Speaker 1: As evening arrives, the week has found its rhythm, and
Speaker 1: you are allowed to step outside it for a while.
Speaker 1: Welcome to your quiet moment, deep sleep. Tonight's journey is
Speaker 1: called The Art of Stillness. Four unhurried hours designed to
Speaker 1: settle your body, slow your breath, and walk you gently
Speaker 1: through the doorway of sleep. You don't need to do anything.
Speaker 1: You don't need to remember anything. Just let the words arise.
Speaker 1: Let them pass through you like wind through a quiet room.
Speaker 2: Begin.
Speaker 3: The day is finished.
Speaker 1: Whatever you carried through it, the meetings, the errands, the
Speaker 1: conversations that asked more of you than you had to give,
Speaker 1: you can set it all down now. Not tomorrow. Not
Speaker 1: in an hour.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: Picture yourself walking to the door of a room you
Speaker 1: have not entered in a long time. The door is old.
Speaker 3: The door is heavy.
Speaker 1: It has a brass knob that is slightly cool to
Speaker 1: the touch.
Speaker 3: You put your hand.
Speaker 5: On the knob.
Speaker 1: You turn it. The door swings inward on silent inches.
Speaker 1: Beyond the door is the room of rest. The room
Speaker 1: has been waiting for you. The room has always been
Speaker 1: waiting for you. Even on the days you forgot it existed.
Speaker 1: Even on the days you told yourself you did not
Speaker 1: have time to enter. But tonight, you have time. Tonight,
Speaker 1: you are stepping through. Tonight, you are allowing yourself to enter.
Speaker 1: The room is large. The room is exactly the size
Speaker 1: it needs to be. The ceiling is high, high enough
Speaker 1: that the air in the room has room to move.
Speaker 1: The floor is made of wide wooden planks, polished soft
Speaker 1: by years of other feet. The walls are painted a
Speaker 1: color that has no name, a color that lives somewhere
Speaker 1: between cream and pale rose. a color that holds the
Speaker 1: light without reflecting it back too sharply. There is a
Speaker 1: chair in the corner of the room, a chair with arms.
Speaker 1: The chair is upholstered in a fabric that is soft
Speaker 1: and worn and welcoming. You're not going to sit in
Speaker 1: the chair tonight. You are not going to need it.
Speaker 1: But the chair is there. Just in case. Just in
Speaker 1: case you change your mind. Just in case you want
Speaker 1: somewhere to rest. That is not your bet. The chair
Speaker 1: is a quiet promise that the room is generous with
Speaker 1: its comfort. There is a window in the room. Through
Speaker 1: the window you can see the night. The night is dark,
Speaker 1: but the dark is not heavy. The dark is soft.
Speaker 1: The dark is the kind of dark that wraps itself
Speaker 1: around you like a heavy blanket.
Speaker 2: You can see, if you look.
Speaker 1: The faintest suggestion of trees at the edge of the property.
Speaker 1: The trees are still. The trees are sleeping too. There
Speaker 1: is a clock in the room. The clock is not ticking.
Speaker 1: The clock is silent. Tonight, time does not need to
Speaker 1: be measured. Tonight, time will pass on its own, without
Speaker 1: any help from us. There is a rug in the
Speaker 1: middle of the room. The rug is old. The rug
Speaker 1: has been walked on for many years. The colors of
Speaker 1: the rug have softened with time. The patterns of the
Speaker 1: rug have blurred with use. The rug is the kind
Speaker 1: of rug that has become more beautiful with age. The
Speaker 1: way some people become more beautiful with age.
Speaker 6: There is a lamp in the corner. The lamp is
Speaker 6: not lit. The lamp has a soft fabric shade. The
Speaker 6: lamp is the kind of lamp that gives the kind
Speaker 6: of light you would want if you were reading a
Speaker 6: book late at night. But tonight, the lamp is off. Tonight,
Speaker 6: the only light in the room is the light from
Speaker 6: the window.
Speaker 1: The light from the window is the light of the moon.
Speaker 1: The room is quiet. The room is patient. The room
Speaker 1: is waiting for you to settle in. You are already
Speaker 1: arriving at rest. You can feel it, can't you? That
Speaker 1: small softening behind your eyes. The way your shoulders have
Speaker 1: already begun to drift lower on your back.
Speaker 5: This slow.
Speaker 7: Almost.
Speaker 1: Imperceptible deepening of your breath. That is your body telling
Speaker 1: you something it has always known that rest is not
Speaker 1: something you earn. Rest is something you allow.
Speaker 8: So allow it.
Speaker 1: Right here, right now.
Speaker 8: So allow.
Speaker 1: Let your attention rise very gently to the top of
Speaker 1: your head, to the crown, to the soft place where
Speaker 1: the hair begins.
Speaker 9: That place is quiet now. That place is letting go.
Speaker 9: Feel the muscles of your forehead, the small muscles above
Speaker 9: your eyebrows, the tiny muscles at the corners of your eyes.
Speaker 1: Feel them soften. Feel them release. They have been holding
Speaker 1: expressions all day.
Speaker 2: Surprise. Attention.
Speaker 10: Worry. Laughter.
Speaker 1: Tonight they are invited to do nothing at all. Let
Speaker 1: the muscles around your eyes soften. Let the small muscles
Speaker 1: of her temples soften. Let your jaw soften. Let the
Speaker 1: space between your teeth widen by a fraction.
Speaker 11: Let your tongue rest gently against the roof of your
Speaker 11: mouth or curse softly at its bottom, which if held
Speaker 11: feels more natural. Either way, the muscles of your face
Speaker 11: are learning to release. Now, let your attention drift to
Speaker 11: the back of your head, to the place where your
Speaker 11: head meets the pillow. Feel the weight of your head
Speaker 11: being held.
Speaker 1: Feel the pillow receiving you. Feel the give. Feel the support.
Speaker 1: Your head does not need to do anything tonight except rest.
Speaker 1: Let your attention come to your neck, to the muscles
Speaker 1: along the sides of your throat, to the small muscles
Speaker 1: at the base of your skull. Feel them lengthen.
Speaker 12: Feel them soften.
Speaker 1: They have been holding your head up all day. Tonight
Speaker 1: they're a lot to rest. Let your shoulders drop. Let
Speaker 1: them drop toward the wet. Let them settle. Feel the
Speaker 1: weight of them sinking. Feel the way the wet accepts them.
Speaker 1: Feel the slow release of tension you may not have
Speaker 1: known was there. Now, your arms....
Speaker 13: Let your upper arms feel heavy. Let your elbows feel soft.
Speaker 13: Let your forearms rest. Let your wrists be still. Let
Speaker 13: your hands open. Let your fingers curl softly, not gripping,
Speaker 13: not reaching, just resting. The hands have done so much today.
Speaker 13: Tonight they can do nothing. Let your attention return to
Speaker 13: your chest. Feel your chest rise. Fear your chest fall.
Speaker 13: Feel the rhythm of your breathing.
Speaker 1: Do not change the rhythm. Just notice it. Notice how
Speaker 1: the breath comes in. Notice how the breath goes out.
Speaker 1: Notice the small pause between. That pause is where peace lives.
Speaker 1: Feel your heart beating inside your chest. Feel it doing
Speaker 1: its work. Feel it steady. Feel it sure. You do
Speaker 1: not need to do anything about your heart. Your heart
Speaker 1: knows what to do. Your heart has been beating since.
Speaker 3: Before you were born.
Speaker 1: It will beat long after this moment has passed.
Speaker 2: Trust it.
Speaker 1: Trust it to keep going while you rest. Let your
Speaker 1: attentions sink to your belly. Let your belly soften. Let
Speaker 1: it rise with the in-breath. Let it fall with the out-breath.
Speaker 1: Feel the weight of your belly. Feel the warmth of
Speaker 1: your belly. The belly is the soft center of you.
Speaker 1: The belly is where you hold your feelings. Let it
Speaker 1: be soft tonight. Let it be safe. Feel your hips.
Speaker 1: Feel your hips heavy on the bed. Feel the bones
Speaker 1: of your pelvis resting into the mattress. Feel the lower
Speaker 1: back settling. Feel the small of your back lengthening.
Speaker 4: Now your legs.
Speaker 1: Let your thighs feel heavy. Let your knees soften. Let
Speaker 1: your calves release. Let your ankles be still. Let your
Speaker 1: feet open. Let your toes uncurl. The toes have been.
Speaker 7: Gripping all day.
Speaker 1: Gripping shoes. Gripping floors.
Speaker 7: Gripping uncertainty.
Speaker 1: Tonight, the toes are free. Feel your whole body now.
Speaker 1: Feel it from the crown of your head to the
Speaker 1: soles of your feet. Feel it heavy. Feel it warm.
Speaker 1: Feel it held. The body is doing its work. The
Speaker 1: body knows how to rest. The body is resting right now.
Speaker 1: You are resting right now.
Speaker 14: You find yourself in a garden.
Speaker 15: The garden is not a place you have been before,
Speaker 15: though it feels familiar. The garden has the quality of
Speaker 15: a place you might have dreamed as a child.
Speaker 12: Soft-edged, gentle, lit by a.
Speaker 5: Light that has no visible source.
Speaker 15: There is a path in the garden The path is
Speaker 15: made of small, smooth stones.
Speaker 1: The stones are cool underfoot. The path winds gently between
Speaker 1: beds of plants you cannot quite name. The plants are
Speaker 1: not exotic. The plants are the kind of plants you
Speaker 1: might find in any quiet garden. Leafy, soft, varied in
Speaker 1: their greens. You walk the path slowly. You do not
Speaker 1: have to reach any destination. You're walking because walking feels good.
Speaker 1: The stones massage the soles of your feet. The air
Speaker 1: is warm. The air smells of green things, a worth
Speaker 1: of leaf, of flower.
Speaker 5: Not strongly, just gently.
Speaker 1: The way a garden smells at the end of a
Speaker 1: long day. There is water nearby. You can hear it.
Speaker 1: The sound is small. The sound is soft. It is
Speaker 1: the sound of water moving over stones. It is the
Speaker 1: sound of a stream you cannot see. The sound follows
Speaker 1: you as you walk. The sound keeps you company. There
Speaker 1: is a low wall at the garden's edge where you
Speaker 1: could sit and look out over the rest.
Speaker 3: Of the garden.
Speaker 1: You do not need to sit, but the garden offers
Speaker 1: these places. The garden is generous with its rest. The
Speaker 1: light in the garden does not change. The light is
Speaker 1: always the same.
Speaker 16: The light is the light of late afternoon on a
Speaker 16: summer day that never ends. Soft, golden, warm on the skin.
Speaker 16: There are no shadows. There are no hard edges. The
Speaker 16: garden is lit from everywhere and nowhere. You pass a
Speaker 16: bed of white flowers. The flowers nod as.
Speaker 3: You walk past.
Speaker 16: You pass a trellis covered in climbing roses.
