The Magical Library In Ancient Woodland: Long Bedtime Story

Welcome to this Slumberland Sleep Story.

I'll be your guide as you head to a magical cabin wandering from a quaint English town along the edge of a gently flowing river through lavender fields and into distant ancient woodland where you discover a magical cabin containing a secret ancient library.

In that library you discover a book of ancient wisdom.

You sit and read that book in the most comfortable chair before you drift peacefully asleep into Slumberland.

And I would like to take this moment to wish you the most peaceful nights sleep and pleasant dreams as you fall asleep to this bedtime story.

And before we begin the story you can take a few moments to settle down comfortably.

You can shift about a little if you need to,

To make yourself even more comfortable.

And when you're ready you can let your eyes gently close.

And as this story unfolds you can take a few deep relaxing breaths,

Allowing the out-breaths to be a little longer than the in-breaths.

And this just helps to trigger the body's natural relaxation response.

And so you find yourself walking through a quaint English town.

You're walking along cobbled streets and it's early in the morning and there's barely a person around.

And as you look around you can see the stonework of the old houses.

Noticing the gardens out the front of the houses.

The plants in those gardens.

The smell of the plants in those gardens.

Birds diving in and out of the hedgerows.

And evenly spaced trees lining the street.

And you walk along this cobbled street.

Finding your way out to a dirt bridle way.

And you continue walking along that bridle way.

You gaze back as you continue to walk.

Seeing that town behind you.

Seeing the church in the center of the town.

Its steeple towering above the other buildings.

The greenery around the outside of the town.

As the Sun continues to rise and people awaken and are beginning back in the town to come out on the streets.

And you can see in the distance back in the town people transporting market goods to set up the market stall in the center of town.

And so you continue walking along this path smelling the scent of wildflowers.

Walking along this bridle way with its hedge lined fields.

And the wild verges.

The occasional cloud overhead blue sky.

And the warmth of the early morning Sun beating down gently on your cheeks.

The smell of that fresh countryside air.

As you continue to walk away from the town and deeper and deeper into the countryside.

While walking deeper into the countryside you turn down a path between the most beautiful scented lavender fields.

The bluey purple of the lavender creating a striking contrast with the green of the hedges and the light blue of the sky.

And you take two or three deep comfortable breaths of that lavender scented air.

And as you walk along the edge of the fields.

So you notice a gap in the hedge to one field.

And you decide to just head over in through that gap to the edge of the field.

You head to that lavender.

You run your fingers and your palm of your hand gently through and over the top of the lavender.

The lavender tickling the palm of your hand.

You then hold the top of one of the lavender plants.

Gently rubbing that between your thumb and two first fingers.

Feeling the sensation of it almost crumbling.

Almost hearing that crumbling sound and the release of the scent of lavender.

Before releasing that plant rubbing your hands together spreading the scent of lavender across the fingertips and palms of both hands.

Bringing your hands up to your face cupping your mouth and nose and taking some breath the lavender scented hands.

And as you breathe out feeling a deep sense of relaxation and peace.

As if the scent of the lavender is clearing your mind of any worries or troubles.

Helping you just relax deeper and deeper into the experience of exploring this British countryside.

And as you continue to walk so you can hear the gentle flow of the river in the distance.

You follow the path heading in the direction of that gently flowing river.

And as you arrive at the river you cross over a footbridge to the other side.

Continuing your journey down the other side of this river.

Sound of that water as it flows past.

Almost like it's washing away any worries from the day.

Bringing a deep sense of peace and calm and relaxation.

And after some time of walking along the side of the river you decide to stop for a moment.

To sit and enjoy the ambience.

To relax back and close your eyes and allow yourself to drift into the most pleasant reverie.

And so you sit down on the riverbank.

And as you sit down so you perhaps notice a slight watery smell in the air of that river.

Maybe even noticing the rustling of the reeds along the edge of the riverbank.

As that water flows past.

And sometimes caught in the slight breeze.

And sitting on the riverbank.

Being able to rest your hands down on the grass.

Feeling the coolness of the grass.

That tickle touch sensation at the palm of your hands and through your fingers.

And you rest back.

Gazing up at the sky.

Watching the clouds as they pass by.

Seeing those clouds as different objects.

One minute a dog chasing a bull.

The next minute a turtle and then a horse.

Ever-changing patterns in the sky.

