees,
And large and light snow falling.
And as she walks through this pine forest,
Smelling that pine smell,
She sees in the distance,
A large red stag.
Pushing its head down through the snow,
Eating some grass.
She walks a bit closer,
But doesn't want to disturb it.
And so she walks very quietly.
Almost gliding towards that stag.
And she can hear the snow cracking under her feet.
But she's walking so carefully,
She can see the stag breathing calmly and relaxed.
And so she knows she's not disturbing that stag.
And as she gets closer,
So she notices that the stag has an eye on her.
And so it knows that she's there.
And yet,
It's not afraid,
It's staying.
And she has her hands out.
Loose and limp,
But out.
So the stag can see she's no threat.
Palms slightly turned towards the stag.
Head looking away slightly from the stag,
As she walks towards it.
And as she gets very close to that stag,
So it lifts its head up and turns to look at her.
And only then does she notice how large its antlers are.
And yet it still doesn't run.
It holds its ground and she walks calmly and non-threatening towards it.
And she reaches out.
One hand towards the side of its neck.
Very slowly.
And the stag then moves its head,
Bringing its neck in contact with her hand.
And she can feel the warmth of that stag.
The softness of its fur.
And she then climbs onto the stag,
Almost as if that stag is inviting her to do so.
And then the stag starts walking among the pine trees.
And she feels so lucky to be just riding so high up on this stag.
That it's trusting her.
And the stag walks her through the pine trees and heads down to a lake.
And she breaks through the ice at the edge of the lake.
And has a drink from the water.
And she climbs down from the stag's back.
She walks a little bit around that lake.
And she can see,
High up in the sky,
There's an eagle just circling.
And she wonders what the eagle must see over such a white and snowy space.
And she relaxes back against one of the pine trees.
And allows herself to drift off into a reverie.
Focusing on the idea of being that eagle.
And then she finds herself seeing through the eyes of an eagle.
Gazing over a pine forest.
Covered in snow.
Noticing how the eagle can notice almost purplish marks going through that snow.
And can notice tracks through the snow.
And she becomes aware that the eagle obviously had a broader range of vision.
Than she does.
And she can feel the way the eagle maneuvers in the air so gracefully.
Using so little effort.
Just the slightest movement to increase or decrease speed.
To raise or lower in the sky.
Twisting and turning.
Catching slightly warmer air.
To rise up.
And she realizes what she's learning about dancing.
From this eagle experience.
And then almost as soon as the experience began.
It feels like it's already going.
And she hears that stag letting out a breath.
That brings her back to the moment.
And she climbs on the back of the stag again.
And gently nudges the stag with her legs.
And using the movement and the pressure of her hands on its neck.
Just resting gently on the sides of its neck.
She communicates to it which directions to go.
And allows it to take her all the way back to that lodge.
And back at the lodge.
She goes through to a sweat room.
Somewhere that's so warm.
Compared to being out in the cold.
And as she relaxes there.
So she finds her mind wandering again.
But this time.
As she has water on her face.
From the sweat,
From the heat of the room.
So she begins to have a sense of being out on a boat.
Out on the ocean.
And she starts to have that feeling of a boat rocking left and right.
Side to side.
On the waves.
And then she begins to notice herself on that boat.
And she can see some land way off in the distance.
She can hear some seagulls.
And she sees a pod of dolphins.
And they just seem to be playing.
Gliding with waves.
Jumping.
Doing somersaults.
And she gets herself into some diving gear.
Drops off the side of the boat.
Bobs up and down in the water.
Swims out a little way from the boat.
And one of the dolphins.
One that looks younger.
Comes over to investigate her.
And as they investigate.
You can almost feel them scanning her.
Almost like they are using their sonar to scan her.
As the dolphin in front of her moves its head up and down.
And she watches with curiosity.
The way the dolphin makes the slightest flick of its tail.
The slightest movement of one fin or another.
To be able to corkscrew through the water.
Take sharp turns.
Do backflips.
Swim upside down.
To propel itself out of that water.
Doing incredible stunts in the air.
And deciding how it lands back in the water.
