Black Forest Chapel

Here in the Black Forest everything is bathed in the glow of dusk. Golden strands of sunlight thread their way down through the leaves overhead lighting up dust motes that glitter in the forest air like fairy dust. The trees seem to breathe a sigh of relief as the sun sets, ready to sink into their woodland slumber. As we join them for the evening, let's settle in with a brief wind-down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. When you are ready, let's begin. So, just take a moment to get comfortable, letting go of the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We are 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 the 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 downward is heavy, at ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle of the back, around the diaphragm, the upper back, and the chest. So, any muscles not needed shutting down, switching off for the night. The shoulders 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, switch off, at rest for the night. And allowing thoughts to come and go. Allowing the mind and body the space they need to rest. A little brook trickles its way through the trees, babbling quietly to itself in the stillness, lapping and splashing its way around a trunk that has fallen in its path. This fallen tree beckons every passerby to come, sit, stay a while. A shallow indentation in its back suggests many forest hikers have sat here, wearing the wood away, while taking the weight off their weary legs. Though the log is coated in a layer of mint green lichen, it is surprisingly smooth, buffed and burnished by the touch of many hands. A pleasant sense of heaviness starts to spread through every limb. A few moments rest on this woodland seat are in order. A long, deep breath fills the lungs with cool forest air, with the honeyed scent of sap and soft earth, and all the while, the brook carries on...