Mindfulness Of The Body For Sleep

A basic meditation sequence for mindfulness of the physical sensations of the body, promoting relaxation. Settling the body into its natural state, cultivating a quality of quiet, mindful presence, allowing awareness to extend throughout the field of physical sensations.

Transcript

This meditation is inspired by Lama Allen Wallace and his book Dreaming Yourself Awake. In this session we'll do a basic meditation sequence for mindfulness of the physical sensations of the body, Which will help promote relaxation, A key ingredient in getting a good night's sleep. So we'll begin this practice by settling the body in its natural state. Then cultivating a quality of quiet, Mindful presence will allow awareness to expand and permeate the field of physical sensations, Both those sensations arising on the interior of the body as well as those on the exterior of the body. Once you've found a comfortable posture, Do your best to remain still apart from the inflow and outflow of your breath. If seated on a chair or cross-legged on the floor, Ensure that your spine is straight and your chest uplifted enough just so that there's not any pressure on your abdomen that would prevent it from expanding freely as you breathe in. Keep the abdominal muscles in your belly loose, Feeling it expand with each inhalation. Wherever you find tension or tightness in your body, Breathe into that area and especially when you breathe out, Release this muscular tension. Pay particular attention to the muscles of the face, The jaw, And around the eyes where we tend to keep lots of tension. Breathing into these areas and letting the tension melt away on each exhalation. You can also bring this attention to your neck and shoulders. Breathing into the neck and shoulders and releasing the tension as we breathe out. And continue this process for anywhere else that you feel any extra tension or tightness in the body. Breathing in. Now round off this initial settling of the body by taking three slow, Deep, Luxurious breaths. Breathing through the nostrils down into the belly, Expanding the diaphragm and finally filling the last part of your chest. Breathing in almost a full capacity and releasing the breath effortlessly. Mindfully attentive to the sensations connected with the breath as they manifest themselves throughout the entire body. Next, Settle your breath into its natural rhythm, Not controlling anything and notice how easy it is to influence the breath with your preferences. But to the best of your ability, Let go of any control and allow the breathing to flow of its own accord, With no intervention, As effortlessly as possible. Gently surrendering all control of the breath, Unconcerned with the relative length of the inhalations and exhalations. Breathing effortlessly. When we begin learning meditation, We start to notice just how busy and agitated our minds can be. We're sometimes overwhelmed with a building flow of thoughts and emotions. It's important to cultivate a positive attitude, To have patience when you encounter and come across these distractions. Rather than reacting by trying to force the mind to be still, Instead relax and let go of this pent-up, Turbulent energy of the body-mind. Take advantage of each exhalation, A natural moment to relax and let go. With every exhalation, Feel a progressive sense of melting in the body, A softening, A loosening of the body. With each exhalation, As soon as you notice that any involuntary thought or image has arisen, Gently release it without a second thought. And immediately upon releasing it, Just let your awareness descend quietly once again into the body, Taking note of whatever physical sensations are occurring within this field, Especially attentive to the sensations connected to the breath. Give yourself permission to release thoughts and to return to a quality of awareness that is clear, Bright, Intelligent, Attentive, And silent. Whenever you discover that you've been caught up in thoughts that your mind has been carried away, Instead of feeling frustrated or judgmental towards yourself, Try to let your first response simply be to relax more deeply, Letting go of the thought and smiling and returning to the awareness of this quiet field of physical sensation. The moment that you notice that you've been lost in thought, You've already become mindful. You've done the work of noticing your distraction, So all you need to do is let go and come back to the physical sensations of the body and breath. Continue on with the intention of maintaining your attention on the field of physical sensations associated with breath. And then when you find that you've strayed, Relax more deeply, Letting go of these distractions and gently coming back to the body. Thank you for your practice. I hope you found this meditation useful.