Listen.
That's the ocean.
A wave rolls in...
and slides back out.
Over and over.
For the next six minutes...
you don't have to keep time.
The water will do it for you.
Picture a quiet beach at night.
Nobody else around.
Just you and the sound.
You're lying on soft sand.
It still holds the day's warmth.
It shifts a little under Making you.
room for your shoulders.
And your hips.
There's a thick towel under your A head.
light blanket over you.
Your toes are near the wet line.
The water never quite reaches.
The air smells like salt.
It's cool on your face.
The rest of you is warm.
High above, a few stars.
No need to count them.
Somewhere down the beach...
a porch light glows.
Far enough to forget.
Let your eyes close, if they want to.
You can still hear everything.
A wave comes up the sand.
Then it goes back.
It never hurries.
Each wave sounds a little different.
Some crash soft.
Some just hiss across the sand.
You brought a few things here.
From the day.
The drive home.
The dishes you left.
The call you didn't return.
You don't need them on the sand.
Let the next wave reach for one.
Just one.
As it slides back...
it takes that thing with it.
Out into the dark water.
There it goes.
Smaller now.
Soon you can't see it at all.
Just the moon on the water.
Here comes another wave.
Let it take something else.
Maybe it's a worry about money.
Maybe it's just a feeling.
It doesn't need a name.
The ocean doesn't ask what it is.
It just carries it off.
One more wave.
take Let it the last thing.
Whatever's still sitting on your chest.
Your hands can go loose on the blanket.
Your jaw can soften.
Your forehead can go flat and easy.
Like sand after water the passes.
Your shoulders sink a little...
into the warm sand.
Now let your breath follow the water.
When a wave rolls up the sand...
breathe in.
When it slides back...
breathe out.
No counting.
Just listen and follow.
In...
as the water comes up.
Out...
as it pulls away.
Some waves are longer.
Let your breath be longer too.
In...
And out...
all the way back to the sea.
In...
the water reaching.
Out...
the water letting go.
You're not breathing for yourself now.
The ocean's doing it.
Your belly rises with the water.
And falls as it pulls back.
You can stop following now.
The waves will keep going.
The sand is warm.
Your body is heavy on it.
Your heels sink in a little more.
Far out, the water is dark and Only still.
the edge is moving.
A little foam...
like lace on the dark sand.
Then If gone.
a thought comes...
let a wave take it.
You don't have to hold on.
The sand is holding you.
In...
And out...
The tide is going out.
Let yourself drift with it.
Slowly.
Breathing slow as the sea.
Just the waves now.
Goodnight.