Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Leo’s Dreamy Day on Earth

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Starting point is 00:00:36 Save up to $20 per month on Rogers internet. Visit rogers.com for details. We got you, Rogers. Hi, it's Andrew here. the host of Send Me To Sleep, another sleep-inducing podcast from the Slumber Studios network. I'm dropping by here just to let you know that I'm starting a brand new season on Send Me To Sleep right now. This season, I'll be reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Starting point is 00:01:07 Treasure Island follows the story of a young boy who happens upon a pirate's treasure map. The discovery sets him off on a quest for hidden treasure, meeting bold characters and adventurous obstacles along the way. I've tried my very best to make sure it's a wonderful way to fall asleep, so I do hope you'll join me. If you're interested, just search Send Me to Sleep in your favorite podcast player, and go to the most recent episodes to find this new season. I hope to see you there for a good story and a good night's rest. Welcome to Get Sleepy, where we listen, we relax, and we get sleepy.

Starting point is 00:01:58 My name's Thomas, and it's my pleasure to be your host. It's no coincidence that Leo season comes at the height of summer when the sun is at its strongest. Leo is a sign of fire, charisma, and leadership. Tonight we'll accompany Leo as he prepares for the opening night of a new play and spends a blissful evening in the spotlight. It was written by Frankie and I have the pleasure of reading it. Get Sleepy Premium is the very best way to listen to the show and we'd love for you to try it. The first seven days are free of charge so you can be sure you're happy.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Our premium subscribers have a huge choice of over 750 full length stories and meditations, including lots of extra long episodes, and nothing will disrupt your rest as there are no ads whatsoever. Plus every Thursday we release a brand new bonus episode just for our premium supporters. Tomorrow Vanessa will be reading us a story about a relaxing visit to a home store where we'll envisage ourselves searching for inspiration and treasures to spruce up our own homes. Try Get Sleepy Premium and enjoy all the sleepy content you could possibly need. Visit GetSleepy.com slash support or follow the link in the show notes to learn more.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Thank you so much my friends. So lie down in your bed, allowing yourself to settle in the most comfortable position. to settle in the most comfortable position. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. With each inhale imagine your body filling up with a soft amber light. It enters your body through your lungs and finds a home in your chest. It is warm and comforting. As you continue to breathe, the light spreads outwards. It reaches your shoulders and and across your legs. Finally, it comes up your neck light that poses softly leave your mind. The warm light absorbs all thoughts and stresses of the day. Just as the setting of the sun makes way for the cool release of night, the amber light around you starts to recede and dim. With each exhale, it becomes softer, leaving in its wake nothing but peace, stillness, and

Starting point is 00:06:34 calm. Finally, with the extinguishing of the amber light, comes tranquility. Now we'll move to the world of our story. A warm, dark space with only one light. The light is a bare bulb on a stand. Even by its weak glow, you can make out a stage in an empty theater. There are no people here save one, and his presence seems to fill the room. This is where our story begins. Leo loves this part the best, he decides, when there is no one else in the dark theatre but for him and the singular light. Theatre is full of superstitions and a stage must never be truly dark. He stands next to the light and looks out

Starting point is 00:08:32 at the two floors of seats. They are dark red velvet placeholders for the hundreds of people that will fill them in a few short hours. Leo thinks about the people. No, as much as he likes this part, he definitely loves the people the best. He loves the look on their faces, patient and expectant. But this is good too, the peaceful anticipation of a theater before a performance. before a performance. Leo muses on the reaction of his siblings when they find out that he came back to earth for one night and put himself on the stage. The The thought makes him chuckle. Well of course he would come to the theatre, and what better night than one where they are performing a lost Greek play. After thousands of years, this play will finally know the joy of live performance and admiration once again, just like Leo himself.

Starting point is 00:10:20 He basks in the excitement for a moment, before the sounds of other people entering the building bring him back to the present. He takes one last look at the theater. The dim light from the bare bulb shines off the gilt adornments of the old building, reflecting his own shining qualities back to him. Leo smiles to himself and heads backstage. He makes his way through the maze of passages and hallways to his dressing room. It is a small room, lit brilliantly with a dozen warm bulbs around a huge mirror. The mirror stretches across one entire wall. In front of half of it sits a small desk with the tools of an actor. Makeup, false facial hair, and good luck notes litter the surface. On the opposite wall from the mirror sits a costume rack with crisp and colorful outfits. Leo plants himself in the center of the room and begins a

Starting point is 00:12:11 series of vocal warm-ups. He carefully takes his voice from the highest to the lowest register, stretching the muscles of his mouth and his vocal cords. He repeats tongue twisters and rhymes as fast as he can. He makes silly faces to himself in the mirror. Once his voice is properly warm, he moves on to his body. He shifts his body smoothly from one stretch to another. He focuses not just on his main muscle groups but also on the flexibility of his joints. As Leo warms up his body, he sings simple songs in his powerful baritone, enjoying the feeling of moving both body and voice to the best of his abilities. Finally, he quiets himself and settles his body, sitting in his chair and gently closing his eyes for a few minutes of mindful meditation.

