Everyday Practices
The Sleepy Adventures Series
For Being Carried Off to Sleep, One Adventure at a Time
US$8 4 practices · 8 tracks · listen or download
Get the pack · US$8Some nights a practice isn’t what we need. We need to be taken somewhere, out of the day and away from the busy mind, into a story we don’t have to do anything with.
In these Sleepy Adventures, I invite you along as my guest. We go for a drive on an empty road, watch the rain run down the windscreen, stop at a lookout over the ocean, and end up by a campfire with my friend Andy.
Along the way there are small pieces of wisdom about the mind. Like noticing that our thoughts are a bit like rain on a windscreen. When we focus on one drop, everything else goes blurry. Then each adventure slows down into sleepy words, and you can let them carry you off. You don’t need to stay awake for the end.
There are four adventures. They’re best heard in order the first time, as each one picks up from the last. The first three come in more than one length, for nights when you want to get to sleep a bit sooner.
What’s inside
1 · The Windscreen
2 versions
Full version · 35 minShorter version · 25 min
For when your head is full of thoughts as you lie down. You join me for a drive on a sunny spring day. Rain starts to form on the windscreen, and we pull into a lay-by to listen to it. I notice that ‘our thoughts are like rain on the windscreen’: when we focus on one drop, everything else becomes a blur. Then it drifts into slow, sleepy words. The shorter version has the same story, with less music at the end.
2 · The Windy Road
2 versions
Full version · 37 minShorter version · 20 min
For an easy drive into sleep. It’s a new day, and we take the car out on a smooth, winding road with the windows down. A light rain starts, we spot a double rainbow, ‘one for me and one for you’, and come out onto a dry road. At the top of the hill we stop at a lookout over a royal blue ocean and wonder where the windy road has brought us. It ends in slow, sleepy words. The shorter version trims a few lines and finishes sooner.
3 · The Wisdom of Me
3 versions
Full version · 23 minShorter version · 21 minShort version · 15 min
For when you’re carrying a lot from the day. The drive starts as before, and we stop to listen to the rain on the windscreen. Then you can be ‘as lazy as you like’ and put down the pressure to get things right. What’s left is you, simply being, aware of being aware, with a little half smile. It ends with a choir around you in your own spiritual space. The shorter version cuts that ending down, and the short one finishes before the choir.
4 · The Camp Fire
24 min
For a night when something is on your mind. We drive up to a lookout for a short mindfulness practice, softening your gaze and widening what you can see. Then we walk through the trees to my friend Andy’s campfire. Andy makes you a hot chocolate and talks about how the night brings our worries back. He invites you to hand anything troubling you over to the night, or ‘place it down by these glowing embers’. Then you listen to the fire crackle as you drift off.