Speaker 1: The lamp has a soft fabric shade. The lamp is
Speaker 1: the kind of lamp that gives the kind of light
Speaker 1: you would want if you were reading a book late
Speaker 1: at night. But to night, the lamp is off to night.
Speaker 1: The only light in the room is the light from
Speaker 1: the window. The light from the window is the light
Speaker 1: of the moon. The room is quiet. The room is patient.
Speaker 1: The room is waiting for you to settle in. There
Speaker 1: is a rug in the middle of the room. The
Speaker 1: rug is oat. The rug has been walked on for
Speaker 1: many years. The colors of the rug have softened with time.
Speaker 1: The patterns of the rug have blurred with use. The
Speaker 1: rug is the kind of rug that has become more
Speaker 1: beautiful with age, the way some people become more beautiful
Speaker 1: with age. There is a lamp in the corner. The
Speaker 1: lamp is not lit. Let them be the path down
Speaker 1: into sleep. Fifteen fourteen thirteen. If your mind wanders, that
Speaker 1: is all right. The mind wanders. The mind is allowed
Speaker 1: to wander. When you notice it has wandered, just return
Speaker 1: to the number. Return gently, return without judgment. The number
Speaker 1: will be waiting for you. Twelve eleven ten. Each breath
Speaker 1: takes you deeper. Each number takes you lower. The body
Speaker 1: is heavy. Now let you mine and find a number,
Speaker 1: any number. Let it be twenty. Breathe in, and as
Speaker 1: you breathe out, say the number to yourself slowly, twenty
Speaker 1: breathe in, breathe out. Nineteen. Let the number carry you down.
Speaker 1: Each breath a number lower, each breath a step closer
Speaker 1: to rest eighteen seventeen sixteen. Do not think about the numbers.
Speaker 1: Just let them pass. Let them be the rhythm of
Speaker 1: your breath. The walls are painted a color that has
Speaker 1: no name, a color that lives somewhere between cream and
Speaker 1: pale rose. A color that holds the light without reflecting
Speaker 1: it back too sharply. There is a chair in the
Speaker 1: corner of the room, a chair with arms. The chair
Speaker 1: is upholstered in a fabric that is soft and worn
Speaker 1: and welcoming. You are not going to sit in the
Speaker 1: chair tonight. You are not going to need it. Your
Speaker 1: 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, feel
Speaker 1: them soften. They have been holding your head up all
Speaker 1: day tonight, they are allowed to rest. Let your shoulders drop,
Speaker 1: Let them drop toward the bed, Let them settle. The
Speaker 1: lamps have green glass shades. The light they give is warm.
Speaker 1: The light is gentle on the eyes. The light is
Speaker 1: the kind of light you want when you are reading
Speaker 1: late into the night. You walk between the shelves. Your
Speaker 1: footsteps are quiet on the thick carpet that covers the floor.
Speaker 1: The carpet is patterned in deep breads and blues. The
Speaker 1: carpet is old. The carpet is soft.
Speaker 2: The dark is the kind of dark that wraps itself
Speaker 2: around you like a heavy blanket. You can see if
Speaker 2: you look the faintest suggestion of trees at the edge
Speaker 2: of the property. The trees are still. The trees are
Speaker 2: sleepy too. There is a clock in the room. The
Speaker 2: clock is not ticking. The clock is silent.
Speaker 1: Tonight. Time does not need to be measured. Tonight time
Speaker 1: will pass on its own without any help from us.
Speaker 3: Now, let your breathing find its own rhythm, a rhythm
Speaker 3: that is a little slower than your waking rhythm, a
Speaker 3: rhythm that is a little deeper.
Speaker 1: Breathe in through your nose, feel the air as it enters.
Speaker 1: Cool the nostrils, cool in the throat, cool in the chest.
Speaker 1: Breathe out through your mouth softly, slowly, let the breath
Speaker 1: leave without effort. Feel it steady, feel it sure. You
Speaker 1: do not need to do anything about your heart. Your
Speaker 1: heart knows what to do. Your heart has been beating
Speaker 1: since before you were born. It will beat long after
Speaker 1: this moment has passed. Trust it, Trust it to keep
Speaker 1: going while you rest. Let your attention sink to your belly.
Speaker 1: Let your belly soften, Let it rise with thee in breath,
Speaker 1: Let it fall with the out breath. In the garden
Speaker 1: there are places to sit. There is a stone bench
Speaker 1: half covered in moss. There is a wooden chair beneath
Speaker 1: an arbor. There is a low wall at the garden's
Speaker 1: edge where you could sit and look out over.
Speaker 2: 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. Feel the weight of them sinking, Feel
Speaker 1: the way the bed accepts them. Feel the slow release
Speaker 1: of tension you may not have known was there now.
Speaker 1: Your arms Let your upper arms feel heavy, Let your
Speaker 1: elbows feel soft. Let your forearms rest. What your wrists
Speaker 1: be still, What your hands open, What your fingers curl softly,
Speaker 1: not crepping, not reaching, just resting. The hounds have done
Speaker 1: so much today. You are in a library. The library
Speaker 1: is very old. The library is very large. The library
Speaker 1: has the quality of a place that has always been here,
Speaker 1: that will always be here, that exists outside of time.
Speaker 1: The shelves go up. The shelves go up further than
Speaker 1: you can see. The shelves are made of dark wood,
Speaker 1: polished smooth by years of hands reaching for books. The
Speaker 1: shelves are filled with books. The herond is part of
Speaker 1: the dream's stillness. You rest your forehead against the glass.
Speaker 1: The glass is cool against your skin.