The Teddy Bear's Picnic: Bedtime Story

So as you take a moment to get yourself comfortable and allow your eyes to gently close and with your eyes gently closed you can begin to relax and as you begin to relax you can start to fall comfortably asleep and while you fall comfortably asleep I am just going to tell you a story in the background and at times your awareness can perhaps be on the story on elements of the story and at other times your mind can perhaps wander as you drift deeper and deeper asleep.

So one day there was a child walking along,

A very youngish child and they were walking along a long road and they were perfectly comfortable walking along this long road,

Just enjoying the journey and the parent was aware that this child was safe and fine.

This child knew where they were going,

They weren't far from home but because they were a child this road seemed so long and after a while of walking along this long road they turned into a little park down the road and it was a beautiful sunny day,

They could feel the warmth of the sun on their face,

On their skin.

They could hear the sounds of birds in the trees,

The sound of the wind blowing a breeze and other background sounds in the distance and in this little park they saw a tree and they went over to that tree and they had been to that tree numerous times before and there was something magical about this tree.

They went over to that tree,

They reached out,

They ran their fingers gently around the bark as they circled the tree,

They looked up at the leaves,

Could hear the rustling.

They looked around them,

They took in the atmosphere before getting down onto their hands and knees and crawling into a hole in the tree and as they crawled into that hole you would think that they would reach the back of the tree and that their head would knock the back of the tree but it didn't,

They crawled into the hole and the other side of the hole was a strange new world,

Was a strange land that they had visited before in previous times crawling into the hole and they think that they're probably the only one who knows about this strange land the other side of the hole and so they crawled all the way through the hole coming out in this strange land and the sky had a certain different coloured tinge to it,

The grass looked different and there was something strange about the way that everything seemed to be in reverse or backwards in some way compared to the world they'd come from and when they turned back and looked at where they crawled through they could just see a tree that looked very similar to the tree they crawled through and they could see the hole in the tree and they could run their fingers around the bark of this tree but they couldn't hear any rustling leaves and yet they could see the movement and as they'd done before they decided to explore,

They explored around this land wandering across the field heading towards some trees and when they reached the trees they descended a bank just the other side of the tree line following the trees down this bank down towards a babbling brook and they climbed all the way down to that babbling brook and gently followed that babbling brook deeper into the experience and as they followed that babbling brook deeper into the experience so they felt a sense of calm,

