Moonrise Bakery

While the rest of the neighborhood sleeps, pastry chefs and bread makers are well into their workday at the family-run bakery in the center of town. Working these unusual hours has its benefits. The bakers enjoy the calm of easing into their day with no outside distractions other than the gentle fall of rain. In the kitchen sits a large wood burning oven, and above it, a wide skylight cut in the center of the ceiling. Every so often, the pale moon can be seen making its pilgrimage across the sky. The small group of bakers know the choreography of their nighttime shifts well. One person will laminate dough for their famous croissants, while another will whip up a batch of buttercream for cupcakes. Somehow, despite the popularity of the bakery, there is always enough time to complete the day's tasks ahead of opening. The long quiet of the night stretches in a way that allows the bakers to take time with and enjoy their craft. Now, as the morning's preparations carry on, let's deepen our sense of relaxation with a short wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. When you are ready, let's begin. So just take a moment to get comfortable, letting go of the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We are going to focus the attention of the mind on the different parts of the body, watching as the muscles in the body switch off for the night, leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. So starting down at the toes and feeling a sense of the muscles switching off. The feet, the arches, all those muscles switching off. Same in the lower half of the legs. Notice any tension being let go of as the muscles switch off, shut down. In the upper half of the legs, any tension melting away, being let go of. Into the area of the hips, the pelvis. Again, any muscles shutting down for the night, completely at rest. Everything from the waist downward is heavy at ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle of the back around the diaphragm, the upper back, and the chest. So any muscles not needed shutting down, switching off for the night. The shoulders switching off. The upper half of the arms and the lower half of the arms switching off. The hands, fingers, just switching off. Any muscles around the throat and the neck, switching off. The head, the face, the jaw, the eyes. Any last areas of tension melting away as the muscles shut down, switch off, at rest for the night. And allowing thoughts to come and go, allowing the mind and body the space they need to rest. (no audio) One of the most meticulously organized places in the bakery is the ingredients room. At first glance, it doesn't look like much, just a collection of plastic bins...