Evening Tide

Night has just begun to fall on this quiet stretch of beach. At this time of the day, the gentle pace of the setting sun matches that of the incoming tide. The two move together, so it almost seems as though one is leading while the other follows. At the edge of the beach, gray winged seagulls leave their cliffside homes and soar overhead. Their distant outlines melt into the clouds that fill the early evening sky, rolling out like a quilt above the horizon. The birds glide and turn in the air with ease, silhouetted by the glow of the low hanging sun. Down by the shore, the rising water spills onto a rocky reef unveiling a small collection of natural tide pools, each with its own mini ecosystem of pinching crabs, ancient barnacles and neon colored starfish. Now, as we settle in for the evening, let's deepen your state of relaxation with a short 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, as though it washes away any discomfort. It 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 throat, into the head and face, all the way to the very top of the body until there's nothing other than that sense of stillness remaining. And now just gently bringing the attention back to the body. Hidden beneath the rocks, firmly clinging to them, or buried in the sand, all manner of animal and plant life. Some tide pools appear completely bare, while others house several creatures in a single nook. The pools can hide so much, but reveal their secrets to an intrepid explorer. Just such a man is crouched at a shallow pool, his eyes squint at...