Receiving Deep Sleep

This is a guided practice for removing all the things that get in the way of receiving deep sleep. It is a multi-modal approach to releasing secret tension in the body, mind, and emotions, which allows you to receive deep sleep like a gift.

Especially good for going to sleep and also for falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.

Transcript

Welcome to this Receiving Deep Sleep practice This practice deals with insomnia, Restlessness and an active mind and body By sequentially moving through various protocols to help you fall deeper and deeper into receiving deep sleep Firstly we'll focus on releasing secret tension That's tension that you're not aware of, That you're holding That's tension that's held in the mind, In the body and in your emotions When we release secret tension we allow ourselves to receive deep sleep, Like a present, Like a gift Enjoy this 30 minute Receiving Deep Sleep practice together with me now So start by setting up yourself in the bed You may want to adjust yourself to lie flat on the bed with your palms facing upwards, Legs spread evenly And if it's possible allow yourself to adjust your pillow to sit on your forehead and eyes Making room for your nose to be unobstructed so you can breathe easily Only if it's easy to do for your bed setup Over time this becomes a physical cue to drift into deep sleep As you make final adjustments commit to yourself to not move for the next 30 minutes If there's any subtle agitation during the practice, Just let them pass They will pass So commit yourself consciously by affirming I will not move for the next 30 minutes Now start by reassuring yourself or de-threatening any wakefulness It is normal, Especially during these times, To be wakeful at night, To be restless at night It's very normal And sometimes the brain wakes during sleep cycles That's just ordinary So accept it, There's nothing wrong with you being wakeful Deep rest alone restores the brain, Even if you don't fall asleep entirely So give yourself that That deep rest alone restores the brain and the body Encourage your mind to receive rest rather than trying to rest Just receive rest, Allow it to come to you like a gift This reassurance helps you to let go of any subtle judgment, Worry or shame that there's something wrong with you Now invite awareness of the body lying safely in bed Encourage slow awareness of the room and the environment And ask yourself, What's here now when there's no problem to solve on the level of awareness? What's here now when there's no problem to solve in your awareness? When there's no problem to solve, All that's here is the room, Space, Stillness and silence Accept that, Receive that, Don't try to make that happen Receive that There's nothing to solve right now Now take some nice belly breaths and extended exhales Into the belly and then breathing out as if you're breathing out a straw Two more breaths, Breathing into the belly And feeling yourself dissolve, Dilute, Immerse and marinate into a deep rest one more time into the belly Very good Continue to breathe this way a little bit more silently Encouraging yourself to easily breathe into the belly and feel it fully as you exhale slowly Longer exhales stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, Allowing rest and digest Breathing out slowly Breathing in slowly Now we'll start some cognitive offloading Allow yourself to acknowledge that your brain may start thinking, And that's okay Your brain may start thinking, And that's okay Sometimes the brain's thoughts are about discharging unfinished business, Unfinished processing And that's okay, But now is not the time to complete the processing So you don't need to grab them, Engage with them All you need to do is notice them and drop them As if you're in a stream of tennis balls coming your way, All representing thoughts Notice when the hand or the mind is grabbing those thoughts like tennis balls and simply let go, Like dropping tennis balls Everyone's done that, So just drop them consciously As you do this, You can start to allow thoughts, These tennis balls, To take a different direction To be rerouted, To take a detour, And end up in some filing cabinet or letterbox Or somewhere where your future self will take care of them Allow thoughts to be taken care of by your future self, Not the one wanting to receive sleep right now You may actually have a felt experience of this, Noting in your awareness that the tennis balls of thought are detouring now Are not coming to you, Instead they're being filed in some filing cabinet or some letterbox As you do this, You'll notice that you're noticing thoughts, But you're not engaging with thoughts Not going into chasing after mode, Mind elaboration And it feels great, It feels amazing to know that you have this option And that your future self will deal with these things tomorrow, Once you're rested Feeling the activity of these tennis balls, But not knowing anything about their content or context You don't need to. If you do pick them up, Drop them Drop, Drop, Drop, And reroute to the letterbox or filing cabinet Now let's do a body scan for neural downshifting This moves awareness from your head to the rest of your body Some people call this yoga nidra, Or non-sleepy breath Start by noticing your forehead If you have the pillow on your forehead, You'll notice the pressure of the pillow Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go