Sometimes with a splash.
Sometimes barely creating a wave.
And again she notices what she is learning about her dancing.
From watching this dolphin.
And she realizes that there are so many answers.
There is so much wisdom just in nature.
If you just take time to stop.
Be in the moment and observe.
And broaden your perspective.
And the dolphin swims over next to her.
As she reaches out one arm.
And it swims in to the inside of her arm.
And she instinctively holds on to its fin.
As it pulls her along and they swim along together for a while.
And then after a while the experience has to come to an end.
The dolphin swims her back to the boat.
She gets back on to the boat.
And relaxes down on that boat.
And begins to drift back from that reverie.
Resting in that room.
Feeling the warmth of that room.
Aware of the coldness outside the lodge.
And then after a while she feels a movement on her lap.
And she springs her back from that experience.
And she is aware she is still stroking that kitten.
And she opens her eyes.
And sees that her dress is almost made.
And so she carefully places the kitten on the floor.
Places on her dress.
Twirls in the dress.
Notices the way the dress fans out and spins around her.
And she walks out of this haberdashery.
Back out onto the street.
Where a man wearing a tight suit.
A fitted suit.
With a top hat and a cane.
Is there to greet her.
And he says that she looks like she should dance.
And she told him how much she loves to dance.
But there's no one here to dance with.
And then a man in the top hat taps his cane on the ground.
And the street suddenly changes.
The lights suddenly change.
The street suddenly becomes clear.
And then a man about her age walks across the street towards her.
Walking with purpose.
With one hand behind his back.
Another hand outstretched.
His back straight.
Neck straight.
Eyes ahead.
And as he walks towards her,
So she walks towards him.
And just as she's nearing him.
He takes a step slightly to the side.
And she takes a step slightly to the other side.
The hands touch.
Music begins.
He puts an arm around her.
She puts an arm around him.
They stand close.
And start moving to the music.
Following that music.
Finding poses on beats.
And ways of flowing.
From note to note.
Almost like extended notes created extended movements.
Quick notes created quick movements.
Sometimes the movements were across a few notes.
And for a moment she felt like she was in a world of her own.
Just gliding around this street.
Just the two of them.
Dancing.
Spinning.
Almost like the music,
Themselves and the moment were all the same thing.
And then as the music ended.
So they separated.
And were stood just over arms length apart.
And the street became normal again.
And the man with the cane and the top hat.
Was stood there clapping.
And said to her.
You're going to have a bright future.
And then disappeared.
And she thought that was an unusual experience.
And then looked up and found that her dance partner had disappeared.
And she was just stood there wearing this new dress.
And aware that now most of the day seemed to have gone.
As she found her way all the way back home.
She rested down in her room.
And she noticed on the table in her room.
Was a jigsaw puzzle she'd never seen before.
And yet the image on the box.
Was of a dance scene.
In a location.
Just like where she'd just danced.
And so she opened the box.
Dropped up the lid.
And as she allowed herself to become more sleepy.
Allowed herself to begin to feel tired.
She went through the jigsaw pieces.
Found all the edges.
Put together the edges of the jigsaw.
And then started piecing together the inside of the jigsaw.
And she found a piece with a door mouse.
In an alleyway.
She found a section.
Where it looked like the kitten.
And the haberdashery.
And smiling.
Off to one side in the middle of the picture.
She could see the person.
In the fitted suit with the cane and the top hat.
And next to them.
As she put those pieces in place.
She could see the person she had just danced with.
Almost looking like they're smiling at her.
Invitingly.
Almost like they're trying to invite her into the jigsaw.
Into the experience.
And she feels it's a curious jigsaw.
And she puts all the pieces in place.
And the last few pieces she puts in place.
She realises,
Reveals the banner that was up in the street.
And she notices the date on the banner.
As being a few years in the future.
And she feels this sense that somehow this is something that's meant to be.
For the future.
And as she puts that last jigsaw piece in place.
So she feels so tired.
She decides to go to bed.
She gets into bed.
Dreaming pleasant thoughts of the future.
She drifts and relaxes.
Asleep.
