Sometimes you're lying in bed and although you'd like to be falling asleep,
Sleep doesn't happen.
It could be for a wide number of reasons.
When this happens,
It's inevitable everybody will experience this at some point in their lives.
So it's important to try our best not to judge this experience and add additional stress onto the already potentially stressful situation of not being able to fall asleep.
This often happens to me if I have something really important the next day and I notice that my mind is overactive and thinking and creating scenarios and chasing after these thoughts that are related to something that maybe causes a little bit of excitement or anxiety around.
So as much as we can,
We want to notice when our mind chases after these thoughts and bring it back to an anchor.
Bring it back to the present,
Gently guiding it to sensations of breath,
Sensations of the body in bed.
This is why a regular mindfulness practice is a great tool for working with these intrusive thoughts that arise at night.
What mindfulness teaches us is to notice when our mind grasps onto a particular thought,
A particular train of thought that is luring us in.
It could be something very nice,
It could be something that causes a little bit of anxiety,
But regardless of what that thought is that pulls us away,
Mindfulness teaches us to come back to the present.
And over and over we are able to operate within the present where we have any option open to us.
It teaches us to gently let go of these thoughts.
We're not rejecting them,
We're not judging ourselves for the fact that they're coming up at an inopportune time when we're hoping to fall asleep.
We see them,
We acknowledge them,
And let them go and come back to this anchor,
The body in the bed or the sensation of the breath.
So this meditation is going to be built on those principles.
It's something that I use that combines the breath and the body as anchors in a progression that also works with our autonomic nervous system and how we can help set the wheels in motion of a rest and digest physiological response.
So you may find yourself in bed with your mind racing.
Again give yourself permission that this is okay,
That this is something that everyone deals with and it's something that is workable.
Sleep itself is an act of self-compassion.
When you think about the healing and recharging and restoring of vital physiological processes and mental processes that happens when we sleep,
We're doing ourselves the kindest favor even just by going to sleep.
Just this act is a huge gesture that can be helpful in understanding that it's a natural process that we can all achieve.
It's a natural state of mind that we are all entitled to every single night when we fall asleep.
In doing this meditation we are demonstrating an act of self-compassion towards ourselves.
So as much as we can let's accept our present situation and move into some practices that can help guide us into a state of deeper relaxation and a state of readiness for sleep.
So bring your attention to the sensation of your breath.
Just noticing the rising and falling of the abdomen or upper chest.
Feeling it deep within your torso.
Dropping the awareness from where we normally tend to spend the day up in our head.
Dropping it down to the deep abdomen and the sensations of the rising and falling of the belly and rhythm of the breath.
Dropping into our body in bed.
We're bringing awareness to the sensation of the body resting in bed feeling fully supported by the surface that you're laying on.
And if you feel comfortable attempting a breathing exercise we'll just do a few cycles of breath that's going to help activate the parasympathetic branch of our nervous system and help facilitate a sense of relaxation.
A bodily felt sense of physiological relaxation.
So we can slow our breath down to a slower rhythm than we would normally experience it.
Balanced inhales and exhales.
Just feeling a deeper inhale as we breathe in and a deeper exhale when we breathe out.
Just slowing our breath down a little more than we would normally helps activate this relaxation response.
When you're ready,
Releasing any effort with the breath.
Letting the breath settle back into a natural rhythm.
Not controlling anything.
Just letting it flow as it naturally will.
And bring your attention to the felt sense of the body laying in bed.
Any points of pressure where you're laying in the bed feeling fully supported.
Now bringing attention to the area around your mouth.
The lips,
Inner walls,
The tongue,
The roof and floor of the mouth,
Down through the back of the throat,
The outer skin of the throat,
Up into the lower neck and chin and jaw.
Feeling a sense of relief as you relax any tension in the jaw.
Letting it hang loose and relaxed.
Letting the cheekbones,
The temples,
Air is around your eye.
Letting any extra tension you're holding melt away.
Noticing the sensation of your forehead,
Top of the head and crown of the head.
Down the back of your neck and your ears.
Moving down the throat and the back of the neck and upper shoulders.
Feeling a sense of relaxation as the shoulders just drop into the bed.
Totally supported,
Totally relaxed.
And the upper arms moving down the left arm,
Upper.
Bringing your awareness to the sensations in the upper left arm,
Elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Hand and fingers.
Feeling the whole left arm from the tips of the fingers to the upper shoulder together as radiant sensation.
Moving your awareness over to the right shoulder and upper arm,
Down to the elbow,
Forearm,
Wrist,
Hand and fingers.
Now noticing the whole right arm from the tips of the fingers to the upper shoulder together as a vibrating sense of sensation.
Now both arms together.
Bringing your awareness to your upper torso,
Upper back,
Mid-chest and mid-back,
Abdominal area,
And lower back.
Feeling the torso together,
Radiantly alive as sensation.
Bringing awareness now to the hips,
The coccyx,
Down the upper left leg,
Buttocks,
Thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Ankle,
Feet,
Toes.
Now bringing attention to the entire left leg together.
Now moving awareness to the right hip,
Buttocks,
Upper thigh,
Knee,
Shin,
Calf,
Ankle,
Feet,
And toes.
Feeling the whole right leg together as a field of radiant sensation.
And now bringing attention to both legs,
From the hips down to the toes,
Together.
Now noticing sensations in the entire body from the tip of your head down to the tips of your fingers and the tips of your toes.
The whole body,
A field of radiant sensation.
Feeling complete,
Feeling relaxed,
Feeling everything that you need to let your body release into sleep.
Giving it permission to return home,
To return to this beautiful state of mind,
This luxurious nurturing of our mind and body.
Thank you for practicing.
I wish you deep rest and relaxation.