Speaker 1: The roses are pale pink. The roses smell of honey.
Speaker 1: You pass a small pond where a single heron stands.
Speaker 1: You cannot see the bird. The song repeats. The song
Speaker 1: is simple. The song is enough.
Speaker 8: You walk on.
Speaker 1: The path curves. The path leads you deeper into the garden.
Speaker 1: But the garden does not feel smaller as you go deeper.
Speaker 1: The garden feels larger. The garden seems to expand as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The way a dream expands as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The garden has no edges. The
Speaker 1: garden has no end. There is always more garden. There
Speaker 1: is always more quiet. You come to a clearing in
Speaker 1: the center of the garden. In the clearing there is
Speaker 1: a circle of grass. The grass is soft. The grass
Speaker 1: is the green of new growth. In the center of
Speaker 1: the circle, there is a single tree. The tree is old.
Speaker 1: The tree is large. The tree's branches spread wide, making
Speaker 1: a canopy of leaves that filters the light into dappled
Speaker 1: patterns on the grass. You sit beneath the tree. You
Speaker 1: lean against the trunk. The trunk is solid. The trunk
Speaker 1: is warm.
Speaker 3: From the sun.
Speaker 1: You feel held by the tree. You feel held by
Speaker 1: the garden. You feel held by the moment.
Speaker 17: In the garden, nothing is asked of you. Nothing is
Speaker 17: needed from you. Nothing is waiting for you.
Speaker 18: You can stay here as long as you like.
Speaker 17: The garden does not track the time. The garden does
Speaker 17: not keep count. The garden simply holds you the way
Speaker 17: the tree holds the birds that nest in its branches.
Speaker 10: The dream softens.
Speaker 18: At the edges.
Speaker 1: The garden becomes less distinct. The path, the bench, the heron,
Speaker 1: the tree, they fade gently. into a wash of green
Speaker 1: and gold and warmth. The garden does not disappear. The
Speaker 1: garden becomes a feeling. The garden becomes a sense of
Speaker 1: being held. The garden becomes the peace you carry with
Speaker 1: you as you sleep.
Speaker 19: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm. A rhythm
Speaker 19: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm. A
Speaker 19: rhythm that is a little deeper, breathe in through your nose.
Speaker 19: Feel the air as it enters. Cool at the nostrils,
Speaker 19: cool in the throat, cool in the chest.
Speaker 20: Let the breath leave without effort. Let the breath leave
Speaker 20: the way a leaf leaves a branch. Not pulled, not pulled,
Speaker 20: just released. Breathe in, count to four. One, two, three, four.
Speaker 3: Breathe out, count to six.
Speaker 21: One, two, three, four, five, six. The out breath is
Speaker 21: longer than the in breath. The out-breath is the one
Speaker 21: that calms.
Speaker 1: The out-breath is the one that tells the body it
Speaker 1: is safe. The out-breath is the one that invites sleep.
Speaker 1: Breathe in. Two, three, four. Breathe out. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 1: Let the out-breath stretch. Let it stretch by one count
Speaker 1: each time, not forcing, just allowing. Just letting the body
Speaker 1: find its own slow tide.
Speaker 8: Breathe in.
Speaker 1: Breathe out. Let the space between breaths grow. Let the
Speaker 1: pause at the top of the in-breath linger. Let the
Speaker 1: pause at the bottom of the out-breath linger. In the pause,
Speaker 1: there is stillness. In the stillness, there is rest.
Speaker 2: Breathe in.
Speaker 3: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: The breath is doing the work now. The breath does
Speaker 1: not need your help. The breath knows the way to sleep.
Speaker 1: The breath has known since you were born. Trust the breath.
Speaker 1: Follow the breath. Let the breath carry you.
Speaker 22: You are in a library. The library is very old.
Speaker 22: The library is very large. The library has the quality
Speaker 22: of a place that has always been here.
Speaker 1: The shelves are made of dark wood, polished smooth by
Speaker 1: years of hands reaching for books. The shelves are filled
Speaker 1: with books. The books are bound in leather, browned, green,
Speaker 1: Deep red, soft blue. Some of the books are very small.
Speaker 1: Some of the books are very large. Some of the
Speaker 1: books lie flat. Most of the books stand upright, their
Speaker 1: spines facing outward, their titles written in gold. The library
Speaker 1: is quiet.
Speaker 7: The library is.
Speaker 1: The kind of quiet that is filled with the presence
Speaker 1: of all the stories that have ever been told. The
Speaker 1: quiet hums. The quiet has a texture. The quiet is
Speaker 1: the texture of centuries of words held.
Speaker 2: In one place.
Speaker 1: There is a smell in the library. The smell of paper.
Speaker 2: The smell of leather.
Speaker 1: That means care. That means bugs have lived here for
Speaker 1: a long time. The light in the library comes from
Speaker 1: lamps set on long wooden tables. The lamps have green
Speaker 1: glass shades. The light they give is warm. The light
Speaker 1: is gentle on the eyes. The light is the kind
Speaker 1: of light you want when you are reading late into
Speaker 1: the night. You walk between the shelves.
Speaker 12: Your footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers
Speaker 12: the floor. The carpet is patterned in deep reds and blues.
Speaker 12: The carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 23: Your feet sink slightly.
Speaker 12: Into it as you walk. You reach up and pull
Speaker 12: a book from a shelf.
Speaker 1: The book is small. The book is bound in soft
Speaker 1: brown leather. The title on the spine is in gold,
Speaker 1: but you cannot read the language. You open the book.
Speaker 1: The pages are thin. The pages are creamy. The pages
Speaker 1: are filled with words in a script that you don't know.
Speaker 1: But you don't need to know the words. You put
Speaker 1: the book back. You pull another. This one is larger.
Speaker 1: This one is bound and green. The pages are heavier.
Speaker 1: The pages are edged in gold. You open it to
Speaker 1: a random page. There is an illustration. A woodcut of
Speaker 1: a tree. Of a figure walking beneath the tree. Of
Speaker 1: a sky full of stars. The illustration is simple. The
Speaker 1: illustration is beautiful. You look at it for a long time.
Speaker 1: You do not read the words. You do not need to.
Speaker 1: You put the book back. You walk on. There are
Speaker 1: reading desks in the library. Long wooden desks with green
Speaker 1: shaded lamps. There are soft chairs beside some of the desks.
Speaker 3: The chairs are leather.
Speaker 1: The chairs are worn soft by years of readers sitting
Speaker 1: in them. The chairs hold the shape of the people
Speaker 1: who have rested here. You sit in one of the chairs.
Speaker 1: The chair receives you. The chair has been waiting for you.
Speaker 1: The leather is cool at first, then warms to your body.
Speaker 1: On the desk in front of you, there is an
Speaker 1: open book.
Speaker 10: You do not remember opening it.
Speaker 12: The book is open to a page with no words,
Speaker 12: only an image.
Speaker 24: The image is of a window. Through the window, you
Speaker 24: can see a garden. That garden is the garden you
Speaker 24: were in earlier. The garden is the same garden. The
Speaker 24: garden will always be the same garden no matter where
Speaker 24: you find yourself.
Speaker 1: You look at the image for a long time. The
Speaker 1: image does not change. The image is enough. In the library,
Speaker 1: there is no rush. There is nowhere you need to be.
Speaker 1: There is no one waiting for you. There are only
Speaker 1: the books. There are only the shelves. There are only
Speaker 1: the soft green lamps and the worn leather chairs and
Speaker 1: the thick carpet. and the centuries of stories held in
Speaker 1: the wood and the paper. You close your eyes. The
Speaker 1: library is still there. You can feel it around you.
Speaker 1: The shelves, the books, the soft home of all the
Speaker 1: words ever written, held quietly in this one place. The
Speaker 1: library softens, the shelves fade, the lamps dim, the chair
Speaker 1: dissolves into the feeling of being held. The dream becomes
Speaker 1: the sense of being in a place that is vast
Speaker 1: and quiet and kind.
Speaker 25: Now let your mind find a number, any number.
Speaker 26: Let it be 20.
Speaker 14: Breathing.
Speaker 26: And as you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly.
Speaker 1: 20.
Speaker 27: Breathing.
Speaker 1: Breathe out.
Speaker 2: 19.
Speaker 26: Let the number carry you down. Each breath, a number lower.
Speaker 1: Each breath, a step closer to rest.
Speaker 12: Eighteen.
Speaker 28: Seventeen.
Speaker 3: Sixteen.
Speaker 1: Do not think about the numbers. Just let them pass.
Speaker 1: Let them be the rhythm of your breath. Let them
Speaker 1: be the path down into sleep.
Speaker 2: Fifteen. Fourteen.
Speaker 1: Thirteen. If your mind wanders, that is all right. The
Speaker 1: mind wanders. The mind is allowed to wander. When you
Speaker 1: notice it has wandered, just return to the number. Return gently.
Speaker 1: Return without judgment. The number will be waiting for you. 12, 11, 10.
Speaker 1: Each breath takes you deeper. Each number takes you lower.
Speaker 1: The body is heavy now. The body is warm. The
Speaker 1: body is being held by the bed, by the blankets,
Speaker 1: by the night. 9, 8, 7. The numbers grow softer.
Speaker 1: The numbers grow farther apart.
Speaker 7: There is more space between them now.
Speaker 1: There is more silence.
Speaker 10: Six.
Speaker 18: Five.
Speaker 1: Four.
Speaker 7: You may lose the numbers. That is all right. If
Speaker 7: the numbers fade, just let them fade. The breath is
Speaker 7: still there. The body is still there. The sleep is
Speaker 7: still there. waiting for you at the bottom of the count.
Speaker 1: Three, two, one.
Speaker 10: And now, there are no numbers.
Speaker 5: There is only breath. There is only the rise and
Speaker 5: fall of the chest. There is only the.
Speaker 29: Slow tide of the body letting go.
Speaker 28: You are in a house.
Speaker 30: The house is not yours, though it feels like it
Speaker 30: could be. The house has the quality of a house
Speaker 30: from a story you read as a child, or a
Speaker 30: house from a dream you had once and forgot. The
Speaker 30: house is large. The house is empty of other people,
Speaker 30: but not empty.
Speaker 1: The house feels inhabited by the memory of everyone who
Speaker 1: has ever lived here. The floors remember feet. The walls
Speaker 1: remember voices. The windows remember light. You are in a hallway.
Speaker 1: The hallway is long. The hallway is lit by a
Speaker 1: single window at the far end. The light from the
Speaker 1: window falls in a long rectangle on the wooden floor.
Speaker 1: The light is the light of. Late afternoon.
Speaker 3: The light is golden.
Speaker 1: There are doors along the hallway. Some of the doors
Speaker 1: are open. Some of the doors are closed. You do
Speaker 1: not need to open the closed ones. You do not
Speaker 1: need to enter the open ones. You only need to
Speaker 1: walk the hallway.
Speaker 4: You only need to feel the wood under your feet.