As those clouds pass by and come and go.

So easily and effortlessly.

And while gazing up at the sky.

Just noticing how sometimes the eyes just seem to feel heavier and heavier.

Those eyelids just want to relax shut.

Sometimes they do a double blink.

And then remain shut for a moment longer than expected.

And each time at first you allow the eyes to open again.

And just continue to watch those clouds as they move across the sky.

Almost having the sense of the clouds telling their own story.

But after a while it just becomes too much effort to continue to try to keep those eyes open.

And so at some point when they blink,

They forget to complete the blink.

They remain shut with those eyes shut.

So you can better hear the individual textures to the sound of the flowing water.

You can better feel the sensation of the breeze on your cheeks and the warmth of the Sun.

And you begin to drift and float so peacefully into a reverie.

And as you drift peacefully and relax into that reverie.

You can have a sense of relaxing your mind and body.

You can find yourself focusing on the top of your head.

Noticing how your head is resting there.

What it's resting on.

Noticing how it's supported so gently in place.

And the comfort in and around your head as you relax.

And you start to have a sense of the muscles around your scalp and the back of your head.

How they're softening and relaxing.

How you find yourself drawing in peace and comfort and deep relaxation with every breath that you take.

Before your awareness moves around your face,

With your awareness on your face,

You begin to focus on what it's like for that relaxation as it spreads around the face.

Around your ears and your cheeks.

The way the muscles in these areas soften and relax.

Relaxing the muscles around your eyes and across your forehead.

While the muscles around the side of your head and over the top of your head begin to relax so effortlessly.

Deeper and deeper.

Noticing how you can pay attention to fading tension.

Or perhaps find that tension dissolves without paying it any attention at all.

And you continue to allow that relaxation to spread down.

Around your mouth.

Relaxing your lips and your jaw.

Relaxing the muscles around the side of your neck.

Around the back of your neck and around your throat.

And as your jaw relaxes and hangs slightly loose,

Limp and comfortable,

You can perhaps notice that that relaxation can continue to move down to your shoulders and upper back.

And I don't know whether that relaxation happens fastest around your shoulders or in the upper back or perhaps down the tops or the front of your shoulders.

As that relaxation progresses around your back and your chest.

Softening and relaxing those muscles so fully,

So deeply and so comfortably.

And as those muscles soften and relax while you rest there,

Perhaps you can notice the way that that relaxation can begin to spread down the arms to the hands.

Spreading all the way down to the fingertips.

And I don't know which arm will relax fully fastest.

Whether it'll be the left arm or the right arm.

Or whether you'll discover that the arms will relax at the same rate and speed as each other.

And as that relaxation continues through those arms,

It can flow down through your stomach,

Your sides and your lower back,

All the way down to your bottom.

Before continuing to extend deeply down through your legs to the tips of your toes.

And as your body becomes deeper and deeper relaxed,

While you drift into the most pleasant reverie.

So your mind can begin to relax.

You can begin to notice the movement of light through your closed eyelids.

As the clouds dance so gently across the Sun.

Almost giving a feeling that you're moving and the light and dark warmth and coolness passing across your face.

It's like background scenery passing by.

And you can begin to have a sense of a healing light touching your cheeks,

Your forehead,

Enveloping your face and head with healing deep relaxation.

Absorbing comfortably and gently into you with each in-breath that you take.

Filling you with healing peace and calm.

Spreading that healing restorative recuperative light down through your body.

Breathing in healing calm relaxation and breathing out any stress or tension.

Aware of that healing light as it passes down from your head to your neck.

Softening and relaxing those muscles.

Spreading that healing light throughout the neck as it spreads down with the next breath to your shoulders,

Around the back of your neck and down into your arms.

Gradually,

Slowly,

Softly continuing that flow of healing light all the way down to the tips of your fingers.

And with another in-breath,

The healing light can spread down through the body.

Softening and relaxing muscles healing deep within the body.

Filling the body with pleasure and deep relaxation.

As the light journeys down gently around your stomach,

Your lower back and side,

Into your buttocks and all the way down your legs to the soles of your feet.

Filling your whole body with that healing restorative light.

And as you allow that light to flow so easily and effortlessly with each breath,

You can discover your mind drifting deeper and deeper into this reverie.

And you find yourself in a reverie about hurrying along through some woodland.

And as you hurry,

You notice that the you here in this reverie is walking in an uncomfortable way.

