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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. Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible. How's it going, everyone? It's so good to be here. I just want to say I got some really interesting feedback this week. There was a registered nurse in South Florida who
who told me over Instagram that she uses sleep magic to help postpartum moms when she's working in labor and delivery to get some sleep after they've given birth, which, as every mom knows, is really, really necessary. And then she mentioned that sometimes she works in the ICU and watches as people's vital signs stabilize and relax when she puts sleep magic on for them. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
So thank you, Faith, for telling me that. Second, you know, this is going to sound trippy, but this is just like a vibe that we're all tuning into. It's kind of a neat vibe and I'm just so overwhelmed sometimes at, you know, what we're able to do. Like us times the internet. And this is tapping into your own subconscious mind. Like if you're feeling relaxed because of sleep magic, it's because that relaxation lives in you.
and you can spread it in your own life just by being it so enjoy so i love hearing from you guys you've given me some great suggestions i'm trying to integrate bits and pieces of them into the hypnosis and uh yeah thanks to everyone for listening and for the subscribers out there who help to support the show i really appreciate it so tonight get sleepy in an art gallery
When I was a kid, my father dragged my sister and me to a lot of art galleries. Now, I can't honestly say I was into it at the time, but I appreciate now that I was exposed to the world of art when I was young. And I remember whenever we entered a gallery like the Uffizi in Florence, he would sort of pull us through the initial exhibits because he knew exactly where the great works hung. Save your eyes, he would say.
rushing us down an airy corridor, not letting us dawdle over the paintings and sculptures. It seemed like a funny term at the time, save your eyes. And it was certainly my inclination as a kid to think that every item in a great museum or gallery must be worth staring at and pondering over. I mean, it was in a museum, right? But there was just so much to look at that I'd become exhausted in like the first half hour.
But dad knew exactly where to go. And by saving our eyes, when we finally got to Caravaggio's terrifying Medusa or Botticelli's extraordinary birth of Venus, our subconscious minds were fresh and clear and we could really receive their brilliance. So tonight, we're taking a trip to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
where there's currently a huge exhibit of paintings by Johannes Vermeer. I recommend you check out their website, and you'll get a fantastic tour of all his known paintings online. And tonight we will bring our fresh eyes to one of Vermeer's most famous works, The Milkmaid. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position, and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. Just bring your awareness to your breathing. ♪
As you know by now, your focus on your breathing is not about changing your breath. It's about reeling in your focus from today. Bringing your awareness back to your body, to your breath. And you can do this during the day. Just reel your awareness back to the breath. And everything you learned here at Sleep Magic or experienced at Sleep Magic, just allow it to come to you.
the relaxation, the peace, the expansion. Good. So now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids and imagine that the little muscles of your eyelids are feeling loose and limp and relaxed. Let them get really heavy. Notice that by just imagining that they're heavy, they get heavy because our bodies follow our imaginations. And as your eyelids get heavier and heavier, I'd like you to accept the suggestion
that your eyelids are in fact so heavy they will not open. And in a moment I'm going to ask you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open. I know you could open them if you want to, but you're going to pretend that you can't. So now test your eyelids by wiggling your eyebrows. Good, good, good. Now this relaxation that you have around your eyes is the same quality of relaxation that you will soon have throughout your entire body.
In fact, why don't you imagine bringing that relaxation around your eyes and moving it like a waterfall down through your whole body. You can do that. Your mind is getting very strong in your relaxation practice. Very deep. And as you take yourself deeper and deeper, I'm going to guide the relaxation one part of your body at a time.
just to make sure that you get really relaxed. So let's imagine that relaxation around your eyes spilling back into your head. Feel the heaviness of your head on the pillow. Delicious, delicious heaviness. The muscles of your neck letting go. The muscles of your face relaxing. As you imagine warm waves of relaxation
lapping up against the beach of your mind. Feel those warm waves of relaxation lapping up against the beach of your mind. As all mental tension disappears. Just disappear. Good. As that mist of relaxation moves down now into your shoulders, and your shoulders let go and just release into the bed. Whether you're on your back or your side,
or even your stomach. Just let your shoulders go and all of the burdens you feel you carry on those shoulders. They're falling to the floor. Responsibilities you have in the world, worries, concerns, they're all falling to the floor now because you're in bed and you get to release into sleep where you're totally free and your only responsibility
is to yourself. And in the morning you can pick up the responsibilities that you need to carry through tomorrow. But for right now, you get to be free. As that mist of relaxation moves down into your arms now, allow your arms to be nice and heavy. Imagine just for a moment they're made of marble like a sculpture by Michelangelo. Just let them be heavy as that relaxation moves down into your hands.
and to your fingers, every finger feeling heavy, full, and relaxed. Now while you're listening to this recording, you may be aware of the sounds going on around you. That's fine, because no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on, any sound that you hear from someone else in the room, people in your home, traffic on the street, people next door, those sounds will actually cause you to go deeper.
and even deeper into relaxation. If you've been listening for a while, you know how to do this. You relax into the sound and let it take you deeper. That's your decision with your magic mind. And it works beautifully. The only sound you're paying any real attention to is the sound of my voice. And even the sound of my voice is going to sound like Charlie Brown's T-shirt at a certain point. And you're just going to let go.
as my voice also takes you deeper and even deeper into relaxation. So let's imagine that mist now that has softened your shoulders and moved down your arms. Let's imagine it moving down into your torso. Let's imagine that mist of relaxation opening, expanding your chest cavity, your ribcage opening, relaxing. Let's imagine that mist of relaxation now
surrounding and supporting your heart. Just allow that relaxation to surround and support your heart. And any emotional tension that may have built up during the day has disappeared. Just disappeared. As the mist of relaxation moves down through and around your middle organs, down deep into your belly, your pelvis feels heavy on the bed.
the muscles of your lower back, your buttocks, letting go. As the relaxation moves down your legs now, your legs are feeling nice and heavy, like they're made of marble, like a statue by Michelangelo. As the relaxation moves down into your feet, down into your toes, feeling so relaxed, so relaxed. Imagine now that you are in Amsterdam, in the Rijksmuseum, in a private gallery, alone.
