Calming Anxiety | Guided Meditation, Sleep Hypnosis & Panic Attack Relief

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A gentle bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Beatrix Potter's cosy, homely tale The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, read slowly and unhurried for sleep and insomnia relief. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless nights.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows little Lucy, who loses her pocket handkerchiefs and climbs a hillside searching for them, all the way to a tiny door and a warm, low-ceilinged kitchen — the home of a small, round washerwoman called Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, who irons and mends laundry for all the neighbouring animals. Unhurried, domestic, and thoroughly soothing, with tea by the fire and freshly laundered bundles for every creature in the valley, it's an easy, gentle listen for falling asleep, insomnia, or quieting an anxious mind before bed. Listeners of last week's Squirrel Nutkin will spot a familiar face among the washing — Nutkin's own little red tailcoat, minus its tail, turns up in Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's basket.

 

First published in October 1905, Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is in the public domain worldwide (Potter died in 1943); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text. Potter dedicated the book to a real little girl, Lucie Carr, and based Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle herself on her own pet hedgehog of that name and on a Scottish washerwoman, Kitty MacDonald, who worked for her family each summer.

 

This episode continues Beatrix Potter's place in the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin, and longer serialised reads including Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

What If I Got It Wrong? — A 10-Minute Meditation for Self-Doubt, Anxiety and Overthinking

 

Self-doubt has a habit of showing up right after we've already chosen — not before. In this guided meditation for self-doubt, anxiety and overthinking, Martin Hewlett works directly with the second-guessing that follows a decision: replaying a message, a conversation, or a choice, and quietly asking "what if I made the wrong decision?" or "why can't I trust myself?"

 

For more calming meditations whenever this feeling catches you, download Anchored, Calming Anxiety's free companion app, for offline-ready sessions any time you need them.

Get it on the App Store at
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 or on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored.

 

This episode draws on post-event rumination and intolerance of uncertainty — the anxious habit of replaying a decision looking for proof it was right — and moves the listener from "what if I got it wrong?" toward "I don't need certainty to move forward." Guided by a cyclic sighing breath (two breaths in through the nose, one long exhale out) to calm the nervous system before the affirmation work begins.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – The Question That Won't Let Go

* 00:48 – Welcome & Anchored

* 01:21 – Naming Self-Doubt and Decision Anxiety

* 02:56 – Breathing Together

* 03:52 – Working With the Thought

* 05:37 – Affirmations for Self-Trust

* 08:26 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:19 – Closing & Coming Back

* 10:17 – Try Anchored Premium

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Settle in and repeat these gently to yourself:

I can tolerate not knowing.

I do not need certainty to move forward.

I can make a decision without demanding proof that it was right.

I am allowed to stop replaying what already happened.

I can learn from a mistake without punishing myself for it on a loop.

I trust myself to deal with whatever comes next.

I trust myself.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. Next time you catch yourself replaying a decision, say silently: "I have already chosen — I do not need to re-choose it tonight."

2. Set yourself a two-minute limit for reviewing any decision, conversation or message, then physically stand up and change rooms when the two minutes are done.

3. Ask yourself, "Would I say this to a friend who made the same choice?" — then offer yourself exactly that.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

Download Anchored on iOS at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 or on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. If this episode helped, please share it and leave a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it genuinely helps more people find their way here.

 

And in everything, my friend, be kind.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A gentle bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Beatrix Potter's charming woodland tale The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, read slowly and unhurried for sleep and insomnia relief. This is a new author joining the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless nights.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a cheeky little red squirrel called Nutkin, his brother Twinkleberry, and their cousins as they sail on twig rafts to Owl Island each day, bringing offerings of mice, minnows, and honey to old Mr. Brown, the owl who owns the nut bushes. While the other squirrels ask politely, Nutkin can never resist a rude riddle instead — and by the sixth day, his impertinence very nearly costs him more than his manners. A whimsical, sing-song read full of old English riddles, ideal for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in August 1903, Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is in the public domain worldwide (Potter died in 1943); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text. Potter originally wrote the story as a picture letter for a real little girl named Norah Moore, and dedicated the finished book to her — "a story for Norah."

 

This episode introduces Beatrix Potter to the Books at Bedtime strand, joining Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin, and longer serialised reads including Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I'm Tired But Wired — A 10-Minute Meditation for a Body That Won't Switch Off | The Switch Off Breath

 

That feeling where you're so tired — not ordinary tired, the kind where your eyes ache and your thoughts have gone slow and thin — and yet you sit down, and your body hasn't got the message. Jaw still set, shoulders still up near your ears, a restlessness in your legs while the rest of you is running on empty.

If you've been quietly asking yourself why you're so tired but your body won't switch off, this episode is for you. Anchored is now on Android as well as iPhone, and if you can't face listening to a voice tonight, not even this one, the app's visual breathing tools work without any narration at all:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode puts the paramedic hat on to explain bracing — the body's habit, after weeks or months of pressure, of staying slightly above idle all day, muscles tight and breathing shallow, whether or not you've actually sat down. We use vagus nerve breathing, four in and eight out, which Martin calls the switch off breath, followed by a warm amber light body scan to help release what the day left behind.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: tired, but your body hasn't got the message

* 00:52 – Channel open: Anchored on Android & the breathing tools

* 01:31 – The paramedic's view: why the body keeps bracing

* 02:28 – Breathing: the switch off breath (4 in, 8 out)

* 04:38 – Deepening: a warm amber light

* 06:38 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 08:17 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:30 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 10:04 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Say them in the middle with me, in your own voice:

I am tired but wired, and that is something my body is doing, not something I am failing at.

I am tired but wired, and it can pass.

I do not have to force my body to relax. I only have to stop holding it tight.

My long out breath is a signal my nervous system understands. My long out breath is safe. My long out breath is enough.

I release the anxiety I have been holding in my body.

I am allowed to be still, even with things unfinished.

I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **The four-second reset** — Set a phone alarm for the middle of your afternoon, and when it goes, do nothing except unclench your jaw and drop your shoulders. It takes four seconds and interrupts the bracing before it sets.

2. **Legs up before bed** — Tonight, before you get into bed, lie on the floor with your calves resting on the seat of a chair for three minutes and let your legs be somebody else's problem.

3. **Leave one thing unfinished** — Choose one thing on today's list that genuinely doesn't have to be done today, and cross it off unfinished. Your body is reading your workload as much as your mind is.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

Anchored is with you whenever you need it, now on Android as well as iPhone — including breathing tools with no narration at all, for the nights even a voice feels like too much. 👉 [Get Anchored on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored) 👉 [Get Anchored on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If this episode found you at the right moment, would you share it with one more person? Someone in your...

The Butterfly That Stamped by Rudyard Kipling — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Rudyard Kipling's warm, funny Just So Story The Butterfly That Stamped, read slowly and gently for sleep and insomnia relief. Kipling wrote the Just So Stories specifically as bedtime tales, to be told "just so," word for word, until his own daughter drifted off to sleep — which makes this collection some of the most naturally calming listening in the whole Books at Bedtime strand, also known as Coffee Break for the Soul, from the Calming Anxiety podcast.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows the wise King Solomon, his 999 quarrelsome queens, his beloved and clever Queen Balkis, and one very small, very boastful butterfly who claims he can make the whole palace vanish with a single stamp of his foot. Gentle, playful, and quietly wise about marriage and pride, it's an easy, unhurried listen for falling asleep, insomnia, or quieting an anxious mind at the end of the day.

 

First published in 1902 in the collection Just So Stories for Little Children, Rudyard Kipling's The Butterfly That Stamped is in the public domain worldwide (Kipling died in 1936); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode joins the Just So Stories already in the Books at Bedtime strand — How the Whale Got His Throat, The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo, The Elephant's Child, How the Leopard Got His Spots, How the Camel Got His Hump, The Cat That Walked by Himself, and The Beginning of the Armadillos — alongside Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin, and longer serialised reads including Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Why Do I Feel Anxious When I Finally Stop? — A 10-Minute Meditation for the Post-Stress Crash | Alternate Nostril Breathing

 

You got through it — the week, the deadline, the thing you were dreading. You held it together the entire way, and nobody watching would have guessed how much it cost you. And then you sat down, and it all arrived: the dread with no subject, the heart going for no reason. If you've ever wondered why everyone else looks forward to stopping while stopping makes you feel worse, nothing is wrong with you.

In Anchored, you choose your own session length — 3, 5, or 20 minutes, whatever you can tolerate — because being told to sit quietly for half an hour when stillness is the thing that sets you off isn't kindness, it's a dare. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode explains why anxiety needs a gap to appear in — while you're busy, your nervous system runs on adrenaline and purpose, and it simply doesn't register as anxious. It's only once the last thing is done, and there's suddenly nothing between you and yourself, that everything you've been outrunning all week catches up in one go. We use alternate nostril breathing to give the thinking part of the brain a small, harmless job while the nervous system quietly slows down.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: you got through it, and then it all arrived

* 00:51 – Channel open & choosing your own session length in Anchored

* 01:48 – Why anxiety needs a gap to appear in

* 02:32 – Breathing: alternate nostril breathing

* 05:16 – Grounding: you gave it somewhere gentle to stand

* 05:32 – Deepening: a warm golden light

* 05:56 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 07:11 – I am safe, I am here

* 08:14 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:04 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:37 – Outro: this is not weakness, it's a homecoming

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Say these quietly with me:

This is not a relapse. This is simply the bill arriving.

I am allowed to feel anxious on my day off.

Rest is safe, even when it doesn't feel safe just yet.

I do not have to earn the right to sit down.

My nervous system is not disobeying me. It is catching up with me.

I can be still without being in danger.

I do not have to relax perfectly. I only have to stay.

I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Add a slow lane** — Don't go from full speed to complete stillness. Give yourself a slow lane in between, like a short walk or washing up before you sit down.

2. **Name the catch-up** — When the dread arrives on your evening off, say out loud: "This is the catch-up, not a crisis." Naming it takes most of the power away.

3. **Do one thing purely for you** — Choose one small, ordinary thing today that you do purely because you want to, and refuse to justify it to anyone, including yourself.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

The crash you feel when you finally stop isn't your body failing you — it's your body trusting you enough to let go now that it's safe. If you'd like more of this, Anchored is there in the App Store, with sessions in 3, 5, or 20 minutes to fit exactly what you can tolerate. Android is coming soon. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If you listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts but would like to support the show, downloading Anchored means everything — it takes about 30 seconds, and a review helps...

The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo by Rudyard Kipling — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Rudyard Kipling's rhythmic, chant-like Just So Story The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo, read slowly and gently for sleep and insomnia relief. Kipling wrote the Just So Stories specifically as bedtime tales, to be told "just so," word for word, until his own daughter drifted off to sleep — which makes this one of the most naturally hypnotic stories in the whole Books at Bedtime strand, also known as Coffee Break for the Soul, from the Calming Anxiety podcast.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows an ordinary, four-legged grey kangaroo whose wish to be "wonderfully run after" is granted by the little god Nikaar, in the form of Yellow Dog Dingo chasing him right across the middle of Australia until his legs and hop become the kangaroo's forever. Repetitive, sing-song, and almost lulling by design, it's an easy, unhurried listen for falling asleep, insomnia, or quieting an anxious mind at the end of the day.

 

First published in 1902 in the collection Just So Stories for Little Children, Rudyard Kipling's The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo is in the public domain worldwide (Kipling died in 1936); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode joins the Just So Stories already in the Books at Bedtime strand — How the Whale Got His Throat, The Elephant's Child, How the Leopard Got His Spots, How the Camel Got His Hump, The Cat That Walked by Himself, and The Beginning of the Armadillos — alongside Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin, and longer serialised reads including Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Why Can't I Get a Full Breath? — A 10-Minute Meditation for Air Hunger & Anxiety | Ocean Breath

 

Why can't I get a full breath? You've yawned, you've sighed, you've tried a really deep breath, and somehow none of it felt satisfying. If you've been searching for why you can't get a full breath with anxiety, stay with me.

For the next ten minutes, we're going to stop chasing the perfect breath. If this catches you somewhere without your headphones, Anchored has specialised visual breathing tools you can simply follow, no counting required: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses ocean breath — a soft, quiet breath through the nose with a gentle narrowing at the back of the throat — to interrupt the urge to chase a bigger and bigger breath. The episode explores how breathing, something the body normally manages entirely on its own, can turn into a job you're anxiously supervising, and offers a gentle way to hand that job back.

 

**A brief note:** if breathlessness is new, unusual, worsening, or comes with chest pain or significant difficulty breathing, please seek medical advice — this episode is for familiar anxiety-related breathing patterns, not a diagnosis.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: why can't I get a full breath?

* 00:58 – Channel open & Anchored's visual breathing tools

* 01:28 – A brief safety note

* 01:58 – Breathing: ocean breath

* 04:19 – The loop: how breathing becomes a job you're supervising

* 05:29 – Letting attention move elsewhere

* 06:43 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 08:10 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:04 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:31 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Quietly, allow these words to land:

I do not have to fight every sensation.

I can breathe without watching every breath.

I do not need a perfect breath.

I can allow my breathing to settle at its own pace.

I can notice a sensation without turning it into danger.

I can let go of the guilt. I can let go of the chase.

I can let this feeling pass.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Choose small over huge** — When you catch yourself repeatedly trying to take a huge deep breath, pause and allow one small quiet breath instead.

2. **Name the checking** — If you notice yourself yawning, sighing, or checking your breathing, name it gently — "I'm monitoring my breath again" — then bring your attention back to whatever you're doing.

3. **Learn it while you're well** — Learn one calming breathing pattern while you're well, so it feels familiar if anxiety rises later.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

Martin created Anchored after living with panic attacks himself for most of his life, before becoming a paramedic and learning to help others through them. Inside the app's box breathing section, every pattern is read in his own voice — and you can build your own, tailored just for you. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to...

How the Whale Got His Throat by Rudyard Kipling — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Rudyard Kipling's playful, rhythmic Just So Story How the Whale Got His Throat, read slowly and gently for sleep and insomnia relief. Kipling wrote the Just So Stories specifically as bedtime tales for his own daughter, to be told "just so," word for word, until she drifted off — which makes this one of the most naturally calming stories in the whole Books at Bedtime strand, also known as Coffee Break for the Soul, from the Calming Anxiety podcast.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored:

 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored (Android) or

 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 (iPhone).

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a very hungry whale, a clever little 'Stute Fish, and a shipwrecked Mariner of "infinite-resource-and-sagacity" whose jack-knife and suspenders solve rather more than anyone expects. Short, whimsical, and full of Kipling's sing-song repetition, it's an easy, unhurried listen for falling asleep, insomnia, or quieting an anxious mind at the end of the day.

