Sleep story · cozy, rain
An attic room, when you are doing this for the first time — for winding down
Sloping ceiling, rain on the roof a foot above your head.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
The roof is holding, and the rain is outside, and that is the whole arrangement. There is a box of things under the eaves that nobody has opened in years. The room is in the roof, and the ceiling slopes so steeply that you have to duck near the window.
The bed is pushed into the low corner, which makes it feel like a den. The rain changes intensity every few minutes and never quite stops. The radiator is small and makes a ticking sound as it cools.
Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed. Your chest can be still now.
Notice your hips, wide and settled. Feel your heartbeat somewhere far away.
A carrier bag of shopping is still on the chair, unpacked. The floorboards are bare and slightly uneven, and one of them always creaks.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
Let the mattress take all of it. Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed.
The air up here is warmer than downstairs and smells of old wood. The rain on the roof tiles is much closer and louder up here than anywhere else in the house.
If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself. If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth.
Let each breath be a little smaller than the last. Nothing needs deciding tonight.
Just the breath. The words can start to blur now. Just the dark.
If this is your first go, stay with the plainest version of the instructions.
I will stop here. The quiet will carry on without the words.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for cozy, rain.
If this story does not settle you, try An attic room — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are waiting for something — for jet lag, Sleep story: a bus at night, if you are tired of apps — for a restless night or A fire dying down — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are cold and want to be warm — for winding down.