That there is a stone in your shoe and you feel like you're in too much of a hurry to be able to stop and remove the stone.

And so it's just a small stone but you keep pushing forward and you try to adapt your walk to make the walk as comfortable as you can with that stone in your shoe.

And you push on and push on through the woodland.

Walking deeper and deeper into that woodland with that stone in your shoe.

Altering your walking to accommodate the stone.

Aware of its uncomfortableness but trying not to focus on it.

While you try and hurry to get to your destination.

And as you're hurrying through this woodland with that stone in your shoe,

Walking in an unusual way to try to accommodate the stone.

You can notice the way that the light of the Sun is dancing through the leaves overhead.

You can notice the calmness and the quietness within this woodland.

And you can hear the distant sound of a lake.

And after some time of walking,

The sound of that lake becomes more pronounced as it gets closer and closer.

As you get closer and closer to it.

And when you arrive at the lake,

You finally feel you've arrived at a location where you can remove that stone.

And you sit on a rock beside the lake.

The water gently lapping.

The Sun dancing on the surface of the lake.

Almost like ripples of light.

And you take off the shoe.

You pour the stone out into your hand.

And your foot is aching slightly from the experience.

You rest your foot just gently into the water at the edge of the lake.

Feeling the coolness of that water as it flows over your foot.

Almost tickling the foot.

Soothing the foot.

Calming and relaxing that foot.

And you throw the stone as far as you can into that lake.

And you watch as the ripples from where the stone enters the water,

Spreads out across the lake.

Until they seem to merge with the general ripples across the lake.

And then you take your foot from the water.

You rest there for a little longer.

As your foot comfortably dries off.

And after your foot has dried.

So you put it back into the shoe.

And you continue your journey.

And at first,

You instinctively go to continue walking in that altered style.

Before realizing that you can walk normally.

As you no longer have that stone in the shoe.

But walking normally feels slightly strange as you'd got used to walking in that strange style.

But after a little while as you're continuing to walk through the woodland.

You begin to naturally fall back into your normal walking pattern.

The way you walk when you don't have a stone in your shoe.

And you find it easier and more effortless continuing your journey.

You find you're making better progress.

You find that you're not having to try and distract yourself from anything.

You're not trying to ignore anything.

You're not making allowances for an uncomfortable situation.

And for a problem you'd been carrying with you.

Now that's all left behind.

You find that you can pay greater attention to the world around you.

To what you can see.

What you can hear.

What it feels like to be out here exploring.

You can fill your mind with pleasant thoughts.

And you continue your journey.

And after some time of exploring through this woodland.

Heading further and further away from that land.

You discover a solitary tree stump in the middle of a clearing.

And carved in the top of the tree stump is a symbol that means something deeply personal and profound to you.

That while looking at that symbol and analyzing that symbol.

Just with curiosity you begin to develop a deep inner wisdom and understanding of something profound and meaningful.

And you realize you've achieved what it is you came here to achieve.

Even though at the beginning of the journey you didn't know what that was going to be.

You just knew you had to explore for this thing.

And something about letting go of that stone and discovering this symbol in a clearing has meant so much.

That you know it's time to begin to drift back from the reverie.

And so you begin to drift back from the reverie.

Aware of that river that you're resting down next to.

Aware of the warmth of the sun on your cheeks.

The smells around you.

So pleasant.

So calming and relaxing.

Gently opening your eyes and noticing that you're well into the afternoon now.

And you continue your journey along the edge of the river.

For a little way before turning off from the river to head into ancient woodland.

And there are some newer trees.

But your attention is drawn to the craggly old trees.

And you carefully explore through this woodland.

Seeking out a long-lost cabin.

And you explore through the woodland.

Hearing the echoey sounds of birds.

As they call out to each other.

And other sounds of wildlife.

Smelling the fresh air of the woodland.

Noticing that there are some really large oak trees.

In their own little areas of clearing within the woodland.

And you're aware that each of these trees is at least a thousand years old.

And you wonder about the stories that they could tell.

If only they could share them.

Of the travellers who have passed by here.

And you continue exploring and following a barely visible path through this ancient woodland.

You notice the various types of mushrooms throughout this woodland.

Narrow stemmed.

Grey mushrooms.

Slightly curved.

With almost pyramid like caps.

Short stout mushrooms.

With white bulbous caps.