Speaker 4: Feel the light on your face.
Speaker 10: Feel the quiet.
Speaker 2: Echo softly.
Speaker 4: The echo is gentle. The echo is the kind of
Speaker 4: echo that belongs.
Speaker 7: In a house.
Speaker 1: Through the door, you can see a room. The room
Speaker 1: is a bedroom. The room has a large bed made
Speaker 1: up with white linens. The room has a window that
Speaker 1: looks out over a garden. The room has a chair
Speaker 1: in the corner and a small table with a book
Speaker 1: on it. The book is closed.
Speaker 31: The book is waiting for someone to read it. But
Speaker 31: the someone does not need to be you. The room
Speaker 31: is for someone. The room is not for you tonight.
Speaker 31: You only need to see it. You only need to
Speaker 31: know it is there. You walk on. You come to
Speaker 31: another door. This one is also open. Through this door,
Speaker 31: you can see a sitting room.
Speaker 1: There is a fireplace. The fireplace is not lit, but
Speaker 1: you can imagine the fire. You can imagine the warmth.
Speaker 1: You can imagine sitting in the chair beside it, greeting,
Speaker 1: listening to the rain. The sitting room is for winter evenings.
Speaker 1: The sitting room is not for tonight. You walk on.
Speaker 1: You come to a staircase. The staircase goes up. The
Speaker 1: staircase goes down. You do not need to take the staircase.
Speaker 3: You only need to see it.
Speaker 1: The staircase is the spine of the house. The staircase
Speaker 1: connects all the rooms, all the flaws, all the moments
Speaker 1: that have ever been lived here. At the end of
Speaker 1: the hallway, you reach the window. The window is large.
Speaker 1: The window is tall. Through the window, you can see
Speaker 1: the garden. It is the same garden. It is always
Speaker 1: the same garden. The garden is the place you return
Speaker 1: to in dream after dream. The garden is where you
Speaker 1: are safe. You put your hand on the glass. The
Speaker 1: glass is cool. The glass is smooth. Through the glass
Speaker 1: you can see the trees. Through the glass you can
Speaker 1: see the path you walked earlier. Through the glass you
Speaker 1: can see the bench. Through the glass you can see
Speaker 1: the heron, still standing in the pond. The heron.
Speaker 32: The glass is cool against your skin. The coolness feels good.
Speaker 32: The coolness reminds you that you are here, in this hallway,
Speaker 32: in this house, in this moment. In this house, no
Speaker 32: one is waiting for you. In this house, nothing is
Speaker 32: required of you. In this house, you can simply walk
Speaker 32: the hallway, look through the doors, Rest your forehead against
Speaker 32: the window and feel the cool glass and the golden light.
Speaker 1: The house softens. The hallway fades. The doors close. One
Speaker 1: by one, gently, the way doors close in a dream.
Speaker 1: The window dissolves. The glass becomes air.
Speaker 33: The light becomes memory. The dream is over, but the
Speaker 33: feeling of the dream remains. The feeling of being in
Speaker 33: a house that has always been here. The feeling of
Speaker 33: being held by the.
Speaker 14: You find yourself in a garden.
Speaker 15: The garden is not a place you have been before,
Speaker 15: though it feels familiar. The garden has the quality of
Speaker 15: a place you might have dreamed as a child.
Speaker 12: Soft-edged, gentle, lit by a light that.
Speaker 5: Has no visible source.
Speaker 12: There is a path in the garden.
Speaker 5: The path is made of small, smooth stones.
Speaker 1: The stones are cool underfoot. The path winds gently between
Speaker 1: beds of plants you cannot quite name. The plants are
Speaker 1: not exotic. The plants are the kind of plants you
Speaker 1: might find in any quiet garden. Leafy, soft, varied in
Speaker 1: their greens. You walk the path slowly. You do not
Speaker 1: have to reach any destination. You're walking because walking feels good.
Speaker 1: The stones massage the soles of your feet. The air
Speaker 1: is warm. The air smells of green things, a worth
Speaker 1: of leaves. It is the sound of water moving over stones.
Speaker 1: It is the sound of a stream you cannot see.
Speaker 1: The sound follows you as you walk. The sound keeps
Speaker 1: you company. In the garden there are places to sit.
Speaker 1: There is a stone bench half covered in moss. There
Speaker 1: is a wooden chair beneath an arbor. There is a
Speaker 1: low wall at the garden's edge where you could sit
Speaker 1: and look out over the rest of the garden. You
Speaker 1: do not need to sit, but the garden offers these places.
Speaker 1: The garden is generous with its rest. The light in
Speaker 1: the garden does not change. The light is always the same.
Speaker 16: The light is the light of late afternoon on a
Speaker 16: summer day that never ends. Soft, golden, warm on the skin.
Speaker 16: There are no shadows. There are no hard edges. The
Speaker 16: garden is lit from everywhere and nowhere.
Speaker 10: You pass the bed.
Speaker 23: Of white flowers.
Speaker 2: The flowers are.
Speaker 1: The roses are pale pink. The roses smell of honey.
Speaker 1: You pass a small pond where a single heron stands, motionless,
Speaker 1: watching the water. The heron does not move as you
Speaker 1: walk by. The heron is part of the stillness. A
Speaker 1: bird sings. somewhere high in the trees. You cannot see
Speaker 1: the bird. You only hear the song. The song is short.
Speaker 1: The song repeats. The song is simple. The song is enough.
Speaker 8: You walk on.
Speaker 1: The path curves, the path leads you deeper.
Speaker 3: Into the garden.
Speaker 1: But the garden does not feel smaller as you go deeper.
Speaker 1: The garden feels larger. The garden seems to expand as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The way a dream expands as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The garden has no edges. The
Speaker 1: garden has no end. There is always more garden. There
Speaker 1: is always more quiet. You come to a clearing in
Speaker 1: the center of the garden. In the clearing, there is
Speaker 1: a circle of grass. The grass is soft. The grass
Speaker 1: is the green of new growth. In the center of
Speaker 1: the garden, the tree is large. The tree's branches spread wide,
Speaker 1: making a canopy of leaves that filters the light into
Speaker 1: dappled patterns on the grass. You sit beneath the tree.
Speaker 1: You lean against the trunk. The trunk is solid. The
Speaker 1: trunk is warm from the sun. You feel held by
Speaker 1: the tree. You feel held by the garden. You feel
Speaker 1: held by the moment.
Speaker 17: In the garden, nothing is asked of you, nothing is
Speaker 17: needed from you, nothing is waiting for you.
Speaker 18: You can stay here as long as you like.
Speaker 17: The garden does not track the time, the garden does
Speaker 17: not keep count. The garden simply holds you, the way
Speaker 17: the tree holds the birds that nest in its branches.
Speaker 17: The dream softens.
Speaker 18: At the edges.
Speaker 1: The garden becomes less distinct. The path, the bench, the heron,
Speaker 1: the tree, they fade gently into a wash of green
Speaker 1: and gold and warmth. The garden does not disappear. The
Speaker 1: garden becomes a sense of being held.
Speaker 19: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm, a rhythm
Speaker 19: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm, a
Speaker 19: rhythm that is a little deeper. Breathe in through your nose.
Speaker 19: Feel the air as it enters. Cool at the nostrils,
Speaker 19: cool in the throat, cool in the chest. Breathe out
Speaker 19: through your mouth, softly, slowly.
Speaker 20: Let the breath leave without effort. Let the breath leave
Speaker 20: the way a leaf leaves a branch.
Speaker 3: Not pulled, not pulled. Just released. Breathe in. Count of four.
Speaker 27: One.
Speaker 3: Two.
Speaker 27: Three.
Speaker 3: Four. Breathe out. Count of six.
Speaker 1: One.
Speaker 24: Two.
Speaker 3: Three.
Speaker 1: Four.
Speaker 2: Four.
Speaker 21: Five.
Speaker 1: Six.
Speaker 21: The out breath is longer than the in breath. The
Speaker 21: out breath is the one that calms.
Speaker 1: The out breath is the one that tells the body
Speaker 1: it is safe. The out breath is the one that
Speaker 1: invites sleep. Breathe in.
Speaker 12: Two.
Speaker 1: Three.
Speaker 24: Four.
Speaker 1: Breathe out.
Speaker 29: Two.
Speaker 8: Breathe in.
Speaker 2: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: Let the space between breaths grow. Let the pause at
Speaker 1: the top of the in-breath linger. Let the pause at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the out-breath linger. In the pause, there
Speaker 1: is stillness. In the stillness, there is rest. Breathe in.
Speaker 8: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: The breath is doing the work now. The breath does
Speaker 1: not need your help. The breath knows the way to sleep.
Speaker 1: The breath has known since you were born. Trust the breath.
Speaker 1: Follow the breath. Let the breath carry you.
Speaker 23: You are in a library.
Speaker 22: The library is very old. The library is very large.
Speaker 22: The library has the quality of a place that has
Speaker 22: always been here, that will always be here, that.
Speaker 27: Exists outside of time. The shelves go up. The shelves
Speaker 27: go up further.
Speaker 10: Than you can see.
Speaker 1: The shelves are made of dark wood, polished smooth by
Speaker 1: years of hands reaching for books. The shelves are filled
Speaker 1: with books. The books are bound in leather, browned, green,
Speaker 1: Deep red, soft blue. Some of the books are very small.
Speaker 1: Some of the books are very large. Some of the
Speaker 1: books lie flat. Most of the books stand upright, their
Speaker 1: spines facing outward, their titles written in gold. The library
Speaker 1: is quiet. The library is the kind of quiet that
Speaker 1: is filled with the presence of all the stories that
Speaker 1: have ever been told. The quiet hums, the quiet has
Speaker 1: a texture. The quiet is the texture of centuries of
Speaker 1: words held in one place. There is a smell in
Speaker 1: the library. The smell of paper, the smell of leather.
Speaker 1: The smell of dust that is not unpleasant. The kind
Speaker 1: of dust that means age, that means care, that means
Speaker 1: bugs have lived here for a long time. The light
Speaker 1: in the library comes from lamps set on long wooden tables.
Speaker 1: The lamps have green glass shades. The light they give
Speaker 1: is warm. The light is gentle on the eyes. The
Speaker 1: light is the kind of light you want when you
Speaker 1: are reading late into the night. You walk between the shelves.
Speaker 12: Your footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers
Speaker 12: the floor. The carpet is patterned in deep reds and blues.
Speaker 12: The carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 23: Your feet sinks lightly.
Speaker 1: The title on the spine is in gold, but you
Speaker 1: cannot read the language. You open the book. The pages
Speaker 1: are thin. The pages are creamy. The pages are filled
Speaker 1: with words in a script that you don't know. But
Speaker 1: you don't need to know the words. You don't need
Speaker 1: to read. You only need to hold the book. You
Speaker 1: only need to feel its weight. You put the book back.
