Bedtime

Sometimes my kids have a hard time going to sleep, and when they fight sleep like that they often tell me it's because they're avoiding nightmares. In talking to the girls (ages 6 and 4), I've explained that when they go to sleep they can go to their own personal garden, where only angels and good fairies, and beings of love and light can enter. It is their garden, governed by their desires of who they want to be part of their world.

I made up a meditation to get them there, carried on the back of a pegasus that will protect and transport them to the garden. It is a way to get them to move directly from their conscious space to the sleep space, without being deterred by other energy.

"Close your eyes and call for your pegasus (we have described our own animals to one another, especially in the beginning of this meditation, just to make it seem more real). When she arrives, you say hello and you pet her neck. You can feel the softness of her hair as you move your hand down her neck... you can also feel her warmth.

You ask if you can get on her back, and she nods and breathes out warm air on your hand. You climb up on her back. You run your fingers through her mane, and you feel the hair between your fingers. You lean forward, again noticing how warm she is, and you whisper in her ear that you're ready to fly.

She takes a few steps, then leaps into the air. Her wings stretch out, and you can feel the effort of her muscles in her back. You hear the air through her feathers. She goes up, up, up, but all the while you know that she is paying attention to you... she won't do anything to frighten you... she wants you to feel safe and comfortable. As she flies, you relax.

You feel the air moving past your body, through your hair, and around your legs. The air feels good, and it seems as if the parts of the day that were difficult, frustrating, or just confusing are rising to your skin and flying away like dust. You are still on her back, feeling clear and refreshed. And yet, you also feel sleepy. It has been a long day, and your bones are starting to feel heavy.

You lean forward and whisper to pegasus that you are ready for the garden. She lands on a path, and you get down from her back. Thank her for the ride.

Together you walk up the path to a little house on a hill. You go to the door, this is your garden house. The fairy folk tend the house when you are not in the garden, and you open the door to find a cozy fire in the fireplace. The house smells like bread (or cookies, or cakes, or whatever), the fairies have been cooking for you.

You walk across the room to your bedroom. You lay down in bed. It is a cozy, warm, safe, soft bed, the most comfortable place you have ever been. The pillow is soft beneath your head, and you realize how tired you are. Your bones are heavy, and your eyes close. Good-night."