Use after an induction, as a deepener to be remembered later, and as straightforward advice for those who are having difficulty with sleep.

Now I’d like you to imagine yourself on the top floor of a busy department store… at Christmas time… Christmas eve, in fact, with shoppers bustling everywhere, tills ringing, flustered counter assistants looking harassed and hot… there’s noise and hassle and everybody’s pushing everybody else… and patience is becoming strained as whole families rush about searching for those last-minute gifts that they had forgotten all about ‘til now… and this is all too much for you and you decide to go down to the next floor, via the escalator… and even the escalator is busy, loaded up to almost maximum capacity… but when you get down to the next floor… you actually sigh with relief because it’s only half as busy as the floor above… only half as busy as the floor above… and it’s maybe the cosmetics department, because there are women having makeovers and still people trying to buy last-minute gifts… worried young men sniffing at perfume bottles… older men looking at price labels… and it’s still too busy for you, so once again you decide to take the escalator down to the next floor… and this time the escalator is only half as busy… and the next floor down is only half as busy as the one above… the whole atmosphere is decidedly calmer and more easygoing… and this is the floor where they sell luggage and all sorts of things connected with holidays… and even though everything feels so much calmer here, you decide to see how things are on a lower floor still… taking to the escalator once again and being pleasantly surprised to discover that there’s hardly anybody else on it at all… and when you step out onto the sales floor this time, you see that it’s the furniture department… sofas and chairs, tables and cupboards, bookshelves and display cabinets… furniture of almost all descriptions… and it’s quiet and cool down here, hardly anybody around… and those that are here are just moving around quietly, gazing at things for a few moments before moving on… and you notice that the escalator has nobody on it at all… and you move towards it and soon find yourself being transported gently down and down and down… with this wonderful relaxed feeling… and as you step of at the bottom, you’re interested to notice that you’re in the bedding department now and there’s not another soul around… just you… and in the peace and quiet of this place, you stroll casually to the largest most comfortable bed you have ever seen I your entire life… and just flop yourself lazily onto it… marveling at the sense of deep comfort that you suddenly experience… a deep comfort that seems to fill every pore of your entire body… relaxing you… calming you… lulling you into a deep and relaxing sleep… a deep, sound, beautiful sleep… and as you sleep, you have a dream… you dream that you’re on the top floor of a busy department store… at Christmas time… Christmas eve, in fact…

©Terrance Watts