Speaker 1: You pull another. This one is larger. This one is
Speaker 1: bound and green. The pages are heavier. The pages are
Speaker 1: edged in gold. You open it to a random page.
Speaker 1: There is an illustration. A woodcut of a tree. Of
Speaker 1: a figure walking beneath the tree. Of a sky full
Speaker 1: of stars. The illustration is simple. The illustration is beautiful.
Speaker 1: You look at it for a long time. You do
Speaker 1: not read the words. You do not need to. You
Speaker 1: put the book back. You walk on. There are reading
Speaker 1: desks in the library. Long wooden desks with green shaded lamps.
Speaker 1: There are soft chairs beside some of the desks.
Speaker 3: The chairs are leather.
Speaker 1: The chairs are worn soft by years of readers sitting
Speaker 1: in them. The chairs hold the shape of the people
Speaker 1: who have rested here. You sit in one of the chairs.
Speaker 1: The chair receives you. The chair has been waiting for you.
Speaker 1: The leather is cool at first, then warms to your body.
Speaker 1: On the desk in front of you, there is an
Speaker 1: open book.
Speaker 10: Do not remember opening it.
Speaker 12: The book is open to a page with.
Speaker 24: No words, only an image. The image is of a window.
Speaker 24: Through the window, you can see a garden. That garden
Speaker 24: is the garden you were in earlier.
Speaker 18: The garden is the same garden.
Speaker 24: The garden will always be the same garden no matter
Speaker 24: where you find yourself.
Speaker 1: You look at the image for a long time. The
Speaker 1: image does not change. The image is enough.
Speaker 2: In the library.
Speaker 1: There are only the soft green lamps and the worn
Speaker 1: leather chairs and the thick carpet and the centuries of
Speaker 1: stories held in the wood and the paper. You close
Speaker 1: your eyes. The library is still there. You can feel
Speaker 1: it around you. The shelves, the books, the soft home
Speaker 1: of all the words ever written, held quietly in this
Speaker 1: one place. The library softens, the shelves fade, the lamps dim,
Speaker 1: the chair dissolves into the feeling of being held. The
Speaker 1: dream becomes the sense of being in a place that
Speaker 1: is vast and quiet and kind.
Speaker 25: Now let your mind find a number, any number.
Speaker 2: Let it be 20.
Speaker 28: Breathing.
Speaker 26: And as you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly.
Speaker 1: 20.
Speaker 28: Breathe in. Breathe out.
Speaker 1: 19.
Speaker 26: Let the number carry you down. Each breath, a number lower.
Speaker 26: Each breath, a step closer to rest.
Speaker 27: 18.
Speaker 31: 17. 16.
Speaker 26: Do not think about the numbers.
Speaker 1: Just let them pass. Let them be the rhythm of
Speaker 1: your breath. Let them be the path down into sleep. 15, 14, 13.
Speaker 1: If your mind wanders, that is all right. The mind wanders.
Speaker 1: The mind is allowed to wander. When you notice it
Speaker 1: has wandered, just return to the number. Return gently. Return
Speaker 1: without judgment. The number will be waiting for you. 12, 11, 10.
Speaker 1: Being held by the bed, by the blankets, by the night. 9, 8, 7.
Speaker 1: The numbers grow softer. The numbers grow farther apart.
Speaker 7: There is more space between them now.
Speaker 8: There is more silence. 6, 5.
Speaker 7: Four, you may lose the numbers. That is all right.
Speaker 7: If the numbers fade, just let them fade. The breath
Speaker 7: is still there. The body is still there. The sleep
Speaker 7: is still there. Waiting for you at the bottom of
Speaker 7: the count.
Speaker 1: Three, two, one. And now, there are no numbers.
Speaker 5: There is only breath. There is only the rise and
Speaker 5: fall of the chest.
Speaker 1: There is only the.
Speaker 29: Slow tide of the body letting go.
Speaker 10: You are in a house.
Speaker 30: The house is not yours, though it feels like it
Speaker 30: could be. The house has the quality of a house
Speaker 30: from a story you read as a child, or a
Speaker 30: house from a dream you had once and forgot. The
Speaker 30: house is large. The house is empty of other people,
Speaker 30: but not empty of presence.
Speaker 1: The house feels inhabited by the memory of everyone who
Speaker 1: has ever lived here. The floors remember feet. The walls
Speaker 1: remember voices. The windows remember light.
Speaker 8: You are in a hallway.
Speaker 1: The hallway is long. The hallway is lit by a
Speaker 1: single window at the far end. The light from the
Speaker 1: window falls in a long rectangle on the wooden floor.
Speaker 1: The light is the light of late afternoon. The light
Speaker 1: is golden. There are doors along the hallway. Some of
Speaker 1: the doors are open. Some of the doors are closed.
Speaker 1: You do not need to open the closed ones. You
Speaker 1: do not need to enter the open ones. You only
Speaker 1: need to walk the hallway.
Speaker 4: You only need to feel the wood under your feet.
Speaker 4: Feel the light on your face. Feel the quiet of
Speaker 4: the house you walk. Your footsteps echo softly. The echo
Speaker 4: is gentle. The echo is the kind of echo that
Speaker 4: belongs in a house like this, a house that is
Speaker 4: too lodged to be silent, too empty to be still.
Speaker 4: You come to a door that is open.
Speaker 1: Through the door, you can see a room. The room
Speaker 1: is a bedroom. The room has a large bed made
Speaker 1: up with white linens. The room has a window that
Speaker 1: looks out over a garden. The room has a chair
Speaker 1: in the corner and a small table with a book
Speaker 1: on it. The book is closed.
Speaker 31: The book is waiting for someone to read it, but
Speaker 31: the someone does not need to be you. The room
Speaker 31: is for someone. The room is not for you tonight.
Speaker 31: You only need to see it. You only need to
Speaker 31: know it is there.
Speaker 18: You walk on.
Speaker 1: There is a fireplace. The fireplace is not lit, but
Speaker 1: you can imagine the fire. You can imagine the warmth.
Speaker 1: You can imagine sitting in the chair beside it, greeting,
Speaker 1: listening to the rain. The sitting room is for winter evenings.
Speaker 1: The sitting room is not for tonight. You walk on.
Speaker 1: You come to a staircase. The staircase goes up. The
Speaker 1: staircase goes down. You do not need to take the staircase.
Speaker 2: You only need.
Speaker 3: To see it.
Speaker 1: The staircase is the spine of the house. The staircase
Speaker 1: connects all the rooms, all the flaws, all the moments
Speaker 1: that have ever been lived here. At the end of
Speaker 1: the hallway, you reach the window. The window is large.
Speaker 1: The window is tall. Through the window, you can see
Speaker 1: the garden. It is the same garden. It is always
Speaker 1: the same garden. The garden is the place you return
Speaker 1: to in dream after dream. The garden is where you
Speaker 1: are safe. You put your hand on the glass. The
Speaker 1: glass is cool. The glass is smooth. Through the glass you.
Speaker 27: Can see the trees.
Speaker 1: Through the glass you can see the path you walked earlier.
Speaker 1: Through the glass you can see the bench. I've covered
Speaker 1: in moss. Through the glass you can see the heron,
Speaker 1: still standing in the pond. The heron has not moved.
Speaker 1: The heron is part of the dream's stillness. You rest
Speaker 1: your forehead against the glass.
Speaker 32: The glass is cool against your skin. The coolness feels.
Speaker 10: Good.
Speaker 32: The coolness reminds you that you are here in this hallway,
Speaker 32: in this house, in this moment. In this house, no
Speaker 32: one is waiting for you. In this house, nothing is
Speaker 32: required of you. In this house, you can simply walk
Speaker 32: the hallway, look through the doors, Rest your forehead against
Speaker 32: the window and feel the cool glass and the golden light.
Speaker 32: The way doors close in a dream.
Speaker 33: The light becomes memory. The dream is over, but the
Speaker 33: feeling of the dream remains. The feeling of being in
Speaker 33: a house that has always been here. The feeling of
Speaker 33: being in a house that will always be here. The
Speaker 33: feeling of being held by the walls, by the floors,
Speaker 33: by the windows, by the long quiet of the house
Speaker 33: at rest.
Speaker 14: You find yourself in a garden.
Speaker 15: The garden is not a place you have been before,
Speaker 15: though it feels familiar. The garden has the quality of
Speaker 15: a place you might have dreamed as a child. Soft-edged, gentle,
Speaker 15: lit by a light that has.
Speaker 5: No visible source. There is a path in the garden.
Speaker 12: The path is made of small, smooth stones.
Speaker 1: The stones are cool underfoot. The path winds gently between
Speaker 1: beds of plants you cannot quite name. The plants are
Speaker 1: not exotic. The plants are the kind of plants you
Speaker 1: might find in any quiet garden.
Speaker 9: Leafy?
Speaker 3: You walk the path slowly.
Speaker 1: You're walking because walking feels good. The stones massage the
Speaker 1: soles of your feet. The air is warm. The air
Speaker 1: smells of green things, a worth of leaf, of flower.
Speaker 1: Not strongly, just gently. The way a garden smells at
Speaker 1: the end of a long day. There is water nearby.
Speaker 1: You can hear it. The sound is small. The sound
Speaker 1: is soft. It is the sound of water moving over stones.
Speaker 1: It is the sound of a stream you cannot see.
Speaker 1: The sound follows you as you walk. The sound keeps
Speaker 1: you company. In the garden there are places to sit.
Speaker 1: There is a stone bench half covered in moss. There
Speaker 1: is a wooden chair beneath an arbour. There is a
Speaker 1: low wall at the garden's edge where he could sit
Speaker 1: and look out over the rest of the garden.
Speaker 16: The light is the light of late afternoon on a
Speaker 16: summer day that never ends. Soft, golden, warm on the skin.
Speaker 16: There are no shadows. There are no hard edges. The
Speaker 16: garden is lit from everywhere and nowhere. You pass a
Speaker 16: bed of white flowers. The flowers nod as you walk past.
Speaker 16: You pass a trellis covered in climbing roses.
Speaker 1: The roses are pale pink. The roses smell of honey.
Speaker 1: You pass a small pond where a single heron stands, motionless,
Speaker 1: watching the water. The heron does not move as you
Speaker 1: walk by. The heron is part of the stillness. A
Speaker 1: bird sings somewhere high in the trees. You cannot see
Speaker 1: the bird, you only hear the song. The song repeats.
Speaker 1: The song is simple. The song is enough.
Speaker 3: You walk on.
Speaker 1: The path curves. The path leads you deeper into the garden.
Speaker 1: But the garden does not feel smaller as you go deeper.
Speaker 1: The garden feels larger. The garden seems to expand as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The way a dream expands as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The garden has no edges. The
Speaker 1: garden has no end. There is always more garden. There
Speaker 1: is always more quiet. You come to a clearing in
Speaker 1: the center of the garden. In the clearing there is
Speaker 1: a circle of grass. The grass is soft. The grass
Speaker 1: is the green of new growth. In the center of
Speaker 1: the circle there is a single tree. The tree is old.