 

First published in 1902 in the collection Just So Stories for Little Children, Rudyard Kipling's How the Whale Got His Throat is in the public domain worldwide (Kipling died in 1936); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode joins the Just So Stories already in the Books at Bedtime strand — The Elephant's Child, How the Leopard Got His Spots, How the Camel Got His Hump, The Cat That Walked by Himself, and The Beginning of the Armadillos — alongside Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and Kate Chopin, and longer serialised reads including Alice in Wonderland, The Time Machine, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Everything Is Too Much Right Now — A 10-Minute Meditation for Overwhelm | 4-7-8 Breathing & The Torch

 

Everything is too much right now — the messages, the list, the things you haven't done yet, the things you haven't even started. For the next ten minutes, none of it needs you. Just this. If overwhelm hits you midday, the Instant Calm session in the Anchored app is there in seconds, no waiting, no logging in — and for the price of a large coffee, $5.99 gets you a full month of the ad-free app and everything in it. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session opens with 4-7-8 breathing before offering a simple new way to picture an overwhelmed mind: not a mountain to move all at once, but a dark room lit by a single torch. You were never meant to light the whole room. You just move the beam to one thing — this one breath, this one cup of tea — and let everything else wait quietly in the dark for its turn.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: everything is too much right now

* 00:22 – Channel open & Anchored Instant Calm

* 00:44 – Breathing: 4-7-8, three rounds

* 03:06 – Why overwhelm feels unbearable

* 03:49 – The torch in a dark room

* 04:35 – One small task, then be kind to yourself

* 04:57 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:54 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:02 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:47 – Grounding: come back into the room

* 09:39 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these words find their place:

I do not have to deal with everything at once.

I can move the light to one thing at a time.

This moment is enough for me to handle.

Everything else can wait in the dark a little longer.

I am allowed to do one thing at a time.

I can move the light to one task and one task only.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Write it down, then pick one** — When you feel overwhelmed, write down everything on your mind, then pick just one thing to do next and ignore the rest of the list for now.

2. **Three breaths before your phone** — Before you check your phone in the morning, take three slow breaths with a longer out-breath than in-breath.

3. **Find the smallest next step** — When a task feels too big, ask yourself: what is the smallest possible next step, and do only that?

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this helped, Anchored is there for your next overwhelming moment — the same voice, ready to help you unwind, for $5.99 a month, ad-free. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If someone you know is carrying too much today, why not share this episode with them — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

 



Become a supporter of this podcast:

The Devoted Friend by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A gentle bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's sharply funny fable The Devoted Friend, read slowly and unhurried for sleep and insomnia relief. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

Play store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored




 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows kind-hearted little Hans and the rich miller who calls himself Hans's most devoted friend while quietly taking advantage of his generosity. Framed as a story-within-a-story, told by a linnet to a rather pompous water rat beside a pond, it's classic Wilde — witty, satirical, and gently moralising, ideal as an unhurried listen for falling asleep or quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Devoted Friend is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Sphinx Without a Secret, The Nightingale and the Rose, and The Model Millionaire (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins





Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Replaying Today, Rehearsing Tomorrow? — A Racing Thoughts Meditation | Sigh Breathing & The Train Platform

 

If your mind won't switch off — replaying today and rehearsing tomorrow all at once — you don't have to make it stop. Just for the next ten minutes, let's do something different. If a busy mind catches you somewhere without headphones, there's a free Instant Calm session inside the Anchored app: no sign-up, no subscription, works offline, ready the second you need it. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode starts with a simple sigh-style breath — in through the nose, out slower and longer, like a natural sigh — before offering a new way to picture a busy mind: not broken, just busy, with thoughts arriving like trains pulling into a station. You don't have to chase every train, or check where it's going. You can simply notice it arrive, and let it leave the platform.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if your mind won't switch off

* 00:24 – Channel open & Anchored Instant Calm

* 00:49 – Breathing: the sigh breath

* 02:21 – Why a busy mind isn't broken

* 03:13 – The train platform

* 04:34 – Coming back into the room

* 05:16 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:39 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:03 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:53 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:21 – Outro, Anchored & an Android update

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these words land:

I do not have to follow every thought.

I can let a thought arrive and then let it leave.

I do not have to solve tomorrow, tonight.

My mind can be busy while I stay calm.

I can come back to this moment anytime I need to.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Picture it leaving the platform** — When a racing thought pulls at you tonight, picture it as a train leaving the station without you.

2. **Three rounds before bed** — Before bed, breathe out longer than you breathe in. Just three rounds is enough to tell your body it's safe to rest.

3. **Write it down, don't carry it** — If your mind starts listing tomorrow's problems, write one line down on paper. You do not have to carry it in your head as well.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this helped, Anchored is there for you between episodes — free Instant Calm, no sign-up, works offline. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If you know someone whose mind won't switch off either, sharing this episode costs nothing and might mean everything to them — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

Anchored is Now on Android! — Free Anxiety & Panic Attack Relief App with Guided Meditation, Breathing Exercises & Sleep Stories

 

Anchored is now on Android. After a long wait, the anxiety relief app and panic attack relief app that started life right here on Calming Anxiety is finally available on both Android and iPhone — guided breathing exercises, guided meditation for anxiety, and an Instant Calm SOS feature you can reach for the moment you need it. Get it free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored — or on the App Store for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

The Calming Anxiety podcast isn't going anywhere — it stays completely free, with thousands of episodes for you to keep listening to on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. But where the podcast player is built for listening, Anchored is built as a toolkit: something to reach for right when anxiety or a panic attack hits, whether that's at your desk, in bed, on a plane, or in the supermarket at 3am.

 

Inside the app: an Instant Calm SOS session that drops you straight into calm without searching, works free, premium, and fully offline; visual breathing tools you can simply watch and follow, so you're never trying to remember or count a complicated breathing pattern mid-panic; and a growing Books at Bedtime library — now 40 sleep stories, all narrated personally by Martin, for the anxious 3am moments as much as the ordinary bedtime ones. Anchored Premium adds ad-free listening, saved favourites, offline downloads, extra breathing and relaxation tools, and an ambient night-light feature to help you drift off.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Anchored is now on Android

* 00:19 – Why an app, when the podcast is already free?

* 01:05 – Instant Calm SOS

* 01:31 – Visual breathing tools — just watch and breathe

* 01:58 – Books at Bedtime: 40 narrated sleep stories

* 02:19 – Anchored Premium: ad-free, offline, ambient night light

* 02:52 – Why it's called Anchored

* 03:54 – How to find it on Google Play or the App Store

* 04:33 – Thank you

 

📱 Get Anchored — Available Now on Android & iPhone

Search "Anchored panic and anxiety" on Google Play or the App Store, or use the direct links below. Free to download, with Instant Calm always available, no subscription required.

👉 [Get Anchored on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored)

👉 [Get Anchored on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If you've been with me through the sleepless nights, the panic attacks, and the anxious thoughts over the years — thank you, seriously. Anchored started with one idea: what if everything we've learned together on this podcast could sit in your pocket for whenever you need it? Now it does.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

Become a supporter of this podcast:

The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's witty, warm-hearted tale The Model Millionaire, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows Hughie Erskine, a charming but penniless young man in love, who gives his last coin to a pitiful old beggar sitting for a painter friend — never dreaming the beggar is secretly one of the richest men in Europe. A gentle, quietly funny story about kindness rewarded, rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in the newspaper The World in June 1887, and later collected in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories in 1891, Oscar Wilde's The Model Millionaire is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Sphinx Without a Secret, and The Nightingale and the Rose (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I Need to Calm Down — A 10-Minute Meditation for Anxiety & Panic | Extended Exhale Breathing

 

If you've just thought the words "I need to calm down" — stop. Don't do anything else yet. Just stay right here for a second. Your heart might be racing, your chest might feel tight, your mind might be moving too fast to catch — and for the next ten minutes, none of that needs fixing straight away.

If you need this again later, Anchored's Instant Calm session is there any time, no waiting:

 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses a gentle, longer-exhale breathing pattern before reframing anxious sensations through the idea of an alarm system: loud, real, and impossible to ignore — but a signal, not a verdict. It's a short reminder that a racing heart or tight chest means you're uncomfortable, not in danger, and that those aren't the same thing.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if you've just thought "I need to calm down"

* 00:40 – Channel open & Anchored Instant Calm

* 01:03 – Breathing: the longer exhale

* 02:04 – Your alarm system: a signal, not a verdict

* 03:32 – Stepping out of the loop

* 03:51 – Grounding: you are here

* 04:17 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:22 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:03 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:47 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:26 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Repeat these softly, in the sanctuary of your own thoughts:

I can feel this without fighting it.

My body is allowed to settle at its own pace.

A sensation is not a prediction.

I do not have to solve this moment.

I can breathe and stay here.

I can let this wave pass.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Catch it early** — Notice the first sign of anxiety rather than waiting until it feels overwhelming.

2. **Lengthen, don't gulp** — When it arrives, lengthen your out-breath rather than trying to take one enormous breath.

3. **Don't investigate straight away** — Give it a moment before deciding what a sensation means, rather than examining every one immediately.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this feeling comes back, Anchored will be there — the big blue Instant Calm button on the main page, working without signal on the free version, any time you need it. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's beautiful, bittersweet fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a heartbroken young student who longs for a single red rose to win the girl he loves, and the little nightingale in the oak tree above who resolves, quietly and selflessly, to give him one. A gentle, atmospheric fable about love and sacrifice rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, and The Sphinx Without a Secret (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I Think I'm Having a Panic Attack — A 10-Minute Meditation to Feel Calm Again

 

If your heart just did something it isn't supposed to do — if you're sat there right now thinking, "I'm having a panic attack" — this episode is for you. For the next ten minutes you don't have to make anything happen, fix this feeling, or force it to go away. You just have to be here. When this feeling shows up again, Anchored is built for exactly this moment: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 — including a box breathing section where you can build your own breathing rhythm, in Martin's own voice, not an AI-generated one.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode uses extended exhale breathing — simply making the out-breath a little longer than the in-breath, no counting required — before working through why a racing heart becomes frightening in the first place: fear draws attention, attention creates more fear, and the watching becomes its own loop. A single, fully-developed wave metaphor carries the episode's therapeutic heart — you are not the wave, you are the sea underneath it, steady long after the wave has gone.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if your heart just did something it isn't supposed to do

* 00:53 – Channel open & Anchored

* 01:41 – Breathing: extended exhale breathing

* 02:59 – The loop: why a racing heart becomes frightening

* 03:41 – The wave

* 04:40 – Sensory grounding

* 05:22 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:45 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:00 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:52 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:37 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these words land:

I do not have to fight every sensation.

I can let this wave move through me.

I do not have to know what happens next.

I am allowed to feel frightened without becoming frightened of the fear itself.

I can breathe gently and let myself settle.

I can be here, one breath at a time.

And once more, the one worth keeping: I can stay with this moment.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Learn the pattern while you're calm** — Learn one simple breathing pattern while you're calm, so it's already familiar to you if anxiety rises.

2. **Notice without catastrophising** — When you notice the very first sign of panic, try not to interpret it as a catastrophe straight away — just notice it, and nothing more.

3. **Let it be finished** — After it passes, try not to spend the next few hours going back over every sensation asking what if it happens again. Let it be finished when it's finished.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this feeling comes back later, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, a box breathing section where you can build your own breathing rhythm, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours — all in Martin's own voice.

👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

Please do share this episode with a friend or colleague who may need it too — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

The Sphinx Without a Secret by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's quietly haunting tale The Sphinx Without a Secret, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows Lord Murchison, who confides in an old Oxford friend over dinner in Paris about a mysterious widow he has fallen for in London, a woman wrapped in secrecy who insists her letters go to a lending library rather than her own home. A slow, unhurried mystery rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published under the title "Lady Alroy" in 1887, and later renamed The Sphinx Without a Secret by Wilde himself when it was collected in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories in 1891, this Oscar Wilde tale is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince (also by Oscar Wilde) and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

You Don't Need Everything Fixed — Just Calm — Guided Meditation for Effort Fatigue & Anxiety | Coherent Breathing

 

You're not asking for much, and you don't need every problem solved or your whole life fixed — you just want to feel calm again, even for a moment. If trying to relax has started to feel like just another task on your list, this guided meditation is for you.

We'll use coherent breathing to steady the body, then a simple visualisation for the exhausting habit of trying too hard to feel okay. When this feeling shows up again, Anchored is there: https:

//apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses coherent breathing — in for a count of four, out for a count of six — before reframing calm through the image of easing off an accelerator: not slamming to a stop, just lifting the foot, and noticing that the car slows on its own the moment you stop pushing. Perhaps calm isn't something to chase, but something you can simply stop getting in the way of.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Welcome: you just want to feel calm again

* 00:47 – Breathing: coherent breathing, round one

* 01:40 – Breathing, round two

* 02:41 – The accelerator: easing off instead of pushing harder

* 04:09 – Breathing, round three

* 05:15 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 07:56 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:54 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:33 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Visualise these words, then repeat them softly if you wish:

I do not have to fix everything right now.

I can let myself slow down.

I am allowed to rest.

I do not have to chase calm. I simply allow it.

I can simply be here for these few minutes.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Ease off instead of pushing harder** — Today, when you notice yourself rushing towards calm, try easing off instead of pushing harder.

2. **Give yourself 60 seconds** — Give yourself 60 seconds today when you don't fill the silence with anything at all.

3. **Register the calmer moments** — Notice one moment today when you feel even slightly calmer, and let yourself register it rather than moving straight past it.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If you need to come back to this feeling later, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (Part 1) — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's beloved fairy tale The Happy Prince, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and quiet, unhurried listening. This is Part 1 of a two-part reading in the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for anxious or restless nights.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a gilded statue high above a city, and the little swallow who stops to shelter at his feet — and stays to hear what the statue has seen from up there. Part 2 continues and completes the story, out soon on the main feed. No jump scares, no urgency, nothing to keep your mind alert — just a slow, unhurried voice and a classic tale, ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant (also by Oscar Wilde) and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Carrying Everyone Else's Feelings? — Guided Meditation for the Quietly Exhausted | Physiological Sigh Breathing

 

If you're always the one who copes — the reliable one, the one who checks on everyone else and never gets asked back — this guided meditation is for you. For the next ten minutes you don't have to hold anything together.

 We'll use the physiological sigh, a simple two-inhale, one-long-exhale breathing pattern, to ease the body down a gear, then a gentle visualisation for setting down the things you've been carrying that were never really yours.
When it all gets too much before or after this session, Anchored's Instant Calm is free, offline, and always there: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode leans on a boxes-in-your-arms metaphor — the to-do list, the thing someone said, tomorrow's problems, someone else's feelings you've quietly taken on as your own — and invites you to set just one box down at a time. You are allowed to rest before everything is finished.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Welcome: when you're always the one who copes

* 00:52 – Anchored's Instant Calm

* 01:19 – Breathing: the physiological sigh

* 02:37 – Visualisation: the boxes you're carrying

* 04:16 – A different sentence: "I can put some of this down"

* 04:49 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 07:46 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:32 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:10 – A personal reflection: speaking to yourself with kindness

* 10:16 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Listen, visualise, and repeat:

I do not have to carry everything right now.

