Sleep story · travel, cozy
The night train, if you are new to this — for jet lag
Somewhere between two cities, in the dark, where nobody needs anything from you.
Reading it yourself. Back to the audio version.
The heating is on low, and the air smells faintly of clean metal and old upholstery. A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again. Your bag is wedged under the seat in front, out of the way of your feet.
The lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea. The window is cool against the side of your face. Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Your chest can be still now.
Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress. Let your thumbs rest where they landed.
The train left a quarter of an hour ago, and the carriage has already settled into its own quiet. Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail.
Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed. Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up.
Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them. Let your toes stop holding on to anything.
The rhythm underneath you is steady enough to lean on. There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees.
Feel your wrists loosen. Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head.
Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound. The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to.
Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow. Let your lower back sink down into the mattress.
If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own. Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Feel your cheeks let go.
Let the next part go past without you. Let the room get slightly further away.
Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer. You can stop listening properly. Softer.
Leave it there. Let your breathing do the rest. Let the breath be the only thing you are doing.
Nothing here assumes you have done this before.
The end. Sleep well.