The Magical Train Journey Through Space: Long Sleep Story

Welcome to this Slumberland sleep story.

I'll be your guide as you take a magical train journey along an alpine route before passing into the darkness of a mountain,

Drifting into irreverie and discovering yourself travelling on the train through space,

Before drifting asleep on the train and awakening as the train exits the mountain,

Continuing on the journey before settling down on the train where you drift peacefully asleep into Slumberland.

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

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 more comfortable.

And when you are ready,

You can let your eyes gently close.

And as the story unfolds,

You can take a few deep relaxing breaths,

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

This triggers the body's natural relaxation response.

And so,

As you comfortably drift asleep,

You can have a sense that you're on a train travelling this alpine route.

And you're in your own private cabin.

A cabin that has seats by day.

And then,

When you're ready to sleep,

You pull the seats out and it turns them into a bed.

And so for now,

In this private cabin,

You're travelling along and out of one window.

You can see the side of a mountain that you're travelling around.

The grey rock of the mountain.

And as you look up,

You can see the snow.

Right up to the peak.

And when you look out of the window in the other direction,

You can see across a vast land.

Snow covered.

Some areas of open wilderness.

Other areas of forest with pine trees.

And you can hear the sound of the train.

Clickety clacking on the track.

The gentle rocking of the train as it goes.

Feeling the comfort of the seat that you're resting on.

The comfortable temperature of this cabin.

You can see the way that the sun's light is reflecting and sparkling like millions of diamonds across the snow.

You can see those vast areas of pure,

Untouched snow.

And then the occasional areas of tracks of animals.

Clearly visible in that untouched snow.

And from time to time,

As the train passes by,

You notice some of those animals.

Like large stags standing on the edge of the forest.

You can see the occasional village dotted among the landscape.

And as you gaze out of the window,

You can notice the blue sky.

Perhaps the occasional wispy cloud.

And the brightness of the sun.

And the pureness of that blue sky.

And from the warmth of the train,

You can feel a little surreal seeing how cold it looks out there.

And you can find the experience almost hypnotic watching that scenery passing by.

The way that the nearby scenery of trees and shrubbery flash past in an instant.

Too close to the train to really reveal and see clearly.

You can notice some of those mid-range items like birds flying in the sky.

The slow moving scenery of those items in the middle of the view.

And the items off towards the horizon.

Barely move at all as you pass by.

And large parts of this journey.

Very straight.

And then other parts curve around.

Quite sharply and large curves.

And other parts around.

Enough for you to be able to see the front of the train from your window.

Before the track curves back again.

And the front of that train curves back out of view.

And the train generally holds a nice steady speed.

A very comfortable speed.

It's not too bumpy.

Just the right level of rocking gently.

And relaxing along the track.

And this journey is a very,

Very long journey.

That involves passing by this countryside.

Before at some point pulling in towards the mountains and passing through an incredibly long tunnel.

And the beginning of this tunnel has lights down both sides.

And then those lights are more spread out.

As it gets closer to the centre of the tunnel.

And then those lights get closer to each other again.

As it gets closer to the exit.

And you don't know how long until you reach the tunnel.

And occasionally as you travel around this environment.

You notice some cars driving along roads towards those small towns and villages.

You can see the old churches marking the centre of the different villages.

With each village seemingly having its own church.

And each of those churches is just very small.

It's just a very small stone church.

With its spire standing out against the background.

And the train as it continues rises up slightly.

So that it's travelling a little distance up.

From that vast open plain of land below.

So that you're almost overlooking most of the forest land.

Looking down on the view rather than across at the view.

And you notice as the train continues.

There seems to be a rough river.

Quite a wide river.

With the most beautiful blue water coursing through this snowy landscape.

Weaving through the snowy landscape.

And at some point off in the distance.

Beyond the front of the train.

You know that that river would curve round towards the mountains.

And probably comes down the mountains.

To form this river.

And then the train pulls out again around another bit of mountain.

And you can see the front of that train again.