I am allowed to rest before everything is finished.

Someone else's worry does not automatically have to become mine.

I can care about people without carrying them.

I can put some of this down.

I do not have to earn my rest. I am allowed it simply because I am tired.

I have carried enough for today.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Notice what isn't yours** — Notice one thing you're carrying today that was never actually yours to carry.

2. **Protect 10 minutes** — Give yourself 10 minutes today when you don't solve, organise, or improve a single thing.

3. **Try honesty over "I'm fine"** — Next time someone asks if you're okay, try answering honestly instead of saying "I'm fine."

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If today is one of those heavy-arms days, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's beloved fairy tale The Selfish Giant, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and quiet, unhurried listening. This is the first instalment of Books at Bedtime — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a strand of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for anxious or restless nights.

 If you'd like the whole library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a selfish giant who banishes children from his beautiful garden — only for it to fall into an endless winter until he learns, slowly and gently, what it means to let love back in. No jump scares, no urgency, nothing to keep your mind alert — just a slow, unhurried voice and a classic tale, ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode is part of the ongoing Books at Bedtime strand, alongside classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Mind Won't Switch Off? — Racing Thoughts Meditation for Anxious Nights | 4-7-8 Breathing

 

If your mind won't switch off — even though your body has clearly clocked out — this guided meditation is for you. Whether it's 2am or the middle of an ordinary afternoon, racing thoughts don't wait for a convenient time, and this episode meets you exactly where you are with 4-7-8 breathing, a calming cognitive visualisation, and three daily caring tips you can use anytime the loop starts again. For the nights it gets harder than ten minutes can fix, download Anchored on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 — it's the same voice, free, and there whenever your mind decides it needs help.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses 4-7-8 breathing — in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8 — a technique drawn from years on the road as a paramedic, where changing what the body is doing is often the fastest way to change what the mind is doing. From there, a gentle visualisation reframes anxious thoughts as letters arriving through a letterbox: you don't have to open every one, read it end to end, or write back. You are the house, not the letter.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Welcome: when your mind won't switch off

* 01:28 – Introducing 4-7-8 Breathing (from years as a paramedic)

* 02:17 – Breathing practice, round one

* 04:10 – Breathing practice, round two

* 04:29 – The letterbox: thoughts aren't instructions

* 05:31 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 08:17 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:28 – Coming back, stretch and release

* 09:47 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Repeat these softly if you wish:

I do not have to solve this thought right now.

I can notice a thought arrive without following it out of the door.

My mind is allowed to be busy; I am allowed to become underneath it.

I am having a thought, though that is not the same as the thought being true.

I do not need to answer every question my anxiety asks of me.

Some thoughts can just sit on the mat until morning.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Name it out loud** — When a thought loops back for the third or fourth time, try naming it: "that's the one again," rather than arguing with it. Naming it takes some of its power away.

2. **Keep a scrap of paper by the bed** — If a thought insists it needs solving right now, write three words about it and tell yourself you're looking at it in daylight. Most things look smaller by breakfast.

3. **Try the long exhale on its own** — In for four, out for eight, even just once. You don't need the full ten minutes to borrow a little calm.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If tonight — or one of these nights — you need more than ten minutes, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes...

A Man and His Dog by Katherine Mansfield — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels far away tonight, let Katherine Mansfield's A Man and His Dog carry you gently there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime sleep story follows Mr. Potts, a small, unassuming man weighed down by a difficult night at home, and Lino, the loyal dog waiting for him at the gate, in a quiet, wistful sketch read slowly to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic short story readings for insomnia relief and relaxation.

For more calming bedtime stories and relaxing audio whenever you need it, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Written around 1921 as one of Katherine Mansfield's unfinished sketches and first collected posthumously in The Dove's Nest and Other Stories (1923), A Man and His Dog is now in the public domain in the US. If you enjoyed our earlier readings of Miss Brill, The Singing Lesson and The Canary, this gentler, more understated Mansfield sleep story is a lovely one to drift off to.

 

Let Mr. Potts' quiet, weary evening settle slowly around you as a calming audiobook for bedtime, and let your own thoughts soften into sleep. If you enjoyed this reading, explore more relaxing sleep stories and classic audiobooks in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Monday Morning Anxiety — Calm the Dread of the Week Ahead | Vagus Nerve Breathing Meditation

 

 

Monday morning anxiety has a weight all of its own — that heavy, anticipatory dread that arrives before your feet have even touched the floor. In this 10-minute guided meditation, Calming Anxiety host Martin helps you put the whole week down and meet Monday with a nervous system that is working with you, not against you.

 

Today's practice uses vagus nerve breathing — a slow nasal inhale, a gentle hold, and a long, soft exhale — to press the brake pedal on your stress response. Three guided rounds, followed by a warm golden-light body scan and a set of gentle affirmations for anxiety relief, work anxiety and the Sunday scaries that spill into Monday. It closes with three practical daily caring tips you can carry into the day.

 

Whether you're listening in bed, on the train, in the car park, or in the ten quiet minutes before you walk in through those doors — this is deep relaxation and breathwork you can use anywhere. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Cold open: the weight of a Monday morning

* 01:06 – Welcome to Calming Anxiety with Martin

* 01:23 – Anchored: over 3,000 searchable sessions

* 02:00 – Finding your quiet place and settling

* 02:47 – Vagus nerve breathing: three guided rounds

* 05:01 – Warm golden light body scan

* 06:10 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:30 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:17 – Coming gently back into the room

* 09:38 – Closing thoughts and sign-off

 

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Say these quietly in your own mind, or out loud if you're somewhere you can:

 

• I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

 

• I meet this week one hour at a time.

 

• I am not the clouds. I am the sky. Thoughts about Monday will pass across me, and I will still be here.

 

• My calm does not depend on my calendar.

 

• I release the weight I've been carrying since yesterday evening.

 

• My nervous system knows how to settle, and I am helping it settle right now.

 

• I am allowed to begin this week gently.

 

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. One Thing First — Before you look at your phone this morning, write down the single most important thing you need to do today, and let everything else be optional.

 

2. Breathe In The Doorway — Take one slow vagus nerve breath, four in and six out, in the doorway before you walk into any room that makes you tense.

 

3. Protect Ten Minutes — Take a 10 minute gap in your diary this afternoon and label it "nothing", then protect it as fiercely as you would a meeting.

 

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If today helped, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com

 

And if you'd do one more thing for me — share this episode with someone you know who finds Mondays heavy, and leave a 30-second rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It takes moments, and it might be the reason their week goes differently.

 

Until tomorrow — go gently, take care my friend, and to yourself and everyone else, be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to...

The Canary by Katherine Mansfield — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels far away tonight, let Katherine Mansfield's The Canary carry you gently there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime sleep story is a quiet, tender monologue: a lonely woman remembers the pet canary who once filled her home with song, and the small, aching space he left behind, read slowly to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic short story readings for insomnia relief and relaxation.

 For more calming bedtime stories and relaxing audio whenever you need it, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

First published in April 1923 in The Nation and Athenaeum and later collected in The Dove's Nest and Other Stories, The Canary was the last short story Katherine Mansfield ever completed and is now in the public domain in the US. If you enjoyed our earlier readings of Miss Brill and The Singing Lesson, this gentle, wistful story is another beautiful Mansfield sleep story to drift off to.

 

Let this quiet story of love and loss settle slowly around you as a calming audiobook for bedtime, and let your own thoughts soften into sleep. If you enjoyed this reading, explore more relaxing sleep stories and classic audiobooks in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Waking Up at 3am — Anxiety Relief to Get You Back to Sleep | Extended Exhale Breathing

 

Waking up at 3am with anxiety is one of the loneliest experiences there is — your eyes open on their own, your heart is faster than it should be for someone lying perfectly still, and your mind has already found the one unfinished thought it saved up especially for now. This 10-minute guided meditation is built for exactly that hour.

 

Martin explains why it happens: there is a small, ordinary rise in cortisol in the early hours meant to get your body ready for morning, and when you're anxious that rise arrives a little louder and wakes you. It isn't a warning. It isn't a sign. It's chemistry arriving early. From there the session uses extended exhale breathing — a gentle breath in, a brief pause, and an out-breath always longer than the in — because breathing out directly, mechanically slows your heart rate. It's the simplest somatic tool there is, and the one that works best lying down in the dark, when you don't want to count hard or hold anything.

 

A warm light at the centre of the chest, gentle affirmations for sleep anxiety and insomnia relief, and three practical caring tips follow. If you drift off partway through, that's the point — let the voice fade. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Cold open: awake at three in the morning

* 00:39 – Why you wake: the early-hours cortisol rise

* 01:23 – Welcome to Calming Anxiety with Martin

* 01:39 – Anchored: the nightlight and offline sleep sessions

* 02:24 – Settling: letting the pillow take the weight

* 03:36 – Extended exhale breathing: the science

* 04:17 – Guided rounds: longer out than in

* 05:37 – A warm light at the centre of your chest

* 06:08 – Tonight's gentle affirmations

* 08:19 – Drifting off, or coming gently back

* 09:01 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:43 – Closing thoughts and sign-off

 

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Say these gently in your mind, and stay with me:

 

• I am safe, I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

 

• Nothing needs solving at this hour.

 

• My thoughts are clouds passing over a dark field. I am not the clouds, I am the sky.

 

• I am setting down the weight I've been carrying. It will still be there in the morning, and in the morning I will be strong enough for it.

 

• My body knows how to fall asleep, and I am simply getting out of its way.

 

• Rest is enough. Even if sleep takes its time, rest is enough.

 

• I am heavy, I am warm, I am held.

 

• Every breath out takes me deeper — deeper into the mattress, deeper into the quiet, deeper into sleep.

 

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Don't Look At The Clock — If you wake in the night, do not look at the clock; knowing the time only tells your brain how much sleep it has left to panic about.

 

2. One Line, Then Let It Go — Keep a notepad by your bed and write the worrying thought down in one line, so that your mind can stop rehearsing it to keep it safe.

 

3. The Twenty Minute Rule — If you are still awake after 20 minutes, get up, sit somewhere dim and warm for 10 minutes, then return to bed, so your body keeps learning that the bed means sleep.

 

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If the small hours are difficult for you, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio...

The Singing Lesson by Katherine Mansfield — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels far away tonight, let Katherine Mansfield's The Singing Lesson carry you gently there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime sleep story follows Miss Meadows, a music teacher whose heartbreak colours an entire school day, from a mournful morning lesson to an unexpected telegram that changes everything, read slowly to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic short story readings for insomnia relief and relaxation. For more calming bedtime stories and relaxing audio whenever you need it, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Written in 1920 and first published in Katherine Mansfield's 1922 collection The Garden Party and Other Stories, The Singing Lesson is one of her most loved works of modernist short fiction and is now in the public domain in the US. If you enjoyed our earlier reading of Miss Brill, this is another gentle, emotionally rich Mansfield story to fall asleep to.

 

Let Miss Meadows' long school day settle slowly around you as a calming audiobook for bedtime, and let your own thoughts soften into sleep. If you enjoyed this reading, explore more relaxing sleep stories and classic audiobooks in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Why Do I Say Sorry for Everything? — People-Pleasing Anxiety Relief | Guided Meditation with 4-2-6 Breathing

 

If you've ever wondered "why do I say sorry for everything?", from bumping into someone to simply having a feeling, today's guided meditation is for you. Calming Anxiety sits with the quiet, exhausting reflex of chronic apologizing, the fear that if you're agreeable enough, easy enough, small enough, nobody will ever be angry with you.

 

We slow the body first with 4-2-6 breathing, in for four, hold for two, out for six, creating the same small pause Martin often had to teach frightened patients as a paramedic: the space between the trigger and the reaction.
For daily support beyond this episode, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving in a couple of weeks.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Clinical hypnotherapist Martin then guides you through affirmations for taking up space without guilt, followed by three daily caring tips for catching the reflex to say sorry before it leaves your mouth. You are allowed to pause before you answer, and you are allowed to take up exactly as much space as you're entitled to.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Welcome & Cold Open: Why Do I Say Sorry for Everything?

* 02:38 – Slowing the Body: 4-2-6 Breathing

* 04:39 – Grounding: The Pause Before the Apology

* 05:13 – Affirmations for Taking Up Space

* 08:20 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:20 – Coming Back & Grounding

* 09:55 – Closing & Anchored App

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these words land, and repeat them silently or out loud if you wish:

 

* I am allowed to take up space.

* I do not have to apologize for existing.

* I do not have to apologize for having my own needs.

* I can ask for something without apologizing first.

* I can say no without being a bad person.

* I will always take a moment before I answer.

* The pause belongs to me.

* I am not responsible for how everyone else feels.

* Being kind does not mean making myself smaller.

* Being helpful does not mean abandoning myself.

* I can care about other people without carrying everything they feel.

* I am safe. I am here.

* And in this moment, I am allowed to breathe.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Catch the sorry: Catch one sorry today before it leaves your mouth, and if it doesn't belong there, replace it with "thank you" instead, try "thank you for waiting" instead of "sorry I'm late."

2. Take a breath before you answer: When someone asks you something today, don't answer immediately. Take one breath, and if you need more time, say "let me think about that and come back to you." You are allowed to pause between the question and the answer.

3. Name it without guilt: Before you go to sleep tonight, name one thing you did today that you are not going to apologize for. Maybe you asked for help, maybe you said no, maybe you rested. Whatever it is, let yourself have it without guilt.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If this reflex to say sorry comes back to mind, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If this episode helped, even a little, please share it with someone who needs to hear it today,...

Regret by Kate Chopin — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels far away tonight, let Kate Chopin's Regret carry you there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime story follows Mamzelle Aurélie, a solitary farm woman who never married, as she's unexpectedly left to care for four small children, and slowly discovers what she's missed, read gently to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic story readings for insomnia and relaxation.

For more sleep stories and calming audio whenever you need it, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Written in 1894 and first published in Century magazine in 1895, Regret later appeared in Chopin's collection A Night in Acadie and is now in the public domain in the US. Let Mamzelle Aurélie's quiet Louisiana evening settle around you, and let your own thoughts soften as hers do.

