Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Day with the Dolphins

Starting point is 00:00:00 Before tonight's episode, I want to let you know about our supporters' feed Get Sleepy Premium, the best way to experience the show and get a good night's sleep. With Get Sleepy Premium, everything is ad-free. You'll receive a bonus episode every week, and have full access to our entire back catalogue. Your support really helps, and means so much to us. Simply tap the link in the show notes to learn more. Now, a quick word from our sponsors who make it possible for us to bring you two three episodes each week. Have you ever wished that we'd include soothing nature sounds as a background

Starting point is 00:00:41 throughout a get sleepy episode? sounds as a background throughout a get sleepy episode. For example, maybe you would like to pair tonight's story with the sound of gentle rainfall. Well, now you can. We have partnered with the Deep Sleep Sounds app to help you create soothing soundscapes that will play in the background while you're listening to get sleepy. Here's what you need to do. Simply download the Deep Sleep Sounds app, choose your preferred sound and add it to the mix by tapping in the circle next to it. Make sure you go to the controls tab within the deep sleep sounds app and

Starting point is 00:01:27 toggle the button to allow background audio. This will mean you can listen to get sleepy and the app sounds at the same time and you can control the volume of the specific sounds in the mix tab. It's the ultimate sleep experience. Through our partnership with Deep Sleep Sounds, you can get a 30 day free trial by going to deepsleepsounds.com slash getsleepy. That's deepsleepsounds.com slash GetSleepy or just follow the link in the show notes for a 30 day free trial of the Deep Sleep Sounds app. Welcome to GetSleepy, the podcast when we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host, Thomas.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Thanks for tuning in. Tonight we'll venture into the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of New Zealand, and experience a day in the life of a couple of playful dolphins. Let's settle down now and get ready for our story. Just begin with some deep breaths. in for one two three four five and out for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Continue to breathe at your own pace, whatever feels most comfortable for you. As you do, just feel that wave-like motion of the airflow, rising and falling, collecting tension with the inhale, then letting Then letting go as you exhale and feeling that tension gradually disperse like a wave over the shore.

Starting point is 00:04:17 As you begin to make your way towards sleep, leave all your troubles behind and travel to a serene coastline. You can hear the waves gently lapping against the shore, in and out as steady as your breathing. The tide is beginning to come in. The clear water is a beautiful blue-green colour. As you gaze at the ocean, you notice a flash of movement in the sun-dappled shallows. There's a jet of bubbles, and then the heads of two dolphins emerge from the water. Their eyes are bright and curious. You watch as the young dolphins twist and turn in their graceful dance along the shore. And this is where our story begins. Pickens An albatross bob-s-along on the gentle waves that lap against the shore of eastern Altearoa, also known as New Zealand. Other than its black wings and eyes, the huge bird is as white as the clouds that

Starting point is 00:06:28 float overhead. Aoteanoa is the Maori word often translated as long white cloud for the formations over the Northern Island that helped navigate as find it. You can often see beautiful whips of white in the expanse of blue sky above the ocean here. The albatross has just finished a long morning hunt for squid and fish and is preening her feathers as she floats on the water. On land she stands about a meter tall, but her impressive wingspan stretches to three times that when she's fine. She's a proud creature, strong, elegant, beautiful and dignified.

Starting point is 00:07:34 Suddenly, the albatross fills a burst of bubbles in the water underneath her tail feathers. her tail feathers. She squarks and quickly moves away. She runs across the surfaceling the surface below her. Two grey snouts and two sets of curious eyes emerge. They belong to Kiri and Kai, two siblings who are members of the big green water pot, a community of almost 100 bottlenose dolphins. As they poke their heads out of the water, Kiri and Kai make playful clicking sounds. make playful clicking sounds. They use their blowholes to spray a fine mist and take a quick gold purveyor before they duck back into the water. Kiri clicks in happiness as she dives down and spins circles around her older brother, Kai. He's a mere adolescent dolphin on the cusp of adulthood, while Kiri is several years younger.