As you notice this, Notice the forehead with your intention can soften As if either side of your forehead can just melt, Drift, And loosen up and relax Now allow your eyebrows to do the same Notice your eyebrows, The sensation of your eyebrows And allow them to also drift either side of your face, Left and right Melt, Slip away Any secret tension can be let go Take an extra breath and allow your eyebrows to melt either side of your head Now allow your eyes to rest back into their sockets And also just allow them to part, Rest and part Receiving rest, Falling into rest Now allow your jaw to unclench, Just 1% Unclench your jaw, 1% Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go And notice how your tongue moves into a more relaxed location Notice your tongue relaxing, Melting in your mouth As your jaw relaxes even more Now allow your neck to release, The drop connected to your shoulders Releasing your neck and your shoulders dropping ever so slightly, Just 1% And notice what's released Breathing in between here with a slow out breath Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go Notice with this move that your arms and your hands start warming up and releasing And just as an extra level of relaxation Imagine that your arms are melting, As if they are melting like pancake batter Making it a little immovable, Not much, Just a little bit Allowing yourself to receive Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go Now this also noticing that the chest is also softening Which releases the voice, Releases the center of your heart to drop deeper and lower As if your voice, If you were to speak, Becomes deeper Deeper than before Now belly expanding naturally, As you breathe into the belly And allowing it to relax and melt either side Opening up your belly all the way to your hip, Pelvis Lower back opening up and melting like pancake batter Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go This also releases the hips that are now heavy But they are also softening, They are not so hard anymore, They are now soft and melting Thighs and knees become loose And they both begin to melt, Either side, Left and right As calves melt downward and ankles soften Your whole lower body becomes like soft pancake batter, Melting into the pan Making it a little, Just 1% harder to move But allowing yourself to receive sleep Releasing secret tension that's beyond your conscious awareness, Deeply held Release the secret tension and let it go Now your feet are warm and heavy And their shape is almost indistinguishable But they relax as they also melt into the ground, Into the bed Feel gravity pulling the body deeper into the bed, Deeper and deeper Now, Drifting even more into sleep, You notice that your body is asleep But your awareness is awake The one that's listening is awake The one that's trying is awake Allow that too, To dissolve into the field of awareness Allow, Very slowly and softly, The mind to unhook from thought And be more interested in the entire bed Be more interested in the entire body as support, Being supported by the bed Sleep will come naturally We only have 6 minutes left of this guidance And then you can turn over and fall to deep sleep Notice how brilliant it is to receive sleep As you slowly but surely immerse, Merge with awareness And from a non-dual basis of operation, It may feel like there's no inside or outside That the space in your feet is not limited to your feet The space around your feet is awareness It's already spacious Allow this awareness, This cognition of awareness and space To take up more space in the room From under your sheets, Filling up the room in all directions In front of you, Behind you, To the left, To the right Below you, Filling up the room Until awareness turns around and becomes aware of itself Awareness of awareness of the space in the room And the space in your body at the same time Maintain this balanced awareness of the space in the room And the space in your body at the same time Whatever arises, Any thoughts, Feelings or sensations Let them just flow by, Fly by, With no grab Like a breeze in the sky Like a plane in the sky You are the sky Simultaneously aware of the space in the room And the space in your body at the same time This practice allows the mind to stop, Vigilant And rest and receive sleep Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Simultaneously aware of the space in the room And the space in your body at the same time Shifting your basis of operation to awareness itself Is the most restorative sleep you will ever receive Non-attached, Tranquil, Equanimity Whatever arises will automatically be set free by itself Or set calm by itself Maintain a light intention to be Awareness itself of the space in the room And the space in your body at the same time Continue this all night long This is about recognizing your true nature And sleeping in your true nature Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Receiving sleep In non-duality Your true nature No grab Nowhere to go No meditator Receiving sleep Receiving sleep Noticing that you are The space in the room and the space in your body There is no inside nor outside There's just one field that's supporting your sleep Receiving sleep Now if you haven't already fallen asleep Simply adjust your pillow And turn to your left or right And let go Falling immediately into deep restorative Receiving sleep Receiving sleep