Let your body completely relax as you settle onto the bed.
Take time to get your pillow just right,
Supporting your head and neck.
The muscles on the backs of your legs,
The hamstrings,
Can become very tight as you are growing.
Place a blanket under your knees if this makes your legs more comfortable.
Take a deep breath in.
Exhale with an ah.
Become aware of how your body feels on the bed.
Release from your mind all of the home and school work that you may have done today.
Allow your mind to begin to slow down.
Take another deep breath and let it go.
Spread your fingers and toes as wide as you can.
And hold for a count of three.
Now release.
Once more,
Stretch your fingers and toes wide.
And count one,
Two,
Three.
Let it go.
Our body needs time to rebuild its energy.
So settle back and allow this to happen through a journey of the mind.
Close your eyes.
Feel the weight of your head as it rests in your pillow.
Turn your head from side to side and feel how the bed supports you.
Swallow once.
Let your jaw relax.
Let your tongue and your whole mouth become soft.
Imagine a gentle pressure on your forehead.
Let that pressure slide down towards your ears and slip away.
Let your shoulders melt back and feel the shoulder blades settle against the mattress.
Your right upper arm settles into the bed.
Notice any sensations in your elbow and forearm on the right side.
Now move your awareness down your arm to your right hand.
Let it open with your palm facing up.
Think about the shape of your hand and be aware of how it feels as you trace an imaginary line from the tip of your right thumb to the space between the thumb and pointer finger.
Continue drawing the line to the top of the pointer finger and down to the next space,
Moving up to the middle finger,
Down over up to the ring finger,
Down and over to the pinky.
Now allow your left upper arm to settle into the bed.
Notice any sensations in your elbow and forearm on the left side.
Move your attention down to the left hand and let it flop open.
Again,
Feeling the shape of your hand,
Picture it in your mind as you trace a line from the top of the thumb down along the inside of your thumb,
Then up to the pointer finger,
Down and over to the middle finger,
Down to the ring finger,
And over to your pinky.
Now think about your spine,
All the bones that support you from neck to tailbone.
Bring your attention to the bones of your neck and feel them settle,
One bone at a time.
Settle into the softness below you.
Feel the bones of the spine at the back of your chest,
Behind your heart.
Picture them relaxing one at a time.
Now move your mind to the bones of the spine behind your belly.
Let them soften and relax.
Finally,
Slowly wiggle your hips from side to side,
Allowing the weight of your tailbone and your hips to settle.
Move your attention to the right side of your hip,
And in your mind's eye,
Draw an imaginary line down the right leg,
Past the knee,
Down to the shin,
To your right big toe.
As though you are connecting the dots,
Continue the line to the right big toe,
Between the big toe,
Over to the second toe,
Down and over to the third toe,
The fourth toe,
And your little toe.
Now move your thoughts to your left hip,
And to the top of your left leg.
Again,
Draw a line down the leg,
Past the knee,
Down the left shin to the big toe.
Continue the line to your second toe,
Down and over to your third toe,
To the fourth toe,
And the pinky toe.
Now that your whole body is resting deeply on the bed,
Your mind is light,
And you begin to float upward.
First through the clouds,
And then up into the stars.
Imagine that you are floating in space,
And you clearly see the stars and planets surrounding you.
You are attracted by the sun's warmth,
And you begin to move closer to it.
It becomes too hot,
And you start to back away,
At once feeling cooler.
Soon the temperature is just right.
Now your eye is drawn toward Mars,
And the bright orange and red colors.
You spend some time watching,
Looking at the red planet,
And the shapes and shadows that make it unique.
Again,
Your mind wanders,
Drawing your attention to Saturn,
With its magnificent rings.
You begin to float toward it.
Soon you arrive at the broad rings,
And you step right onto one.
Despite the lack of gravity,
You find that you can stand firmly on the ring,
As it slowly rotates around the outside of the planet.
You enjoy the ride,
And feel a sense of wonder as you take in all of the radiant colors.
First of the rings,
And then of the planet itself.
At last,
You look up and again float off into space.
The stars shine brightly all around you.
There are so many,
More than you could possibly count.
Your imagination begins to cluster the stars into pictures.
What do you see?
You realize that like all of the stars,
You too are shining brightly.
You are nothing but light,
As bright as all the stars in the heavens.
After a time,
You slowly float back toward Earth.
You make out the outlines of Earth's continents,
And the vast oceans.
Between wisps of clouds,
You are amazed at the depth of the blue water and green land.
At the top and bottom of the globe,
You can see the ice caps,
You come closer,
Down through the clouds.
Soon you can see where you live,
And you continue all the way back to where your body is lying.
You again feel what it is to be in your body.
The back of your body,
Laying on the bed.
Maybe you feel the blanket over you.
It feels good to be home.
You feel your belly rise and fall with each breath.
Your chest expands and contracts.
It feels good to breathe.
Let's begin to count the breaths.
Just breathing naturally,
Let it flow.
One.
Breathe in.
And release.
Breathe in two.
And let it go.
And now three.
With each exhale,
You are more relaxed.
Breathing in four.
And let it go.
Keep it going.
Breathe in five.
And release.
Breathe in six.
And exhale.
Breathe in again seven.
And let it go.
Now inhaling number eight.
Breathe out.
Nine in.
And out.
And finally,
Breathing in ten.
Let it go with a sigh.
In your mind,
Picture your body lying in this room.
You feel the bed or the floor under you supporting your body.
You feel safe and thankful for all of the good things in your life.
Lie here.
Enjoy this feeling.
Stay as long as you like.