Speaker 1: The tree is large. The tree's branches spread wide, making
Speaker 1: a canopy of leaves that filters the light into dappled
Speaker 1: patterns on the grass. You sit beneath the tree. You
Speaker 1: lean against the trunk. The trunk is solid. The trunk
Speaker 1: is warm.
Speaker 3: From the sun.
Speaker 1: You feel held by the tree. You feel held by
Speaker 1: the garden. You feel held by the moment.
Speaker 17: In the garden, nothing is asked of you. Nothing is
Speaker 17: needed from you. Nothing is waiting for you. You can
Speaker 17: stay here as long.
Speaker 18: As you like.
Speaker 17: The garden does not track the time. The garden does
Speaker 17: not keep count. The garden simply holds you the way
Speaker 17: the tree holds the birds that nest.
Speaker 18: In its branches.
Speaker 10: The dream softens.
Speaker 18: At the edges.
Speaker 1: The garden becomes less distinct. The path, the bench, the heron,
Speaker 1: the tree, they fade gently into a wash of green
Speaker 1: and gold and warmth. The garden does not disappear. The
Speaker 1: garden becomes a feeling. The garden becomes a sense of
Speaker 1: being held. The garden becomes the piece you carry with
Speaker 1: you as you sleep.
Speaker 19: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm. A rhythm
Speaker 19: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm. A
Speaker 19: rhythm that is a little deeper. Breathe in through your nose.
Speaker 19: Feel the air as it enters. Cool at the nostrils.
Speaker 18: Cool in the throat.
Speaker 10: Cool in the chest.
Speaker 12: Breathe out through your mouth.
Speaker 19: Softly, slowly.
Speaker 20: Let the breath leave without effort. Let the breath leave
Speaker 20: the way a leaf leaves a branch.
Speaker 3: Not pulled, not pulled. Just released. Breathe in. Count to four.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 1: Two. Three. Four.
Speaker 21: Breathe out, count to six. One, two, three, four, five, six.
Speaker 21: The out-breath is longer than the in-breath. The out-breath is
Speaker 21: the one that calms.
Speaker 1: The out-breath is the one that tells the body it
Speaker 1: is safe. The out-breath is the one that invites sleep.
Speaker 1: Breathe in. Two, three, four. Breathe out. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 1: Let the out-breath stretch. Let it stretch by one count
Speaker 1: each time, not forcing, just allowing. Just letting the body
Speaker 1: find its own slow tide.
Speaker 8: Breathe in.
Speaker 1: Breathe out. Let the space between breaths grow. Let the
Speaker 1: pause at the top of the in-breath linger. Let the
Speaker 1: pause at the bottom of the out-breath linger. In the pause,
Speaker 1: there is stillness. In the stillness, there is rest. Breathe in.
Speaker 1: Breathe out. The breath is doing the work now. The
Speaker 1: breath does not need your help. The breath knows the
Speaker 1: way to sleep. The breath has known since you were born.
Speaker 22: You are in a library. The library is very old.
Speaker 22: The library is very large. The library has a quality
Speaker 22: of a place that has always been here. that will
Speaker 22: always be here, that.
Speaker 27: Exists outside of time. The shelves go up. The shelves
Speaker 27: go up further.
Speaker 10: Than you can see.
Speaker 1: The shelves are made of dark wood, polished smooth by
Speaker 1: years of hands reaching for books. The shelves are filled
Speaker 1: with books. The books are bound in leather, browned, green.
Speaker 1: Most of the books stand upright, their spines facing outward,
Speaker 1: their titles written in gold. The library is quiet. The
Speaker 1: library is the kind of quiet that is filled with
Speaker 1: the presence of all the stories that have ever been told.
Speaker 1: The quiet hums. The quiet has a texture. The quiet
Speaker 1: is the texture of centuries of words held in one place.
Speaker 1: There is a smell in the library. The smell of paper,
Speaker 1: the smell of leather, the smell of dust that is
Speaker 1: not unpleasant. The kind of dust that means age, that
Speaker 1: means care, that means bugs have lived here for a
Speaker 1: long time. The light in the library comes from lamps
Speaker 1: set on long wooden tables. The lamps have green glass shades.
Speaker 1: The light they give is warm. The light is gentle
Speaker 1: on the eyes. You walk between the shelves.
Speaker 12: Your footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers
Speaker 12: the floor. The carpet is patterned in deep reds and blues.
Speaker 12: The carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 23: Your feet sink slightly.
Speaker 12: Into it as you walk. You reach up and pull
Speaker 12: a book from a shelf.
Speaker 1: The book is small. The book is bound in soft
Speaker 1: brown leather. The title on the spine is in gold,
Speaker 1: but you cannot read the language. You open the book.
Speaker 1: The pages are thin. The pages are creamy. The pages
Speaker 1: are filled with words in a script that you don't know.
Speaker 1: But you don't need to know the words. You don't
Speaker 1: need to read. You only need to hold the book.
Speaker 1: You only need to feel its weight. You put the
Speaker 1: book back. You pull another. This one is larger. This
Speaker 1: one is bound and green. The pages are heavier. The
Speaker 1: pages are... The illustration is beautiful. You look at it
Speaker 1: for a long time. You do not read the words.
Speaker 1: You do not need to. You put the book back.
Speaker 1: You walk on. There are reading desks in the library.
Speaker 1: Long wooden desks with green shaded lamps. There are soft
Speaker 1: chairs beside some of the desks.
Speaker 2: The chairs are leather.
Speaker 1: The chairs are worn soft by years of readers sitting
Speaker 1: in them. The chairs hold the shape of the people
Speaker 1: who have rested here. You sit in one of the chairs.
Speaker 1: The chair receives you. The chair has been waiting for you.
Speaker 1: The leather is cool at first, then warms to your body.
Speaker 1: On the desk in front of you, there is an
Speaker 1: open book.
Speaker 10: Do not remember opening it.
Speaker 12: The book is open to a page with.
Speaker 10: No words, only an image.
Speaker 28: The image is of a window.
Speaker 24: Through the window, you can see a garden. That garden
Speaker 24: is the garden you were in earlier. The garden is
Speaker 24: the same garden. The garden will.
Speaker 2: Always be the same garden.
Speaker 1: You look at the image for a long time. The
Speaker 1: image does not change. The image is enough. In the library,
Speaker 1: there is no rush. There is nowhere you need to be.
Speaker 1: There is no one waiting for you. There are only
Speaker 1: the books. There are only the shelves. There are only
Speaker 1: the soft green lamps and the worn leather chairs and
Speaker 1: the thick carpet and the centuries of stories held in
Speaker 1: the wood and the paper. You close your eyes. The
Speaker 1: library is still there. You can feel it around you.
Speaker 1: The shelves, the books, the soft home of all the
Speaker 1: words ever written, held quietly in this one place. The
Speaker 1: library softens, the shelves fade, the lamps dim, the chair
Speaker 1: dissolves into the feeling of being held. The dream becomes
Speaker 1: the sense of being in a place that is vast
Speaker 1: and quiet and kind.
Speaker 25: Now let your mind find a number, any number.
Speaker 1: Let it be 20.
Speaker 2: Breathing.
Speaker 26: And as you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly.
Speaker 1: 20.
Speaker 23: Breathe in.
Speaker 28: Breathe out.
Speaker 5: 19.
Speaker 26: Let the number carry you down. Each breath, a number lower.
Speaker 26: Each breath, a step closer to rest.
Speaker 2: 18. 17.
Speaker 31: 16.
Speaker 26: Do not think about the numbers.
Speaker 1: Just let them pass. Let them be the rhythm of
Speaker 1: your breath. Let them be the path down into sleep. 15, 14, 13.
Speaker 1: If your mind wanders, that is all right. The mind wanders.
Speaker 1: The mind is allowed to wander. When you notice it
Speaker 1: has wandered, just return to the number. Return gently. Return
Speaker 1: without judgment. The number will be waiting for you.
Speaker 21: Twelve.
Speaker 8: Eleven.
Speaker 2: Ten.
Speaker 1: Each breath takes you deeper. Each number takes you lower.
Speaker 1: The body is heavy now. The body is warm. The
Speaker 1: body is being held by the bed, by the blankets,
Speaker 1: by the night. Nine.
Speaker 27: Eight.
Speaker 3: Seven.
Speaker 1: The numbers grow softer. The numbers grow farther apart. There
Speaker 1: is more space between them now.
Speaker 8: There is more silence.
Speaker 1: Six. Five.
Speaker 7: Four, you may lose the numbers. That is all right.
Speaker 7: If the numbers fade, just let them fade. The breath
Speaker 7: is still there. The body is still there. The sleep
Speaker 7: is still there. Waiting for you at the bottom of
Speaker 7: the count.
Speaker 1: Three, two, one. And now, there are no numbers.
Speaker 5: There is only breath. There is only the rise and
Speaker 5: fall of the chest. There is only the.
Speaker 29: Slow tide of the body letting go.
Speaker 10: You are in a house.
Speaker 30: The house is not yours, though it feels like it
Speaker 30: could be. The house has the quality of a house
Speaker 30: from a story you read as a child, or a
Speaker 30: house from a dream you had once and forgot. The
Speaker 30: house is large. The house is empty of other people,
Speaker 30: but not empty of presence.
Speaker 1: The house feels inhabited by the memory of everyone who
Speaker 1: has ever lived here. The floors... The walls remember voices.
Speaker 1: The windows. The hallway is long. The light is the
Speaker 1: light of late afternoon. The light is golden. There are
Speaker 1: doors along the hallway. Some of the doors are open.
Speaker 1: Some of the doors are closed. You do not need
Speaker 1: to open the closed ones. You do not need to
Speaker 1: enter the open ones. You only need to walk the hallway.
Speaker 4: You only need to feel the wood under your feet.
Speaker 4: Feel the light on your face. Feel the quiet of
Speaker 4: the house you walk. Your footsteps echo softly. The echo
Speaker 4: is gentle. The echo is the kind of echo that
Speaker 4: belongs in a house like this, a house that is
Speaker 4: too lodged to be silent, too empty to be still.
Speaker 4: You come to a door that is open.
Speaker 1: Through the door, you can see a room. The room
Speaker 1: is a bedroom. The room has a large bed, made
Speaker 1: up with white linens. The room has a window that
Speaker 1: looks out over a garden. The room has a chair
Speaker 1: in the corner.
Speaker 2: And a small table.
Speaker 31: The book is waiting for someone to read it, but
Speaker 31: the someone does not need to be you. The room
Speaker 31: is for someone. The room is not for you tonight.
Speaker 31: You only need to see it. You only need to
Speaker 31: know it is there.
Speaker 18: You walk on.
Speaker 31: You come to another door. This one is also open.
Speaker 31: Through this door, you can see a sitting room.
Speaker 1: There is a fireplace. The fireplace is not lit, but
Speaker 1: you can imagine the fire. You can imagine the warmth.