 

If you enjoyed this reading, explore more classic story episodes in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Where Has All My Energy Gone? — High-Functioning Anxiety & Exhaustion Relief | Guided Meditation

 

If you've ever collapsed onto the edge of the bed at the end of a perfectly "fine" day and thought, "where has all my energy gone? I didn't even do anything today," this episode is for you. Calming Anxiety sits with the exhaustion of high-functioning anxiety, the quiet cost of holding everything together while everyone else sees someone coping just fine.

 

We slow the body first with the extended exhale, four counts in and eight counts out, gently unwinding the shallow, high-chest breathing that builds up during a long day of performing calm, the same kind of over-breathing Martin worked with often on ambulance call-outs as a paramedic.

For daily support beyond this episode, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving in a couple of weeks.
👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Clinical hypnotherapist Martin then guides you through affirmations for the exhaustion underneath a capable exterior, followed by three daily caring tips for letting the mask down safely, in small ways, before bed.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Welcome: For the Person Everyone Thinks Is Coping

* 01:43 – Noticing High, Shallow Breathing

* 02:13 – The Extended Exhale: 4 In, 8 Out

* 04:30 – The Cost of Holding It Together

* 04:55 – Affirmations for Exhaustion & Self-Compassion

* 08:09 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:03 – Coming Back & Grounding

* 09:36 – Closing & Anchored App

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these words land, and repeat them silently or out loud if you wish:

 

* I am exhausted from pretending I'm fine.

* Holding it together every day is work in itself.

* My tiredness is real. I am allowed to rest.

* Anxiety can exist underneath a capable exterior.

* I do not have to prove that I'm struggling before I deserve kindness.

* I do not have to fall apart in order to deserve rest.

* I do not have to earn the right to be cared for.

* I am allowed to receive care, even though I am the one usually giving it.

* The version of me that other people see is real, but it isn't all of me.

* There is more to me than the face I show the world.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Answer a little more honestly: Tomorrow, when someone asks how you are, answer a little more honestly than "fine." You don't have to tell them everything — try "a bit tired, actually," and notice that the world doesn't end.

2. Take ten unwatched minutes: Give yourself ten minutes of unwatched time somewhere in the middle of your day, not right at the end when everything else is finished. Sitting quietly in the car for ten minutes counts. You don't have to earn those ten minutes.

3. Notice yourself tonight: Before you sleep, name one thing you did that nobody noticed — something kind, something difficult, something you simply kept going through. Let yourself be the person who noticed.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If this feeling of quiet exhaustion comes back to mind, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If this episode helped, even a little, please share it with someone who needs to hear it today, and leave a quick rating or...

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels just out of reach tonight, let Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill carry you gently there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime story follows a quiet, lonely woman through one ordinary Sunday afternoon in the park, her small joys and quiet ache unfolding slowly, read to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic story readings for insomnia and relaxation. For more sleep stories and calming audio whenever you need it, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

First published in The Athenaeum in 1920 and later collected in The Garden Party and Other Stories, Miss Brill is one of Katherine Mansfield's most loved short stories and is now in the public domain. Let her Sunday afternoon unfold slowly in the dark, and let your own thoughts settle as hers do.

 

If you enjoyed this reading, explore more classic story episodes in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Why Do I Feel Dizzy? — Anxiety-Induced Lightheadedness Relief | Guided Meditation with 4-4-8 Breathing

 

If the floor has ever seemed to tilt beneath you, or the room's gone soft and swimming for no reason at all, today's guided meditation is for you. Calming Anxiety sits with anxiety-induced dizziness, the frightening, light-headed feeling that convinces you something is medically wrong, when the real cause may simply be anxious breathing.

 

We slow the body first with 4-4-8 breathing (in for four, hold for four, and a long, slow exhale for eight), a technique Martin has used often as a paramedic kneeling beside people who were certain they were about to collapse. For daily support beyond this episode, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving next month.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Clinical hypnotherapist Martin then guides you through calming affirmations that remind your body it isn't betraying you, followed by three daily caring tips for catching light-headedness before it spirals. If you've felt this before, you've got through it before, and you will again.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Cold Open: The Dizzy, Swimming Feeling

* 01:09 – Welcome & Host Introduction

* 02:05 – Slowing the Body: 4-4-8 Breathing

* 04:20 – Grounding: You're Still Here

* 04:33 – Affirmations for Feeling Safe in Your Body

* 08:23 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 09:17 – Coming Back & Grounding

* 09:47 – Closing, Personal Note & Anchored App

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these words land, and repeat them silently or out loud if you wish:

 

* I am safe in this moment.

* I am here.

* I can allow this feeling to pass.

* Anxiety can make my body feel strange, but I do not have to be frightened of the feeling itself.

* My breathing can make me feel light-headed.

* I can slow it down.

* I do not need to take bigger breaths.

* I need quieter, slower breaths.

* My body is not betraying me. It is trying to protect me, sometimes a little too enthusiastically.

* I have felt this before, and I have got through it before.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Sit and settle: When the light-headed feeling starts, sit down if you can and put both feet flat on the floor. Don't fight to stay upright — lower yourself safely and give your body a moment to settle.

2. Check the basics: Water, food, sleep, and caffeine. Sometimes the simplest things can make an already anxious nervous system much more reactive.

3. Practise the long exhale: Once today, for one single minute, breathe out for longer than you breathe in. You're teaching your body, on a calm day, that it doesn't need all that extra air.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If this dizzy, swimming feeling comes back to mind, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If this episode helped, even a little, please share it with someone who needs to hear it today, and leave a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it means more than you know.

 

And in everything, my friend, be kind.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us...

The New Dress by Virginia Woolf — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

If sleep feels far away tonight, let Virginia Woolf's The New Dress carry you there. Tonight's Books at Bedtime story follows Mabel Waring through a single anxious evening at a party, her insecurities rising and falling like a slow tide, read gently to ease you toward sleep.

 

This is a Calming Anxiety production, read by host Martin Hewlett as part of our nightly Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series of classic story readings for insomnia and relaxation. For more sleep stories and calming audio whenever you need them, download Anchored on iOS, with Android arriving September 2026.

 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

First published in 1927 in The Forum magazine, The New Dress is one of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway party stories, quietly modern and deeply human, and is now in the public domain in the US. Let Mabel's evening unfold slowly in the dark, and let your own thoughts soften as hers do.

 

If you enjoyed this reading, explore more classic story episodes in our Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul archive, available wherever you listen to Calming Anxiety.

 

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Anxiety Relief for Irritability & Overwhelm — I Just Need to Feel Calm Again | Alternate Nostril Breathing Guided Meditation

 

Anxiety relief for those days when everything is getting under your skin. This ten minute guided meditation is for the moment you catch yourself thinking "I just need to feel calm again" — when the noise, the questions, the one more thing have worn your patience thin, your shoulders are tight, your jaw is clenched, and your voice is sharper than you meant it to be.

 

Underneath irritation there is almost always something quieter. You're tired. You're overloaded. You've been holding too much together. Today we use alternate nostril breathing — nadi shodhana, the balancing breath — breathing in for four and out for six, giving your mind one gentle thing to do at a time while your nervous system finds its way back down. Slow, rhythmic breathwork for stress relief, overwhelm and an overstimulated nervous system.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, Calming Anxiety is a daily ten minute guided meditation for anxiety relief, panic attacks, stress and sleep. You don't have to become a different person today. You don't have to be endlessly patient. You simply need a little more space.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – I just need to feel calm again

 

* 00:20 – When the smallest things get under your skin

 

* 00:47 – What's underneath the irritation

 

* 01:13 – Welcome — this is your moment

 

* 01:31 – Finding your quiet place

 

* 01:42 – Alternate nostril breathing (nadi shodhana) explained

 

* 02:23 – Guided breathing — in for four, out for six

 

* 04:24 – Softening the shoulders, forehead and hands

 

* 04:56 – Visualisation — laying the weight down

 

* 05:44 – Today's gentle affirmations

 

* 08:04 – You don't have to become a different person

 

* 08:21 – Three daily caring tips

 

* 09:14 – Returning to the room

 

* 10:05 – Anchored, sharing and closing thoughts

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Repeat these in your mind's eye, on the outbreath, and see them in your thoughts.

 

* I am allowed to slow down.

 

* I do not have to carry everything at once.

 

* I can feel irritated without becoming irrational.

 

* My feelings are signals. They are not instructions.

 

* I can pause before I react.

 

* I am safe in this moment.

 

* I am here in this moment.

 

* I can be gentle with myself while I find my balance.

 

* I am allowed to feel calm again.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Catch the first flicker. When you notice the first flickers of irritation today, don't try to argue with it. Take one slow breath all the way out and give yourself three seconds to respond.

 

2. Ask what's underneath. Ask yourself, "What am I actually feeling underneath this? Am I overwhelmed, hungry, unnerved?" Sometimes irritation is simply the messenger.

 

3. Check in before the day runs away. Tomorrow, use Anchored daily to check in before the day gets away from you. Thirty seconds, just enough time to ask yourself, "How am I actually doing right now?" You don't have to wait until you're overwhelmed.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If you'd like this feeling again, come back tomorrow — and download Anchored on iOS. Access over...

The String Quartet by Virginia Woolf — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

Drift off tonight to a dreamlike bedtime story for sleep and insomnia, read slowly and gently to help you fall asleep naturally.

 

Tonight on Books at Bedtime, Martin reads Virginia Woolf's "The String Quartet" — a short, hypnotic piece from her 1921 collection Monday or Tuesday.

 

It begins in a crowded London drawing room, full of overheard fragments — the weather, the traffic, a rent too high, a glove left on the train. The small anxious chatter of a mind that cannot settle. Then four musicians take their seats, the first violin counts one, two, three, and everything changes.

 

The music carries the listener somewhere else entirely. A pear tree on a mountain. Fountains and falling drops. The waters of the Rhône running swift and deep over silver fish and yellow pebbles. Lovers on the grass, silver horns at dawn, a rose leaf falling from an enormous height like a little parachute.

 

It is one of the loveliest things Woolf ever wrote about how it feels when sound takes over from thought — when the fretting mind finally lets go and simply floats. Which makes it, we think, close to perfect for the last thing you hear tonight.

 

There is no need to follow the story. There is no plot to lose. Let the words move over you like the music moves over the people in that room, and let yourself drift.

 

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) remains one of the most quietly beautiful voices in English literature, and this piece is in the public domain.

 

Read by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, host of Calming Anxiety and Coffee Break for the Soul.

 

Sleep well, my friend.

 

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Comparison Anxiety — A Guided Meditation for When You Feel Behind in Life | Box Breathing

 

Comparison anxiety can creep in on the most ordinary days — that quiet sense that everyone else has the job, the relationship, the plan, and you're still standing at the same crossroads. This guided meditation is for anyone who feels like the only one who hasn't got it together, using box breathing (4-4-4-4) to calm the nervous system before a set of gentle affirmations that put the measuring stick down for good. Download the free Anchored app — the one app with no feed, no likes, nothing to compare yourself against — at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, this episode gently separates life-stage comparison anxiety from doomscrolling — it's not about the scroll itself, but about what we do to ourselves when we hold our own life up against someone else's highlight reel. You'll be guided through steady box breathing, then a golden-light visualisation and a set of affirmations to help you feel calm, grounded, and enough exactly as you are.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold Open: The Only One Who Hasn't Got It Together

* 01:00 – Box Breathing (4-4-4-4)

* 05:00 – Golden Light Affirmations

* 09:00 – 3 Daily Caring Tips

* 10:00 – Outro & Anchored

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these settle in gently, in your own voice:

 

I am not behind. I am exactly where my life is.

 

Another person's chapter twenty is not my chapter five.

 

I am enough, at this pace, on this ordinary day.

 

What looks like getting ahead is only ever someone else's outside.

 

I let go of the race that no one is actually running.

 

I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

 

My worth was never a number, a milestone, or a moment I think I missed.

 

I am allowed to be a work in progress and still be whole.

 

You are not the clouds racing across the sky, my friend. You are the sky. Wide. Unhurried. Already complete.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. Question the comparison: When you catch yourself comparing, gently ask — whose life am I actually measuring, and do I even know the whole of it?

 

2. Celebrate small wins: Write down one thing you did today that your younger self would be proud of, however small it seems.

 

3. Take a feed break: Take a short break from the feed today — even one single hour — and notice how much quieter your mind becomes.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this brought you some quiet, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

👉 Download Anchored on the App Store Today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If someone you love has been feeling left behind, share this episode with them — and if it helped, a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts helps this show reach more people who need it.

 

And in everything, my friend, be kind.

 

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music:...

Tired But Wired — Why You Can't Switch Off After a Day on Edge | Physiological Sigh Meditation

 

That feeling where the body has been braced since the moment you woke up. Shoulders up around your ears, jaw tight, exhausted and somehow still wired. Wired but tired — running on a battery that is flat and jangling at the same time. If today has felt like being on edge from the first alarm right through to now, then these ten minutes are for you, because there is a single breath, just one, that can start to switch that off.

 

If today catches you somewhere you can't press play for a full ten minutes, the Anchored app has the Instant Calm session ready any time — no signing in, no subscription, works offline. And tonight, when you're ready to properly wind down, Anchored's ambient night light sits alongside your sleep sounds: a soft glow to fall asleep to.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Today's breath is the physiological sigh, and if you haven't come across it before it is worth knowing its name — it is the fastest way we know to bring the nervous system back down. You breathe in through the nose, then a second short sharp top-up right at the top, and then a long slow release through the mouth, like misting a window on a cold morning. Three rounds is usually enough to feel something in the chest loosen. That isn't your imagination. That is your nervous system changing state while you sit there. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former frontline paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Wired but tired: braced since the moment you woke

* 00:37 – Welcome from Martin

* 00:47 – Anchored: Instant Calm and the ambient night light

* 01:20 – Finding your quiet place

* 01:29 – Today's breath: the physiological sigh

* 01:58 – Three rounds together

* 02:58 – Something in your chest has loosened

* 04:22 – How much power there is in words

* 04:56 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 07:41 – Your three daily caring tips

* 08:53 – Coming back gently

* 09:21 – That is it for today

* 09:38 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

New instructions for your body to settle into. See them as I say them, repeat them, and allow the echo of them to float gently down and become part of all that you are:

 

I am allowed to come out of this high alert.

My nervous system knows how to find calm, even after a wired, edgy day.

I release the tension I have been holding since this morning.

Being tired doesn't mean I have to stay wired.

My body can do both — rest, and let go.

I trust the sigh, the breath and the light. Small things, and they are enough.

I am safe in this moment, exactly as I am.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. The next time you notice you are on edge, take one physiological sigh — double inhale through the nose, long exhale through the mouth — before you do anything else.

 

2. Give yourself a proper wind down tonight. Dim the lights an hour before bed, so your body gets the signal that the day is actually over.

 

3. Say one kind sentence to yourself out loud today. Your nervous system listens to tone as much as words.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and the ambient night light for the small hours. Your daily tips are saved automatically on the home screen — a little library of healthy ideas, there whenever...