Starting point is 00:13:56 He sends himself back 2,000 years to the beginnings of Western theater. In those days, plays were put on for festivals. It started with the festivals of Dionysus, the god of revelry, theater, pleasure, and freedom. As true rituals to this god, a festival would hold all three genres of play – comedies, tragedies, and satyr plays. Although Dionysus was the god of pleasure, the first dramatists knew that true freedom was the expression of all emotions. The festivals held competitions amongst the local playwrights, awarding those that put on the best triplet. Comedies were obviously light-hearted and funny. They often mocked politicians, local figures, or even other playwrights. Tragedies portrayed great dramas, featuring the heroes and gods of ancient Greece. Satyr plays lay somewhere in between the two.

Starting point is 00:15:48 These were neither comedy nor tragedy, though they had elements of both. They were classified by the inclusion of the half-goat creatures called satyrs in every performance. Satyrs are not wholly good or bad, they are a mix of both. As a result, the ancient Greeks believed that satyrs best reflected humans themselves, who were never as great and powerful as heroes and gods in real life. Leo himself acted in all three kinds of plays. kinds of plays. In fact, Leo credits the success of playwrights such as Euripides and Sophocles to his own performances in their plays. Who else could express the villainous Cyclops, the heroic Odysseus, or the hilarious Silenus better than Leo. With that final, self-assured thought, Leo pulls himself from his meditations and makes

Starting point is 00:17:22 his way back to the stage. There is still quite some time before the audience even starts arriving in the building. Leo and his castmates gather on the empty stage. A few of the stage lights have been turned on now, and the work lights reveal the entire room. Stage managers are bustling around, checking props and solving any final problems. The sound and light technicians are in the operating box checking that their systems are ready for the show. There are even a few stagehands making sure everything is rigged safely. The cast gathers in a loose circle on the stage, smiling encouragingly at one another. Perhaps this is his favorite part, Leo muses, as the cast begins their group exercises. They may appear just to be playing silly games and attempting to make one another laugh, but they are also strengthening the bonds between them before the show. Leo enjoys maintaining these connections with his fellow actors. He feels a strong surge of affection for each and every person in the cast.

Starting point is 00:19:31 This part of the process makes sure that no matter what happens during the performance, the cast is there for one another. is there for one another. If someone misses a line or forgets their entrance, the other members of the cast will be able to keep the play going smoothly and fold that person back into the show without the audience ever knowing something went wrong. without the audience ever knowing something went wrong. In modern theater, roles are much more individualistic and closer to real life than those in ancient Greek theater. A huge part of Greek theatre was the chorus. This group of performers acted as an ensemble, occasionally with one or two individuals relaying a couple of lines on their own. They usually represented the public, such as the population of a city or the people

Starting point is 00:20:51 of a court. Their job was to act as the relay between the world of the play and the audience. Unsurprisingly, Leo was never a member of the chorus because it never gave him the room to stand out. However, he always recognized the importance of the chorus However, he always recognized the importance of the chorus in showing the audience how they should react to the often unbelievable things happening on stage. Wild plotlines and often magical occurrences always seemed to happen to the heroes. They were the ones blessed with long speeches and dramatic journeys. Leo loved playing the heroes best. best. The heightened stakes of their situations allowed him to stretch his muscles as an actor. He could roar with anger, weep with melancholy, or dance with joy at the drop of a hat. At the end of each play, no matter how outlandish the story,

Starting point is 00:22:37 there would always be an appearance by one of the gods. Because plays were performed as the main part of a religious festival to Dionysus, the gods were always upheld on stage and represented in all their glory. Though Leo liked to play the heroes, he would never turn down the chance to appear on stage as Mighty Zeus or Golden Apollo. The other actors trickle away to their dressing rooms, actors trickle away to their dressing rooms, leaving Leo alone on the stage once more. He ventures into the wings and finds a large push broom. Dutifully and with purposeful precision, Leo begins to sweep the stage. He doesn't do this because the stage is dirty, but because it is part of his personal ritual when it

Starting point is 00:23:58 comes to the theater. Plays and theater were, at their beginnings, forms of extravagant ritual meant to celebrate the vast spectrum of experiences found in life. For Leo, an important part of his artistic ritual is to sweep the stage. In his mind, it is not just sweeping the floor of dirt, but cleaning the stage of the old performances. He sweeps away the mistakes, the old shows, and the long-gone audiences to make way for the new performance happening tonight. Leo is all about the clean slate and giving everyone the chance for a fresh start. At the end of his sweeping, though he hasn't removed a single speck of dirt, he feels that the space is ready to tell a new story. He puts his broom back and finds his way to his dressing room. Behind, above, and beneath the stage and auditorium is a maze not unlike the one that held the Minotaur.

Starting point is 00:25:56 Leo loves exploring spaces like these in theaters because around every corner could be a treasure. Perhaps it's a prop from some long-forgotten show, or a piece of scenery painted so outlandishly there is no way to guess what play it was for. Back in the days of ancient Greece, they too had mysterious spaces under the stage for storage. Sometimes, a trap door would be called upon to bring forth Hades from the underworld. Like modern theaters, there was a space above the stage as well. This is where the gods would be lowered from or revealed to the audience using a machine that literally translates to the hand of God. As Leo follows his feet through the tight corridors, he can remember the faces of the ancient audiences when the hand of God would reveal him as Apollo, the golden God.

