Welcome.
I'm so glad you're here with me as you prepare for sleep tonight.
This meditation will help your body to relax and rest.
It will help your mind to quiet and pause.
And I am honored to be here with you in this space and time.
Let's begin by coming into our breath.
We're not going to take a deep breath here.
We're just going to be aware of our natural breathing.
Notice what happens to your body as you become aware of your breath.
Does your breath change?
Does your body relax?
Does it tense up?
Let's be aware of our breath and our body in time and space for one moment As you breathe,
Listen to my voice.
We're going to begin with a progressive muscle relaxation.
This is a technique that is used to physically relax the body.
We're going to go through the different muscles in the body and tense them up on an inhale.
Hold that tension for a few seconds,
And then in one instant,
Relax the entire muscle group while breathing out all at once.
It is very important that the exhale and the releasing of tension in the muscles happen suddenly and all at once We do not want to gradually release our breath or our tension for this exercise We want it to be all at once Give yourself a couple more relaxed,
Normal breaths here.
And now we'll begin the PMR with our hands,
Wrists,
And arms.
Your hands,
A part of your body that gives.
The part of your body that makes or creates things that literally holds things together our arms that hold the ones we love.
That carry heavy things for us.
We owe a lot to our hands and our arms.
And gratitude for these amazing body parts.
Let's take an inhale.
As we clench our hands into fists,
Bend our arms at the elbows and tighten our biceps.
Tighten,
Hold your breath here,
Clenching,
Clenching every muscle from your fingers to the tops of your arms should be tightened.
Hold and exhale.
Release.
Release all at once.
Relax.
Let it all relax.
Take a few normal breaths here Next,
We're going to give our attention to the shoulders part of the body that holds so much tension.
This is where many of us get tense as soon as we're stressed out or upset.
Let's inhale and shrug those shoulders up to your ears all the way up.
Hold,
Hold,
Hold,
Shrug,
Hold your breath,
Hold your breath and release.
Exhale,
Release the shoulders down.
Now you're floating Take a few normal breaths here.
Next we'll do the face,
The part of our body that allows people to recognize us.
That shows our emotions,
That allows language and laughter to escape,
Where we see and hear and taste and smell.
Before we do this one,
I'm going to explain what we're going to do.
We're going to wrinkle our foreheads into a scowl,
Squeeze our eyes together as tightly as we can,
And smile as widely and as huge as possible.
We're going to do all of those things at the same time.
So to recap,
That's wrinkling,
Scowling the forehead,
Squeezing the eyes shut and smiling as widely as you can,
All three at once OK,
Now we're going to do it.
With gratitude for these awesome gifts.
Let's inhale and scrunch everything,
Wrinkle the brow,
Smile wide,
Squeeze the eyes,
Hold it,
Hold it,
Hold it,
Hold it,
And exhale.
Release,
Release everything,
Relax.
Let your face melt back down.
Take a few normal breaths here.
And now we move on to the back on my cue.
We will arch those backs and squeeze the shoulder blades together.
Squeeze those blades together,
Arch,
Arch the back,
Hold,
Hold everything tense,
Hold everything and exhale,
Release.
Relax the spine,
Relax the shoulder blades.
Take a few normal breaths here.
Next,
We're going to move to the stomach where we get our nourishment,
Our second brains.
We're gonna suck your stomach into a tight knot.
Do not create tension in your chest,
But just squeeze the stomach into a very tight knot on the inhale.
Ready,
Inhale.
Squeeze into a tight knot.
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Tighter,
Tighter.
You could go tighter.
Hold,
Hold,
Hold.
Squeeze and exhale.
Release everything.
Release those side muscles,
The front abdominal muscles.
Everything is soft.
Take a few normal breaths here.
We have two more areas of the body to release.
We're going to move on to the buttocks and hips.
And here you're going to squeeze your buttocks together tightly and tense up your hip flexors.
On the inhale,
And go.
Inhale.
Squeeze the buttocks.
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Get those hip flexors involved.
Squeeze everything so tight.