In the Orchard by Virginia Woolf — Full Short Story Read Aloud | Sleep Story for Insomnia, Anxiety & Deep Sleep | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete, unabridged short story In the Orchard by Virginia Woolf, narrated slowly and softly for anyone lying awake with insomnia, anxiety or a racing mind in the small hours.

 

Miranda is asleep in the orchard, in a long chair under an apple tree. Her book has fallen into the grass. That is all that happens — and Woolf tells it three times over, from three different heights. First from four feet above her head, where the schoolchildren's chanting and the church organ and a drunk man's cry all pass over the sleeping girl. Then from inside her own drifting mind, where the sounds turn into cliffs and horses and the sea. Then from nowhere at all: twenty-four apple trees, a wagtail, a thrush, a purple dress, and the whole orchard held quietly together by its walls. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app —

👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

It is under nine minutes, and it is one of the most purely beautiful things Woolf ever wrote — a piece about the layers of sound and light moving over a sleeping person who notices none of it. Which makes it, more than almost any story we have read, exactly the right shape for a wakeful night. There is no plot to hold on to, nothing to solve, and each of the three tellings ends in the same place, with the same small cry: oh, I shall be late for tea.

 

If you have a short window before sleep, or want something gentle after a longer reading, this is the one. Perfect for anyone who finds classic literature and short audiobooks more restful than silence. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

First published in 1923, this is our sixth Virginia Woolf reading in the Books at Bedtime series, following Kew Gardens, The Mark on the Wall, Solid Objects, The Lady in the Looking Glass and A Haunted House — all of which are in the feed if this one suits you.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story and classic audiobook series from Calming Anxiety, hosted and narrated by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations for anxiety, panic attacks and sleep. If long-form bedtime stories for adults help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

In the Orchard by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1923 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of...

Why Is My Heart Racing When Nothing Is Happening? — Heart Palpitations, Health Anxiety and the 5-10 Breath | 10 Minute Guided Meditation

 

You get that feeling right there under your hand. Too fast, too hard, too loud for a room this quiet — and yet nothing is happening. You're sitting down. You haven't run anywhere, you haven't climbed anything, and still your heart is going like you've just sprinted up a flight of stairs.

 

And here's the thing: the beating isn't the worst part. The worst part is the question that arrives behind it. What if this isn't anxiety? Tonight we answer that question — not with reassurance, not with someone telling you you're fine, but with your own body. This session is about a racing heart, heart palpitations, and a pounding heartbeat that will not slow down. Inside Anchored there are proper breathing tools — not a page of instructions to read when your chest is hammering, but an actual pacer, a shape that grows while you breathe in and shrinks while you breathe out. In the dark you don't have to count, you don't have to remember, you don't have to get it right.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Today's breathing is longer than usual: in for five, no pause, out for ten, always out through the mouth — soft, like you're steaming up a window. A long exhale is the most direct lever you have on a heart rate you can't talk down. Then one hand flat on the chest, a warm amber light spreading under it, and a set of affirmations built around the idea that the alarm has been heard, and it can stop ringing now. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

Please note: this session is for anxiety-related palpitations. If a racing heart is new for you, or comes with chest pain, fainting or breathlessness, please book in with your doctor and get it checked properly. Take care of you.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Too fast, too hard, and nothing is happening

* 01:20 – Welcome from Martin

* 01:47 – Anchored: the breathing pacer for when you can't count

* 02:09 – One hand flat on your chest

* 03:56 – Today's breath: in for five, out for ten

* 04:29 – Letting go of the count

* 04:48 – The warm amber light

* 06:33 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:14 – Second pass: within the beauty of your mind's eye

* 09:09 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:30 – Coming back gently

* 09:44 – Your heart carried you here today

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Say these words with me, silently or out loud, whichever the room allows — but feel them, see them:

 

I am safe, I am here, there is nothing to fear right now.

This is anxiety in my body, and anxiety always passes.

I can feel my heartbeat and I do not have to be frightened of it.

Every out breath slows me down.

The alarm has been heard, it can stop ringing now.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. When you notice your heart racing, put one hand flat on your chest and breathe out for twice as long as you breathed in. Three rounds is usually enough to feel the brakes engage.

 

2. Cut caffeine out eight hours before bed. Caffeine alone can produce a pounding heartbeat that feels exactly like anxiety.

 

3. If a racing heart is new for you, and comes with any chest pain, fainting or breathlessness, do book in with your doctor and get it checked properly.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories...

A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf — Full Short Story Read Aloud | Sleep Story for Insomnia, Anxiety & Deep Sleep | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete, unabridged short story A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf, narrated slowly and softly for anyone lying awake with insomnia, anxiety or a racing mind in the small hours.

 

Don't let the title worry you. This is one of the gentlest ghost stories ever written, and there is nothing in it to frighten anyone. A couple who died long ago move quietly through their old house at night, hand in hand, opening doors and looking for something they left behind. Here we left it, she says. Oh, but here too, he adds. They are careful not to wake the sleepers. And all the while, under the floorboards and behind the glass, the pulse of the house beats softly: safe, safe, safe. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app —

👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

It is barely seven minutes long and reads more like a poem than a story — apples in the loft, a wood pigeon bubbling with content, rain sliding silver down the window, moonbeams spilling across the floor. There is no plot to hold on to and no ending to stay awake for. If you have a short window before sleep, or you want something to follow a longer reading, this is the one.

 

Woolf wrote it in 1921, and the thing the ghosts are searching for turns out to be very simple, and very kind. Perfect for anyone who finds classic literature and short audiobooks more restful than silence. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

This is our fifth Virginia Woolf reading in the Books at Bedtime series, following Kew Gardens, The Mark on the Wall, Solid Objects and The Lady in the Looking Glass — all of which are in the feed if this one suits you.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story and classic audiobook series from Calming Anxiety, hosted and narrated by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations for anxiety, panic attacks and sleep. If long-form bedtime stories for adults help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1921 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

How Do I Stop Dwelling on the Past? — Let Go of Regret, Mistakes and Negative Thoughts | 10 Minute Guided Meditation

 

We all have it. That feeling of dread, of fear and panic, that sick sensation in our bellies. I've been there, you're there — but together we can take back control. So stay with me for ten minutes and find your moment of calm within the storm.

 

Today is about the things you still carry from before: the regrets, the mistakes, the anchors that hold you to a past you cannot change. We settle into the almost hypnotic rhythm of the rise and fall of every breath, and then imagine that feeling of letting go as a colour — an aura of light and comfort spreading out from the chest with every exhale, cascading through every fibre of your being. You can find more of this in Anchored, the app I've just brought out. It's free, it's on iOS, and Android follows next month.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

This one is unscripted and recorded in a single take — the old style, just me and the microphone. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett. I'm here on the end of a microphone, but whenever I record, whenever I talk, I truly believe you are right there with me, and that we will get through this together.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – That feeling of dread, and finding calm within the storm

* 00:24 – Welcome from Martin

* 00:43 – Anchored: free on iOS, Android next month

* 01:06 – Finding your quiet place

* 01:22 – The rise and fall of every breath

* 02:59 – The aura of light: letting go as a colour

* 05:03 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 06:30 – Second pass: within the beauty of your mind's eye

* 08:02 – Your three daily caring tips

* 08:46 – Coming back gently

* 09:12 – Thank you for taking care of you today

* 10:24 – Sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Relax, and in your mind's eye visualise these words, repeating them silently afterwards:

 

I am in control of all that I am.

My negative thoughts do not define me.

I can love myself now and let go of the regrets and mistakes of my past.

I am worthy of happiness and success.

I am here. I am now. And I am safe.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Do not define yourself by the mistakes or regrets of your past. We are all allowed to move on.

 

2. When negativity crops up, stop the thought. Think of something positive about the event, or about whoever you are with, and reframe how you view the past.

 

3. When panic or anxiety strikes, be kind to yourself afterwards. We all have them — you are not broken. Drink a glass of water and get two minutes of outside time.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. You don't have to buy anything — just try it out. There is nothing hidden, and a review would be wonderful: it helps spread the word about all the work that has gone into this over the last few months. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

So take care of you today. And more than that my friend — empower yourself, and don't give up. Even I have my own duvet days, where life just gets a little bit too hard. But I bounce back. I understand we're fragile, but we'll get there.

 

Take care. May your God go with you, and...

The Lady in the Looking Glass by Virginia Woolf — Full Short Story Read Aloud | Sleep Story for Insomnia, Anxiety & Deep Sleep | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete, unabridged short story The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection by Virginia Woolf, narrated slowly and softly for anyone lying awake with insomnia, anxiety or a racing mind in the small hours.

 

People should not leave looking glasses hanging in their rooms. So begins one of Woolf's most beautiful pieces of writing — a summer afternoon in an empty country house, a long Italian mirror hanging out in the hall, and someone lying on the sofa watching the world go quietly on without them. In the room, everything moves: lights and shadows, curtains blowing, petals falling. In the glass, nothing moves at all — the hall table, the sunflowers, a grass path held so fixedly they seem caught there forever. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app —

👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Half an hour ago the mistress of the house, Isabella Tyson, walked down that grass path in a thin summer dress carrying a basket, and was sliced clean out of the picture by the gilt rim of the mirror. What follows is a mind trying to imagine its way into another person — inventing her, furnishing her with thoughts and letters and secrets — while it waits for her to come back into view.

 

This is a gentle listen for a wakeful night. Almost nothing happens: a room, a mirror, some sunlight, the post arriving. Woolf writes the drawing room like a nocturnal wood full of shy creatures, and the whole story moves at the pace of an afternoon in which nobody is expected anywhere. Perfect for anyone who finds classic literature and long-form audiobooks more restful than silence. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

First published in 1929, this is our fourth Virginia Woolf reading in the Books at Bedtime series, following Kew Gardens, The Mark on the Wall and Solid Objects — all of which are in the feed if this one suits you.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story and classic audiobook series from Calming Anxiety, hosted and narrated by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations for anxiety, panic attacks and sleep. If long-form bedtime stories for adults help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1929 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by...

Why Do I Never Feel Good Enough? — Confidence, Self-Worth and the Half-Smile Breath | 10 Minute Guided Meditation

 

You have already done the hardest thing today. You woke up, and you came back. No fanfare, nobody clapping — you just did it. And I wonder whether anyone has told you lately that this counts, because there is a particular kind of tiredness that comes from believing you have to earn your place over and over, every single day.

 

Today we are going to put that down. This session is about calm and control, about positive breathing, about confidence and self-worth, and about the smallest, simplest thing in the world — a smile on the out breath. Inside Anchored there is now a whole tab given over to confidence and self-worth. Not a handful of sessions buried somewhere: a tab, its own place. Free to download, offline whenever you need it, and on Android next month.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Today's breath is in through the nose for three, hold for two, out for five — and on every out breath, consciously feel like smiling, however dark your day may be right now. It is a small smile, not a grin, nothing anyone would notice across the room. Just the corners of the mouth lifting a little. This is called the half-smile, and it isn't decoration: the muscles of a smile send signals back to the brain, and the brain reads the face as evidence. A smile you didn't feel first, a smile you simply chose, still lands. Your body doesn't check whether you meant it. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – You have already done the hardest thing today

* 00:51 – Welcome from Martin

* 00:59 – Anchored: a whole tab for confidence and self-worth

* 01:21 – Settling: uncross anything that's crossed

* 02:45 – Today's breath: in for three, hold two, smile out for five

* 04:35 – Why the half-smile works

* 05:07 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 06:39 – Second pass: visualise and repeat

* 08:02 – Your three daily caring tips

* 08:42 – Coming back gently

* 09:17 – Keep the smile if you can

* 09:30 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Visualise these words in your mind's eye, repeat them after me if you wish, with a smile as well if you want — but feel them land:

 

I am worthy of love and respect exactly as I am today.

I am enough on the days I feel it, and on the days I don't.

I release the need for approval to feel worthy.

I am allowed to take up space without apology.

I inhale confidence, and I exhale fear.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Set one alarm for the middle of your day. When it goes off, take three coherent breaths with a small smile on every out breath.

 

2. Write down one thing you did today that you would have praised in somebody else — then praise yourself for it, using exactly those same words.

 

3. When you catch yourself apologising for taking up space, don't go back and undo it. Simply don't make the next one.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. The confidence and self-worth tab is waiting for you inside, and your three daily tips live on the home screen so you can save them and keep them with you whenever you need that little mindful boost. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today:...

Solid Objects by Virginia Woolf — Full Short Story Read Aloud | Sleep Story for Insomnia, Anxiety & Deep Sleep | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete, unabridged short story Solid Objects by Virginia Woolf, narrated slowly and softly for anyone lying awake with insomnia, anxiety or a racing mind at three in the morning.

 

Two young men are arguing about politics on an empty beach. One of them, John, stops listening and starts digging his fingers down into the wet sand — and finds a lump of sea glass, worn smooth, so thick it is almost opaque, green when he holds it up to the light. He puts it in his pocket. It goes on the mantelpiece, where it holds down a pile of bills. And that, quietly, is the beginning of the end of his life as everyone else understood it. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app —

👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

What follows is one of Virginia Woolf's strangest and most tender stories: a man who was standing for Parliament slowly giving his whole life over to looking for broken things. A star-shaped shard of blue china found in the grass outside the law courts. A piece of iron from Barnes Common, so cold and black and heavy it might be the cinder of a dead star. Woolf never once tells you he is wrong to want them.

 

This is a gentle listen for a wakeful night. There is very little plot, no jeopardy and nothing to solve — just a beach, a mantelpiece, and a mind following its own quiet obsession while the world carries on without it. Perfect for anyone who finds classic literature and audiobooks more restful than silence. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

First published in 1920, Solid Objects is a modernist short story from the same period as Kew Gardens and The Mark on the Wall — our third Virginia Woolf reading in the Books at Bedtime series, and all three are in the feed if this one suits you.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story and classic audiobook series from Calming Anxiety, hosted and narrated by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations for anxiety, panic attacks and sleep. If long-form bedtime stories for adults help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Solid Objects by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1920 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast:

What If Everything Goes Wrong? — Stop Catastrophic Thinking and the 2am What Ifs | Physiological Sigh Meditation

 

It isn't happening. Not yet, not today, perhaps not ever. And still you can see it in detail and in colour — the phone call, the conversation, the moment it all comes apart. Your mind has built the whole thing brick by brick, then walked you through it slowly so you don't miss anything. What if everything goes wrong? That's the thought, isn't it. And it isn't a small one. It arrives with a heartbeat attached.

