relaxation (or not)

For FHE on Monday, a guy who's getting a PhD in public health education led us through some meditation and relaxation exercises.  One exercise, the "body scan," involved thinking about and feeling grateful for different parts of the body.  He had us repeat to ourselves phrases like "I'm thankful for my brain.  I esmile at my brain."  [He's from Spain.   I figured maybe the Spanish accent was the variable that would make this exercise work, so I repeated exactly what he said without Anglicizing the pronunciation.]  Then he told us to think about how great the human brain is and all the things it can accomplish and so forth.  We moved on to the eyes and heart and stomach, thinking about how great they are and repeating phrases about how we're thankful for them and esmile at them. 

He told us that he does this body scan every night before falling asleep.  Thinking about his gratitude for various parts of the body helps him to fall asleep quickly and have a deep, relaxing sleep, he said. 

When I went to bed on Monday night, I thought to myself, "It's stupid, but I'll give it a try."  So I feel asleep thinking about how great the brain is and how grateful I am for mine.

I had troubled dreams all night about aliens abducting humans and removing their brains for research and experimental purposes.  In the dream I remember most vividly, aliens wanted to implant portions of my brain into mosquito larvae to see what would happen.

I watch too much science fiction to make a good hippy.