Island Market

Welcome to this lovely island. Tonight, we are going to tour the market. The place where people come from the countryside to sell their wares and the craftsman of the town display their handiwork. We are here at the end of the day, as the sellers pack up their stalls, the atmosphere is one of gathering rest. Before we begin our tour, it's nice to start with a wind down exercise. For tonight's wind down, you're going to use your imagination. 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 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, to the back and the stomach. It's as though it washes away any discomfort. It continues up through the chest and the 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. You are here at the arch that marks the entrance to the market. It is a simple construction of wood, painted with colors that have gone tender with time. What might once have been grit, now a hint of rose, dandelion yellow, now pale as the sand beneath our sandaled feet. The colors mirror the sashes of light, unfurling lazily across a sky dark with blues and purples, a sky that you can see resting above the swaying crowns of palm trees and the rows of market stands, as though satiated from a day of good work, watching over the island. All day, the ground has been drinking the sunlight. Now, it releases its warmth to mingle with the cool breath of the sea. This translucent hour, when light and dark weave through each other in perfect balance, like a visible song. You feel it coarse through you, humming at your fingertips, almost...