Moonlit Olympic

(no audio) It is early evening here at Olympic National Park. Rain has just begun to fall across the vast landscape, stretching from rocky coastlines to wide open valleys, lush rainforests, and stunningly high mountain peaks. Along the coast, a pair of orca whales can be seen jumping through the water's surface and crashing with a spectacular splash. In the grassy valleys, large Roosevelt elk strut slowly through the tall grass, stepping past chipmunks and other small mammals. In the distant mountains, a mother black bear traverses the icy terrain with her two cubs in tow. The air is still, quiet, and welcoming, an invitation to pause, relax, and unwind. So as we settle in for tonight's journey, let's begin our evening with a short 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 during 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 and 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 conditions for gentle, restful sleep. So to begin, just take a moment or two to get comfortable. Make sure you're nice and cool. Just starting with some 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 feeling the weight of the body pressing you down into your bed. (no audio) 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 are distracted by thought, simply note it thinking and return to the breath. Or if a feeling arises, note it as feeling and return to the breath. 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. (no audio) (no audio) (no audio) (no audio) That's great. (no audio) There are many ways to tell time in Olympic National Park. In antlers shed by Roosevelt elk every spring, in first salmon ceremonies performed by coastal tribes that have stewarded this land for millennia. And centuries reflected in the formation of the Olympic Mountains that were once under the...