Vipassana For Sleep: Grounded Sleep Podcast #2

On this episode of Grounded Sleep Podcast we are going to explore the technique of Vipassana - an ancient budhist technique that has to do with watching the breath and scanning the body, feeling the physical body, being present with all of the sensations that we experience. Allow yourself to dissolve into sleep, whenever you are ready.

Transcript

My name is David Gandleman and I will be your guide tonight.

And in this episode of the Grounded Sleep podcast,

We're going to explore the technique of Vipassana.

I had a wonderful scientist,

Dr.

Dean Raden,

On my other podcast,

Energy Matters.

And he said that mindfulness meditation is really just a new phrase for Vipassana.

Vipassana is an ancient Buddhist technique that has to do with watching the breath and scanning the body,

Feeling the physical body being present with all of the sensations that we experience.

Make sure you're in bed,

You're comfortable,

You're relaxed,

Your eyes are closed.

And as you listen to me talk tonight,

You don't have to have any responsibilities.

Just enjoy listening and let yourself start to dissolve into sleep whenever you're ready.

When I was in my mid-20s,

I moved to India.

I went up into the Himalayas by myself.

I moved into an ashram.

I had my head shaved.

I wore mostly white.

I thought I was so spiritual and cool.

I lived in the ashram next to where the beetles actually lived.

And I studied a lot of Vipassana.

I sat for hours a day and meditated.

I watched my physical sensations in my body.

And I really went deep into this technique.

It's worked for thousands of years and I'm going to share pieces of it with you tonight.

When I started on the path of Vipassana,

I went to these Vipassana retreats.

You may have heard of them.

If you haven't,

You should check them out.

They're 10-day retreats.

Well,

They have shorter and longer ones,

But generally they're 10 days.

All silence,

No talking allowed.

And you're meditating from like five something in the morning until eight at night with a few breaks,

With a little bit of food.

And it is pretty damn hard.

Physically,

It was very painful.

Mentally,

It was very painful.

Emotionally,

It was painful.

And it took many days to make a breakthrough.

But when I did make a breakthrough,

I had profound realizations.

I crossed a kind of threshold.

And I realized how much resistance I was in to feeling any form of pain or discomfort.

Many of us are so programmed to run away from pain and to move towards pleasure,

To try and create sensations that we like and avoid sensations that we don't like.

But in doing that,

We lose our neutrality.

And when we lose our neutrality,

We lose our ability to be in the present moment without trying to change it.

When we go to sleep,

There is nothing we can change.

Our bodies are asleep.

They're still.

We're done.

If we're so used to controlling everything,

Running away from pain,

Trying to change things,

We may have more trouble going to sleep because we can't let things be as they are.

Tonight,

As you close your eyes,

I invite you to allow things to be as they are and to observe things as they are.

Observe your breath as it is.

Observe your body as it is.

Be aware of this moment as it is.

So with your eyes closed,

With that feeling of gravity pulling your body down into your bed,

And with the intention of going to sleep consciously,

Let's begin some Vipassana.

And Vipassana means to see things clearly.

You can start by having your awareness on your breath.

How many times has a meditation teacher told us to be aware of our breath?

So don't do it because I invite you to.

Do it because it's actually there.

It's reality.

You're a human being breathing in and out.

And as you breathe,

Begin to let go of labels.

The word breath,

The word oxygen.

All of that is made up by the human mind.

A dog or a tree wouldn't call it breathing.

It's just this function.

It is what it is.

That's what it's like without even naming it.

And as it begins to slow,

Your mind begins to slow.

And you begin to relax.

And if you don't slow down,

That's fine too.

We're not here to change what is,

We're just here to recognize.

And then I'd like you to bring your awareness to the top of your head.

And just notice the sensations at the top of your head.

You might feel your hair,

Your scalp.

Notice your forehead,

Your temples,

The back of your head.

Notice your eyes,

Your nose,

Your cheekbones,

Your ears,

Your jaw.

Notice the back of your head where your head meets your neck.

And again,

Just the sensations,

Whatever you notice.

The heaviness,

The shape,

The feeling,

The structure.

Notice your teeth,

Your tongue.

Bring your awareness down into your throat,

Your neck,

That channel that connects your head and your body.