Of peace,

Of wonder and curiosity and they knew what they were searching for or rather where and they continued to follow that babbling brook and after a while that babbling brook opened out into a lake and the lake created a clearing among the trees and around the lake was a small meadow and they walked around the lake and they looked up and they looked around and they could see the trees they could see how the trees rose as the trees around this area will climb the hills and the Sun shone from higher glistening on the water and they sat down by that water and they got their teddy bear out their backpack they got a blanket out their backpack they got some cups and a teapot some plates and some food they began to have a teddy bears tea party a teddy bears picnic out here in this strange land they offered their bear some tea some cake but they found that they were probably eating more of the tea and cake than the bear was and they lay back on the blanket resting their head on their backpack listening to sounds feeling the breeze watching the water noticing how the sky here had a strange different colored tinge to it that let them know they were somewhere curious and when they go out to play they frequently came to this location and sat here and spent time with their teddy and they enjoyed this time with their teddy it helped them to feel peaceful to feel calm this child was autistic and found that normally the world was an overwhelming place and yet here was a space where they could relax where they could help to calm their senses and the slightly colored tinge to the atmosphere help just to dim the light enough so they felt calm here and the way that things didn't make the same noise and there wasn't lots of people or lots of movement it gave them a chance to spend time with their friend spend time with teddy and they'd practice having conversations with teddy offering teddy drinks saying please and thank you interacting with teddy they knew these were all skills they were going to need to learn for the future and as they relaxed here they felt as if somehow time stood still and they were sure time did actually stand still because while they were here they'd feel that no time had passed they would feel like they'd been there just for a moment or two and yet they would be aware that they did quite a lot and so must have been there for longer and yet when they left this land they'd find that very little time had passed in the real world they hadn't been gone long and they found this really curious and they didn't know if this was because of the land they were in or because of the focus they had while they interacted with teddy and after spending some time with teddy having a picnic having some tea while they rested back with their head on their backpack they let their eyes close for a moment they took some deep and comfortable breaths and allowed themselves just to drift off gently asleep for a moment initially into a reverie into a kind of daydream resting relaxing and then from there into some light dreams and gradually into a sleep and they enjoyed this relaxing moment of sleep it gave them a chance to let their mind wander to let them explore possibilities to let them be people they aren't normally and they had this sense of being someone brave in a vast land and they're exploring this vast land holding a compass and they're following this compass and they've got this idea of where they need to go and they seem to instinctively know from glancing at the compass where it is they need to go so they follow this compass and they trek through this vast land they trek through desert aware of the warmth of the air the dryness of the air the brightness of the light they trek through forests aware of the flickering light from above how much darker it is in the forest than the desert they trek through open meadows over mountains just sticking to following this compass knowing where it is they're going and yet not knowing where it is they're heading because it's just an instinctive thing they're trekking with purpose and after some long time of trekking they see an ancient city and they enter that ancient city and they see an arena what looks like a gladiators arena and they march into that arena with purpose and this experience to this child is like a lucid dream they have some awareness over what it is they're doing some control over it but they're largely just letting it play out almost like a movie that they're experiencing as this character seeing what this character saw hearing what this character heard and so they enter that gladiators arena unaware of what's going to happen next and from within the arena they can hear lots of loud cheering and they find this little overwhelming but they focus on just being present in the arena so that it's almost like all the noise of the shouting of the people becomes distant background noise almost like white noise and they're aware of the brightness of the sun and how difficult it is to focus with such bright light and again they narrow their focus on being in the moment focusing their eyes lower and learning and practicing to have it so that they don't attend to the light so the light's there they just aren't paying it attention and then they hear a roar and they see a lion jump out of a hole in the ground and the lion's on a chain and looks angry and they feel like they're probably going to be expected to fight this lion but instead they walk over to the lion they rest their hand on the lion's neck they focus on the breathing of the lion and they breathe the same as the lion they focus on calming on comfort on being one with the lion on understanding the lion's needs on falling into sync with the lion and this synchronising with the lion silences the crowds as they watch in awe and wonder at what they've just seen that they're expecting a fight and instead of fighting this person came alongside the lion and tamed the lion and to the audience it looked like they tamed the lion with just a touch because the audience were unaware of the connection this person had with the lion through that touch and the understanding this person had on a deep level with that lion and the lion lay down on the ground almost purring and the person rested their hand there in a firm comforting way and nobody knew how to react to this event and the person just walked away from the lion unlocking the chain as they went and they left the arena by a different exit and continued their journey they continued their journey searching and they didn't know what for and they walked through more open land they travelled over the sea until eventually they arrived at Egypt and at Egypt they noticed how fertile the land was around the Nile they saw the great pyramids how bright and white and smooth they were they walked to the great pyramids they ran their hands around the different pyramids feeling the smoothness of the rock and they continued to search and eventually they found a temple they entered that temple descended deep underground into that temple lighting torches as they went to light their way and deep underground in that temple they found a glowing ancient tablet and they went to that glowing ancient tablet ran their fingers over the hieroglyphs and they felt this sensation of understanding and they realised that it was teaching them about connection about the secret language,

The unspoken rules of communicating with others and they learned about this and they realised that they had this with the lion they had this with other animals but this was teaching how to have this with people and after some time of learning and meditating on these texts the scene began to fade away and the child began to be aware of his surroundings began to notice sounds feel the feeling of wind,

The sun and then awakening in this unusual land lying next to teddy on this blanket the child took some time to pack everything up and looked around one last time make sure they didn't forget anything and just to take it all in never knowing whether this place will be here the next time they try to come here so every time they leave they like to just take it all in in case it's the last time they'll be here and then they start working their way back they find their way back to the babbling brook they follow that babbling brook all the way back through the woods finding their way all the way back to that tree they crawl through the tree they come out in that initial meadow in that initial park they cross that park back to that long road the sun in the sky appears to be pretty much where it was when they last saw it they can hear all the sounds of the street the harsh bright light sounds of animals rustling leaves sounds of chattering people and they follow that long road all the way home they walk past their parent their parent says hello and asks if they enjoyed themselves they let the parent know it was okay as they head up to their room settle down in their bed and begin to imagine being back next to that lake and begin to imagine drifting back into that reverie they had into that dream they had while they were next to that lake wanting to recapture that and explore that world further and learn from that world further and as they do this they find themselves drifting floating,

Relaxing comfortably asleep