From the window.

And then it pulls back around.

Heading back left around that mountain.

And you notice as you're looking out of the window.

That you can see the front of the train is just beginning to pass into the tunnel in the side of this mountain.

And as it passes into the tunnel.

And then your carriage passes into the tunnel.

You see those lights flashing past either side of you rapidly.

As the train descends deeper and deeper into this tunnel.

And while the train descends deeper and deeper into this tunnel in this mountain.

And you watch those lights flashing by.

Your eyes instinctively want to keep tracking each light as it passes.

And in doing so you notice your eyelids blinking.

And wanting to close.

That something about the experience of those lights flashing by in that way.

Is making your eyelids want to close.

And so you don't fight that.

You just go with the experience.

You allow the eyes to close.

You allow yourself to begin to drift into a reverie.

You notice that you begin to have a sense of your mind and body relaxing.

And you go with the experience.

Focusing on the top of your head.

You notice how your head is resting there.

How your head is supported so gently in place.

What your head is resting against.

You notice the comfort in and around your head as it rests there.

You have a sense of the muscles around your scalp and the back of your head beginning to soften and relax.

Discovering how you start to draw in peace and comfort with each breath that you take.

Before allowing your awareness to move around to your face.

Focusing on what it's like for that relaxation to spread gently around your face,

Your ears and your cheeks.

Having the muscles in these areas just soften and relax so peacefully.

So comfortably.

Relaxing the muscles around your eyes and across your forehead.

As the muscles around the side of your head and over the top of your head begin to relax deeper and deeper.

And you start to notice 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 to the back of your neck and around your throat.

And as your jaw relaxes and hangs slightly loose,

Limp and comfortable.

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 fully,

Deeply and comfortably.

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

That relaxation can begin to spread down the arms to the hands all the way 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 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.

It can flow down through your sides.

And it can flow down through 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 passing light through your closed eyelids.

And 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.

As you're aware of that healing light passing down 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 continuing that flow of healing light all the way down to the tips of the 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 around your stomach,

Your lower back and sides,

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

Filling your whole body with that healing restorative relaxing light.

And as you allow that light to flow with each breath,

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

And as you continue drifting deeper and deeper into the reverie,

So you find your eyes opening,

And as your eyes open,

You notice that the train seems to be launching out of the Earth's atmosphere.

You notice the sky around you turning from blue gradually turning to black,

You begin to notice a blanket of stars overhead.

And you notice how the train seems to be turning to head in the direction of the moon.

And you gaze out the window as you watch,

While the train hurtles towards the moon,

Still sounding like it's on tracks,

And still feeling like it's travelling on tracks.

And yet,

You can see that moon coming more and more into focus,

Getting larger and larger as it gets closer and closer,

As that train continues travelling towards the moon.

And as the train reaches the moon.

So you notice how it begins to circle around the moon.

Heading quite close to the moon,

Almost as if the train is slingshotting around the moon,

And you're unsure in what direction it's slingshotting.

Like what direction you'll be heading once you've finished slingshotting around the moon.

And you gaze out of that window,

Down upon the moon,

Looking down at the grey landscape below,

Seeing those vast craters.

From multiple impacts of comets and asteroids,

From billions of years of the moon soaking up impacts that otherwise may have reached the earth.

Gazing down,

Wondering how life on earth may have developed differently had the moon not been here,

Taking some of those blows for the earth.

And you feel the train accelerating slightly,

As it heads close around that moon.

And shoots off in the direction of the planet earth.

And heads faster back towards the earth than it headed from the earth to the moon.

And the train seems to be doing the same around the planet earth as it had just done around the moon,

Getting close to the earth to slingshot around the planet earth.

And you know that with each slingshot the train will accelerate faster and faster.

And as it comes close to the planet earth,

So you gaze down upon the earth,

Upon the land,

The white clouds of the sky below,

The deep blue of the ocean.

As that train swings around the earth and slingshots towards the inner solar system.

