Cabin Porch

Welcome to Robin's Nest Cabin, your home away from home for the night. From your cushioned seat on the front porch, you can feel the cool air of the approaching night wash over you. You lean back and close your eyes, welcoming the gentle embrace of the surrounding woods. There's nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to report to. You sit quietly and savor the vibrant stillness of the world around you. Let's deepen this state of relaxation with a wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. So when you're ready, let's begin. So no matter what's been going on today, whether it's been a busy day or a calm one, this is an opportunity to put everything down, to let go of any inner chatter and find a place of rest in both the body and the mind. So first, get yourself comfortable in bed, just taking a moment to pause and be still. And when you're ready, taking a big deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breathe out, allowing the body to sink down into your bed, feeling the weight of the body, allowing thoughts to come and go. Now imagining a steady flow of warm sunlight flowing down through the body, dissolving any tension, any discomfort, as it begins to fill the body starting with the toes. Moving up through the feet and the legs, being filled with sunlight. The qualities of warmth, space, and ease as it continues to travel up through the body. Up past the waist, through the back and the stomach. It's as though it washes away any discomfort. Continues up through the chest and the upper back into the shoulders and down the arms, all the way down to the hands and fingers. A sense of relief in the body and stillness in the mind as it continues to travel up through the neck and the throat, into the head and face, all the way to the very top of the body, until there is nothing other than that sense of stillness remaining. And now just gently bringing the attention back to the body. Isn't robin's nest the most magical place. It's the perfect escape from the stresses of city life. Some mornings, if you look beneath the Aspen trees you'll see a doe and her two fawns stretch and yawn and blink the sleep from their eyes. Do you see them? There beneath the big tree in the center. There, there they are. And what a cozy nest they've made. The slight impression they've left in the leaves where they snuggled in for the night. The moss pillows where they rested their heads. It looks almost as comfortable as the soft bed inside the cabin. Well, almost. And aren't they wondrous creatures. Some fawns might be afraid of people, but not these two. Now they're happy to walk right up to you much like the other animals in...