Plum Pottery

On a cool autumn evening under the rising quarter moon, a streetlight at the edge of a quaint town road turns on to illuminate the stucco facade of Plum Pottery, where you've been invited to experience a studio visit. We don't often get visitors this late, but you've come at the perfect time. The studio is just starting to settle down for the night, as the last students store their art, to rest until tomorrow. The name of the studio has been beautifully embellished on the glass of the front door. The P in "Plum" holds a ripe purple fruit with a single green leaf designed in its center for a playful accent. Meanwhile, a ceramic pitcher has been painted into the P in "Pottery," and a red mug hangs on the curve of the lowercase Y. The design is just as charming as the rest of the space. A perfect welcome. At the very center of the studio sits a nearly iridescent teapot. Clearly, it has been glazed many times, and depending on the angle, it shows off a deep purple, indigo, and sometimes even flashes a rose color. Steam slowly rises from the pot with the scent of jasmine pearl, a favorite of the studio's owner. Each student and visitor is welcome to a cup to help them ease into focus as they shape their next creation. Now is the time to relax, and let go of outside stress. So let's take a moment, and try a brief wind-down exercise. Tonight's wind-down is a visualization. So, when you're 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'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, 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,...