Begin by lying back on a comfortable surface ... on a bed or in a chair, in
a quiet place free of interruptions. Feel your body begin to sink into
that surface and feel yourself become comfortable. Let your muscles
shift and move as you start to relax.
For the next twenty minutes or so, this is just your time, no one else's.
Settle back and enjoy the freedom that listening to the tape brings you.
Any worries can be set aside. If they are important, they can come back
when the tape is over. Any pressing projects will still be there later if
they are truly important. You have learned to unplug the telephone
before starting your tape if you are likely to be interrupted.
As your body finds its most comfortable position, you let your eyes
gently close down. The muscles around your eyelids are the most
sensitive in the body and the quickest to relax - as you listen to the
tape, your eyelids get heavy, as if they are held down by delicate little
weights .... And since this is just your time, your eyes simply won't feel
like opening again until the tape ends. You are already beginning to feel
that pleasant feeling of mental and physical relaxation.
Now imagine a very beautiful beach on a tropical lagoon. It is not
important whether you actually 'see' it in your mind's eye ... If you can
imagine that beach, it is there for you ... picture or imagine the waves
breaking ... the smell of the shore ... the sound of the surf and the
seabirds flying... if you sense or imagine it, or hear your voice describe,
or just feel it, your beautiful beach is there and it's real for you
I want you to sense, see or hear that beautiful beach. Put it in your
mind as if it were below you, down a pathway or at the bottom of a set
of stairs.
As I count from 10 down to 1, I want you to imagine that you are
walking down that stair case or hillside, closer and closer to that
wonderful tropical beach and its beautiful lagoon. With each and every
number you hear, you feel your pleasant state of mental and physical
relaxation double....
10...doubling that relaxation, moving toward that beautiful beach....
9...all troubles and worries begin to drain away, and you relax more
soundly and move down the path or stairway to your beach
8...As you move down the path, your body and mind follow you down,
relaxing more surely with every count...
7...Every part of you deserves a vacation, even your busy outer mind
deserves a vacation, and the next twenty minutes is a chance for your
mind to rest and recharge itself as you walk toward that beach,
doubling your relaxation at every step....
6...so very relaxed now, that you may even begin to feel a light and
pleasant tingling in your hands and feet.... the tingling is a sign of
relaxation and as soon as you begin to feel it, that is your mind's signal
to let go and double your relaxation again....
5....Halfway down and doubling the relaxation with each count...
4...Even your busy thoughts take a much deserved rest.... your mind
quiets and simply sits back in peace...
3...Notice how much slower and more regular and deeper your
breathing is now than when we started this exercise...and as you notice
that deep quiet breath, it is another signal for your mind to double and
triple its relaxation....
2...Very relaxed now, doubling that relaxation again....mind, body,
emotions all taking a much needed rest...
1...Doubling your relaxation and very comfortable now, so peaceful,
relaxed and comfortable...
Take another step fully special, private tropical beach paradise you
have created. Find a place where you can imagine sitting down and
soaking up the peacefulness and Tranquillity that are all around you.
Just rest, feeling how good your body feels to be relaxed, feeling how
good your mind feels to be taking a rest....
Touch the thumb and forefinger together on one hand and then release
them. That is the signal for your mind to take you to this wonderful and
relaxed place every time you do it. Any time you close your eyes and
bring your thumb and forefinger together, it will be a signal for your
mind to bring you to this wonderful state of relaxation, and onto this
perfect beach you have created as a private mental get-away....
Deeply asleep now, not asleep like at night, but just a gentle sleep of
the nervous system...fully alert and aware, but very relaxed and very
peaceful. Deeply asleep....
Sometimes our poor overworked outer minds don't know how to rest
because they don't have enough practice taking a vacation, and so they
keep sending thought after interfering thought to disturb our rest
because that is all they know how to do... But remember this - .every
thought has to have an energy source. Every thought needs energy to
stay in your mind. So when an interfering thought comes from your
busy outer mind, you can help your mind take a much needed rest by
simply unplugging the thought. It is as if every thought has an electric
cord that plugs into your mind. You can help your mind take a rest by
imagining that you are unplugging your thoughts every time one comes
up to disturb your relaxation. Just reach up and pull that thought's
electric power cord right out of the wall. See or imagine yourself doing
that every time a thought comes up. As you pull the cord, the thought
simply shrivels up and drifts away, knowing that it can come back later
if it is really important.
Bring your thumb and forefinger together again and release. That is
also the signal for your mind to pull the power cord on any interfering
thought from your busy outer mind..... your signal for your outer mind
go back and get the rest it deserves so much. Every time you touch your
thumb and forefinger together it is a signal to your mind to pull the
power cord out of interfering thoughts and just to let you drift in this
peaceful, tranquil feeling of serenity and relaxation. And the interfering
thoughts just shrivel up and drift away.
Now think about your beautiful private tropical beach paradise again.
There is a warm sun shining on the beach, and as you notice the
sunshine, a special ray of the sun comes and shines especially for
you....The sunlight pours over your body just like a wonderful healing
golden oil, or like warm honey...It is so beautiful here. You can hear the
wind in the palm trees and the sounds of the gentle ocean breakers
rolling up the beach. The sand is so warm that you can imagine how it
would feel if your legs were buried in the sand...so warm and inviting.