Speaker 1: You can imagine sitting in the chair beside it, greeting,
Speaker 1: listening to the rain. The sitting room is for winter evenings.
Speaker 1: The sitting room is not for tonight. You walk on.
Speaker 1: You come to a staircase. The staircase goes up. The
Speaker 1: staircase goes down. You do not need to take the staircase.
Speaker 1: You only need to see it. The staircase is the
Speaker 1: spine of the house. The staircase connects all the rooms,
Speaker 1: all the flaws, all the moments that have ever been
Speaker 1: lived here. At the end of the hallway, you reach
Speaker 1: the window. The window is large. The window is tall.
Speaker 1: Through the window, you can see the garden. It is
Speaker 1: the same garden. It is always the same garden. The
Speaker 1: garden is the place you return to in dream after dream.
Speaker 1: The garden is where you are safe. You put your
Speaker 1: hand on the glass. The glass is cool. The glass
Speaker 1: is smooth. Through the glass you can see the trees.
Speaker 1: Through the glass you can see the path you walked earlier.
Speaker 1: Through the glass you can see the bench. I've covered
Speaker 1: in moss. Through the glass you can see the heron,
Speaker 1: still standing in the pond. The heron has not moved.
Speaker 1: The heron is part of the dream's stillness. You rest
Speaker 1: your forehead against the glass.
Speaker 32: The glass is cool against your skin. The coolness feels.
Speaker 4: Good.
Speaker 32: The coolness reminds you that you are here in this hallway,
Speaker 32: in this house, in this moment. In this house, no
Speaker 32: one is waiting for you. In this house, nothing is
Speaker 32: required of you.
Speaker 1: In this house, you can simply walk the hallway Look
Speaker 1: through the doors. Rest your forehead against the window and
Speaker 1: feel the cool glass and the golden light. The house softens.
Speaker 1: The hallway fades. The doors close. One by one, gently,
Speaker 1: the way doors close in a dream. The window dissolves.
Speaker 1: The glass becomes air. The light becomes memory.
Speaker 33: The dream is over. But the feeling of the dream remains.
Speaker 33: The feeling of being in a house that has always
Speaker 33: been here. The feeling of being in a house that
Speaker 33: will always be here. The feeling of being held by
Speaker 33: the walls, by the floors, by the windows. by the
Speaker 33: long quiet of the house at rest.
Speaker 14: You find yourself in a garden.
Speaker 15: The garden is not a place you have been before,
Speaker 15: though it feels familiar. The garden has the quality of
Speaker 15: a place you might have dreamed as a child.
Speaker 12: Soft-edged, gentle, lit by a light.
Speaker 5: That has no visible source.
Speaker 12: There is a path in the garden. The path is
Speaker 12: made of small, smooth stones.
Speaker 1: The stones are cool underfoot. The path winds gently between
Speaker 1: beds of plants you cannot quite name. The plants are
Speaker 1: not exotic. The plants are the kind of plants you
Speaker 1: might find in any quiet garden. Leafy, soft, varied in
Speaker 1: their greens. You walk the path slowly. You do not
Speaker 1: have to reach any destination. You're walking because walking feels good.
Speaker 1: The stones massage the soles of your feet. The air
Speaker 1: is warm. The air smells of green things, a worth of.
Speaker 8: Leaf, of flower.
Speaker 1: Not strongly, just gently. The way a garden smells at
Speaker 1: the end of a long day. There is water nearby.
Speaker 1: You can hear it. The sound is small. The sound
Speaker 1: is soft. It is the sound of water moving over stones.
Speaker 1: It is the sound of a stream you cannot see.
Speaker 1: The sound follows you as you walk. The sound keeps
Speaker 1: you company. In the garden there are places to sit.
Speaker 1: There is a stone bench half covered in moss. There
Speaker 1: is a wooden chair beneath an arbour. There is a
Speaker 1: low wall at the garden's edge where you could sit
Speaker 1: and look out over the rest of the garden. You
Speaker 1: do not need to sit. but the garden offers these places.
Speaker 1: The garden is generous with its rest. The light in
Speaker 1: the garden does not change. The light is always the same.
Speaker 16: The light is the light of late afternoon on a
Speaker 16: summer day that never ends. Soft, golden, warm on the skin.
Speaker 16: There are no shadows. There are no hard edges. The
Speaker 16: garden is lit from everywhere. And nowhere, you pass a
Speaker 16: bed of white flowers. The flowers nod as you walk past.
Speaker 16: You pass a trellis covered in climbing roses.
Speaker 1: The roses are pale pink. The roses smell of honey.
Speaker 1: You pass a small pond where a single heron stands, motionless,
Speaker 1: watching the water. The heron does not move as you
Speaker 1: walk by. The heron is part of the stillness. A
Speaker 1: bird sings somewhere high in the trees. You cannot see
Speaker 1: the bird, you only hear the song. The song repeats.
Speaker 1: The song is simple. The song is enough.
Speaker 3: You walk on.
Speaker 1: The path curves. The path leads you deeper into the garden.
Speaker 1: But the garden does not feel smaller as you go deeper.
Speaker 1: The garden feels larger. The garden seems to expand as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The way a dream expands as
Speaker 1: you move through it. The garden has no edges. The
Speaker 1: garden has no end. There is always more garden. There
Speaker 1: is always more quiet. You come to a clearing in
Speaker 1: the center of the garden. In the clearing there is
Speaker 1: a circle of grass. The grass is soft. The grass
Speaker 1: is the green of new growth. In the center of
Speaker 1: the circle, there is a single tree. The tree is old.
Speaker 1: The tree is large. The tree's branches spread wide, making
Speaker 1: a canopy of leaves that filters the light into dappled
Speaker 1: patterns on the grass. You sit beneath the tree. You
Speaker 1: lean against the trunk. The trunk is solid.
Speaker 17: In the garden, nothing is asked of you. Nothing is
Speaker 17: needed from you. Nothing is waiting for you. You can
Speaker 17: stay here as long as you like. The garden does
Speaker 17: not track the time. The garden does not keep count.
Speaker 17: The garden simply holds you the way the tree holds
Speaker 17: the birds that nest in its branches. The dream softens.
Speaker 18: At the edges.
Speaker 1: The garden becomes less distinct. The path, the bench, the heron,
Speaker 1: the tree, they fade gently. into a wash of green
Speaker 1: and gold and warmth. The garden does not disappear. The
Speaker 1: garden becomes a feeling. The garden becomes a sense of
Speaker 1: being held. The garden becomes the peace you carry with
Speaker 1: you as you sleep.
Speaker 19: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm. A rhythm
Speaker 19: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm. A
Speaker 19: rhythm that is a little deeper. Breathe in through your nose.
Speaker 19: Feel the air as it enters.
Speaker 20: Let the breath leave without effort. Let the breath leave
Speaker 20: the way a leaf leaves a branch.
Speaker 3: Not pulled, not pulled. Just released. Breathe in. Count of four. One, two, three, four.
Speaker 3: Breathe out. Count of six. One, two, three, four, five, six.
Speaker 21: The out breath is longer than the in breath. The
Speaker 21: out breath is the one that calms.
Speaker 1: The out breath is the one that tells the body
Speaker 1: it is safe. The out breath is the one that
Speaker 1: invites sleep. Breathe in. Two.
Speaker 3: Three.
Speaker 1: Four, breathe out. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 1: Let the out-breath stretch. Let it stretch by one count
Speaker 1: each time, not forcing, just allowing. Just letting the body
Speaker 1: find its own slow tide.
Speaker 8: Breathe in.
Speaker 2: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: Let the space between breaths grow. Let the pause at
Speaker 1: the top of the in-breath linger.
Speaker 3: There is rest.
Speaker 1: Breathe in.
Speaker 33: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: The breath is doing the work now. The breath does
Speaker 1: not need you. The breath knows the way to sleep.
Speaker 1: The breath has known since you were born. Trust the breath.
Speaker 1: Follow the breath. Let the breath carry you.
Speaker 22: You are in a library. The library is very old.
Speaker 22: The library is very large. The library has the quality
Speaker 22: of a place that has always been here, that will
Speaker 22: always be here.
Speaker 1: The shoals are made of dark wood, polished smooth by
Speaker 1: years of hands reaching for books. The shoals are filled
Speaker 1: with books. The books are bound in leather, Brown, green,
Speaker 1: deep red, soft blue. Some of the books are very small.
Speaker 1: Some of the books are very large. Some of the
Speaker 1: books lie flat. Most of the books stand upright, their
Speaker 1: spines facing outward, their titles written in gold. The library
Speaker 1: is quiet. The library is the kind of quiet that
Speaker 1: is filled with the presence of all the stories that
Speaker 1: have ever been told. The quiet hums. The quiet has
Speaker 1: a texture. The quiet is the texture of centuries of
Speaker 1: words held in one place. There is a smell in
Speaker 1: the library. The smell of paper. The smell of leather.
Speaker 1: the smell of dust that is not unpleasant. The kind
Speaker 1: of dust that means age, that means care, that means
Speaker 1: bugs have... The light in the library comes from lamps
Speaker 1: set on long wooden tables. The lamps have green glass shades.
Speaker 1: The light they give is warm. The light is gentle
Speaker 1: on the eyes. The light is the kind of light
Speaker 1: you want when you are reading late into the night.
Speaker 1: You walk between the shelves.
Speaker 12: Your footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers
Speaker 12: the floor. The carpet is patterned in deep reds and blues.
Speaker 12: The carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 23: Your feet sink slightly.
Speaker 12: Into it as you walk. You reach up and pull
Speaker 12: a book from a shelf. The book is small.
Speaker 1: The book is bound in soft brown leather. The title
Speaker 1: on the spine is in gold, but you cannot read
Speaker 1: the language. You open the book. The pages are thin.
Speaker 1: The pages are creamy. The pages are filled with words
Speaker 1: in a script that you don't know. But you don't
Speaker 1: need to know the words. You don't need to read.
Speaker 1: You only need to hold the book. You only need
Speaker 1: to feel its weight. You put the book back. You
Speaker 1: pull another. This one is larger. This one is bound
Speaker 1: and green. The pages are heavier. The pages are edged
Speaker 1: in gold. You open it to a random page. There
Speaker 1: is an illustration. A woodcut of a tree. Of a
Speaker 1: figure walking beneath the tree. Of a sky full of stars.
Speaker 1: The illustration is simple. The illustration is beautiful. You look
Speaker 1: at it for a long time. You do not read
Speaker 1: the words. You do not need to. You put the
Speaker 1: book back. You walk on. There are reading desks in
Speaker 1: the library. Long wooden desks with green shaded lamps. There
Speaker 1: are soft chairs beside some of the desks.
Speaker 3: The chairs are leather.
Speaker 1: The chairs are worn soft by years of reader sitting
Speaker 1: in them. The chairs hold the shape of the people
Speaker 1: who have rested here.
