Enjoying the Sensations Of Summer | Hypnosis for Sleep
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Hi, I'm Jessica Porter and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Thank you everyone for being here. Thank you for your suggestions for episodes. This episode is actually totally in alignment with a suggestion I got on Spotify from Kira.

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enjoying the sensations of summer. I'm not really a summer person. I mean, I'm a redhead, and I could happily spend the rest of my life under a mushroom in some dark, damp forest. But the older I get, the more I try to get as much joy as possible out of everything I can. And summer is all about unfolding, alive, blooming,

and saying yes to the beauty of life. So tonight we experience some of the delights of summer. And if you're in the southern hemisphere and it's winter right now, then you can just have a little vacation from the winter. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. And bring your awareness now to your breath. And just by bringing your awareness to the breath,

We're slowing the awareness down. Your awareness gets into so many things in a day. Oh my God, thousands of things. Your awareness is just poking and prodding and learning and stretching and adding and doing. And by bringing it home to the breath, even for just a moment, it's like we're reeling it in like a fishing line. Just bringing it back to the body, bringing it back to the breath.

Because one of the great secrets of life is that your awareness can only focus on one thing at a time. It's a singular little laser beam. It may feel like you're focusing on a bunch of things at once, but your conscious awareness only focuses on one thing. So when you bring it back to the breath, everything else falls away. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids.

and imagine that the muscles of your eyelids are feeling loose and limp and relaxed as you allow your eyelids to get nice and heavy, sleepy, comfortable. I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so relaxed that they simply will not open. And in a moment I'm going to ask you to test your eyelids to make sure they will not open. And of course you could open your eyes if you wanted to, but we're just pretending.

So now test your eyelids by wiggling your eyebrows. Just give them a little tug. Good. Excellent. You can stop testing now. Now this relaxation you currently have around your eye, you will soon have the same relaxation throughout your entire body. So let's imagine the relaxation now around your eyes moving into your head. Let's just imagine it's like the mist off a waterfall.

This cool, light, soft mist taking over your head, taking over your brain. That mist moving through every single cell of your brain. It feels so nice to let that mist into your head. Your head is feeling nice and sleepy, heavy on the pillow. And the muscles of your face can let go now.

because the day is over and nobody's watching. Good. And now I'd like you to imagine warm waves of relaxation lapping up against the beat of your mind. I know we're mixing images here, but your imagination can go anywhere, anytime. So just allow those warm waves of relaxation to lap up against the beat of your mind.

as all mental tension disappears. Beautiful. And now back to the mist from the waterfall moving down into your neck, through your throat, moving down into your shoulders. And that mist is helping your shoulders to relax and let go. And as your shoulders are letting go, all of the responsibilities you carry in the world are falling to the floor

Responsibilities you feel to your friends and family. Responsibilities you feel to the future, to the world at large, and even responsibilities you feel to the past. They've all fallen to the floor and you can pick any or all of them up tomorrow morning. But for right now, your only responsibility is to yourself. And that feels delicious.

as you let go. And the mist of relaxation moves down your arms now, allowing your arms to feel so soft and heavy. And while you're listening to this recording, you may be aware of sounds going on around you. Sounds from the street or your bedroom or the rooms of your house. And that's okay because from this moment on, no sound that you hear

will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on, any sound that you hear will actually cause you to go deeper and deeper into relaxation. Because you are so relaxed, the sounds are simply moving through you as vibrations, and you're letting them take you deeper and deeper. This is the magic of your mind. The only sound you need to pay any attention to

is the sound of my voice and the sound of my voice is also taking you deeper and deeper and soon my voice will simply slip away as you let go and you drift and float and dream as that wonderful mist from the waterfall moves deep inside your body now into your chest opening and cooling and relaxing your chest and your heart

As it moves down deep into your belly and it softens and relaxes your lower torso, your pelvis feeling heavy on the bed. And this cool mist is moving down your spine, softening and cooling and relaxing your spine. As the relaxation moves all the way down into your legs,

down through your knees, into your calves and your ankles, down deep into the soles of your feet and your toes. And your legs feel so relaxed and soft and at peace. You're standing on the edge of a meadow. It's a beautiful summer day and the golden light of the late afternoon is shining through the tall grasses and wildflowers in the meadow.