And you notice a bright pinprick of light getting larger and larger as you look towards the front of the train,

And realise you are heading towards venus.

As that train continues hurtling in that direction towards the inner solar system.

And you are curious as you approach venus,

About whether there could be life in the clouds of venus.

Perhaps life evolved on venus when the conditions there were far more hospitable.

And maybe some of that life was drifting around the planet,

And over millions or perhaps billions of years,

With the planets environment changing,

The life continued to evolve.

And some of that life managed to continue to survive,

To the point where there is now life,

Perhaps in the clouds of venus,

Where the pressures and temperatures are just right.

And you are curious about this,

And curious how far life could have got on venus.

Before it started to become too hostile an environment.

Whether any complex life evolved,

And if so could there be any location upon venus.

Where remnants of that complex life could be found,

Or would the surface have been replaced so much by volcanic activity and erosion,

That there would be no way of knowing.

And as venus gets larger and larger in your field of view,

You can be both taken aback by how earth like it seems,

But also by how unearth like it seems,

With its dense clouds,

And almost milky look to it.

As this train heads very close to venus,

Slingshotting around venus.

And the train continues slingshotting towards the inner solar system.

And you don't know at first exactly where you are heading,

You know that you are getting closer and closer to the sun.

And then you see a rock,

And realise you are getting closer and closer to mercury.

And the train slingshots around mercury,

In the direction of the sun.

And at incredibly high speed,

The train approaches the sun,

The train approaches the star that gives life,

And keeps order of the solar system.

And you notice a large coronal mass ejection,

Erupting from the sun.

As the train passes through that,

Like passing through a vast blowing bridge,

Heading close to the surface of the sun.

And yet on board the train,

The temperature is so comfortable.

And on the train,

It just feels like you are still travelling,

As you always have been.

Clickety clacking along the tracks,

And yet here you are,

Passing close to the sun.

Accelerating even more rapidly,

As you slingshot around the sun.

Curving all around the sun.

Before firing yourself off towards the outer solar system.

Seemingly in no time at all,

Passing beyond earth's orbit.

And passing mars.

Slingshotting around the red planet.

Looking down on how the landscape of mars looks so similar,

And familiar to landscapes on earth.

And yet,

There isn't the same level of cloud cover,

And there are no oceans,

And there are no green or browny areas.

As the train continues out,

Heading towards Jupiter.

And you see Jupiter getting larger and larger,

In your field of view.

And something you begin to find interesting,

Is that when you look in the direction of the planets,

And your eyes adapt to see the planets as you approach them.

At this point,

By focusing on the planets,

The stars begin to fade away.

And that although you'd imagine everything's in darkness,

These objects are still brighter when your eyes adapt to them,

Than the starlight beyond these objects.

So you have to actively search for some of the brighter stars in the sky to notice them.

And as you approach Jupiter,

So you notice that faint ring around Jupiter.

You notice the various moons of Jupiter,

And are surprised that some seem almost planet-sized.

You notice the great red spot.

That giant storm,

Swirling and whirring around Jupiter.

As you slingshot around Jupiter.

Continuing to accelerate,

Heading out towards Saturn.

And as you head towards Saturn,

It's probably the most incredible sight on this journey so far.

Heading towards Saturn,

And the angle that Saturn is at in relation to the train.

Means that the rings are clearly visible.

Almost like you're seeing them,

45 degree angle edge on,

With the front tilted downward.

With the rings curving behind Saturn,

Tilted upwards.

And as you approach,

You can see the most incredible detail in those rings.

You can see some of those little moons shepherding some of the rings.

The waves in the rings.

The gaps between the rings.

The moons around Saturn.

And the train passes close enough to Saturn,

To fit between the inner rings.

To fit between the innermost ring,

And the planet itself.

And you slingshot and accelerate even faster,

Around Saturn,

Heading out towards Uranus.

And noticing the dramatic difference in colour of Uranus,

Compared to all the other planets you've seen so far.

And it takes a long time.