What sensations do you notice in this space?

Be diligent,

Be deliberate,

Pay attention and be neutral.

Bring your awareness to where your neck meets your shoulders,

To where your shoulders meet your arms,

To your shoulder blades,

And your upper back.

Notice your upper chest,

Your collarbone.

Bring your awareness down your left arm through the tricep and the bicep,

Down into the elbow,

Through the forearm,

To the wrist,

Into the palm of your hand,

Through each individual finger.

Notice how each part of you almost has its own consciousness.

And then bring your awareness to your other shoulder,

Moving down into your right bicep and tricep,

Down into the elbow.

Recognize the sensations as you move through the forearm into the wrist.

And then feel the palm of your hand,

The back of your hand,

And each individual finger.

And then allow yourself to feel both arms at once.

Bring your attention to your chest.

Slowly feel the sensations of the front of your chest,

Moving down into your solar plexus,

Into the stomach,

Into your abdominal muscles.

Feel your upper and middle back.

You might even notice your inner organs.

Maybe you get a little bit uncomfortable here.

That might just be energy releasing from your stomach.

Continue scanning down your body into your lower abdomen,

Into your lower back,

As you move into your waist.

As you move your attention down into your waist,

Bring it into your genital area,

Into your thighs,

Into your glutes.

If there's any uncomfortability,

Any shame bringing your awareness into this space,

That's fine.

Just allow it to begin to release.

And allow your attention and energy and awareness to move down through those hamstring muscles,

Down through those thighs,

Through those quads,

Into the kneecaps,

Into the knees.

And again,

Whether we like or dislike a sensation,

It doesn't matter.

We're remaining neutral and we're just observing.

Bring your awareness down those calf muscles,

Down the shins.

Feel down into your ankles,

All the way down into the heels of your feet.

And through the feet.

Notice their shape,

The sensation,

All the way into each individual toe.

And be aware of your entire body from head to toe,

From toe up to the top of your head.

It's one biological unit with trillions of cells communicating,

Vibrating with life,

All in the present moment,

Your body can't be in the past or in the future.

As we fall asleep tonight,

We do it with awareness of the sensations in our bodies.

We do it from a relaxed place,

From a calm space,

From recognizing that everything is okay and it just is what it is and the reality of this moment.

Let yourself dissolve into sleep with as much awareness as you can,

With as much acceptance as you have,

And with as much presence that you've been gifted by life.

There's nothing you need to do.

Just be here.

Go into the deepest,

Calmest sleep you can and I'll see you on the other side.

Reviews

Thank you! Very calming voice helped me fall asleep quickly

Soothing. Fell asleep quickly. Thanks David 💤

Love your offerings dearest David the Divine, Love, Fox 🦊

Thank you that was wonderful. I loved the explanation in the beginning.

I could listen to his voice allllll day and I am positive I would make better choices. Absolute serenity!

Excellent, soothing voice and great background music too

Beautiful. Just what I asked the universe for. Thank you.

I listen to your sleep talks every night. Thanks for the peaceful slumber.

That was great, David. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience with us.

You are becoming one of my favourite teachers on insight timer. I love your meditations and your empathy and insight. Thank you 🙏

Love your voice. Fell asleep fairly early in this meditation.

Soothing voice and message. I fell asleep before it was finished.

Excellent, it’s great to have this new meditation from David. I found it very effective.

I listened last night, and fell asleep so gently. Woke 6+ hours later. So delighted to have gotten a long uninterrupted deep, restorative and healing sleep. Thank you David, with all my heart 💕💕💕💕. Your meditations (especially the sleep ones) are such a blessing!!! 🤗💋

I haven’t reviewed this yet?? It is one of my favorite sleep meditations and almost always ZZZZzzzz. I still smile at David’s jokes even dozens of listenings later.

A nice introduction to this technique. Thank you!

Amazingly relaxing. Not just for sleep.

Just about every night I wake up at 3am and this places me right back to sleep. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Namaste

Works every time! I love all your meditations and podcasts- thank you for all the great content! 🙏

enjoyed it so much the scanning over th body but fell asleep towards the end. appreciate the aound sleep much gratitude 🙏🌻