Well,
Hello there.
Welcome to Celestial Gems.
My name is Gem,
And I'll be your guide in this sleep journey.
I'd like to welcome you,
Weary listener,
To this corner of the universe.
This space that I have created and will share with you now.
This is a safe space for you to unwind,
Rest and eventually drift into sleep.
If accessible to you,
The room you are sleeping in should be as dark as possible.
Ideally,
It is a little cooler.
Maybe,
If it doesn't pose any sort of health risks or danger to you,
Have the window slightly open.
If you are listening on your phone,
Now is the ideal time to set it down.
Switch it to silent or turn on the Do Not Disturb feature.
Let everything else wait until morning.
This isn't a traditional meditation,
But rather a gentle guide into your sleep journey.
A space to help you drift from wakefulness into rest.
I've created this for anyone who's had a rough day,
For those carrying worries or stress that might make it hard to rest.
It may also bring comfort if you're feeling low or finding it difficult to drift off tonight.
If you haven't already,
It might be nice now for you to close your eyes.
Begin to slip into the darkness.
Cool and soft your inner world.
Just you.
Let's stop here for a moment and feel your whole body.
Begin to feel your whole body.
Feel your body slowly begin to relax.
It is soft here.
You can be soft here.
No one else around to judge.
It might be nice if you like to not judge yourself.
To accept what was and rest on.
If that feels hard to you right now that's okay.
These things can be hard.
I would like to suggest that whatever may be bothering you right now to pop it down.
You can always come back to it tomorrow.
No problem needs solving right now anyway.
Best to rest instead.
If you like and it feels good to you,
Let's breathe together.
Take a nice slow deep breath in.
You can hold for a moment or two or just exhale when it feels right to you.
Breathe in any way you like.
I do suggest breathing in through your nose softly and exhaling from the mouth deeply.
Breathe in.
Holding for a moment or two if you like and then exhale from the mouth.
Feel your mattress underneath you holding you,
Supporting you and your whole body.
If you can,
Notice the way the support fills beneath your legs.
The weight of your body pushing against the surface of the bed beneath you.
Feel the edge of your body touching the surface.
Feel the gentle warmth building beneath your blanket.
Can you notice the way your blanket feels against your body?
Is it light and barely there or does it have a comforting weight gently pressing against you?
You are to the blanket what the mattress is to you.
Perhaps the weight of the blanket offers you some sort of comfort and security.
Notice if you can how comfy you are.
Allow yourself to relax into your cozy surroundings.
This is a nice place for you.
If you can think about how your face feels at this moment.
Think about your forehead and your eyebrows.
Do you carry tension here?
It might be nice for your next inhale to direct your breath there.
As you exhale think about your eyebrows and your forehead relaxing.
Think about your eyes softening.
Your jaw unclenching.
Everything is resting with you now.
Everything feels soft.
Everything relaxed.
Your cheeks.
Your mouth.
Your lips.
Your jaw.
Your tongue.
Your whole body is relaxed.
The softness in your face trickles down relaxing your whole body.
Your neck.
Your shoulders.
Your arms.
Your wrists.
Your fingers.
Everything is soft and warm.
Your whole body.
Your chest.
Your abdomen.
Your belly.
The sides of your body.
Your hips.
Your groin.
Your thighs.
Your knees.
Your calves.
Your ankles.
Your feet.
Your toes.
The soles of your feet.
Feel it all melting.
As you get cozier,
Warmer.
Everything is relaxed.
Everything is gentle.
The back of your legs.
The back of your knees.
The back of your thighs.
Your bottom.
Your lower back.
Your middle back.
Your upper back.
Shoulder blades.
The back of your neck.
The back of your head.
The outline of your body touching the surface of your sheets.
Everything is soft here.
If you can,
Try gently accepting your day just as it was.
It might be nice for you now to let go of any shame or guilt or fear.
If you don't know what that feels like,
That's okay too.
Maybe you can just pretend for now as you drift further into your sleepiness.
It's okay if you're not falling asleep yet.
You don't have to.
This is just a nice time for you to enjoy the quiet.
You are still resting as you lay here.
Your body is resting now.
I want you to know you did the best you could today.
And it's okay if you don't believe me or if you find it hard to accept.
Accomplishments don't always look the way we think.
Success sometimes,
For some,
Is simply getting out of bed in the morning.
Sometimes it's telling yourself,
I love you when you look in the mirror.
Sometimes it's just nice just to accept the things as they are.
It's okay.
If you like you'll get another chance tomorrow.
You have done enough today.
We all play roles in our lives.
Parts written by duty and expectations.
But here you can set them down.
There are no responsibilities here.
No roles for you to play.
If you like you can take your mask off now.
It doesn't serve you whilst you are sleeping.
Set it down beside you and just be you for this moment.
This is your moment just to be.
There's nothing left to do.
Your value in this world is not tied to your production.
You are more than just a cog in this machine.
You grow and expand as everything in nature does.
Nothing ever remains the same.
The wheel of life is constantly turning.
You flow in and out like the tides.
Maybe we can breathe again together now.
Take a slow steady breath in as you do.
Think of the ocean like your breath pulling inwards and then softly exhale like the ocean easing forward.
Breathe in gentle and soft the water of the sea like a milk pond.
Soft,
Calm steady receding in.
Breathe out and out back to the shoreline.
Breathe in the sea moves inwards like a sigh.
Allow the breath to flow out and the sea returns to the sand.
You are just as the ocean slow and steady rhythms.
Each breath a reminder of your connections to nature.
You are no different to the sea.
I'd like to take a moment now to quote Alan Watts.
Let's suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream that you wanted to dream and that you could for example have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time and you would naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams you would fulfill all your wishes you would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive and after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each you would say well that was pretty great.
But now let's have a surprise let's have a dream which isn't under control where something is going to happen to me that I don't know what it is going to be and you would dig that and come out of that and say well that was a close shave wasn't it and then you would get more and more adventurous and you would make further and further gambles as to what you would dream and finally you would dream where you are now you would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.
You might like to think of this time as a time of rest for your body but a time of adventure into your inner realm If you could dream any dream what dream would you choose to dream?
Just like everything in nature we rise and fall we grow and expand we retreat and go inwards up and down in in like the tide like the tide returning in like water pulling back out like the sea gliding softly to the sand there is nothing left for you to do just enjoy this gentle rising quiet holding you soothing you carrying you into sleep your breath is the tide in coming back in let yourself drift now slowly,
Softly the way moonlight drifts across the water every muscle at ease every part of you safe to rest you're safe you're held you're allowed to let go now drift sleep float let yourself slip beneath the surface of rest until we meet again goodnight my moonlit friend
