Relaxing Routine | A Skincare Sleep Story

Wave stress goodbye and melt into melatonin for a deep, rejuvenating sleep with this evening skincare routine visualization.

Sleep is crucial for overall health, including stress reduction and skin health.[1]

It influences hormone levels in the body including cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and inflammation. Quality sleep helps mitigate the effects of stress on the skin including breakouts, redness and even the signs of premature signs of ageing for a radiant, glowing, clear complexion.[2,3]

So, you now have plenty of reasons to settle in and let this relaxing routine sleep story, guide you into a deep, restorative sleep.

1. PubMed Sleep deprivation and stress: a reciprocal relationship. Mathieu Nollet Et. al.
2. PubMed Can poor sleep affect skin integrity? V Kahan Et. al.
3. PubMed Regular Late Bedtime Significantly Affects the Skin Physiological Characteristics. Li Shao Et. al.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to tonight's relaxing routine,

A soothing skincare sleep story.

My name is Victoria.

I'm a meditation teacher here at Inside Timer.

I'm also a licensed skincare professional and I've been teaching medical professionals the principles of cosmetic dermatology and advanced skincare for almost two decades.

Sleep is crucial for our overall health,

Including skin health and stress reduction.

So after this short introduction,

We're going to journey through a relaxing evening skincare routine that will slowly lull you into a deep,

Rejuvenating and restorative sleep.

Sleep influences hormone levels in the body,

Including cortisol,

The primary stress hormone,

And it reduces inflammation.

This balance helps mitigate the effect of stress and inflammation on the skin.

This includes things like acne,

Rosacea and even the premature signs of aging.

During sleep,

The body undergoes repair and rejuvenation.

This includes cell turnover.

Skin cells regenerate more rapidly during deep sleep,

Allowing the skin to repair damage caused by environmental aggressors like UV radiation and pollution.

This leads to smoother,

Brighter and healthier looking skin.

So you now have plenty of reasons to settle in and let this relaxing routine guide you into a deep,

Restorative sleep.

We always start our meditations here with gratitude.

Thank yourself for showing up to this relaxing,

Rejuvenating practice.

Now let's cultivate gratitude for your current actuality.

The chances are,

If you're listening to this meditation,

You're in a comfortable bed,

You're clean,

You're dry,

You're safe,

You're warm and there's nowhere you need to go,

Nothing you need to do and no one you need to be.

Ahead of you are a consecutive numbers of rest and restoration.

What an amazing place to be in.

What an amazing moment this is.

Let's start now bringing awareness into the five senses to begin the relaxation process.

We start with sight.

Gently close your eyes and take notice.

What can be seen behind closed eyelids?

Do you still have whirling thoughts of the day,

Your to-do list,

What you did or didn't do?

Take a moment to give those thoughts attention and then send them on their way.

Wriggle your eyeballs back and forth,

Raise your eyebrows and then let the eyes find complete stillness.

We move now to sound.

What kind of tentative ears hear?

Is it just my voice you can hear?

Are there any noises coming from your home?

Perhaps you can hear noises just outside the window from the street.

Pay attention to them,

Observe them and then let them go.

Now bring attention to the sense of taste.

Wiggle and relax your jaw,

Release any tension.

Wiggle and relax your tongue and let it rest easy in your mouth.

Is there anything you can taste?

How can you observe that?

How can you let that go?

We bring attention now to the physical body.

What parts of your body are in contact with something else?

Perhaps your back is in contact with your mattress,

Your head is in contact with your pillow and your chest or arms in contact with your quilt.

What does it feel like to be so comfortable?

Finally we bring attention to the sense of smell.

As clean,

Refreshing oxygen enters your nostrils,

Can you smell anything?

Can you feel the cool air rushing into nostrils or maybe warm air slowly leaving nourished lungs?

Now keep your attention here for a little bit longer.

Notice your breathing pattern.

