Bengal Forest

Curling vines frame a dusty forest path which leads deep into Sukna Forest, nestled into the Himalayan foothills. The distant roar of the Mahanadi River can be heard, reassuring for every explorer looking for reassurance of their direction of travel. Like the river, the forest path is never a straight line. For what is ever a straight line in the natural world? It runs along like the letter S, damp in places, remnants of the rainy season, the monsoons that nourish the soil for four months here. The unpaved paths, like the tea gardens nearby, are a reminder of the presence of humans. Those who have come to visit the forest before you. Trees grow thicker, as the path cuts deeper into the forest. We're here to visit a special place, a cottage in the forest. But before we get there, let's begin with a little wind-down. Tonight's wind-down is a visualization. When you're ready, let's begin. So just take a moment to get comfortable. Letting go the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We're going to focus the attention of the mind on the different parts of the body. Watching as the muscles in the body switch off for the night, leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. So starting down at the toes, and feeling a sense of the muscles switching off. The feet, the arches, all those muscles switching off. Same in the lower half of legs. Notice any tension being let go of as the muscles switch off, shut down. In the upper half of the legs, any tension melting away, being let go of. Into the area of the hips, the pelvis, again, any muscles shutting down for the night, completely at rest. Everything from the waist downwards is heavy, at ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle off the back, around the diaphragm, the upper back, and the chest. So any muscles not needed shutting down, switching off for the night. The shoulder, switching off. The upper half of the arms and the lower half of the arms, switching off. The hands, fingers, just switching off. Any muscles around the throat and the neck, switching off. The head, the face, the jaw, the eyes, any last areas of tension melting away as the muscles shut down, switching off. At rest for the night. And allowing thoughts to come and go. Allowing the mind and body the space they need to rest. It comes like an appetizer. The tea gardens of Gunma. Before one enters Sukna. Near them is a large playground, where children play football all day. It comes as a relief to the eye after the pointed spires of the hills in the background. It is flat or perhaps flattened. The waste hype-y shrubs, like inverted umbrellas, they now hold branches of long decades, together look like carpets rolled out, till the horizon....