Starting point is 00:27:30 They would gasp and cheer, caught up in the majesty and theatricality of the performance. For just a little while, Leo would become that God and feel the vast power of their aura. This is part of the magic of theatre, and now that Leo thinks about it, quite probably his favourite part. Back in his dressing room, Leo seats himself in front of his mirror and starts to put on his make-up. of his mirror and starts to put on his makeup. Back in the early days of theatre, all actors wore masks which represented their character to the thousands of audience members in the Though Leo is not keen on performing for fewer people, he does enjoy the fact that he now has full use of his face as an acting tool. He begins by gently applying a layer of matte foundation to his skin.

Starting point is 00:29:08 By putting on makeup that is the same color as his skin but less reflective, he makes sure that his face is not washed out by the bright theater lights. theater lights. He moves the brush around his face in slow, even movements, always sure to cover everything evenly and blend it smoothly into the curve of his neck. Next, he puts on thin lines of black liner under and over his eyes, just subtle enough for his eyes to be highlighted without being obvious. without being obvious. Eyes and hands are the actor's greatest tool, so he wants people sitting in the highest, furthest back seats to be able to see his eyes. As Leo walks, the speaker in his room quietly pipes in the sounds of the auditorium. He hears the gentle rumble of audience members making their way to their seats. He can think of no sounds more comforting than the soft murmur of an audience before the show begins. This audience, he knows, will sit in rapt silence during tonight's performance.

Starting point is 00:31:13 He remembers very different audiences 2,000 years ago. Firstly, the performances took place during the day and often over the course of an entire day or even several days of the festival. Thousands of people sat in the auditoriums. The crowd talked, reacted, bought refreshments from one another, and generally partook in Dinesian revelry during the plays. This would likely sound rather chaotic to one of the hundreds of polite modern theatergoers Leo can hear through his speaker. On the other hand, Leo misses those days. He knew when he was entrancing, capturing, and enthralling his audiences,

Starting point is 00:32:28 and enthralling his audiences because he could hear and see their reactions. Playwrights knew when their work had struck a chord because people would either be screaming for the show to continue after it was done or they would stop all their commotion in an instant. Leo puts the finishing touches on his costume and gives himself a once over in the mirror. Then, he hears the gentle knock of the stage manager, telling him that it's time for the show to begin. Leo walks to the wings and holds his breath as the house lights fade down along with the voices of the audience. For a few seconds, every single person in the room seems to be holding their breath. to be holding their breath. It's a beautiful moment that Leo wishes he could hold on to forever. It seems like the whole universe tips on this one little second, unsure if life will continue. Then, the moment is gone, the lights come up and Leo steps into another world. To Leo, being an actor is like allowing the gods to take control of your body. In the ancient times, the Olympians would walk, talk, and interact with mankind. They would assume people's forms and guide their hands. That is how

Starting point is 00:34:51 Leo feels when he is on stage. He is filled with an energy and passion that he finds nowhere else. that he finds nowhere else. Sometimes, he thinks that it comes from the act of having an audience. Out there, just beyond the blinding wall of lights, is a sea of people who are hanging on his every word and experiencing the story he is telling. There's something so satisfying in knowing that he can hold the attention of everyone in the room. of everyone in the room. The physical act of being on stage could be his favorite part. The warmth of the stage lights is like the sun on his skin. He can tell the intensity of the light in which he stands purely by feel without having to look. It's the matter of involving nearly every sense in the act of creating a play that entrances him.

Starting point is 00:36:29 To an unskilled actor, this room only has three walls, and the landscape outside the window is just a painting. But to Leo, the room is complete and the snow is indeed falling outside, and the story he is performing is the one he is living. is living. For a few hours, it's the breath of the cast and crew. There's the split second after the curtain comes down, when the fate of the show hangs in the Will the audience love it or hate it? Just as quickly, the moment is gone. The audience is applauding and the cast comes out on stage once more to take their bows. Leo waves and bows with his fellows.

Starting point is 00:38:42 Despite what his siblings might think, the applause actually isn't his favorite part. Smiling and standing just to receive praise without being able to interact or give back is not what Leo likes. Turning to his cast mates once the curtain comes down and showering them with praise is more his style. The cast go to their dressing rooms and change out of their costumes. The crew are already scurrying around the space and resetting for tomorrow's performance. Leo pauses for a moment on the edge of the stage and simply watches. He has a moment of bittersweet regret that he won't be joining them on stage again tomorrow, but his spell is only good for one night, and he has had his fun. He returns his costume and wanders through the maze to Out in the cool night air, Leo glances up at the stars and breathes deeply. And then he realizes it was all his favorite part. The I'm going to go ahead and close the video. You You You The I'm going to go ahead and close the video. You You You You The You You You You. You you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Leo’s Dreamy Day on Earth

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