Hold,
Hold,
Hold,
And release.
Exhale everything out all at once.
Let go.
Let go.
There's a softening.
And we'll take a few normal breaths here.
And lastly,
We will focus on the legs and the feet.
When I prompt you,
We will clench our thighs,
Our calves,
And we'll point our feet down while curling the toes under.
So let's get ready.
Inhale and clench those thighs,
Clench the calves,
Clench,
Clench,
Point those feet,
Curl the toes under,
Hold,
Hold,
Hold,
And release all at once.
Everything softens.
Let it all go.
Allow your breathing to return to a normal,
Steady pace Feel the relaxation melt all through your body.
Every muscle,
Every bit of tension is melting away.
Melting into the mattress or the floor or the mat or the earth.
Melting down.
Down.
Down and away.
And we'll turn our thoughts inward now body is relaxed.
Your body is jelly.
Body is floating.
And we can see ourselves on a sunny day.
Relaxing in our favorite outside place Maybe you're on the beach with the waves rolling nearby.
Or by the lake.
With the water gently lapping the shore.
It could be in a grassy field or a meadow full of wildflowers.
Or on your porch,
Laying on your back in the snow or on a sunny winter day.
Maybe you're sitting in a fishing boat,
Standing at the top of a mountain of freshly fallen snow Wherever you are,
You are at peace.
You feel the warm sun on your face and the gentle breeze on your skin White puffy clouds are gently floating by and everything smells fresh and clean and new.
You smile gently,
Knowing that everything is right in this moment.
And as you enjoy the sensations of this moment,
As best as you can,
Let go of any thoughts that are hanging out in your mind.
Just let them float by with the clouds as you're relaxing with the sun on your face and the breeze tickling your skin.
If any thoughts try to creep in,
Just allow them.
Don't resist the thoughts.
Allow them to pass through.
They'll come in and then pass right through.
You can acknowledge the thought.
Thank your mind for its amazing ability to give you these thoughts and ideas and inspirations.
And then as best as you can,
Allow that thought to float away on the breeze or place that thought on one of those beautiful puffy white clouds floating by and place that thought right on a cloud and watch it float away.
Getting smaller.
And smaller.
And smaller.
Until it's disappearing out of sight.
There it goes.
And allow your mind to be empty.
There's nothing to think about at the moment.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
No commitments,
No responsibilities in this moment It's just time to be,
To relax,
To empty your mind.
To just be.
If another thought enters your mind,
Just blow it away like you would a birthday candle.
Or like a child blowing bubbles Just puff it away onto the breeze.
And allow it to float away on the gentle breeze or put that thought on a cloud and watch it float away.
As we empty our minds,
We're getting more and more relaxed.
We are going deeper into peace and deeper into our relaxation.
We're melting into this peace and comfort that will bring us to a deep and restful sleep.
We are melting into a sleep that will rejuvenate and restore.
We're slowing our breath and melting into sleep Just melting into sleep.
And as we drift off.
Any thoughts we have we release.
Onto the breeze that's gently going by Those thoughts will return when they'll better serve us.
But for now.
.
.
We release them and let them go.
You can trust your mind.
And your brain.
And your conscience that these thoughts will return to you when you need them.
Or maybe these thoughts do not serve you well at all.
And in this case,
Let's release those thoughts indefinitely.
Let's allow these uninvited,
Maybe uncomfortable thoughts to completely disappear.
Once you release them,
They don't float off on the breeze or on a cloud.
They disintegrate into thin air.
They just dissipate and go away.
And they're gone.
You can trust your mind and your brain and your conscience that these thoughts will not return to you because your inner light knows that these thoughts are not serving you.
And as we let go of these thoughts,
And of all thoughts,
We relax deeper.
And sink into our sleep.
We let go.
We let go.
We let go.
We release.
We relax.
And we sleep I'm going to sign off with my voice and leave you here with the music for a little while I wish you peace.
I wish you love.
I wish you joy.
I wish you purpose.
And I wish you abundance.
May God bless you and keep you.
You