 

Today we sit with that question and take its power away, gently, without arguing with it. This is a session about overthinking, catastrophic thinking, worst case scenario thinking, and the what ifs that run all night. If the what ifs tend to find you at two in the morning, Anchored was built for exactly that — over 3,000 sessions you can actually search, so when one particular worry has hold of you, you can find the session for it and press play in the dark. It works offline, and Instant Calm is always there: no subscription, no waiting, no hunting.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Here is the thing worth knowing. When the mind rehearses a disaster, your body doesn't know it's a rehearsal — it rehearses too. Heart rate up, breath high and shallow in the chest. That is why the thought feels true: your body is agreeing with it. So today's breath is the physiological sigh, sometimes called cyclic sighing. It is something your body already does on its own after crying or a shock — that double catch of breath — and we are simply doing it on purpose. Two in, one long out. You can do it in a meeting, in a car park, on the stairs, and nobody will ever see. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – It isn't happening, and you can still see it in colour

* 01:03 – Welcome from Martin

* 01:13 – Anchored: searchable sessions for 2am

* 01:46 – Getting out of the rehearsal room

* 02:05 – Why the thought feels true: your body is agreeing with it

* 02:28 – Today's breath: the physiological sigh

* 04:32 – Now let's talk about your mind

* 05:06 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 07:16 – Second pass: within the beauty of your mind's eye

* 08:39 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:36 – Coming back gently

* 09:58 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

You don't have to believe them yet. Just allow them to sink into the deeper parts of your consciousness. Imagine them, visualise them, and repeat them softly or silently:

 

I am not my thoughts.

A thought arrived. It is not a forecast.

I can stop overthinking without stopping my thoughts.

I am allowed to leave the worst case scenario where I found it.

The what ifs can be there and I can still rest.

I let go of what I cannot control.

Intrusive thoughts pass through me, they do not live within.

I do not have to rehearse a future that has not happened.

I can sit with uncertainty.

I am safe and I am here.

I am relaxed now.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Name it out loud. When a what if arrives, say it: there, that's a what if. Naming a thought is what stops you becoming it.

 

2. Give your worrying a worry window. Fifteen minutes at the same time each day — and when a worry turns up outside it, tell it to wait its turn.

 

3. Answer it once, on paper. Write the what if down and answer it properly and in full, because a worry that has been answered...

The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete short story The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the small hours.

 

A woman sits by the fire on a January afternoon, looks up, and notices a small dark mark on the wall above the mantelpiece. That is the whole of it. She never gets up to look. Instead the mind does what a tired mind does at three in the morning — it wanders off. Shakespeare in an armchair. The people who lived in the house before. All the small things lost in one lifetime. Whitaker's Almanack. A tree standing in an empty field on a winter night. And every so often it drifts back to the mark, the way you keep returning to one thought without ever resolving it. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app —

👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

This was Virginia Woolf's first published story, and it is really about the pleasure of not getting up — of letting the mind go wherever it likes and refusing to check. Woolf even says it outright partway through: I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair. If you have ever lain awake unable to stop thinking, you may find it a relief to hear a mind doing exactly that, and coming to no harm at all.

 

So don't follow it. There is nothing to keep track of and nothing you can lose your place in. Let the fire and the tree and the long unhurried sentences do the work while your body settles. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations. If classic audiobooks help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1917 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and...

Why Can't I Stop Anxious Thoughts? — Take Back Control of Overthinking | 10 Minute Guided Meditation

 

Why can't I stop anxious thoughts? It is one of the most exhausting questions there is — the loop that starts on its own, runs all day, and picks up again the moment the room goes quiet. This is Calming Anxiety: ten minutes of daily guided meditation to help you take back control over panic and anxiety.

 

Today is about learning that the thoughts are not you. We settle into the almost hypnotic rhythm of your own breathing — the rise and fall, the small pause between the in breath and the out — and then, on every exhale, a spreading aura of light moving out from the chest through every fibre of your being, through every thought and every memory. From there, a set of affirmations built around one truth: your anxious thoughts do not define you. If you would like this and more always with you, in your pocket for when those moments hit hardest, Anchored has everything from over 2,500 shows — searchable, downloadable, with Instant Calm always on and baked into the code, to use as often as you need.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett. Ten minutes, every single day, for whatever you have walked in here carrying.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Why can't I stop anxious thoughts?

* 00:05 – Welcome to Calming Anxiety

* 00:26 – Anchored: 2,500 shows and Instant Calm in your pocket

* 00:59 – Finding your quiet place

* 01:18 – The rise and fall of each breath

* 02:30 – The aura of light: unwinding on every out breath

* 05:04 – Visualise these words

* 05:15 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:10 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:02 – Coming back gently

* 09:27 – Thank you, my friend

* 09:55 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Visualise these words as I say them — repeat them silently without moving your jaw, your tongue or your lips, or speak them out loud in true affirmation:

 

I am in control of all that I think and feel.

My anxious thoughts do not define me.

I let go of the negative anchors of my past.

I am strong enough to stop the anxious moments whenever they appear.

I no longer allow the negative actions of others to affect me and my tomorrow.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Forgive your past mistakes and take with you only the lessons learned.

 

2. Whenever stress or panic comes your way, take two deep slow in breaths through the nose, pause, then breathe out slowly to regain your control and composure.

 

3. Other people's actions and opinions are theirs, and have no reflection or relevance on you, your decisions and your life. Be strong, and love all that you are.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. Instant Calm is always there, baked into the app, for moments of real distress — use it as often as you need. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If this session helped, please leave a review or share it on your social media. We walk the same journey — letting go of the darkness and negativity of our pasts, and learning to love who we are today.

 

Have a lovely day. Let's reconnect tomorrow, and as always...

I Just Want to Switch Off Today — A Sunday Meditation to Let the World Float By | Soft Belly Breathing

 

It's a Sunday, and somewhere out there the world is still going on with all of it. The arguing, the headlines, the things that are wrong and the people shouting about the things that are wrong. None of it is going to be solved by you today, from where you are sitting. That is a strange sort of comfort — but sit with it for a second, because it is true, and it is allowed to be a relief.

 

Today we are not going to fix anything. Today is about letting the world float by, and staying exactly where you are while it does. If you want to keep this feeling with you, Anchored works completely offline — no feed, no notifications, nothing arriving, no red dots, no numbers, nobody wanting anything from you. On a Sunday that matters.

👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

There is no counting in this one, and nothing to get right. Today's breath is soft belly breathing, and the whole point of it is that you cannot do it wrong — one hand low on the belly, no count, no rhythm to hold, letting the breath find its own speed the way water finds its own level. From there we go somewhere: a wide estuary on a warm Sunday afternoon, and every worry that has been pulling at you this week becomes a boat out on the water. You are not on any of them. You are sitting up here, warm, watching them go past. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist Martin Hewlett.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – None of it is going to be solved by you today

* 00:43 – Welcome from Martin

* 01:03 – Anchored: offline, no feed, nothing arriving

* 01:45 – Settling: shoulders down, jaw unclenched, hands open

* 02:15 – Today's breath: soft belly breathing, no counting

* 04:01 – Visualisation: boats on the wide water

* 05:42 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:19 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:08 – Coming back gently

* 09:35 – You are safe, you are here

* 10:24 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Say them with me, out loud or quietly in your thoughts, whichever suits the room you are in:

 

I let the world go on without me for 10 minutes, and the world manages perfectly well.

My body is not a problem to be solved today, it is the place I get to rest.

I do not have to carry what I cannot change.

There is a quiet in me that no headline has ever reached.

I am here, I am whole, and this is enough for today.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Postpone one worry. Pick one thing you were going to worry about today and give yourself permission to worry about it tomorrow instead — the worry will keep, and the Sunday will not.

 

2. One hour, phone in another room. Not the whole day, just one hour this afternoon, so your nervous system gets a proper gap in the incoming.

 

3. Look at something far away. The end of a street, a treeline, a horizon — two minutes is enough, because long-distance focus tells your body it is not under immediate threat.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. Offline, quiet, nothing arriving — it was built for exactly these moments. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

If you know somebody who has not put their phone down all week — somebody...

Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the complete short story Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the small hours.

 

This one is different, and it may be the most restful thing we have ever read on this show. There is no mystery, no plot and nothing to solve. It is simply a hot July afternoon in a London garden, an oval flower bed, and the light moving over red and blue and yellow petals. Four sets of people wander past it — a married couple thinking about someone they didn't marry, an old man talking to the flowers, two women piecing together a conversation, a young couple pressing a parasol into the earth — and each drifts away again. Between them, a snail sets out across the earth beneath the leaves. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app — 👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Woolf lets attention wander the way a tired mind does — settling on a voice, then a colour, then the shell of a snail — and never asks you to hold on to any of it. That is precisely why it works at three in the morning. There is nothing to keep track of, and nothing you can lose your place in.

 

So don't follow it. Let the colours and the heat and the drone of the summer sky do the work while your body settles. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations. If classic audiobooks help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1919 and is in the public domain.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind...

Why Do I Feel Anxious for No Reason? — Free-Floating Anxiety & the 4-2-6 Breath | 10 Minute Guided Meditation

 

Nothing happened today. Nobody was unkind to you, nothing went wrong, no letter came and no bad news arrived. And yet here it is — that low humming unease sitting just underneath your ribs, the feeling of waiting for something without ever being told what. Then comes the second thing, which is almost worse than the first: the voice that says there is no reason for me to feel like this, so what is wrong with me? Nothing, my friend. Nothing is wrong with you.

 

Anxiety doesn't always come with a reason attached. Sometimes the alarm is simply still ringing, long after whatever it was that set it off. So today we are not going to hunt for the cause — we are just going to turn the alarm down. If this is a feeling you know well and can never quite put your finger on, there is something inside our app Anchored that will genuinely help: Instant Calm. It is in the free version, it works offline, you can use it as often as you want, and it is baked into the app itself for moments exactly like this one. 👉 Download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Today's breath is simple and basic — in through the nose for four, hold for two, out through the mouth for six. From there we move into a set of gentle affirmations for free-floating anxiety, built around one idea: your nervous system is not broken, it is only overprotective. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, every day, ten minutes, for whatever you have walked in here carrying.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Nothing happened today, so why does it feel like this?

* 01:05 – Anxiety for no reason: naming free-floating anxiety

* 01:14 – Welcome from Martin

* 01:30 – Instant Calm in Anchored: free, offline, always there

* 02:09 – Settling in: shoulders down, jaw loose

* 02:22 – Today's breath: in for four, hold for two, out for six

* 04:34 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:08 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:00 – Coming back to the room

* 09:58 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Visualise these words, see them as I say them, and either repeat them out loud or whisper them in your thoughts:

 

I do not need a reason to be kind to myself.

Feeling anxious for no reason does not mean something is wrong.

My nervous system is not broken, it is only overprotective.

I can feel anxious and still be completely safe.

I do not have to solve this today. I only have to soften.

I release what I cannot name.

I am calm, I am whole and I am here.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Check the simple things first. When the anxiety has no obvious cause, look at water, food and sleep before anything else — the body often speaks before the mind does.

 

2. One line a night. Write a single line in a notebook each evening about how the day felt, so that over a few weeks you can see the pattern instead of the mystery.

 

3. Walk without your phone. Ten minutes outside, and let your eyes rest on things that are far away.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. Instant Calm is always there in the free version, offline, whenever you need it. Do the daily check-ins too — a few seconds is all it takes, and it will start showing you the shape of your own weeks....

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 15: A Retrospection — The Final Chapter, by Arthur Conan Doyle | A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — the fifteenth and final chapter of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the small hours.

 

The moor is behind us. It is the end of November, and Holmes and Watson are back where they began — either side of a blazing fire in the sitting room at Baker Street, on a raw and foggy London night. Over the course of one long evening, Holmes finally sets out the whole of it: who Stapleton really was, where he came from, how the hound was bought and hidden, and every quiet step of a plan that had been running long before anyone thought to look for one. You can listen offline, any time you wake in the night, in the Anchored app — 👉 download on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

There is something particularly restful about this chapter. The danger has passed, nothing more can go wrong, and all that is left is a warm room, a good fire and a friend explaining things patiently in the dark. Conan Doyle ends not on the moor but on an ordinary evening out — a box at the opera, and dinner on the way.

 

There is no need to follow the reasoning tonight, and no need to reach the end. Let the rhythm of the Victorian prose and the quiet of that Baker Street fireside do the work while your body settles. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations. If classic audiobooks help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was first published in 1902 and is in the public domain.

 

If this series helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress...

Can't Sleep Because It's Too Hot — Coherent Breathing for Hot Night Insomnia & Anxiety | Guided Sleep Meditation

 Anchored - The bespoke app from Calming Anxiety - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

Can't sleep because it's too hot? You have turned the pillow over three times, the cool side lasted about forty seconds, and now your mind has decided the restlessness means something is wrong. It doesn't. This ten-minute guided sleep meditation is built for warm, balmy August nights when the body can't settle and anxiety fills the gap.

 

Tonight's breath is coherent breathing — also known as resonant breathing or HRV breathing. Five seconds in, five seconds out, no holding and nothing forced. Martin calls it the still breath, because on a night like this everything else is moving and this is the one thing that isn't. Cool air arrives at the tip of the nose and leaves a little warmer, which means every out breath is quietly letting heat go.

 

From there we settle the body the way it actually cools itself — feet out from under the covers, palms up, jaw unclenched — and move into a soft visualisation of silver-blue moonlight, the light of a night that has already begun to cool. Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett. If you drift off before the end, good. That is success, not failure.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – The cool side of the pillow: why hot nights feel like anxiety

* 00:38 – Sponsored by Anchored

* 01:10 – Welcome from Martin

* 01:30 – Settling the body: feet out, palms up, jaw unclenched

* 02:01 – Tonight's breath: coherent breathing, five in and five out

* 05:08 – Visualisation: cool silver-blue moonlight

* 05:56 – Today's gentle affirmations

* 08:16 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:19 – Coming back gently

* 10:26 – Share the show and sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Repeat these wonderful words silently after me:

 

I am safe, I am here, there is nothing to fear right now.

My body knows how to cool itself, I do not have to manage it.

Rest is enough and rest is already happening.

I am heavy, I am cool and I am calm.

Nothing needs to be decided before morning.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Cool your wrists, not the whole room. Run cool water over the insides of your wrists for 30 seconds before bed. The blood vessels sit close to the surface there, and it lowers your core temperature faster than a cold shower will.

 

2. Turn the clock away from the bed. Do not look at it again tonight, so that your mind cannot keep recalculating how many hours are left.

 

3. Damp pillowcase and a fan. Lightly damp a cotton pillowcase, lay it over the pillow, and point the fan across it. The evaporation cools the air reaching your face all night without chilling the room.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

If you wake in the night, Anchored is right there on your phone and it will pick up exactly where you left off — no searching, no bright screen, just my voice again from wherever you drifted away. Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com

 

If these ten minutes gave you relief tonight, please share the show with someone lying awake in the same heat, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

 

Sleep well when sleep comes. Rest well if it doesn't....