The sun overhead is a brilliant golden ball in a perfectly blue and
cloudless sky shining down on the radiant blue green of the tropical sea
and pure white sand in your little lagoon. Birds fly overhead and fish are
jumping. You look and listen and there is no one else on this beach, it is
all yours.
You find yourself floating on the peaceful water of the lagoon in a
lovely yellow boat. you can feel the gentle waves of the lagoon rocking
your boat just like it was a cradle. Outside the lagoon, a coral reef
protects you from the power of the mighty ocean and you can hear the
ocean breaking loudly on the reef. A pelican flies over and you watch as
it comes in to land and float a few feet away from your boat. Everything
is so peaceful...it is a tropical paradise.
You notice that in the bottom of your boat there are a number of old
leaves. You realize that each leaf is a symbol for some obstacle to you
learning to relax and heal. Some of the leaves are big and some are
small, but each one is some obstacle in your mind to relaxing and
healing.
You pick up the largest leaf and hold it in front of you. It is the largest
obstacle to you learning to relax and heal. As you do, you may become
aware of its name and what it symbolizes. It is OK if you don't
consciously understand what the leaf symbolizes for you, because your
powerful inner mind, your subconscious mind, knows exactly what it
means. As you look at the leaf, you realize that it has actually been
there helping you, and even though it is an obstacle now, at one time it
was a friend protecting you from something or helping you with some
problem in your life. And as you look at the leaf and let your powerful
inner mind come to understand it, you realize that you no longer need
it. So you thank the leaf for all its past service to you, with true
gratitude in your heart because the obstacle has been a servant in the
past. But then you tell the leaf, "I don't need you any longer...I am
learning better ways to deal with that problem you came to help me
with and I no longer need you to get in the way of my relaxation and
healing." Then you gently release the leaf into the water and watch it
float off toward the reef where the pounding surf, brilliant sunlight and
pure water work to recycle the leaf and release its energy back into
your system to help you heal.
Then you pick up the next largest leaf and hold it in front of you. It is
the next largest obstacle to you learning to relax and heal. Your inner
mind, and perhaps your conscious mind recognize this leaf and know its
name. It is another obstacle to healing that began in some way to help
you with some problem in the mind, or to protect you from something
that was too big for your mind to handle at the time. And as you look at
the leaf and let your powerful inner mind come to understand it, you
realize that you no longer need it. So you thank the leaf for all its past
service to you, with true gratitude in your heart because the obstacle
has been a servant in the past. But then you tell the second leaf, "Thank
you for your past service, but I don't need you any longer... I am
learning better ways to deal with that problem you came to help me
with and I no longer need you to get in the way of my relaxation and
healing." Then you gently release the leaf into the water and watch it
float off toward the reef where the pounding surf, brilliant sunlight and
pure water work to recycle the leaf and release its energy back into
your system to help you heal.
And somehow, something almost magic begins to happen in your mind.
You realize that the next time you are able to close your eyes in a quite
place and revisit this place in your minds eye, you will be able to relax
much more deeply....and in that relaxation, your inner mind is exploring
ways to help you heal or change in whatever ways you wish to change
or grow. You understand with pride and satisfaction, that you are
learning to relax and be yourself, to find your own special path to
personal change and healing, to taking control in your own life. You
realize that you do have the ability to relax, and even more important
the ability to heal, and to begin making positive and beneficial changes
in your life.
Touch your thumb and forefinger lightly together again and then
release them. As you release, it is your mind's signal to return you to
that your beautiful beach. Any time you touch and release the thumb
and forefinger together, it will immediately take you to this wonderful
place of powerful inner knowledge and change. Of course you will only
do so in a place where it is safe and convenient to close your eyes and
relax for a moment.
Deeply asleep... and when you hear the words "deeply asleep" as you
listen to my voice, you instantly and immediately begin moving your
mind into this place of powerful inner relaxation.
Now take a full two minutes to just float in this wonderful and peaceful
state, enjoying your beach, letting your mind simply float in this
wonderful state of peaceful relaxation, knowing that this state of mind
is the place from which all change and healing begins ... {two minutes
quiet here} ... If you are using my voice before going to sleep at night,
you can reach over and turn off your tape player, and you will sink into
a long deep and very restful sleep, and even your dreams will help you
learn more and more about changing and healing your life. You are
sleeping twice as well now as you used to....
If you are going to get up after listening to my voice, I am going to
count from one up to five, and as I do, your mind and body rise with me
back to the world and your regular state of awareness....
1.....Beginning to rise just like a bubble rising from the bottom of a deep
lake. Knowing that you have done a great job of learning to relax and
take yourself to the peaceful place where healing and change begin.
2....Rising higher, beginning to return to awareness of the room and the
environment, feeling like every part of you had been bathed in the
purest and most wonderful spring water...totally refreshed
3...rising higher and faster now, moving rapidly up toward the surface,
feeling amazed at how well you are learning to relax and knowing that
anything can be changed or healed from a place of calm.
4....higher and higher, almost back to the surface, but bringing some of
the peace and calm with you. Once you begin to relax, the ability is
yours forever...the more you practice, the more it becomes yours
5....All the way back up to the surface now. You feel your eyes begin to
open and you return to the room and this time and place fully alert and
feeling wonderful.