Starting point is 00:09:18 She's still a child and she acts like it. Kai has spent the morning teaching his little sister how to catch fish in the shallows. This is normally their mother's job, but at the moment she is with the nursery group. She is looking after their younger sister, who is a newborn. Kiri does all right, but she still has to practice. Although she is making progress, she prefers chasing the fish to catching them. She has to learn how to drive them out of the water and onto the sandy shore. But instead, she slides over the sand underwater

Starting point is 00:10:18 as though she's playing a game. Kai has mixed feelings about babysitting his sister. Part of him would rather be out swimming with his friends. After all, in a year or two he'll be a fully grown dolphin. The older ones roam the borders of their pods, keeping an eye out for danger. Some dolphins travel in pairs, while others go off on their own, moving from pod to pod, as they look for mates. Kai is not independent yet and he has to put his family first. When he's teaching his sister how to catch fish, he takes the job seriously. But Kiri has a more playful attitude. Instead of hunting for food, she prefers spending her days chasing other marine life, or finding pretty seashells to play with.

Starting point is 00:11:39 She is still small and has a bit of baby fat. Her older brother has been trying to get her swimming up to speed so she can keep up with the rest of the pond. Kai is just about to chirp at his sister to stop playing around when he feels a vibration along his jaw, a subtle hum that's barely perceptible. It's their mother calling for him. She's in the middle of the pot away from the shore. the shore. Kai swims around his sister, herding her back towards their community. They chirp a greeting to a couple of older dolphins out on patrol as they speed back to the nursery group. Kiri stops to say hello to everyone she sees. Kaya has to keep poking her gently with his nose to move them along. They pass by a few of their friends and family, bobbing close to the surface, resting. Kaya once heard a story from a dolphin who saw a human sleeping.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Apparently humans sleep with both eyes closed and don't seem to be aware of anything as they do. The dolphin was able to swim right up to the human as they slept, drifting through the water on a peculiar floating object. Humans are so strange, Kai thinks. He watches one of his cousins flip his tail lazily to propel himself to the surface. After a gulp of air, the dolphins sink back down and joins the rest of the pod. The group of dolphins is almost motionless, but their bodies move gently with the ocean current. The nursery group is floating just above an underwater sand bar. They're so close to the surface here that the sunlight streams through the water in

Starting point is 00:14:28 elegant lines. The dolphins seem to shine in the light in radiant shades of grey and silver. Kiri shoots through the water towards her baby sister. She nudges the small dolphin affectionately with her nose, chirping and whistling away in baby talk. Kai swims right up to their mother. She's helping another dolphin teach her baby to swim. Kai's mother greets him with a warm whistle. As they swim in a circle around the nursery group, she tells him they'll soon be moving to an area with more fish.

Starting point is 00:15:27 They usually travel between the morning and afternoon hunts, especially when fish are scarce. Their mother is going to stay with the nursery group, since a lot of the babies are slow or need help. She asks Kai if he can look after Kiri for the afternoon. She knows he would rather be with his friends, but he still agrees to take care of his sister. He is the older brother after all, until he'll do his duty. Kiri is thrilled that she gets to spend the afternoon with her brother. She whistles in excitement and zooms off through the water.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Kae swims after her, listening to the chorus of chaps and whistles from dolphins all around them. These sounds let the entire big green water pot know that it's time to start moving. After a short while, he loses sight of his sister, so he clicks to ask if she's alright. Kiri clicks back in response. She's playing, doing wave jumps with some other young dolphins. Now that he knows his sister is okay, Kai is free to explore a bit and have some fun. He spins around and dives down, making playful clicking noises. On his way down, he dodges the other dolphins in the slow-moving pot and passes through a large school of fish.

Starting point is 00:17:41 It's busy near the surface, but down by the seabed, it's even busier. The deeper water is bushing with life. Huge groups of soft, transparent jellyfish float around on the currents. The jellyfish come in all kinds of colours. Blue, pink, white, purple. Hundreds of small pink malmau fish feed on the clouds of plankton that float in every drop of the coastal water. Bigger fish feed on the mow mow and other smaller species. Kai hums at the thought of a tasty cod, but he's on duty and he's come down here for a reason.

Starting point is 00:18:49 He swims among the mountains of coral, forests of anemones, and huge dancing ribbons of seaweed until he reaches the bottom. His silver beak nudges through the silt and some nearby crabs scuttle away. A flounder emerges from its hiding place in the sand. Coyer chases the flat brown fish across the sea bed, but it soon disappears, camouflaged by the sand. Kaya is about to swim away when he spots a beautiful, empty clamshell lying in the sand. He picks it up and then shoots upwards back towards the surface. Once he's surrounded by the pod, he calls for Kiri with a low unmistakable whistle. Kiri chaps and rockets through the water towards him.