Compared to the time it's taken thus far,

To reach Uranus.

But as you arrive at Uranus,

Admiring the blueness of the planet.

And despite the speeds of winds on the planet,

There seems to be a certain stillness due to a lack of features.

That just makes it misleading,

So you don't notice quite how fast everything's moving on the planet.

You slingshot around Uranus,

Heading towards Neptune.

And after a long journey,

You reach Neptune.

And this time,

You slingshot in a different direction.

You slingshot underneath Neptune.

Heading upwards,

And accelerating faster and faster,

Upwards from the solar system.

And as the train continues heading faster and faster upwards from the solar system.

Heading upwards from the galactic plane.

As you get further and further away,

So your eyes become better adapted to seeing the stars.

And observing the galactic plane.

Observing what the galaxy looks like from here.

And you're heading in the direction of a star.

Many light years above the sun.

And as you approach that star,

You notice there's a close in giant gas planet,

Similar to Jupiter.

Only one side seems to be incredibly hot,

And locked facing the star.

The other side seems to be plunged into darkness.

And this creates a strange effect around the sides of this planet.

And strange effects with the wind and the atmosphere of this planet.

Being so close to the star.

The planet is incredibly swollen.

And seems to be almost bubbling in space.

And the train heads close to that star.

Accelerating it even faster,

Up out of the galaxy.

Up out of the galactic plane.

And then the train seems to be heading towards something unseen.

And you know the train is travelling with intent.

And as the train continues along.

So you notice some of the stars in the background.

Suddenly seem to jump position.

And you realise that there seems to be a black hole.

That you're obviously aiming towards.

And the stars that pass behind the black hole.

Suddenly have their light warped and bent.

Curving sometimes into circles.

And then when there are no stars visible.

There's no evidence that you can see that that black hole is there.

And as you get closer and closer to the black hole in this train.

So you notice this faint ring of light.

Around that black hole.

And you notice certain patterns.

Around the horizon of the black hole.

And the train travels close to the black hole.

Accelerating it even faster still.

Managing to get just close enough.

To accelerate the train.

While not getting so close that it can't escape the black hole itself.

And it fires that train even faster.

Up,

Out,

Away from the galaxy.

Heading up towards a stream of stars.

And a little cloud of stars that you can see passing overhead.

Like a small galaxy.

Which over millions or perhaps billions of years.

Has been stretched.

By the Milky Way.

Leading to a stream of stars.

Surrounding the Milky Way.

And a tiny clump.

That's the remnants of the galaxy.

That was once there that got too close to the Milky Way.

And now the train is travelling so incredibly fast.

It doesn't take long to pass that location.

Where you can now look down on the Milky Way below.

Where the Milky Way fills the field of view of the window.

The train continues to accelerate faster and faster.

As it continues to pass specific objects.

To continue to accelerate it.

And yet on board the train.

It sounds the same.

And feels the same.

Like you're just clickety clacking over the tracks.

So calmly.

So peacefully.

With such regularity.

And you notice as you get further.

And further away from the Milky Way.

Other galaxies.

Dotted around the Milky Way.

You continue to get further.

And further away.

To the point where you notice.

The Andromeda Galaxy.

And you can see the direction it's heading.

The collision course it's on.

With the Milky Way.

You can see.

The galaxies circling around the Andromeda Galaxy.

You continue to accelerate.

That train continues to head further.

And further away.

From the Milky Way.

To the point where you can see.

Dozens of galaxies.

All seem to be.

All seemingly clumped together.

Influencing each other.

Heading further and further away.

To the point where.

You start to notice.

That all these galaxies you can see.

Thousands of bright dots.

That now look like stars.

But you know.

That each point you can see is actually.

The galaxy itself.

Because you can still see the bright dot.

That was the Milky Way.

You can still see the bright dot.

That was the Andromeda Galaxy.

You can see when you look really closely.

And carefully.

That those bright dots.

Just look ever so slightly fuzzy.

And now.

You can just see bright dots everywhere.

