A Relaxing Guided Meditation That Focuses on a Beautiful Vampire Squid Floating in the Deep Dark Sea

The The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute series Deep RelaxOcean has put together an incredibly relaxing, ocean-themed guided meditation video narrated by Susan von Thun. Von Thun’s lyrical voice helps viewers focus on their inhalations using tranquil footage of a beautiful vampire squid floating back and forth in the deep, dark sea. While it seems that a vampire squid would be an unlikely representative of tranquility, in truth, the squid is a small, passive creature.

It’s easy to imagine the vampire squid as a nightmarish predator. It lurks in the eternal midnight of the deep sea, has a dark red body, huge blue eyes, and a cloak-like web that stretches between its eight arms. …Even its scientific name, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, means “vampire squid from hell.” In reality, the vampire squid is a soft-bodied, passive creature, about the size, shape, and color of a football. A “living fossil,” it inhabits the deep waters of all the world’s ocean basins at depths where there is almost no oxygen, but also relatively few predators.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.