The sky is a vivid blue with white puffy clouds drifting over the horizon. And you watch as the grasses bend and dance gracefully in the warm summer breeze. It's summer and it's time to relax. You begin to walk leisurely through the meadow. You're wearing loose-fitting cotton clothing over your bathing suit.

and you feel the breeze against your skin. As you walk, you reach out your hands to touch the fuzzy tops of the tall grasses. You watch as butterflies flit from wildflower to wildflower. Their blossoms bright pink, yellow, and white. The air smells warm and fresh and fragrant as you go deeper and deeper.

At the end of the meadow you arrive at a large lake with a cabin on its shore. You notice that a group of your friends are playing in the lake, bouncing a beach ball between them. Some are splashing each other playfully. Others are lying out on a swimming dock, taking in the sun. They notice you coming in from the meadow and shout your name, inviting you to join them.

You smile and walk to the edge of the lake, arriving on its little sand beach. You take off your shoes and feel the cool, dark sand beneath your feet. You feel a pebble between your toes. You stand at the edge of the water and take a nice, deep breath. The lake smells rich, full of minerals, but different from the ocean. Not salty.

You've been in the sun a while now and you're feeling... Dip sounds perfect. You strip down to your bathing suit and step gently into the shallow water. Your feet feel cool and refreshed, sending a gentle electricity up your spine. The sand feels different under your feet. It has tiny ripples like dunes in a desert created by the gentle waves of the water.

You look out over the lake, the golden sun reflecting off the water, your friends enjoying themselves so easily, happily. You step into the water to whatever level you're comfortable. Perhaps you stay at the edge and just enjoy the view. Maybe you wade in slowly, immersing yourself incrementally until your whole body

is feeling nice and cool. Or perhaps you dive right in, propelling your body into the water cutting through it like a seal until you rotate underwater and look up from below, enjoying the mirror-like distortion of light playing on the surface as you blow some bubbles and rise up, emerging back into the air.

It feels so good to be alive. The beach ball bounces off your head. You laugh and swim to retrieve it and toss it back to your friends. You slowly walk out of the lake and stand for a while, dripping in the summer heat. You notice a chaise lounge in front of the cabin with a big orange beach towel hanging over its edge. You pick it up.

and bring it to your face and take a nice deep sniff. It smells of laundry, sunshine, and summer. You towel off your hair and lie down in the chair. You close your eyes, inviting a little nap while your body and swimsuit dry off. You feel the warmth of the sun touching your skin, and as the sun causes

the little water droplets to evaporate. You feel a slight chill with goosebumps emerging on your arms. But as the sun persists, your body dries and your skin feels a slight tightness as you get warmer and warmer. You listen to the chirps of the birds nearby and the sounds of your friends emerging from the lake, laughing and chatting.

As you go deeper and deeper, you allow yourself to go deep because this is summer, the time of year for deep relaxation. Letting go, you feel so safe and calm and happy. You feel safe and calm and happy. You feel safe and calm and happy. After a while, you've dried off completely.

So you get up from your chair, put your clothes back on over your bathing suit, and walk toward the cabin. You stop and look up at the cabin. It's made from dark oak weathered by the elements. It has a big welcoming front porch. It's railing strung with flower boxes bursting with petunias in purple and white.

There are several rocking chairs on this porch and the summer breeze is playing a wind chime hanging from the edge of the roof. It makes a high tinkling sound, the perfect balance to this slow warm languid afternoon. A white butterfly flits from one flower to another.

You walk up the porch stairs and into the cabin. It was built in the 1930s and still has a wood stove in the living room. It's large with several bedrooms and a modest kitchen with antiquated appliances. It smells good in here. The oak has aged nicely and has a dry, slightly musty scent mingled with decades of

wood fires, family dinners, and muddy shoes. You detect the smoky scent of a barbecue and you follow it through to the back porch of the cabin where you see your friends hanging out in the back. You see a large yard made of perfect green grass. To the right one of your friends is commandeering the barbecue. To the left are two huge oak trees.

with a hammock strung between them. One of your friends is lying in the hammock, eyes closed, taking in the sounds and sensations of the late afternoon, rocking back and forth and forth. In the middle of the yard there's a large picnic table covered in a red and white checked tablecloth, and beyond that is a volleyball net