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 14, by Arthur Conan Doyle — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — Chapter 14 of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the small hours.

 

This is the chapter the whole book has been walking towards, and Conan Doyle gave it the same name as the novel itself. Holmes, Watson and Lestrade lie waiting among the rocks above Merripit House while a great white fog rolls in off the mire, thickening minute by minute over the one path they need to keep clear.

 

What follows is the most famous night on Dartmoor in English fiction — and then, quietly, the unwinding of it. The long walk out across the Grimpen Mire the next morning, guided by wands planted in the peat. An old black boot lifted from the slime. An abandoned tin mine on an island in the bog, and the last of Stapleton's secrets laid bare in the daylight.

 

There is no need to follow the plot tonight, and no need to reach the end. Let the rhythm of the Victorian prose and the hush of the moor after the fog has lifted do the work while your body settles. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this reading is for.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations. If classic audiobooks help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

You can take the whole library with you — download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 13: Fixing the Nets, by Arthur Conan Doyle — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story to help you fall asleep — Chapter 13 of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake with a busy mind.

 

Tonight the net begins to close. Sherlock Holmes returns to Baskerville Hall, and over a late supper he notices something in an old family portrait on the wall — a face beneath a plumed hat and curling love-locks that he has seen somewhere far more recently. From that single quiet observation, the whole tangled case begins to draw together.

 

Holmes and Watson leave for Coombe Tracey, call upon Mrs Laura Lyons, and lay the last of the traps. Lestrade arrives on the evening express. And Sir Henry is asked to do the one thing he has been warned against all along — to walk home alone across the moor.

 

This is a slow, unhurried reading. There is no need to follow the plot, and no need to reach the end. Let the rhythm of the Victorian prose and the hush of Dartmoor at night do the work while your body settles. If you drift off in the first few minutes, that is exactly what this is for.

 

Books at Bedtime is the sleep story series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — alongside Coffee Break for the Soul and the daily ten-minute guided meditations. If classic audiobooks help you sleep, this series is written for those long, wakeful hours.

 

You can take the whole library with you — download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts — it is the single kindest thing you can do for a small independent show.

 

Sleep well. And until tomorrow …be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 12: Death on the Moor | A Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Audiobook | Books at Bedtime

 

A sleep story for insomnia, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the small hours. This is Chapter 12 of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — Death on the Moor — narrated for Books at Bedtime by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist, former frontline paramedic and host of Calming Anxiety.

 

Tonight the mist settles low over the moor and the light drains slowly out of the western sky. Watson sits alone in a stone hut among the ancient dwellings, waiting in the dark for a stranger to return. A step on the gravel. A voice he knows better than any other in the world. And Sherlock Holmes, thin and weathered and quietly amused, is sitting on a stone outside the door.

 

What follows is a long, low-voiced conversation in the twilight — two friends piecing a puzzle together while the chill comes down and the stars come out over Dartmoor. And then, far off across the shadowy plain, a cry. A prolonged yell of horror that turns the blood to ice. The deep, muttered rumble of something running in the darkness. A stumbling chase over broken ground, gorse and boulders and the moon rising behind them. And a shape lying still against the silver stones.

 

This is one of the most atmospheric chapters in all of Sherlock Holmes — night air, granite, moonlight and mist — and it is read here at a deliberately unhurried pace, with long pauses and a lowered voice, so that the story can carry you down into sleep rather than keep you up.

 

You do not need to follow the plot. You do not need to remember a single name. Let the words blur at the edges. Let the moor go quiet. If you drift off long before Holmes and Watson reach the gates of Baskerville Hall, that is exactly what this recording is for — the story will still be here tomorrow night.

 

Best listened to lying down, in the dark, with the volume low.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles was first published in 1902 and is in the public domain.

 

Books at Bedtime sits alongside the daily ten-minute guided meditations of Calming Anxiety and the reflections of Coffee Break for the Soul — a free library for anxiety relief, insomnia, overthinking and the long nights.

 

You can also take the whole library with you and download Anchored on iOS. Searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and a built-in nightlight for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com

 

Sleep well, my friend. And in everything, be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and...

Panic Attack Relief — Mindful Breathing to Calm a Racing Chest | 10-Minute Guided Meditation with the Physiological Sigh

 

Panic attack relief starts with one breath — and this ten-minute guided meditation gives you the fastest one there is. If your breathing has gone high and shallow, if you are trying to take a deep breath and it keeps stopping halfway, this session is built for exactly that moment.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's practice is about mindful breathing and one named technique: the physiological sigh. Two breaths in through the nose, a short sip of air stacked on top, then one long, slow release. It is the quickest way we know of to bring a heart rate down in real time, and it is the breath Martin coached people through on the front line.

 

From there you are guided into stillness beside water at dusk — the setting sun, the ripples and reflections on the lake — while five gentle affirmations settle the nervous system and remind you that a panic attack cannot outlast a long, slow breath out.

 

Whether you are riding out a wave of anxiety right now, managing daily stress, or looking for a breathwork practice you can return to every morning, this is anxiety relief you can carry with you and use anywhere.

 

You are not broken. You are not in danger. Your breathing has simply got ahead of you — and it can be brought back.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – Your breathing has got ahead of you

* 01:06 – Welcome to Calming Anxiety

* 01:25 – Anchored arrives on iOS this Thursday

* 01:45 – Instant Calm: your always-on panic attack session

* 02:18 – Settling in

* 02:32 – The physiological sigh explained

* 02:50 – Guided breathing, three rounds

* 04:54 – Letting the words land

* 05:23 – Today's affirmations

* 06:22 – Stillness by the lake at dusk

* 06:51 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:08 – Your three daily caring tips

* 08:58 – Coming back into the room

* 09:37 – Anchored, sharing, and the sign-off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these land. You don't have to believe them — just let them be.

 

* Every breath out is stress leaving my body.

* I do not have to fight a panic attack. I can breathe it out.

* My out breath is longer than my worrying and it is stronger.

* I let this exhale carry the whole day out of my shoulders.

* A panic attack cannot outlast a long, slow breath out.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Rehearse it while you're calm. Practise the physiological sigh twice today while you are calm — once mid-morning, once mid-afternoon — so your body already knows the road before you ever need it in panic.

 

2. Breathe out before you reply. Before you answer any message that makes your stomach drop, put the phone down and take one long breath out first.

 

3. Five slow breaths out at bedtime. Tonight, before sleep, rest one hand on your lower ribs and count five slow breaths out — not in, just out.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

This Thursday, Anchored arrives on iOS — with Android following next month. Everything you hear here, in one calm place: thousands of searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 

The first thing to find when you open it is Instant Calm — a focused panic attack session that sits permanently in the same place, works offline as many times as you need it, and needs no subscription. Because when...

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 11: The Man on the Tor | Arthur Conan Doyle | Books at Bedtime

 

A long, slow bedtime story for sleep and insomnia. Tonight, Chapter 11 of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, read aloud by Martin Hewlett — clinical hypnotherapist, former paramedic, and host of the Calming Anxiety podcast.

 

It is the 18th of October, and Dr Watson finally has two threads to pull. A name behind the initials L. L. And a stranger living somewhere among the stone huts on the hillside.

 

He drives to Coombe Tracey to sit across from Laura Lyons and ask her, gently at first and then not gently at all, about a letter that was burned but not quite burned enough.

 

On the road home he is waylaid by old Frankland, flushed with victory and wine, who takes Watson up to his roof, sets his eye to a telescope, and shows him a small figure carrying a bundle across the empty moor.

 

And so the sun goes down over the great Grimpen Mire, gold on one slope and grey shadow on the other, while Watson sits waiting in the dark of a stone hut for its tenant to come home. When the footsteps finally arrive, the voice that speaks is one he knows better than any voice in the world.

 

This is unhurried, low-stimulation listening built for a mind that will not switch off. No sudden music, no startle, no urgency in the telling. Just a steady voice, a Victorian moor, and thirty minutes of somewhere else to be.

 

If sleep comes before Watson lights his cigarette, that is exactly as it should be. You are not expected to reach the end.

 

Best listened to lying down, with the lights out and the volume set a shade lower than feels right.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was first published in 1902 and is in the public domain.

 

Books at Bedtime is part of the Calming Anxiety family of shows, alongside the daily 10-minute guided meditation and Coffee Break for the Soul. New sleep stories, guided meditations and clinical hypnotherapy sessions arrive every week.

 

Anchored, the companion app to Calming Anxiety, arrives on iOS on the 13th of August 2026 — with a dedicated Books at Bedtime section, offline listening for the nights the signal drops, and a built-in nightlight for the small hours.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please pass it to someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It is the single kindest thing you can do to help another tired person find us.

 

Sleep well… and be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with...

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 10: Extract from the Diary of Dr Watson | Arthur Conan Doyle | Books at Bedtime

 

A slow, calming bedtime story for sleep and insomnia. Tonight, Chapter 10 of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, read aloud by Martin Hewlett — clinical hypnotherapist, former paramedic, and host of the Calming Anxiety podcast.

 

Dr Watson sets aside his letters to Sherlock Holmes and turns instead to his private diary. It is the 16th of October. The moor is banked in with rolling cloud, the rain drizzles against the windows of Baskerville Hall, and Watson confesses to a weight at his heart — a feeling of impending danger he cannot name.

 

Barrymore the butler comes forward with a grievance, and then with something far more valuable: the memory of a single letter that reached Sir Charles on the morning he died, and the charred scrap of a postscript signed with two initials. L. L.

 

Then the rain sets in, the light fails over the great mire, and a second stranger waits in a stone hut somewhere out on the moor.

 

This is slow-paced, low-stimulation listening designed to quieten a racing mind at the end of the day. There is no jump, no startle, no sudden music — just a steady voice, a Victorian mystery, and a soft place to land.

 

If you struggle to fall asleep, if your thoughts start their loudest work the moment your head hits the pillow, or if you simply want a gentle classic audiobook to drift off to, let this one carry you.

 

Best listened to lying down, lights low, with the volume just a little quieter than feels necessary. You are not expected to reach the end.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was first published in 1902 and is in the public domain.

 

Books at Bedtime is part of the Calming Anxiety family of shows, alongside the daily 10-minute guided meditation and Coffee Break for the Soul. New sleep stories, guided meditations and clinical hypnotherapy sessions are released every week.

 

Anchored, the companion app to Calming Anxiety, arrives on iOS on the 13th of August 2026 — with a dedicated Books at Bedtime section, offline listening for the nights the signal drops, and a built-in nightlight for the small hours.

 

If this reading helped you sleep, please share it with someone who lies awake, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It genuinely helps another tired person find us.

 

Sleep well… and be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety...

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 9: The Light Upon the Moor by Arthur Conan Doyle | Books at Bedtime

 

If you can't sleep tonight, let this one carry you down. This is a long, slow sleep story for insomnia — Chapter 9 of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, read aloud at a deliberately unhurried pace for anyone lying awake with a racing mind at two in the morning.

 

Read by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former frontline paramedic. No sudden volume jumps, no startling music, no reason to open your eyes. You are not supposed to follow every word — drifting off halfway through is exactly the point. If you wake in the night, start it again wherever you like.

 

In tonight's chapter, Dr Watson sends his second report from Baskerville Hall. A candle burns at a western window in the small hours. A light answers it from somewhere out on the moor. Watson and Sir Henry sit up through two long, dark vigils to find out who is signalling, and what they uncover on the moor is stranger than either of them expected — a cry on the wind, a chase over wet granite, and a silent figure standing black against the moon.

 

Why classic detective fiction works so well as a sleep aid: the language is rich but the stakes are someone else's. Your brain is given somewhere gentle to rest that isn't your own worry list. That's the whole principle behind Books at Bedtime — a bedtime story for grown-ups who simply cannot switch off.

 

Use this for insomnia relief, for anxiety at night, for shift-work sleep, or just as a quiet audiobook to fall asleep to. Pop it on low, on a sleep timer if you have one, and let the moor do the rest.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles was first published in 1902 and is in the public domain.

 

Anchored, the Calming Anxiety app, arrives on iOS on 13 August 2026 — with the full Books at Bedtime library, offline listening for when the signal drops, and a soft built-in nightlight for the small hours.

 

Sleep well. And when you wake… be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

 



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Can't Sleep? Stop Counting the Hours — Guided Meditation for Sleep Anxiety & Clock Watching | Coherence Breathing

 

Can't sleep because you keep doing the maths? If I fall asleep right now, that's five hours… four and a half by the time I actually drop off… and then you look again and it's less. This guided meditation for sleep anxiety is for that exact moment — bone tired and wide awake at the same time, body heavy, mind bright, with the low hum of tomorrow underneath it all.

 

Every time you calculate the hours left, you ask your nervous system to stay ready. It doesn't know the difference between a deadline and a danger. So tonight we're not going to try to fall asleep — trying is effort, and effort is the opposite of sleep. We're simply going to stop counting.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, this 10-minute session uses coherence breathing — five in, five out — to slow the heart rate, settle the nervous system and let the mattress take your weight. Gentle affirmations for insomnia and racing thoughts follow, then three practical caring tips for tonight and tomorrow. Turn the clock away from you, let the phone go dark, and let's begin.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – The hour when you lie there calculating

* 01:14 – Welcome, and tonight's intention: stop counting

* 01:33 – Settling in — phone dark, clock turned away

* 01:48 – Coherence breathing: five in, five out

* 04:30 – Letting the count go, drifting deeper

* 05:43 – Tonight's gentle affirmations

* 07:01 – Setting down the weight of the day

* 08:07 – Three daily caring tips

* 08:50 – Closing words and drifting off

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these float through your thoughts as you drift:

 

Lying still in the dark is already doing me good.

 

I do not have to count the hours.

 

I release the need to sleep, and sleep comes closer now.

 

I have been tired before, and I have always been okay.

 

I am calm and I am heavy.

 

I am warm and I am drifting.

 

I am safe. I am here.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Put the clock out of reach. Turn your clock or phone to face the wall and put your phone out of arm's reach, so that checking the time stops being an option rather than a decision.

 

2. The 20-minute rule. If you're still awake after about 20 minutes, get up. Go somewhere dim and boring, even if only for 10 minutes, then go back to bed when you feel sleepy.

 

3. Anchor the morning, not the night. Keep the same wake-up time tomorrow, whatever happens tonight. A steady morning does more for your sleep than a long lie-in ever will.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Anchored launches Thursday 13 August. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours — including a night-time breathing session in the Box Breathing section made for exactly this moment. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com)

 

If this episode helped you tonight, please share it with someone who's lying awake too, and leave a 30-second rating and review on Apple Podcasts — it's the single kindest thing you can do for the show.

