Evening Tide

Night has just begun to fall on this quiet stretch of beach. As the sun lasers across the horizon, it strikes the ocean's surface with a brilliant white glow, which reflects from the sand and onto distant cliff sides. At this time of day, the landscape of the beach takes on a new character. Rocks on a nearby reef sparkle and glitter under the setting sun. Tiny crabs scurry along the shoreline in silhouette, pausing only to borrow themselves into the wet sand and outsmarting the seagulls circling above. A natural outcropping of tide pools slowly emerges from the ebbing water, revealing a hidden ecosystem of coral, anemones, and brightly colored starfish. All of whom eagerly await the approaching tide. 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. When you're 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'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 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. The 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, the 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. The softly crashing waves are the S=sonic foundation of the shore. The wind sweeps the crest of each one and sends it tumbling down. The breeze is light today, and so the waves move without much resistance. Their edges are trimmed in a quickly-evaporating sea foam. Tiny bubbles froth up with each wave break and fizz like a freshly-cracked bottle of soda. Nearer to the tide pools, they lift and carry rocks further inland, creating...