Okay, tonight, calming a chattering mind. The conscious mind chatters. That's just what it does. As long as we are alive, the mind is alive with thoughts. Like the heart pumps, the mind thinks. But sometimes we get hypnotized by our own mental chatter. We can get annoyed by it, made anxious by it, and most of all, simply distracted by it if we don't know how to harness our thoughts and use them positively. So just because the conscious mind's nature is to chatter doesn't mean we should be controlled by it. When we relax the body, the conscious mind slows down. It goes from this sort of herky, jerky beta wave to a nice slowed down alpha wave. Just like your heartbeat slows down and your respiration slows down, your mind does too. And from this more relaxed place, from the alpha wave, which is more connected to your subconscious mind, your mind is more open, creative, and focuses more easily. What was mindless chatter in the beta wave state is powerful directed thought in the alpha wave state. So tonight we practice relaxing below the mental chatter and enjoy the fruits of a slowed down mind. I'm going to be doing this episode slightly differently tonight, and the relaxation we do at first will be sort of light, and then we'll take it deeper as the episode and the imagery evolves. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position. And let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently and bring your awareness to the breath. Your awareness, which has been outside of you all day, sort of poking around in the world, doing things, learning things, fixing things. Just bring your awareness back to the breath. Just for a moment, just focusing it. Just for a moment. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids. I'd like you to imagine now that your eyelids are feeling heavy, relaxed, sleepy. And now I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so relaxed that they will not open. And for anyone who's new here at Sleep Magic, I just need to explain that this is a game, like we're playing pretend. And I want you to pretend that your eyes will not open. And in a moment, I'm going to ask you to test your eyes to make sure they won't open by wiggling your eyebrows while your eyes remain closed. And this too is just playing pretend. But pretending is very, very powerful. So test your eyelids now by wiggling your eyebrows. Just give them a little tug while your eyes remain closed. Good. Now you can stop. And this relaxation that you have around your eyes is the same quality of relaxation you will soon have throughout your entire body. So in a moment, I'm going to ask you to take a nice deep breath. And on the exhalation of that breath, I'd like you to imagine that the relaxation that you've just imagined, imagined around your eyes and created around your eyes, that that relaxation moves back into your head and then whooshes down through your whole body, all the way down to your feet and out your toes like a beautiful wave, a waterfall of relaxation just moving from your eyes to your head and then all the way down on the exhalation. Okay? So I'd like you to do that on your own time. Take a nice deep inhalation. And now send that relaxation back into your head and then down your body as you exhale, all the way down to your feet and your toes. Beautiful. As you take yourself deeper and deeper. For those of you who have been here at Sleep Magic for a while, just the sound of my voice is taking you deeper and deeper. Because by listening night after night, you've trained the muscles of your body and you've trained your nervous system to let go. So as we do that a couple more times, that deep breath and imagining that wonderful sort of waterfall of relaxation moving all the way down through the body, just allow yourself to really enjoy taking yourself deeper and deeper. So again, on your own time, take a nice deep breath. And now let's imagine that relaxation moving down through your torso, down into your belly, down your legs and out your feet. Good. Your body feels nice and heavy. Heavy, heavy on the bed. Your face relaxing, your arms becoming heavy, Everything letting go. So in a moment, we're going to do that one more time. Then you'll find that this, this third deep breath is going to take you twice as deep as you are right now. So when you're ready, take that nice deep breath. Oh, and then imagine the relaxation whooshing down through your body, all the way down your legs, out your toes, every single nerve, every fiber of your being becoming loose and loose, limp and relaxed and heavy on the bed as you go deeper and deeper. So in a moment, I'm going to begin with the imagery. And the imagery will be about a chattering mind. But soon we will relax, going even deeper than you are right now. Heavier and deeper, getting below that chattering mind. Imagine you are walking along a narrow path, your footsteps pressing into the damp earth beneath you. The air is thick with the scent of rain soaked leaves and the Fresh mineral smell of wet stone. Around you, the wind is howling, carrying the restless, chaotic energy of a storm. And your mind is churning like the wind. Raindrops lash against your skin, cool and insistent. They tap against the branches of the trees, making a rhythmic drumming that fills the air. The sky is a swirling mass of gray and even more gray, shifting, restless, like the thoughts in your mind, tumbling over one another, demanding attention. Up ahead, you see a huge mountain stretching into the stormy sky. The wind whips against it, rainwater cascading down its rocky face. Lightning streaks