Speaker 10: You do not remember opening it.
Speaker 12: The book is open to a page.
Speaker 24: With no words, only an image.
Speaker 28: The image is of a window.
Speaker 24: Through the window, you can see a garden. That garden
Speaker 24: is the garden you were in earlier. The garden is
Speaker 24: the same garden. The garden will always be the same
Speaker 24: garden no matter where you find yourself.
Speaker 1: You look at the image for a long time. The
Speaker 1: image does not change. The image is enough. In the library,
Speaker 1: there is no rush. There is nowhere you need to be.
Speaker 1: There is no one waiting for you. There are only
Speaker 1: the books. There are only the shelves. There are only
Speaker 1: the soft green lamps and the worn leather chairs and
Speaker 1: the thick carpet and the centuries of stories held in
Speaker 1: the shelves, the books, the soft hum of all the
Speaker 1: words ever written. The library softens, the shelves fade, the
Speaker 1: lamps dim, the chair dissolves into the feeling of being held.
Speaker 1: The dream becomes the sense of being in a place
Speaker 1: that is vast and quiet and kind.
Speaker 25: Now let your mind find a number, any number.
Speaker 3: Let it be 20.
Speaker 28: Breathing.
Speaker 26: And as you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly.
Speaker 28: Seventeen.
Speaker 1: Do not think about the numbers. Just let them pass.
Speaker 1: Let them be the rhythm of your breath. Let them
Speaker 1: be the path down into sleep.
Speaker 12: 15, 14, 13.
Speaker 1: If your mind wanders, that is all right. The mind wanders.
Speaker 1: The mind is allowed to wander. When you notice it
Speaker 1: has wandered, just return to the number. Return gently. Return
Speaker 1: without judgment. The number will be waiting for you.
Speaker 2: 12.
Speaker 1: 11 10 Each breath takes you deeper. Each number takes
Speaker 1: you lower. The body is heavy now. The body is warm.
Speaker 1: The body is being held by the bed, by the blankets,
Speaker 1: by the night. 9 8 7 The numbers grow softer.
Speaker 1: The numbers grow farther apart. There is more space between
Speaker 1: them now. There is more silence.
Speaker 8: 6 5 4.
Speaker 7: You may lose the numbers.
Speaker 1: That is all right.
Speaker 7: Waiting for you at the bottom of the count.
Speaker 1: And now, there are no numbers. There is only.
Speaker 5: There is only the rise and fall of the chest.
Speaker 5: There is only the.
Speaker 29: Slow tide of the body letting go.
Speaker 10: You are in a house.
Speaker 30: The house is not yours, though it feels like it
Speaker 30: could be. The house has the quality of a house
Speaker 30: from a story you.
Speaker 12: Read as a child.
Speaker 1: The house feels inhabited by the memory of everyone who
Speaker 1: has ever lived here. The floors remember feet. The walls
Speaker 1: remember voices. The windows remember light.
Speaker 8: You are in a hallway.
Speaker 1: The hallway is long. The hallway is lit by a
Speaker 1: single window at the far end. The light from the
Speaker 1: window falls in a long rectangle on the wooden floor.
Speaker 1: The light is the light of late afternoon. The light
Speaker 1: is golden. There are doors along the hallway. Some of
Speaker 1: the doors are open. Some of the doors are closed.
Speaker 1: You do not need to open the closed ones. You
Speaker 1: do not need to enter the open ones. You only
Speaker 1: need to walk the whole way.
Speaker 4: You only need to feel the wood under your feet.
Speaker 4: Feel the light on your face. Feel the quiet of
Speaker 4: the house you walk.
Speaker 2: Your footsteps echo softly. The echo is gentle.
Speaker 4: The echo is the kind of echo that belongs in
Speaker 4: a house like this, a house that is too lodged
Speaker 4: to be silent, too empty to be still. You come
Speaker 4: to a door that is open.
Speaker 1: Through the door, you can see a room. The room
Speaker 1: is a bedroom. The room has a large bed made
Speaker 1: up with white linens. The room has a window that
Speaker 1: looks out over a garden.
Speaker 8: The room has a.
Speaker 1: Chair in the corner and a small table with a
Speaker 1: book on it. The book is closed.
Speaker 31: The book is waiting for someone to read it. But
Speaker 31: the someone does not need to be you. The room
Speaker 31: is for someone. The room is not for you tonight.
Speaker 31: You only need to see it. You only need to
Speaker 31: know it is there. You walk on. You come to
Speaker 31: another door. This one is also open. Through this door,
Speaker 31: you can see a sitting room.
Speaker 1: There is a fireplace. The fireplace is not lit, but
Speaker 1: you can imagine the fire. You can imagine the warmth.
Speaker 1: You can imagine it sitting in the chair beside it.
Speaker 1: The staircase goes down. You do not need to take
Speaker 1: the staircase. You only need to see it. The staircase
Speaker 1: is the spine of the house. The staircase connects all
Speaker 1: the rooms, all the flaws, all the moments that have
Speaker 1: ever been lived here. At the end of the hallway,
Speaker 1: you reach the window. The window is large. The window
Speaker 1: is tall. Through the window, you can see the garden.
Speaker 1: It is the same garden. It is always the same garden.
Speaker 1: The garden is the place you return to in dream
Speaker 1: after dream. The garden is where you are safe. You
Speaker 1: put your hand on the glass. The glass is cool.
Speaker 1: The glass is smooth. Through the glass, you can see
Speaker 1: the trees. Through the glass, you can see the path
Speaker 1: you walked earlier. Through the glass, you can see the
Speaker 1: bench I've covered in moss. Through the glass you can
Speaker 1: see the heron, still standing in the pond. The heron
Speaker 1: has not moved. The heron is part of the dream's stillness.
Speaker 32: The glass is cool against your skin. The coolness feels good.
Speaker 32: The coolness reminds you that you are here.
Speaker 12: In this hallway, in this house, in this moment.
Speaker 5: In this house, no one is waiting for you.
Speaker 32: In this house, nothing is required.
Speaker 2: Of you.
Speaker 1: In this house, you can simply walk the hallway, look
Speaker 1: through the doors, rest your forehead against the window, and
Speaker 1: feel the cool glass and the golden light. The house softens.
Speaker 1: The hallway fades. The doors close. One by one, gently,
Speaker 1: the way doors close in a dream. The window dissolves.
Speaker 1: The glass becomes air. The light becomes memory. The dream
Speaker 1: is over. But the feeling of the dream remains.
Speaker 2: The feeling of being in a dream. You find yourself
Speaker 2: in a garden.
Speaker 15: The garden is not a place you have been before,
Speaker 15: though it feels familiar. The garden has the quality of
Speaker 15: a place you might have dreamed as a child. Soft-edged, gentle,
Speaker 15: lit by a light that has.
Speaker 5: No visible source. There is a path in the garden.
Speaker 12: The path is made of small, smooth stones.
Speaker 1: The stones are cool underfoot. The path winds gently between
Speaker 1: beds of plants you cannot quite name. The plants are
Speaker 1: not exotic. The plants are the kind of plants you
Speaker 1: might find in any quiet garden. Leafy, soft, varied in
Speaker 1: their greens. You walk the path slowly. You do not
Speaker 1: have to reach any destination. You're walking because walking feels good.
Speaker 1: The stones massage the soles of your feet. The air
Speaker 1: is warm. The air smells of green things, a worth
Speaker 1: of leaf, of flower. Not strongly, just gently. The way
Speaker 1: your garden smells. It is the sound of water moving
Speaker 1: over stones. It is the sound of a stream you
Speaker 1: cannot see. The sound follows you as you walk. The
Speaker 1: sound keeps you company. In the garden there are places
Speaker 1: to sit. There is a stone bench half covered in moss.
Speaker 1: There is a wooden chair beneath an arbor. There is
Speaker 1: a low wall at the garden's edge where you could
Speaker 1: sit and look out over the rest of the garden.
Speaker 1: You do not need to sit, but the garden offers
Speaker 1: these places. The garden is generous with its rest. The
Speaker 1: light in the garden does not change. The light is
Speaker 1: always the same.
Speaker 16: The light is the light of late afternoon on a
Speaker 16: summer day that never ends. Soft, golden, warm on the skin.
Speaker 16: There are no shadows. There are no hard edges. The
Speaker 16: garden is lit from everywhere and nowhere. You pass a
Speaker 16: bed of white flowers. The flowers nod as you walk past.
Speaker 16: You pass a trellis covered in climbing roses.
Speaker 1: The roses are pale pink. The roses smell of honey.
Speaker 1: You pass a small pond where a single heron stands, motionless,
Speaker 1: watching the water. The heron does not move as you
Speaker 1: walk by. The heron is part of the stillness. A
Speaker 1: bird sings somewhere high in the trees. You cannot see
Speaker 1: the bird, you only hear the song. The song is short.
Speaker 1: The song repeats. The song is simple. The song is enough.
Speaker 1: You walk on. The path curves. The path leads you
Speaker 1: deeper into the garden. But the garden does not feel
Speaker 1: smaller as you go deeper. The garden feels larger. The
Speaker 1: garden seems to expand as you move through it. The
Speaker 1: way a dream expands as you move through it. The
Speaker 1: garden has no edges. The garden has no end. There
Speaker 1: is always more garden. There is always more quiet. You
Speaker 1: come to a clearing in the center of the garden.
Speaker 1: In the clearing, there is a circle of grass. The
Speaker 1: grass is soft. The grass is the green of new growth.
Speaker 1: In the center of the circle, there is a single.
Speaker 1: The tree is large. The tree's branches spread wide, making
Speaker 1: a canopy of leaves that filters the light into dappled
Speaker 1: patterns on the grass. You sit beneath the tree. You
Speaker 1: lean against the trunk. The trunk is solid. The trunk
Speaker 1: is warm from the sun. You feel held by the tree.
Speaker 1: You feel held by the garden. You feel held by
Speaker 1: the moment.
Speaker 17: In the garden, nothing is asked of you. Nothing is
Speaker 17: needed from you. Nothing is waiting.
Speaker 18: For You can stay here as long as you like.
Speaker 17: The garden does not track the time. The garden does
Speaker 17: not keep count. The garden simply holds you the way
Speaker 17: the tree holds the birds that nest in its branches.
Speaker 17: The dream softens.
Speaker 1: At the edges. The garden becomes less distinct. The path,
Speaker 1: the bench, the heron, the tree.
Speaker 19: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm. A rhythm
Speaker 19: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm. A
Speaker 19: rhythm that is a little deeper. Breathe in through your nose.
Speaker 19: Feel the air as it enters. Cool at the nostrils,
Speaker 19: cool in the throat, cool in the chest.
Speaker 1: Breathe out through your mouth.
Speaker 23: Softly, slowly.
Speaker 20: Let the breath leave without effort. Let the breath leave
Speaker 20: the way a leaf leaves a branch.
