With You Until Sleep — 14 : Swans in Boats | Peaceful Sleep Podcast for Stress & Somatic Calm

Drift into deep rest with this somatic sleep podcast designed to help settle the nervous system, quiet racing thoughts, and support natural sleep. With a calming ASMR-style female voice, this episode offers gentle bedtime storytelling and a soft, soothing presence to help you disengage from overthinking and ease into sleep.

This sleep podcast is ideal for anyone who struggles with insomnia, nighttime anxiety, restlessness, or waking up in the middle of the night. The episode creates a peaceful, pressure-free space where you can simply listen, relax, and let go. Whether you need help falling asleep fast or returning to sleep after waking, this calming sleep audio is here to support you.

Featuring a tranquil story about a harbour with swans and boats and the adventures of the swans, this episode is meant to gently occupy the mind without stimulation, giving your body and nervous system permission to unwind. There’s nothing to do, nothing to fix, and nothing to get right tonight — just rest.

Perfect for:

1. Sleep meditation
2. ASMR for sleep
3. Nervous system regulation
4. Insomnia relief
5. Anxiety at night
6. Relaxing bedtime storytelling
7. Falling back asleep

Let the sound of a gentle female voice guide you toward peace, ease, and deep sleep.

To get the most out of this episode:

1. Listen somewhere you feel safe and comfortable
2. You can use headphones or play it softly in the room
3. Let yourself drift in and out of awareness
4. If you fall asleep, that’s perfect
5. If you don’t, that’s okay too

There’s no right way for this to work.

With You Until Sleep is written and read by me, Sky — a real human, a Focusing practitioner, and somatic guide. These recordings are shaped by years of working with emotional safety and the nervous system.

New episodes are released regularly.

If you’d like an ad-free listening experience and access to longer companion episodes and members-only recordings, there’s an optional membership — or buy me a cup of tea Support With You Until Sleep

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Thank you for being here.

I’ll be with you until sleep.

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[0:00] Hello, this is Sky. I'll be here with you until sleep. You don't need to listen closely. You can drift off whenever you like.

[0:27] There's nothing to get right tonight, for now just let yourself be held by the sound of my voice, let's begin, If this podcast has been keeping you company at night, and you'd like to support me directly, membership is a beautiful way to do that. It includes ad-free listening, and exclusive sleep stories, and it helps me continue sharing these calm little spaces with you, the link is in the description.

[1:51] Tonight, we don't need to fill the space with much.

[2:09] We can just be quiet together. Other. You don't need to arrive in any particular way. However you find yourself tonight, that is welcome.

[2:50] Perhaps some parts of the day are still nearby, perhaps there are thoughts still moving, trying to finish something, trying to work something out, they don't need to stop, and they don't need your attention in right now. They can simply rest at the edge of awareness.

[3:55] They're there if they're needed, and they're there where they can rest. And underneath all of that, there is the simple experience of being here. Nothing to explain.

[4:25] Nothing to figure out. Nothing to hold together. You don't need, to bring any parts of yourself into this space. Not the capable one, not the strong one, not even the peaceful one, just you, exactly as you are, if your mind is busy, It can stay busy.

[5:27] If your body is restless, it can take its time. There is room here for all of it. And perhaps, without needing to do anything at all, something in you may begin to settle, in its own way, in its own time, you don't have to be alone with any of it, I'm here with you.

[6:35] And from this quiet place, we can slowly ease into the story. Dear ones, I want to tell you a remarkable story, about the swans, and the bow, Now this may seem, like a most remarkable thing indeed, A swan and a bow. Or it may seem trivial to you. You may have seen swans and boats before. Or...

[7:50] But I wonder, if you've ever seen swans in a boat. And that is the story I want to tell you about. There's a place in a harbor. That has very high, and low tides. And because it comes in and out in such a great distance, the salt water mixes, with the fresh water.

[8:52] And it's there where brackish water is created. And that means a mix of salt water and fresh water. Both mixed, and diluted. And in this place an interesting thing happens. This is a place where the swans with the black beaks gather, and rest and play and sleep, and be together.

[10:03] This place, that has these extreme tides, what is so miraculous about it?

[10:23] Is it, that these aren't just regular swans? Are they different? And what could it be? And I'm getting to that just now. These swans act in a way, that could be considered by some humans, as very unswan-like. But to them, it's completely normal. You see, some humans, don't realize, that animals can act in ways that they don't understand.

[11:34] Sometimes, we humans can be limited in our imaginations. So in this story, we may need to stretch out a bit in our minds. I want to tell you, about some swans, that act in a very different way, than you may have ever heard of before. So these swans, as I mentioned before, live in a place where there's brackish water. And in this place, people also go, and they put their boats there.

[12:53] And I've seen photos and I've heard of people going there to place their boats, that they use when the tide is high. So in this harbor, we have swans and boats. And when the people are there, they see the boats, and they see the swans, and they don't think too much about it because why would you, when nobody's looking, when it's just the water, and the water spirits, and swans and the other animals, the swans get into the boats and sail around.

[14:18] And you might wonder, why would they do that?

[14:34] If they already love to swim in the water. Because they seem to be made for water. And swimming in the water. They do it because they love it. Wet or dry doesn't matter. The lovely swans are there in the water, swimming and diving, and living and sleeping, and doing all the things that swans do in the water. And that is just what the humans see.

[15:49] But these swans, they like to have a good time.