Mushrooms which just look like dark balls on the ground.

Red mushrooms with white dots.

Purple mushrooms.

That look incredibly delicate and fine.

And you continue to walk through this woodland.

And you notice,

Out the corner of your eye,

Something you could so easily have missed.

An owl just perched in a tree.

And the mottled brown owl blends in so well with the branches and the trunks of the trees.

And as you walk,

Gazing at the owl,

You notice the way its eyes and head are following you.

As if to just check that you're only going to walk past.

And then you see through the trees,

That magical cabin.

And the cabin looks overgrown on the outside.

And structurally,

It still looks perfectly fine.

And you head to the cabin.

You gently open the door.

Gently closing the door behind you.

And you notice the way that some of the woodland seems to be finding its way into the cabin through the windows.

This cabin looks like no one has visited here in a very,

Very long time.

And you explore around.

You see the fireplace.

Some chairs near the fireplace.

All looking untouched for hundreds of years.

You see a bookshelf with just a couple of books dotted across the shelves.

You explore the kitchen area.

Explore through to a bedroom.

And then you decide to take a look under a circular rug on the floor.

You pull the rug to one side.

And under the rug,

You notice there's a trapdoor and a spiral staircase.

And you take a look down that spiral staircase.

And having opened the hatch in the floor,

You slowly and carefully begin to descend into the dark room beneath the cabin.

Curious whether this will be that ancient library.

And you start to count down as you descend.

Softly and gently counting down in your mind as the sounds around you begin to fade away from 20 to 19 to 18 and 17.

Finding yourself becoming deeper and deeper absorbed in the experience with each count.

Curious about the way your eyelids are becoming heavier and heavier.

16,

15,

14.

Counting slowly,

Carefully and softly as you drift deeper and deeper into the experience.

13,

12,

11.

Going all the way deeper and deeper.

Noticing the way you feel deeper absorbed and more relaxed with every number.

10,

9,

8.

Slowly going deeper and deeper absorbed in the experience.

7,

6,

5.

Relaxing so peacefully and comfortably.

4,

3,

2 and 1.

Finding a deep sense of comfort,

Relaxation and stillness through your mind and body as you find yourself at the bottom of the steps and you can smell the smell of old books.

And you notice by the steps seems to be an old torch and so you light that torch and it illuminates this room under the cabin.

It illuminates this ancient library and you notice straight away that this ancient library seems so much more ancient than the cabin above it.

You realize that this library has signs that there was once another entrance and that time has buried this here and that the route you have just taken in seems more modern,

Like somebody more recently,

Maybe just a few hundred to perhaps a thousand years ago,

Had created a new entrance in the roof of this library and placed some steps down into here and probably built different structures over time above this spot and as you look around this ancient library so you notice that there are thousands and thousands of ancient books and scrolls in shelves all around the walls and on work surfaces.

And tabletops and despite how old this space seems something about it feels cozy and relaxing and you're searching for a very specific book of wisdom that apparently resides in this library and so you look around trying to find something which stands out as different to everything else.

And as you look around you find that at one wall is an open book on a plinth between two floor-to-ceiling shelves of books and you head over to that open book and as you gaze into the open book so the writing seems to form and change to something you can understand.

You pick that book up and you settle down into the most comfortable chair you could imagine that just happens to be in this library and you start at the beginning and you begin to read that ancient book and with each page that you turn so the letters on the page change from the strange unreadable ancient language that was there to language you can easily and effortlessly understand revealing the magic of this book and you begin to become absorbed in the meaningful wisdom that you're reading and as you become more absorbed in reading this ancient wisdom you find yourself drifting and floating deeper and deeper asleep in that chair and as you're drifting deeper and deeper asleep in the chair you can hear that a gentle rain has started outside in the woodland as that gentle background sound of the rain is traveling through the cabin and down into the library and so while listening to the gentle rain in the distance you continue to read the ancient wisdom until at some point your eyes stop opening and you just fall deeper asleep and you try for a little while to keep opening your eyes from those moments of sleep to read a bit more of the book but it becomes too much effort to keep trying to fight the process of falling so peacefully asleep and unknown to you as you fall asleep the wisdom from the book in your hands continues to flow within you educating you in your sleep and dreams helping you to create greater understandings in such a meaningful deep and powerful way for creating desired change in your life as you relax and drift deeper and deeper asleep into slumberland