Dreamy Artist Studio

Welcome to the artist's studio. A quiet space for reflection and invention. The old floors are caked with years of accumulated paint splatters. Byzantine blues, ruby reds, pastel pinks all blot together to form an elegant portrait of their own. A large window at the far end of the room sits propped open allowing the cool night air to waft in. Its sweet scent mixing with those of charcoal pens, oil pastels, and jars of turpentine. At the center of the room sits a large canvas mounted on to an even larger easel. The artists carefully drapes a smock around his waist and faces his subject for the evening. A large sleepy brown dog nuzzled peacefully on a paint splattered couch across the way. Before we begin, let's start off with a little wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is an exercise we call noting. It helps to soothe the mind, and once you've learned it you can even use it if you wake up in the middle of the night. We're going to be counting our breaths and then just gently noting thoughts and feelings as they arise. We're not trying to change them. We're simply labeling thinking as thinking, feeling as feeling. It may sound incredibly simple, but it can help to create distance between ourselves and the thought ourselves and the feeling so we don't get so involved in it. That in turn creates a more restful state of mind. In other words, the perfect state of mind for gentle, restful sleep. So to begin with, just take a moment or two to get comfortable, make sure you're nice and cool. Just starting with some nice, big deep breaths. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm, in and out through the nose and just feeling the weight of the body pressing down into your bed. And in your own time, starting to count the breaths as they pass. One with the rise, two what the fall just up to a count of 10. When you get to 10, you can stop and start again at one. And remember any time you get distracted, the moment you realize you're distracted by thought simply note it thinking and return to the breath or if a feeling arises, feeling and return to the breath. Noting is very gentle, not harsh at all. Think of it like a feather just gently touching the surface of a crystal glass. I'm going to give you a few moments just to keep counting the breath and noting any thoughts and feelings that arise. That's great. While sleeping, the dog begins to dream. Making small noises of excitement, her leg and lower jaw trembling. When the dream is over, the painter walks over to the sofa and re-crosses the dog's forearms. Maneuvering her into the pose she was in before. Inside, it is peaceful and secluded. The...