And you know every one of those bright dots.

Is a galaxy.

And you begin to notice.

A pattern to those galaxies.

You notice that they seem to be.

Heading.

In your direction.

And you continue.

On that train.

Heading further and further away.

From the Milky Way.

Until you can no longer see.

The Milky Way.

And you notice.

The train is approaching.

The Great Attractor.

The location.

That all of these.

Galaxies.

Seem to be attracted to.

And you know.

That this Great Attractor.

Is beyond.

The horizon of what can be seen.

From Earth.

That there is curiosity as to what.

Is in that location.

What is beyond.

The observable universe.

That's attracting.

Things to one location.

And now you begin to see it.

The most.

Incredible.

Enormous.

Cluster of galaxies.

Crushing together.

Seemingly.

Heading into.

A massive.

Galactic center.

And the only way you can describe it.

Is as the most enormous.

Gravity world.

So many.

Galaxies.

Colliding.

Into one location.

Building up this mass.

Beyond the observable universe.

That's big enough to impact.

On those.

Objects.

That are within.

The observable universe.

And the train heads.

Towards that location.

As that location gets.

Brighter and brighter.

And you continue.

To gaze out of the train window.

And as you look out of that window.

You can see that.

Bright point of light.

From the heart of the great attractor.

That location.

Beyond the observable universe.

For those back on earth.

And as the train continues to approach.

That bright light.

So you begin to count back.

In your mind.

Noticing that with each number.

Your eyes.

Begin to feel heavier and heavier.

Noticing how occasionally those eyes.

Flicker shut.

Sometimes remaining shut.

For longer than expected.

And at other times the eyes.

Just struggle to stay open.

And you have this sense.

That they'll remain shut.

On the count of one.

So you start to softly.

And gently begin.

Counting down in your mind.

As the sounds around you.

Begin to fade away.

From twenty.

To nineteen.

Eighteen.

Seventeen.

Finding yourself becoming.

Deeper and deeper.

Absorbed in the experience.

With each count.

Those eyelids becoming heavier.

And heavier.

Sixteen.

Fifteen.

Fourteen.

Counting slowly.

Carefully.

And softly.

As you drift deeper.

And deeper into the experience.

Thirteen.

Twelve.

Eleven.

Going all the way.

Deeper.

And deeper.

Noticing the way.

Feel deeper absorbed.

And more relaxed.

With every number.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Slowly.

Deeper.

And deeper absorbed.

In the experience.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Heading closer.

And closer.

To that great attractor.

Relaxing.

So peacefully.

And comfortably.

Four.

Three.

Two.

Finding a deep.

Sense of comfort.

Relaxation and.

Stillness develop.

Through your mind and body.

As you discover yourself.

Slowly drifting.

Out of this reverie.

To the light.

Of the end.

Of the tunnel through the mountain.

Noticing those lights.

Flashing.

Past the side of the window.

As the train.

Exits the mountain.

Exits that tunnel.

And you notice.

The beauty of a sunset.

Over the snowy.

Alpine scene.

And as you exit the tunnel.

Noticing that sunset scene.

The way.

The sunlight.

Glistens the oranges.

Across the snowy landscape.

The sparkling orange light.

The low.

Sparkling light.

Glistening on the surface.

Of the river.

As it.

Passes along.

The side of the track.

You set up your bed.

In the cabin.

Relaxing back into that bed.

And you continue.

To gaze out of the train window.

Watching and enjoying.

That passing scenery.

Until the sun.

Fully sets.

And the last of the day's light.

Fades away.

And you can see.

The twinkling of the stars.

In the sky.

And as you.

Notice those.

Twinkling stars in the sky.

So you begin to.

Drift to sleep.

Peacefully wondering about.

Your train journey to the stars.

Your train journey.

Through space.

To that great attractor.

Curious what is beyond.

The great attractor.

As you drift.

And float deeper.

And deeper asleep.

Relaxing.

So peacefully.

So comfortably asleep.

Into slumberland.