Glowing Stones

In the late afternoon, everything along the beach boardwalk takes on a light golden tint from the outdoor market, to sand dunes and beach grasses, to the waves softly cresting on the shore. There's so much time and space to relax out here, time to be fully present. Scattered along the outdoor market are tables for shells, candles, second-hand books. One cedar table by the front has a white tablecloth with rocks spread thoughtfully over the fabric. There are smooth rocks and rough ones, rocks with artful patterns and shades. There's a long story in each stone about the earth around it and how they came to be. Before we begin tonight, let's start with a little 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. 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's nothing other than that sense of stillness remaining. And now, just gently bringing the attention back to the body. This fern fossil looks especially pretty against the white tablecloth. The large flat stone, roughly the size of a Frisbee, holds the deep imprint of an old, old plant. The fossil itself is gray, but the leafy imprint seems so detailed and lively. You can just imagine some great green fern swaying in the wind. Hundreds of millions of years ago, a breeze whispered through a vibrant forest of pine trees and waterfalls. Next to a bubbling stream, a fern grew from a mossy rock. The fern's leaves spiraled gently towards the ground. As the wind blew, a leaf fluttered down into...