Night Train

It is warm and cozy aboard the night train, despite the icy landscape outside. The last whispered conversations of the passengers have slowly faded away, replaced now by a vibrant stillness throughout the cabins. The train cars snake deeper and deeper into an oak forest where countless ancient trees stretch their branches high into the starry sky, almost as if they too were preparing for the coming night of sleep. One cannot help but feel a sense of harmony with the passing landscape as it mirrors the sense of tranquility felt inside. Now, as the train slowly begins its climb up the banks of the mountainside, let's deepen our state of relaxation with a brief wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization, so when you are 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 are 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. A wide meadow of flowers is seen through the window, stretching in all directions and into the horizon. Hay bales lie scattered in the darkness, their silhouettes resembling the rounded backs of sleeping giants. The wild flowers cloaked in the evening's colors shimmer with tones of deep purple, dove gray, and Prussian blue. They're petals catch the night light here and there, reflecting the glow of distance stars. No wind blows here, yet the flowers appear to nod as the train passes, as if to say good night to the sleeping passengers aboard. It's quite cozy here in the compartment...