Breathwork To Downregulate Your Nervous System For Sleep

This guided breathwork track helps calm and down-regulate your nervous system before sleep. You’ll be led through a slow breathing sequence designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system—the body’s natural “rest and digest” state.

As the breath deepens, your heart rate slows, cortisol levels decrease, and tension begins to melt from the body. This gentle shift into nervous system safety allows the mind to soften, thoughts to quiet, and the body to prepare for deep rest.

Listen as you settle into bed to support relaxation, release stress, and transition into sleep more easily. With repeated listening, the nervous system learns to return to regulation more quickly, helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep more deeply.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

Today we are going to be using breath work to help regulate your nervous system down into a parasympathetic state,

So your mind and body are relaxed and ready for a deep and restful sleep.

You can do this practice in your bed,

Lying down,

Or sitting upright with a straight back.

I invite you to close your eyes and take a moment to just be with yourself,

To notice your breath,

To feel your body,

And be aware of any sounds around you.

Aware of the thoughts flickering through your mind.

And now let's begin by taking a breath in through the nose and filling all the way up,

And exhaling,

Letting it go and relaxing,

And breathing in again through the nose,

Filling,

Filling all the way up,

And let it go,

Sighing the breath out and relaxing,

And we'll take a third breath in,

Even bigger now,

Filling all the way up and holding at the top for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhaling and just letting it all go,

Letting your shoulders drop,

Your jaw relax,

And the muscles of your neck let go.

Now begin breathing in again through the nose for a count of four,

Three,

Two,

One,

And exhaling through your mouth for a count of eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breathing in through the nose for three,

Two,

One,

And out through the mouth seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breathing in again through the nose,

Three,

Two,

One,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

In through the nose,

Three,

Two,

One,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

In through the nose,

Three,

Two,

One.

Out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

One.

In through the nose,

Three,

Two,

One,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

In through the nose,

Three,

Two,

One,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Noticing how your nervous system relaxes as you extend this exhale,

Two,

One.

In through the nose,

Feeling the subtle shifts in your body and your nervous system,

One,

Seven,

Staying present to the sounds of my voice,

Four,

Any sounds in the room around you,

One,

Nose,

And continuing to follow to this simple breath,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

Six,

Noticing these shifts in your nervous system helps to anchor them deeper,

One,

In through the nose,

And out through the mouth,

It's so powerful to see how we can shift our own state with nothing but our own breath,

One,

In through the nose,

Three,

Feeling even more relaxed now,

One,

And out through the mouth,

Seven,

The exhales getting easier,

Five,

Four,

Easier and easier,

Two,

In the nose,

Three,

Two,

One,

And now just exhale,

Letting go,

Letting your breath return to its natural rhythm,

Letting go of control,

Allowing the breath to fill up and to let go on the exhale without any doing on your part,

Noticing how your body and your mind and your nervous system feels now in this moment after taking these seven minutes out of your day to regulate yourself and prepare for sleep,

I wish you a deep and restful evening,

Thank you for practicing with me tonight,

Namaste.