It is cool and dark here, and there's only one painting on the wall illuminated by a powerful spotlight from above. You are looking at The Milkmaid by Vermeer. It was painted in 1658 in the town of Delft in the Netherlands. The milkmaid stands near a leaded window as the morning light
pours into a small room. She's wearing a yellow, almost ochre shirt, shaped like a bodice, with buttons going all the way down the middle, its sleeves rolled up at her elbows. Over her crimson petticoat is a royal blue apron draped across her belly. The apron is so blue,
Vermeer used a special paint made from crushed lapis lazuli brought all the way from Afghanistan to achieve this blue. Her apron contains a breathtaking luster and tickles the eyes. She wears a crisp linen cap almost like a nun's wimple, exposing her high
rounded forehead, which seems to be perspiring slightly as it reflects light. The milkmaid is at work. She's holding a terracotta jug, her right hand gripping the handle while her left hand cradles the jug itself. Her milky white forearms, accustomed to labor, are exposed and flexed.
The jug is heavy. You imagine the sounds from the streets of 17th century Delft. Birds chirping high in the trees. The clip-clop of horses along the cobblestone streets. People walking and talking and living their lives. Behind our milkmaid is a cream-colored wall, blank except for a nail here
or a hole in the plaster there. This is not a fancy room in the house. This is where work gets done. Next to the window hangs a large breadbasket made of wicker, tightly woven, and it hangs up high at eye level to be kept away from any mice that may be interested in its contents. Vermeer had
eleven children, and they liked their bread. When Vermeer died, he still owed a hefty debt of 617 guilders to the local baker. Next to the bread basket, also hanging from the wall, is a copper pail, shiny and reflecting the daylight coming through the window.
The milkmaid is completely focused on her task. She is pouring milk from the jug into an earthenware bowl that sits on a small table covered with a green tablecloth. The bowl is surrounded by small hunks of bread. The room is warm.
Is she making bread pudding? In the foreground of the table is a loaf of bread sitting in a round wicker basket awaiting its fate. Vermeer has painted it with so much texture and detail that your mouth begins to water. The smell of fresh bread fills the w- Next to the loaf
stands a beer jug made of dark blue enameled pottery with a pewter lid. Who will be drinking the beer? At the back of the room, on the floor, against the wall, is a small brown box. It is a foot warmer filled with hot coals when in use.
Foot warmers were used in the Netherlands to help people survive cold and damp winters. This one is empty for now. The milkmaid or someone else in the house may need it when the sun goes down. The milkmaid is focused. She's staring at the tiny stream of milk pouring from the jug.
to the bowl. The painting is completely still, except for the flowing of the milk from the jug to the bowl. You, with the milkmaid, are drawn into this moment. As you go deeper and deeper, you feel as if you are standing with the milkmaid in the morning light in this room off the kitchen.
staring carefully at the stream of white milk. Vermeer is well known in part for the stillness he achieved in his paintings. He captured tiny internal moments with such clarity. He pulls us into intimate worlds full of mundane actions
and mysterious emotions. It's time to say goodbye to the milkmaid and enter a new room. It's a large white room with a skylight. The sun is setting, so the room is suffused with an almost pink golden light. There's a canvas on the wall. It's blank, and it is the perfect size
for you tonight. You are here to express yourself, to let go of your day. You are here to be yourself fully and freely. You notice paints on a table. You see reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples,
charcoal black, and a brilliant glossy white. You can use any color you like or mix them to create new colors. There are paintbrushes of every size and other tools lying about the room that you can use. Sponges, rollers, even a paint sprayer. You put on a set of coveralls
so you don't get dirty. And tonight, you'll paint your experience of today, expressing whatever you need to release tonight. Which colors are you attracted to? What feeling needs expressing? Let your intuition choose and begin your painting. Have fun. Notice the smell of the paints and their textures.
Notice how you feel as you spread them on the canvas. If there are other materials you need in order to express yourself on this canvas, just imagine them and they appear. There may be no rhyme or reason to the choices you make, and that's okay. This is your painting and no one else has to ever see it.
This is your time to express yourself. When you're done, step back and look at your painting. What do you see? What are you learning about your own subconscious mind? Now move that canvas to the side. If you want to keep it, you can. And if you'd like to release your day completely, you can snap your fingers and it disappears.
A second blank canvas appears on the wall. On this canvas, you paint how you'd like to feel tomorrow. Which colors do you need? Which tools? Which materials? Take your time. Let your intuition plan for tomorrow. How does it feel to paint your way into the future?
When you're done, step back and look at your new painting. How does it look? What are you creating for tomorrow? As you look at it, you really connect with your vision for tomorrow. This painting stays on the wall. You're finished painting now. So you take off your coveralls and notice that you're in your pajamas. There's a door
Off this room, you open it and find a lovely, comfortable bed in a small bedroom. It's time to rest. You crawl under the covers as you go deeper and deeper, as you drift and float and dream.
