Fairy Tale Gallery

Here by the warm blue lake in the mountain valley, time seems to stand still. The mountains in the distance, delicately dusted with snow, were here long before the villages came with their alpine chalets and market stalls. They are boats and they are barn houses, but the way of live here still seems old as the sea. Sitting by the lake and lap of the Bavarian lake, weather-beaten fishermen catch their supper with graceful flicks of their fishing lines. An old woman, her face crinkled in a warm smile, sells self-spun fabrics in every texture and color of the rainbow, and the heart musky scent of wood smoke whiffs from chestnut roasts, mingled with salted pretzels and the tang of sweet mustard. Now, after sundown, all the tourists have returned home, leaving only the locals to light their fires in the evening lamps, which flicker behind shuttered windows. But you will be staying a little longer. You have been invited as a special guest to the local art gallery at the edge of the lake, where an after hours exhibition has been curated. Tonight, the theme is fairytales, but before we enter the gallery, and explore the world of folklore within, let us begin with a little wind down. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. So when you're ready, let us begin. 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 are ready, take a big deep breath. Breathe in through the nose, and out through the mouth. And as you breathe out, allow the body to sink down into your bed. Feel the weight of the body. Allow 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 is 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 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. This room of the gallery is blank...