Speaker 3: Not pulled, not pulled. Just released. Breathe in. Count of four.
Speaker 19: One.
Speaker 3: Two. Three.
Speaker 10: Four.
Speaker 3: Breathe out. Count of six.
Speaker 1: One. Two.
Speaker 3: Three.
Speaker 28: Four.
Speaker 21: Five. Six. The out breath is longer than the in breath.
Speaker 21: The out breath is the one that calms.
Speaker 1: The out breath is the one that tells the body
Speaker 1: it is safe. The out breath is the one that
Speaker 1: invites sleep. Breathe in.
Speaker 3: Two.
Speaker 4: Three.
Speaker 1: Four. Breathe out. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 1: Let the out-breath stretch. Let it stretch by one count
Speaker 1: each time, not forcing, just allowing. Just letting the body
Speaker 1: find its own slow tide.
Speaker 8: Breathe in.
Speaker 2: Breathe out.
Speaker 1: Let the space between breaths grow. Let the pause at
Speaker 1: the top of the in-breaths linger. Let the pause at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the out-breaths linger. In the pause, there
Speaker 1: is stillness. In the stillness, there is rest. Breathe in.
Speaker 1: Breathe out. The breath is doing the work now. The
Speaker 1: breath does not need your help. The breath knows the
Speaker 1: way to sleep. The breath has known since you were born.
Speaker 1: Trust the breath. Follow the breath. Let the breath carry you.
Speaker 22: You are in a library. The library is very old.
Speaker 22: The library is very large. The library has a quality
Speaker 22: of a place that has always been here, that will
Speaker 22: always be here, that.
Speaker 27: Exists outside of time. The shelves go up. The shelves
Speaker 27: go up further.
Speaker 10: Than you can see.
Speaker 1: The shelves are made of dark wood, polished smooth by
Speaker 1: years of hands reaching for books. The shelves are filled
Speaker 1: with books. The books are bound in leather. Brown, green,
Speaker 1: deep red, soft blue. Some of the books are very small.
Speaker 1: Some of the books are very large. Some of the
Speaker 1: books lie flat. Most of the books stand upright, their
Speaker 1: spines facing outward, their titles written in gold. The library
Speaker 1: is quiet. The library is the kind of quiet that
Speaker 1: is filled with the presence of all the stories that
Speaker 1: have ever been told. The quiet hums. The quiet has
Speaker 1: a texture. The quiet is the texture of centuries of
Speaker 1: words held in one place. There is a smell in
Speaker 1: the library. The smell of paper, the smell of leather,
Speaker 1: the smell of dust that is not unpleasant. The kind
Speaker 1: of dust that means age, that means care, that means
Speaker 1: bugs have lived here for a long time. The light
Speaker 1: in the library comes from lamps set on long wooden tables.
Speaker 1: The lamps have green glass shades. The light they give
Speaker 1: is warm. The light is gentle on the eyes. The
Speaker 1: light is the kind of light you want when you
Speaker 1: are reading late into the night. You walk between the shelves.
Speaker 12: Your footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers
Speaker 12: the floor. The carpet is patterned in deep reds and blues.
Speaker 12: The carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 23: Your feet sink slightly.
Speaker 12: Into it as you walk. You reach up and pull
Speaker 12: a book from a shelf. The book is small. The
Speaker 12: book is bound in soft brown leather.
Speaker 1: The title on the spine is in gold, but you
Speaker 1: cannot read the language. You open the book. The pages
Speaker 1: are thin. The pages are creamy. The pages are filled
Speaker 1: with words in a script that you don't know. But
Speaker 1: you don't need to know the words. You don't need
Speaker 1: to read. You only need to hold the book. You
Speaker 1: only need to feel its weight. You put the book back.
Speaker 1: You pull another. This one is larger. This one is
Speaker 1: bound and green. The pages are heavier. The pages are
Speaker 1: edged in gold. You open it to a random page.
Speaker 1: There is an illustration. A woodcut of a tree. Of
Speaker 1: a figure walking beneath the tree. Of a sky full
Speaker 1: of stars. The illustration is simple. The illustration is beautiful.
Speaker 1: You look at it for a long time. You do
Speaker 1: not read the words.
Speaker 2: You don't need to.
Speaker 1: The chairs are worn soft by years of readers sitting
Speaker 1: in them. The chairs hold the shape of the people
Speaker 1: who have rested here. You sit in one of the chairs.
Speaker 1: The chair receives you. The chair has been waiting for you.
Speaker 1: The leather is cool at first, then warms to your body.
Speaker 1: On the desk in front of you, there is an
Speaker 1: open book.
Speaker 10: You do not remember opening it.
Speaker 12: The book is open to a page.
Speaker 10: With no words, only an image.
Speaker 28: The image is of a window.
Speaker 24: Through the window, you can see a garden. That garden
Speaker 24: is the garden you were in earlier.
Speaker 18: The garden is the same garden.
Speaker 24: The garden will always be the same garden no matter
Speaker 24: where you find yourself.
Speaker 1: You look at the image for a long time. The
Speaker 1: image does not change. The image is enough. In the library,
Speaker 1: there is no rush. There is nowhere you need to be.
Speaker 1: There is no one waiting for you. There are only
Speaker 1: the books. There are only the shelves. There are only
Speaker 1: the soft green lamps and the worn leather chairs and
Speaker 1: the thick carpet. and the centuries of stories held in
Speaker 1: the wood and the paper. You close your eyes. The
Speaker 1: library is still there. You can feel it around you.
Speaker 1: The shelves, the books, the soft home of all the
Speaker 1: words ever written, held quietly in this one place. The
Speaker 1: library softens, the shelves fade, the lamps dim, the chair
Speaker 1: dissolves into the feeling of being held. The dream becomes
Speaker 1: the sense of being in a place that is vast
Speaker 1: and quiet and kind.
Speaker 25: Now let your mind find a number, any number.
Speaker 1: Let it be 20.
Speaker 2: Breathing.
Speaker 26: And as you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly.
Speaker 1: 20.
Speaker 27: Breathing.
Speaker 28: Breathe out.
Speaker 25: 19.
Speaker 26: Let the number carry you down. Each breath, a number lower.
Speaker 26: Each breath, a step closer to rest.
Speaker 1: 18, 17, 16. Do not think about the numbers. Just
Speaker 1: let them pass. Let them be the rhythm of your breath.
Speaker 1: Let them be the path down into sleep. 15, 14, 13.
Speaker 1: If your mind wanders, that is all right. The mind wanders.
Speaker 1: The mind is allowed to wander. When you notice it
Speaker 1: has wandered, just return to the number. Return gently. Return
Speaker 1: without judgment. The number will be waiting for you.
Speaker 8: 12, 11, 10.
Speaker 1: Each breath takes you deeper. Each number takes you lower.
Speaker 1: The body is heavy now. The body is round. The
Speaker 1: numbers grow softer. The numbers grow farther apart. There is
Speaker 1: more space between them now.
Speaker 8: There is more silence.
Speaker 5: Six.
Speaker 2: Five.
Speaker 1: Four.
Speaker 7: You may lose the numbers. That is all right. If
Speaker 7: the numbers fade, just let them fade. The breath is
Speaker 7: still there. The body is still there. The sleep is
Speaker 7: still there, waiting for you at the bottom of the count.
Speaker 1: Three, two, one. And now, there are no numbers.
Speaker 5: There is only breath. There is only the rise and
Speaker 5: fall of the chest.
Speaker 1: There is only the.
Speaker 29: Slow tide of the body letting go.
Speaker 10: You are in a house.
Speaker 30: The house is not yours, though it feels like it
Speaker 30: could be. The house has the quality of a house
Speaker 30: from a story you read as a child, or a
Speaker 30: house from a dream you had once and forgot. The
Speaker 30: house is large. The house is empty of other people,
Speaker 30: but not empty of presence.
Speaker 1: The house feels inhabited by the memory of everyone who
Speaker 1: has ever lived here. The floors remember feet. The walls
Speaker 1: remember voices. The windows remember light. You are in a hallway.
Speaker 1: The hallway is long. The hallway is lit by a
Speaker 1: single window at the far end. The light from the
Speaker 1: window falls in a long rectangle on the wooden floor.
Speaker 1: The light is the light of late afternoon. The light
Speaker 1: is golden. There are doors along the hallway. Some of
Speaker 1: the doors are open. Some of the doors are closed.
Speaker 1: You do not need to open the closed ones. You
Speaker 1: do not need to.
Speaker 4: You only need to feel the wood under your feet.
Speaker 4: Feel the light on your face. Feel the quiet of
Speaker 4: the house you walk. Your footsteps echo softly. The echo
Speaker 4: is gentle. The echo is the kind of echo that
Speaker 4: belongs in a house like this, a house that is
Speaker 4: too lodged to be silent, too empty to be still.
Speaker 4: You come to a door that is open.
Speaker 1: Through the door, you can see a room. The room
Speaker 1: is a bedroom. The room has a large bed. made
Speaker 1: up with white linens. The room has a window that
Speaker 1: looks out over a garden. The room has a chair
Speaker 1: in the corner and a small table with a book
Speaker 1: on it. The book is closed.
Speaker 31: The book is waiting for someone to read it, but
Speaker 31: the someone does not need to be you. The room
Speaker 31: is for someone. The room is not for you tonight.
Speaker 31: You only need to see it. You only need to
Speaker 31: know it is there. You walk on. You come to
Speaker 31: another door. This one is also open. Through this door,
Speaker 31: you can see a sitting room.
Speaker 1: There is a fireplace. The fireplace is not lit, but
Speaker 1: you can imagine the fire. You can imagine the warmth.
Speaker 1: You can imagine sitting in the chair beside it, greeting,
Speaker 1: listening to the rain. The sitting room is for winter evenings.
Speaker 1: The sitting room is not for tonight. You walk on.
Speaker 1: You come to a staircase. The staircase goes up. The
Speaker 1: staircase goes down. You do not need to take the staircase.
Speaker 3: You only need to see it.
Speaker 1: The staircase is the spine of the house. The staircase
Speaker 1: connects all the rooms, all the flaws, all the moments
Speaker 1: that have ever been lived here. At the end of
Speaker 1: the hallway, you reach the window. The window is large.
Speaker 1: The window is tall. Through the window, you can see
Speaker 1: the garden. It is the same garden. It is always
Speaker 1: the same garden. The garden is the place you return
Speaker 1: to in dream after dream. The garden is where you
Speaker 1: are safe. You put your.
Speaker 2: Hand on the glass.
Speaker 1: The glass is cool. The glass is smooth. Through the glass,
Speaker 1: you can see the trees. Through the glass, you can
Speaker 1: see the path you walked earlier. Through the glass, you
Speaker 1: can see the bench I've covered in moss. Through the
Speaker 1: glass you can see the heron, still standing in the pond.
Speaker 1: The heron has not moved. The heron is part of
Speaker 1: the dream's stillness. You rest your forehead against the glass.