Sleep story · rain, green
Sleep story: a garden in the rain, when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for winding down
Steady rain on leaves, and a chair under an awning that stays dry.
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 rain on the roof of the awning is a lower sound than the rain on the leaves. Under the awning it is dry, and the sound is a steady, unhurried patter. The watering can by the tap is full and nobody needs it.
There is a wooden bench that nobody has sat on for an hour. Somewhere in the hedge, a bird is sitting it out. Water runs off the gutter in a thin, continuous line.
Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Your chest can be still now. Your fingers can stop doing anything at all.
The path has gone darker where it is wet, and there are two small puddles near the step. The leaves in the border are dark and glossy and moving slightly.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Let your forehead go cool and smooth.
Notice your hips, wide and settled. Let the space between your eyebrows smooth out.
A snail is making its way along the bottom of the wall, going nowhere in particular. There is nothing to do about any of it, which is the good part.
Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts. If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them.
The words can start to blur now. Just the breath.
Follow the breath out, and let the next one arrive by itself. Sleep. Slower now.
When concentration is gone, work with what is left.
Let the words go now, and take the quiet with you.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for rain, green.
If this story does not settle you, try A caravan by the sea — a slow story for the end of the day, when your attention is scattered — for an overtired night, A caravan by the sea, when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for waking too early or An attic room, if you are doing this instead of scrolling — for waking too early.