Starting point is 00:20:20 Kair dodges out the way and then plays along, pretending that he's trying to get away from her. But by now, Kiri has spotted the shell he's carrying. She chases after him, eager to grab it. When Kaya's shore is high enough, just a few feet from the surface, he opens his mouth. The clamshell falls from his grip and sinks down into the bluish green depths. It moves slowly, wobbling back and forth as it drifts through the water, caught in the ocean currents. Kiri is so excited. It's as if she's never seen a shell before. She gives chase as the shell drifts downwards and catches it in her mouth. Then she swims up close to the surface and let's go of it. Kaya propels himself after the shell once more while his little sister clicks in delight, he catches it and then returns to the surface

Starting point is 00:21:52 where he drops it again so Kiri can dive for it. They keep the game going as the pod continues to move slowly up the coast. Kaya feels very clever. It's like he's tricking his sister into improving her skills, all through the simple addition of her favourite activity, chasing shells. The pod spends a couple of hours swimming up the coast. Eventually, the dolphins on scouting duty whistle, signaling that they've found a good spot. The group comes to a halt.

Starting point is 00:22:48 There are plenty of fish to be found in this large section of reef so they can stay here for a while. Kiri and Kai find their mother with the nursery group. She nuzzles Kai lovingly. He's a little embarrassed by this affectionate gesture, but at least his friends aren't watching.

Starting point is 00:23:20 There's no one around, apart from babies, mothers and grandmothers. They're swimming at a slow, dreamy pace, lost in their own world. As he swims beside his mother, Kai tells her that he still has a lot of work to do with Kiri. The lesson isn't over yet. He wants to follow her brother. Kair whistles at Kiri to keep up with him as they head for the shallows. He listens to the clicks up and down the coast and finds a place where they'll

Starting point is 00:24:29 have a bit of space from the others. It's are plenty of caught swimming around. He tells his sister to show him what she's learned so far. Kiri speeds off through the school of caught, whistling with joy. Whistling with joy. She's clearly having fun, but she'll never catch a fish like that. Kai sighs and tells his sister to watch him. She follows behind,ping happily. Kai moves up and down, inching closer to the school of Kant. He heard them in, so they're even more tightly packed together. They don't realize it's happening. They're reacting instinctively to his movements. Kai quickly plans what he needs to do next and then beats the water with his tail. Then he rushes towards the fish, its fins cutting through the water. The cod try to scatter in all directions, but some are caught in the force of the currents.

Starting point is 00:26:20 Kai is timing is perfect. As he moves up the sandy slope and out of the water, he sees four or five cot flopping in the sand. He picks one up with his mouth and then slides back down the slope and into the water. Kiri swims up to him in the shallows, chattering excitedly. She gets excited about everything, but he's still pleased by her reaction. He lets her grab the fish and go pit down. Once she's finished eating, he whistles in encouragement. Now it's her turn to bring him a fish. It takes a few tries, but eventually Kiri manages to catch one. When she swims towards her brother, with a happy high pitched whistle, Kai feels a glow

Starting point is 00:27:40 of pride. Once their bellies are full, they head back to the pot. They need to give their mother some time to catch fish for herself. Kai expects to see Kiri zooming Curie zooming around in excitement, ready to tell her family all about her adventure. But she swims slowly and looks tired. The hours of playing and chasing fish have made her sleepy. Her mother gives her a gentle nozzle. Then she tells Kai directions to a group of sleeping dolphins, so both he and his sister can get some rest. Kaya wants to protest that he's not tired. But then he realizes that even the thought of swimming much further is exhausting. He follows his mother's directions and swims with Kiri to a stretch of shallow water. A few other dolphins are floating near the surface.

Starting point is 00:29:18 They look like they're awake as all dolphins keep one eye open when they sleep. But they're actually napping peacefully. Kiri is so tired that she drifts off while she's still swimming. swimming. Kai gently nudges her awake and guides out to the surface so she can take a last breath of air before settling down in the water to rest. While he siss the sleeves, Kai looks up through the clear surface of the water. The sky above glows in the west, but darkness is coming from the east. He is feeling sleepy too, so he will have a rest with his sister before he goes back to work, looking after his family and helping the pond. He rises to the surface to take a deep breath of fresh air and then slowly sinks down next to Kiri. He closes one eye and relaxes his body. Then he feels himself drifting down through the warm water.

Starting point is 00:31:16 His mind is already in dreamland. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Day with the Dolphins

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.