Drift Off at Denali

The sun is beginning to set here at Denali National Park in the beautiful, rugged mountains of Alaska. This evening scene comes alive. As the silence of night falls, you can hear today's last bush plane leaving the park from a sightseeing excursion. The snow-capped mountains loom mightily in the distance. And as the sun continues to fall behind the horizon, the sky is plastered with breathtaking colors. Shades of orange, pink, and purple paint the atmosphere, and even begin to color the expansive landscape of brush, a cool, purplish hue. It's the perfect opportunity to take in the tranquility of the wilderness and solitude as the frosted mountain range shimmers in the glow of the moon. So as we settle in for tonight's journey, let's begin our evening with a short wind down exercise. Tonight's wind down is a visualization. When you're ready, let's begin. So just take a moment to get comfortable, letting go of the day. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. We're going to focus the attention of the mind on the different parts of the body. Watching as the muscles and the body switch off for the night, leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. So starting down at the toes and feeling a sense of the muscles switching off. The feet, the arches, all those muscles switching off. Same in the lower half of the legs. Notice any tension being let go of as the muscles switch off, shut down. In the upper half of the legs, any tension melting away, being let go of. Into the area of the hips, the pelvis, again, any muscles shutting down for the night, completely at rest. Everything from the waist downward is heavy, at ease. The muscles in the lower back and the stomach are now switching off. Middle of the back, around the diaphragm, the upper back, and the chest. So any muscles not needed shutting down, switching off for the night. The shoulders, switching off. The upper half of the arms and the lower half of the arms, switching off. The hands, fingers, just switching off. Any muscles around the throat and the neck, switching off. The head, the face, the jaw, the eyes, any last areas of tension melting away as the muscles shut down, switch off, at rest for the night. And allowing thoughts to come and go, allowing the mind and body the space they need to rest. Steering with skill along the dirt and gravel road, a large bus carries visitors from both near and far. Peering out of the windows, they contemplate the vastness of the landscape and all of the animals that stir within it, seeming as little more than small objects in the far distance. Often enough, however, the wilderness is close enough to view in detail. The bus stops when the passengers spot a large grizzly bear ambling down a slope with its two fluffy...