across the sky, illuminating the mountain in a flash of electric white. These lightning bolts are like intrusive thoughts, bolting into your mind. And now the thunder rolls, shaking the very ground beneath you, like fearful thoughts, rocking your foundations. Even the mountain trembles in this chaos. You feel caught within your own mental storm. At the base of the mountain, a large lake spreads before you, its surface churning, waves slapping against the shore. The water is restless, broken into a thousand ripples, each one like a thought, a worry, a fleeting distraction. And here, in the middle of the storm, you pause. You notice a stone bench along the shore of the lake. It is heavy and solid and feels like an anchor. You make your way against the wind to the bench and sit down. And you bring your awareness to your breath. Because here, in the heart of the storm, you are making a choice. As you bring your awareness to your breath yet again, noticing as the air fills your lungs and as you exhale, your mind resting and the simple release of the breath as you go deeper and deeper, and as the storm continues to swirl around you, you bring your awareness back to your breath. Perhaps you're taking gentle, quiet breaths, just observing their gentle rise and fall. Maybe you take a nice deep breath. It doesn't matter. Your mind is focusing, slowing down, becoming quieter. You feel drops of rain dribbling down your cheeks, but your awareness remains on your breath. As you allow the relaxation to move down your face, down your chest. Your whole body is beginning to feel very heavy on the bench as you bring your awareness back to your breath, as everything is slowing down. And no matter what is happening around you, you are going deeper and deeper, letting go. And even the sounds of the storm, the creaking of the branches, the whistle of the wind, are taking you deeper and deeper. And it's the sound of my voice takes you deeper and deeper. You bring your awareness back to your breath yet again. Nothing to do, nothing to think. Just being with your breath, anchored by your breath. As everything is slowing down and the wind is settling Into a breeze, a soft, gentle breathe. And your arms are feeling so heavy, they feel like they're sinking down, down, down. Your whole body releasing and relaxing. Let your pelvis feeling so heavy on the bench, and you bring your awareness back gently to the breath. And the rain is subsiding. And you feel a lovely relaxation moving inside of you into your chest as your whole rib cage expands. And the relaxation moves even deeper down into your belly. And your belly is softening, letting go the muscles of your back softening. And the stone bench rearranges itself and becomes a chair. And you're reclining in it as every single muscle of your body is releasing and relaxing, going deeper and deeper. As you bring your awareness back to your breath. The lake is becoming smooth and clear. You hear the birds chirping in the trees. And the sounds of the birds take you deeper. Your legs becoming heavy, heavy, heavy and relaxed, like they too are made of stone. And because your body has slowed down, your mind has slowed down. And because your mind has slowed down, your body has slowed down as you go deeper and deeper and even deeper as the mountain stands still, steady and dignified. Next to you in the soil are several small stones. You pick one up, holding it in the palm of your hand. It is cool and smooth. Feels good. This stone represents one thought, one intention or desire that you have deep inside. What is this intention in you? As you connect with this intention and feel it in your body, the stone is filling with intention. And now that the stone is full of intention, you toss it into the water. It lands with a soft splash, sending perfect concentric ripples outward as you bring your awareness back to your breath. The rings travel across the glassy surface, expanding, stretching, reaching the farthest edges of the lake. Your intention contains energy. It is powerful. You pick up another stone. This one is slightly different. A different color, a different size, a different texture. This stone represents a feeling you want to feel more often as you imagine having this feeling right now. And it fills the stone with feeling. And now you toss it in the lake. It makes a soft splash and the ripples are blooming outward, touching everything in their path. As the feeling blooms inside of you and you bring your awareness back to the breath. One by one, you release your intentions into the water, watching as their energy expands outward beyond you into the future, into the world. Your thoughts are clear. Your thoughts are powerful. It's getting dark now. And the moon, moon is rising behind the mountain. You feel so relaxed, so serene. You have sent your intentions out into the world. And now you relax and let go. You notice a small log cabin tucked in the woods nearby. You get up from your seat and walk slowly along a flagstone path. Your mind has slowed down and your body is slowed down. You are fully present. You smell the damp earth and the cool, fresh night air. You reach the cabin and open its door. It is warm inside. You notice a pair of pajamas laid out on the bed. Next to the bed glows a small reading light. You close the door and change into the pajamas. You crawl into the cozy bed, and the warmth of the cabin settles deep into your body as you relax even deeper. Melting into the bed, you turn off the light, close your eyes, and come back to your breath. As the moon reflects on the lake, you drift and float.