[16:00] In fact, they love it. Sometimes, when I've seen swans before, it seems to me, that they're very elegant and quite regal, and lovely, and a little bit serious, but this isn't always true, they do have a sense of fun, they do like to play, they like to play especially, when it comes to things, that are in their area, like the boats.

[17:13] These boats, which are in the areas that they swim in and live in.

[17:30] So what happens when no one is looking? The beautiful, lovely swans. They go in the boats. And yes, they don't have hands. So they don't necessarily, steer the boats the way that people do, by using oars.

[18:13] Or moving the rudder. What they do is they trail their little legs and feet over the side of the bow, and that is how they steer using their feet, that is their paddle, If you've ever seen swan feet, you might have noticed they've got those big webbed feet.

[19:03] That are made for swimming. It's very easy for them to get going fast. And they love to zoom the boats around. Very quickly, in a circle. The same as some people like to ride their car around and make donuts, and go round and round in circles.

[19:54] It's similar, to what the swans like to do in the boats, and why why might the swans do that, simply because it's fun, they like to have a bit of fun, and they like to zoom around in the little boats and.

[20:32] And they laugh, and they play, and they really enjoy themselves. And you might be wondering.

[20:50] If they were doing that, wouldn't people have seen them doing that? Because really, how could you miss a swan, zooming around, in a bow, trailing its little feet, and going in circles? The size of these boats is not large. They're small boats. They are the size of a dinghy. Just big enough, for a couple of swans to get in, and zoom around. On their bow.

[22:04] So why haven't people seen this? And that is a simple answer. Because, it seems that as people, become adults, they stop believing in these things. Not like when they were children. And their minds, cannot see these magical, mystical things. That are really going on all around us. Because it's so extraordinary.

[23:08] And, the adults of today, and any time, would have to believe, in magic and fairies, and things like swans zooming around in boats, then you may have noticed.

[23:43] That most adults, don't think like this anymore. And that's okay. And this is why I'm telling you this story now, So that you can get a sense of what else might be happening in the world. Of the extraordinary moments.

[24:28] Things like the magic of the kitties. And the magic of the birds. And the joys of the swans and the boats.

[24:46] And the snails having races, which are witnessed by the hedgehogs and the badgers. Yes, dear ones, I tell you these stories now, to lull you into sleep. And so that you too may be able to see these things, in your dreams and in the quiet spaces, in the very back of your mind. Because these things really are quite extraordinary. And now back to the swans. They love, love, love to zoom around in the boats.

[26:06] And play in the boats. And have fun. And another thing they love to do, is play games with the boats. So as it happens, some of the humans leave, a few boats out.

[26:44] And sometimes there are several boats in the harbor. And this is when the swans get really silly. And they like to race the boats around. Two swans in a boat. Two swans in another boat. And two swans in another boat. All of them zooming around. And of course, there's a few swans that call out the markers. Saying where the starting point is and where the ending point is.

[28:06] And another thing, I want to mention, about this, is that they aren't really racing around, to see who is the fastest, or who is the best. It's not a competition. It's more about the fun of it. So even if it appears, that one of them gets there, before the other ones.

[29:11] In what we would call being first, second, or third, they don't think of it like that. They cheer each other on, without their being a winner or a loser. They are doing this racing the boats around, for the sheer joy of being able to do it, so whichever boat arrives first, is cheered on, the same as the boat that arrives last.

[30:19] Because it's in the joy of the play, fun, and the cooperation, and if one seems to be going a bit slower Or, a few other swans, might come along, and start pushing the bow, to get it to go faster. And they all work together.

[31:07] And when this happens, the cheers get louder and louder. They're all having such a good time, and laughing, enjoying themselves. And another wonderful thing, about these boat races, is it's not just the swans who are participating, other animals are joining in as well, the fish that live in the water, and the other birds, the other beings in the water and the beings on the land, they're all joining in watching, cheering, All enjoying themselves.

[32:36] I wonder if you've ever noticed swans and ducks and other birds, seem to get along with each other. I've seen them before. All resting on the same bank, or swimming near each other, they don't mind.

[33:20] And sometimes other birds will come and join them, which means they might land on the boat, or the bow, or the rim of the bow, and sometimes they help the boat go faster, by flapping their wings, by flapping their wings quickly, and you might think that could create a drag but it doesn't. It really helps propel them along even faster. And this is just the way it is.

[34:36] It's just the way it is. When the beings in the wild play get together, and enjoy themselves, and even take over little bits of what the humans leave behind, there's a whole other world, going on, than our little human minds can imagine.

[35:21] Nature, the animals, and the creatures having fun, join themselves, and playing, in all weathers, in all places, doesn't matter if we see it or not it's all going on, and how lucky we are, to hear stories about it, to be able to partake in the joy, through our own imagination, through our own sense of wonder.

[36:32] Through our own growing sense that perhaps there's something more than we're really aware of. As humans we get busy with our lives and our stories. And that's okay. I'm really glad, that I could be here to tell you this little tale, about the swans and the boats. And now the story has come to rest.

[37:45] The images can soften. The words can drift apart. Nothing more needs to happen tonight. The quiet that was here before the story is still here now. Waiting gently beneath everything. You don't need to add anything to this moment. You don't need to understand anything. You don't need to carry anything forward.

[38:54] You can simply stay here, resting in the quiet.

[39:07] In the darkness, resting in the simple experience of being. And if sleep is nearby, you can let it come in its own time. We don't need to do anything else, just staying here together, for a little while longer, if you're already asleep, keep resting, if you're still awake that's okay too, you can let this episode play again, or move on to the next one.

[40:30] I'll be right here, goodnight.