 

Sleep well, my friend. In everything, be kind.

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety...

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 8: First Report of Dr Watson | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story for sleep and insomnia, read slowly and softly for anyone lying awake in the dark.

 

Tonight, Books at Bedtime continues The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Chapter 8 — the First Report of Dr Watson.

 

The narrative changes shape here. Holmes has stayed behind in London, and from this point onward Watson tells the story through his own letters, written by candlelight from Baskerville Hall and dated the thirteenth of October.

 

He writes of the moor and how its vastness sinks into the soul. Of the prehistoric huts scattered across the hillsides. Of the escaped convict who has not been seen for a fortnight and is surely long gone. Of Sir Henry's growing attachment to Miss Stapleton, and of the curious look of disapproval that crosses her brother's face whenever the baronet pays her attention.

 

There is a walk to the two great weathered stones where the legend of the wicked Hugo is said to have begun. A lunch at Merripit House. An introduction to Mr Frankland of Lafter Hall — red-faced, choleric, ruinously fond of a lawsuit, and lately to be found on his own roof with a telescope, sweeping the moor for a glimpse of the convict.

 

And then, at two o'clock in the morning, a stealthy step in the corridor. A long black shadow. A candle held against the glass of an empty room, and Barrymore staring out into the blackness of the moor.

 

There is some secret business going on in this house of gloom.

 

This is a full-length classic audiobook chapter, read as a sleep story — no sudden music, no jarring endings. Just a familiar Victorian mystery, told at a pace made for drifting off. If you fall asleep before Watson finishes his letter, that is exactly as it should be. The chapter will still be here tomorrow night.

 

Read by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist, former paramedic and host of Calming Anxiety — the daily 10-minute guided meditation podcast. Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul are the story companions to the daily show, made for the small hours.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles is in the public domain.

 

Sleep well, my friend. In everything, be kind.

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Panic Attack Relief — Calm the Numb, Shaky Aftermath | 10 Minute Guided Meditation for Anxiety

 

Panic attack relief for the moment nobody talks about — the aftermath. The attack itself has passed, but the body still feels numb, the hands are tingling, the legs are unsteady, and the mind is already asking the frightening question: will I ever get over these? This ten minute guided meditation is for exactly that moment.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, this session uses slow out-breath focus and a gentle winter's-morning visualisation — watching your breath leave as small white clouds, then watching the grey mist of fear and dark thoughts drift away on the breeze — to settle a nervous system that is still running hot. There is no need to fight the feeling. You simply breathe, and let the panic evaporate from the surface of the skin.

 

Whether you are looking for panic attack help, anxiety relief, breathwork for a racing heart, or a daily guided meditation to steady you before sleep, take these ten minutes now and regain control, composure and calm.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – The moment after a panic attack — numb body, tingling hands

* 00:22 – Welcome, and why this one is personal

* 00:44 – Diary note: Anchored launches Thursday the 13th

* 01:07 – Settling in — the almost hypnotic rhythm of the breath

* 01:50 – The pause between breaths, and letting the panic evaporate

* 02:59 – Deepening — muscle fibres loosening, sinking down, safe and secure

* 03:34 – Visualisation: seeing your breath on a cold winter's morning

* 03:51 – Breathing out the dark grey mist of fear and anxiety

* 04:47 – Preparing for today's affirmations

* 05:28 – Affirmations, first pass

* 06:54 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:13 – Three daily caring tips

* 09:05 – Gently returning — fingers, toes, a stretch, and open your eyes

* 09:30 – Closing thoughts and the Anchored launch

* 10:37 – In everything, be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Repeat these softly after me, silently or out loud, taking note of the sound, the shape, the feel of them:

 

I find calm and peace with every out breath.

 

I am in control of all that I am.

 

The negativity and darkness of my past does not define my future.

 

I am worthy of peace and joy as much as anyone else.

 

I love all that I am.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. **You are safe.** When panic arrives, tell yourself you are safe. You have got through worse before and you will get through this once more.

 

2. **You are not broken.** You are not at fault. We are all human and we all face the same challenges.

 

3. **Rest and steady yourself.** Take your rest once the panic is finished, have a drink of water and steady your nerves. Cold water on the back of your neck or on your wrists helps the parasympathetic system take back control.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Put it in your diary — Thursday the 13th, Anchored launches on the App Store. It is the app I have written over the last few months: a home for all of this and so much more. The free plan gives you four sessions a day, the ambient night light, box breathing, and the night timers. Find out more at https://calminganxiety.fm/anchored

 

If you download it, please leave a review in the first day or two. It genuinely does spread the word, and I would love as many people as possible to be able to access it and take back control of their lives.

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 7: The Stapletons of Merripit House by Arthur Conan Doyle | Books at Bedtime

 

A calming bedtime story for sleep and insomnia, read slowly and gently by Martin Hewlett of Calming Anxiety.

 

This is Chapter 7 of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Hound of the Baskervilles — a free audiobook read designed to quiet a busy mind and carry you softly down into sleep.

 

Morning light floods the mullioned windows of Baskerville Hall, and for a moment the grim impression of the night before is eased away. But Dr Watson has a test to run at the Grimpen post office, and a walk out across the moor that will change everything he thinks he knows.

 

Out among the boulders he meets Mr Jack Stapleton, the naturalist of Merripit House — a man who knows the ground better than anyone, and who leads Watson to the edge of the great Grimpen Mire, where the earth itself waits to swallow the unwary.

 

And then, drifting across the moor, comes a long, low moan that the country folk have a name for.

 

If you struggle with insomnia, anxiety at bedtime, or a mind that will not switch off, this is a story to be listened to in the dark. There is no need to follow every thread. Let the words become a sound to rest inside, and if you drift away before the end, that is exactly as it should be.

 

Part of Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett — bringing you calm, relaxation and better sleep, one chapter at a time.

 

Sleep well, my friend.

 

And in everything, my friend, be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I'm So Tired of Starting Over — Guided Meditation for Setbacks, Self-Doubt & Beginning Again | Coherence Breathing

 

If you are so tired of starting over, this 10-minute guided meditation is for you. Setbacks, false starts and the quiet exhaustion of beginning again can leave you convinced you are going backwards and somehow behind. This session is not going to ask you to be positive about that. It is going to show you something you have stopped being able to see.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's anxiety relief session uses coherence breathing, also known as resonant breathing, at six counts in and six counts out. At roughly five breaths a minute your heart rhythm and your breathing fall into step and synchronise, calming the nervous system and building resilience rather than simply distracting you. From there, gentle affirmations for self-doubt, self-worth and starting again settle you into a beautiful, trance-like state of deep relaxation.

 

This episode also carries a personal announcement. Six years after these meditations began with a microphone and not much of a clue, the Calming Anxiety app — Anchored — launches on Thursday the 13th of August. Slow, interrupted, unglamorous progress is still progress — and that is as true for you as it has been for me.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

 

* 00:00 – "I'm so tired of starting over" — you are not lazy, not weak, not behind

* 00:49 – Welcome, and why setbacks are not the end of the story

* 01:22 – A personal announcement: six years, a van, a microphone, and Anchored

* 02:31 – Settling: feet flat, shoulders down, eyes closed

* 02:41 – Coherence breathing explained — six in, six out, five breaths a minute

* 03:22 – Three guided rounds of coherence breathing

* 04:54 – Affirmations for setbacks, resilience and beginning again

* 06:41 – Deepening — drifting down with every out-breath

* 07:22 – Second pass of affirmations

* 08:51 – Your three daily caring tips

* 09:35 – Coming back to the room

* 10:07 – Anchored launches Thursday 13th August — put it in your diary

* 11:01 – In everything, my friend, be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

 

Let these words settle. You don't have to believe them yet — just allow them to land.

 

* I am still here, and that is not a small thing.

* I have come further than I have ever given myself credit for.

* I am not behind. I am on my own path, at my own pace.

* Setbacks have shaped me. They have not stopped me.

* I am allowed to begin again, as many times as it takes.

* I am building something, even on the days it doesn't quite show.

* The quiet work I am doing still counts.

* Every setback I have survived is already inside me as strength.

* I am becoming resilient, one ordinary day at a time.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

 

1. Name what you have already survived — write down one thing you have already survived this year and read it back to yourself tonight before sleep.

 

2. Make the next step almost silly — choose the smallest possible next step, so small it feels almost silly, and do only that today.

 

3. Turn the measurement around — when you catch yourself measuring how far you have left to go, turn it around deliberately and measure how far you have already come.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

 

Download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉...

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 6: Baskerville Hall by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A sleep story for anyone lying awake with a busy mind. Tonight, Books at Bedtime continues Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles with Chapter 6 — Baskerville Hall — read slowly and softly by Martin Hewlett, host of Calming Anxiety.

 

Dr Watson leaves Baker Street behind and travels down into Devonshire with Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr Mortimer. Sherlock Holmes stays in London with his parting instruction: report the facts, and leave the theorising to him.

 

The journey carries them past sunlit orchards and gabled houses, and then out onto the great brooding moor. There are armed guards at the little wayside station, a convict loose on Dartmoor, and a house of long shadows waiting at the end of the avenue — and in the dead of the night, Watson hears the sob of a woman somewhere inside Baskerville Hall.

 

Let the words carry you. There is nothing to follow and nothing to remember — if you drift off before the end of the chapter, that is exactly what this recording is for. You can always come back to it tomorrow night.

 

This is a classic audiobook reading for relaxation, insomnia relief and deep sleep — part of the Books at Bedtime and Coffee Break for the Soul series from Calming Anxiety, hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett.

 

Take Calming Anxiety with you anywhere — download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours. 👉 Download Anchored on the App Store today: https://apps.apple.com

 

If this reading helped you rest, please share it with someone who is struggling to sleep, and leave a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

 

Sleep well — and in everything, my friend, be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Sleep Story for Insomnia — The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chapter 5: Three Broken Threads | Books at Bedtime

 

Drift off to sleep with a classic bedtime story. If insomnia has you lying awake, this gentle, slow-paced reading is designed to quieten a racing mind and carry you softly into deep, restful sleep.

 

Tonight, Books at Bedtime continues Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles with Chapter 5 — Three Broken Threads.

 

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson return to the Northumberland Hotel, where Sir Henry Baskerville is in a state over a missing boot. A bearded stranger has been following them through London. A telegram is sent to Devonshire to test whether Barrymore is truly at his post. And a cab driver named John Clayton delivers a piece of news that leaves Holmes quite speechless.

 

Three threads. All of them broken before the evening is out.

 

You do not need to follow the story. You do not need to remember a word of it. Let the voice become background — a warm, familiar presence in the dark — and let sleep arrive in its own time.

 

This is a public domain classic, read aloud for relaxation and sleep by Martin Hewlett, host of the Calming Anxiety podcast and creator of Coffee Break for the Soul. No sudden music. No jarring edits. Just a calm voice, a good story, and permission to stop thinking.

 

Perfect as a sleep aid, for insomnia, night-time anxiety, long journeys, or any evening when your mind refuses to settle.

 

Sleep well, my friend. In everything you do — be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Fall Asleep to Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Chapter  4 | A Bedtime Sleep Story for Insomnia & Relaxation | Books at Bedtime

 

Fall asleep to the timeless storytelling of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This relaxing bedtime audiobook is read slowly and softly to calm a busy mind, ease insomnia, quiet anxious thoughts, and gently guide you towards deep, restorative sleep through the soothing rhythm of classic literature.

 

Tonight we continue with Chapter Four of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous mystery, 
 

By the fire at 221B Baker Street, Dr Mortimer unfolds an old manuscript from 1742 and reads the strange legend of Hugo Baskerville and the great black hound of the moor — then turns to a more recent newspaper account of the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville out on the lonely Devon moorland.

 

Let the voices of Holmes and Watson, and the hush of that candlelit room, carry you along at a slow, peaceful pace, so your racing thoughts can drift into the background while you rest comfortably in bed.

 

Whether you are struggling with insomnia, anxious or overthinking at 2am, or you simply love falling asleep to classic audiobooks, this Books at Bedtime episode is a calm, screen-free way to zone out and unwind before sleep.

 

Books at Bedtime combines classic audiobooks with mindful relaxation to help you fall asleep naturally, reduce anxiety, and enjoy a peaceful night's sleep.

 

Perfect if you are looking for:

 

Falling asleep naturally

 

Relief from insomnia and a racing mind

 

Relaxing bedtime stories and classic audiobooks for sleep

 

Mindful relaxation before bed

 

Calming anxiety and overthinking at night

 

A soothing voice to zone out to

 

If you enjoy these bedtime stories, you will find over 3,000 guided meditations, sleep stories, and panic attack relief sessions inside the Anchored app.

 

Sleep well.

 

Martin.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Fall Asleep to Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Chapter  3 — The Curse of the Baskervilles) | A Bedtime Sleep Story for Insomnia & Relaxation | Books at Bedtime

 

Fall asleep to the timeless storytelling of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This relaxing bedtime audiobook is read slowly and softly to calm a busy mind, ease insomnia, quiet anxious thoughts, and gently guide you towards deep, restorative sleep through the soothing rhythm of classic literature.

 

Tonight we continue with Chapter Three of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous mystery, "The Curse of the Baskervilles."

 

By the fire at 221B Baker Street, Dr Mortimer unfolds an old manuscript from 1742 and reads the strange legend of Hugo Baskerville and the great black hound of the moor — then turns to a more recent newspaper account of the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville out on the lonely Devon moorland.

 

Let the voices of Holmes and Watson, and the hush of that candlelit room, carry you along at a slow, peaceful pace, so your racing thoughts can drift into the background while you rest comfortably in bed.

 

Whether you are struggling with insomnia, anxious or overthinking at 2am, or you simply love falling asleep to classic audiobooks, this Books at Bedtime episode is a calm, screen-free way to zone out and unwind before sleep.

 

Books at Bedtime combines classic audiobooks with mindful relaxation to help you fall asleep naturally, reduce anxiety, and enjoy a peaceful night's sleep.

 

Perfect if you are looking for:

 

Falling asleep naturally

 

Relief from insomnia and a racing mind

 

Relaxing bedtime stories and classic audiobooks for sleep

 

Mindful relaxation before bed

 

Calming anxiety and overthinking at night

 

A soothing voice to zone out to

 

If you enjoy these bedtime stories, you will find over 3,000 guided meditations, sleep stories, and panic attack relief sessions inside the Anchored app.

 

Sleep well.

 

Martin.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Ad-Free Listening: Enjoy Calming Anxiety without ads at https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety--4110266/support

 

Buy Me a Coffee: Support hosting costs at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calminganxiety

 

Newsletter: Subscribe on Substack at https://calminganxietypodcast.substack.com/?r=6zm0sc&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.