Hummingbird Bungalow

Hello, welcome to the garden of the hummingbird bungalow. It's not a big garden, but it is a rather beautiful place. It has that kind of beauty that's only really visible if you stop a while and give yourself time to take it all in. And luckily, that's exactly what we're going to do. Before we begin our tour, it's nice to start with a 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 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 a 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 with 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, feel it and return to the breath. That 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. At the border of the vegetable garden, nasturtium tangles around posts made of light wood. Nasturtium will grow in whatever space it has, spreading lily pad leaves and colorful bursts. The leaves are round and vibrantly green, held up by delicate lime stems. These frons are wide as possible to absorb lots of sunlight. Nasturtium flowers here are warm and radiant. One blossom will have an orange heart, then fray to Marigold yellow. Another will be red with splotches of ochre. Another is pure coral. It is as though a grew from jelly beans instead of seeds. Here is a Monarch butterfly, regally sampling each flower. This butterfly glides around a blossom, then lands delicately on a yellow pedal for...