Two of your friends are goofing around sending the volleyball back and forth, over the net and forth and forth. You see beyond the volleyball game that the property ends several yards in the distance with a white picket fence. You walk down the steps and onto the grass which smells freshly mowed. It feels good under your feet. You visit the barbecue

and watch your friend flipping your favorite type of burger. You notice cobs of corn still in the husk on the grill and veggie kebabs. With every flip, the oils of the foods drip onto the coals and send a lovely smoky scent into the air. "Smells great," you say. "Good," he says. "I hope you're hungry." You feel the lovely rumblings of hunger in your belly.

I am. You go to the picnic table. In the middle of it is a large jug of icy lemonade, condensation dripping down its sides, and next to it a stack of red cups. You pour yourself a drink and walk along the lawn, hearing the thwack of the volleyball against a pair of forearms as it gets tossed back and forth, back and forth.

You finally reach the white fence where you meet up with a couple of your friends. You stop and look out beyond the fence. The property overlooks a large canyon. You had no idea that you were near a canyon when you began your stroll today. The sun is setting now in the distance over the opposite ridge of the canyon. It is vast.

and has beautiful reddish and brown stratifications, like a small version of the Grand Canyon. And the more you look, the more detail you discern. Little ridges and promontories, subtle shades of color, even a bird alighting from a nook in the wall. You feel like you could stare at it forever. Amazing.

whispers your friend, you know. You nod, turn to your friend, raise your lemonade as she raises hers. To summer, you say. To summer, she says. And you both smile. As you drink the lemonade, you feel its delicious tartness in your mouth while the sugar sends its sweet tendrils into your brain. And its coldness cools you off as the day

is cooling off and everything is settling down. It's time for dinner. Everyone gathers around the picnic table and you sit down on one of its wooden benches, snug against your friends. Someone places a paper plate before you containing your perfect burger done exactly the way you like it. A kebab with crispy charred chunks of zucchini and red pepper.

and mushrooms and a big hot cob of corn. You take a pat of butter and run it along the cob on the kernels of corn, watching it melt into the kernels and running down the sides. You take a bite, hearing the crunch in your mind, tasting the salty, lovely taste of the butter, the sweetness of the corn.

Everyone agrees that dinner tastes fantastic. Someone raises a glass of lemonade. "To the chef," he says, and everyone follows. You lift up your glass. "To the chef." And your friend at the barbecue takes a bow. As the sun goes down, you feel a change in the air. The humidity is increasing, and a tension is building in the atmosphere.

Rain is coming. A lovely summer rainstorm. Everyone decides to go back to the cabin and watch the storm from the front porch. You sit down in one of the rocking chairs. The sky is darkening quickly as the roiling dark summer storm clouds gather. The lake goes from a reflective silver to a matte. Everyone is silent. The wind picks up.

and the wind chime gives a high-pitched tinkle. You can feel the electricity in the air, and as you look out over the lake, you see the first drops hit the water. Big drops making splashes in the lake. Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop. You begin to hear raindrops hitting the roof of the porch. Tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck.

Everyone is still. You smell the wonderful scent of wet earth as the rain starts coming down now with vengeance. And suddenly, a flash of lightning strikes beyond the lake. Everyone gasps. The sky lights up like a movie set for one split second. And then it's dark again. And everyone waits quietly for the thunder to follow it.

Boom, there it is. The lightning must be a few miles away given the gap between the light show and the thunder. And the water begins to come down off the roof in buckets and you feel the mist of the rain against your face as someone puts their hand out, letting it be splashed by the water coming down from the roof. And everyone sits in silence, listening to the rain. After a while, the storm subsides and it's quiet.

As you go deeper and deeper, and then a frog croaks in the darkness, and then another, and another. And from somewhere across the lake, you hear the call of a loon. It's time to go to bed now. You say goodnight to your friends, and you go back into the cabin. You open the door to a bedroom and find an old-fashioned wrought iron bed from the 30s.

with a handmade quilt on it. Moonlight is coming through the window. You lie down, getting under the cozy quilt and close your eyes as you relax, taking yourself deeper and deeper. You hear the buzz of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs and it feels nice to have your friends nearby as you drift and float and dream.