Don't try and change it,

Don't alter it,

Don't judge it,

Just observe.

And as you bring consciousness to your breath,

Pay attention to your chest rising and falling.

See if you can breathe a little bit deeper to extend that movement into your diaphragm.

And a little bit deeper to include your tummy.

Just visualize the quilt that covers your body rising as you take in breath and releasing as the breath escapes your body.

Now gently bring intention to the breath,

Slowly elongating the out-breath.

Each time you take a deep breath in,

Just take a little bit longer on the out-breath.

Elongated exhaling sends signals to your brain and nervous system that you are safe.

Helping to trigger rest and digest mode and flooding the body with melatonin,

The sleep hormone for rest and rejuvenation.

As you lie here in complete comfort,

Taking these long restorative breaths,

Can you feel the melatonin flooding your body?

Can you feel the rest and digest process beginning?

Can you feel the relaxation of your body?

Can you feel the rest and digest process beginning?

Can you feel the relaxation starting?

As we ease our way in to this relaxing routine,

Visualize yourself now sitting at your counter or dressing table or wherever it is that you would love to do your skincare routine.

You take a moment to think back about your day and realize that everything is done.

The chores are done.

Your abode is immaculate.

You are on top of everything.

There is nothing outstanding and nothing you need to do.

You take a nice deep sigh realizing that this time ahead is just for you.

There is nothing else that you need to think about except nourishing your skin with this beautiful soothing skincare routine.

You take a moment to look around.

Beautiful amber light from the setting evening sun floods in through the window,

Illuminating the room and your skin with a gentle warmth.

That beautiful summer evening twilight time.

You can hear the birds outside chirping as they settle down in their nests to slumber.

To slumber.

And just as you're closing your eyes and relaxing into this beautiful summer evening,

A breeze catches the curtain,

Ever so gently wafting the curtain in romantic and fluid dance.

You feel the cool breeze brush across your skin and your shoulders.

It's such a nice sensation.

You turn now to look into the mirror.

A small smile unfurls because you like what you see.

You're so happy to be in this body.

You're so happy to have this face.

You're so happy to have this smile.

And these lines because of that smile.

And you remember all the times that you've ever laughed and smiled and expressed joy for the many blessings in your life.

This face is so rich with history and you wouldn't change a single thing.

You reach over and you grab your headband and you gently put it over your hair and face so it sits around your neck.

You gently run your fingers through your hair to push your hair away from your face and gently pull the hairband back across your forehead over your ears and the reason for that is to help you relax.

The reassuring tightness of the elastic in the headband makes you feel secure.

Your body knows what's coming.

Your skin is tingling in anticipation of the soothing skincare to come.

You reach over now to your eye makeup remover.

A value-aligned,

Clean,

Soothing eye makeup remover.

You feel the cool bottle as you pick it up in your hands and turn it upside down.

You squeeze the bottle gently so that the liquid comes through onto soft cotton wool.

You separate the two cotton wool rounds in your hand and you feel the cool,

Refreshing liquid on the soft cotton wool rounds.

You close your eyes and you press the refreshing pads onto your eyes.

You hold them there for a second whilst they cool,

Soothe and rejuvenate and you apply just a gentle pressure so that the liquid can melt away any eye makeup.

Eventually you start gently rubbing your eyes in circular motions.

You go in towards the middle at the bottom and then scoop gently around your eyebrows coming outwards to your temples.

In underneath the eyes to the middle across your brow bone and sweeping outwards across the eyebrows.

In underneath towards the middle and out across the eyebrows.

You check and your eye makeup is completely removed.

Your eyes feel tingly,

Rejuvenated and fresh.

And you gently place the cotton wool rounds into the bin.

You lean over now to your cleanser.

You lean over now to your cleanser.

You take two firm pumps,

Releasing a soothing,

Refreshing cream into your fingertips.

You take a moment to rub this cream across your fingertips.

And you're so mindful as you feel the cooling cream distribute across your hands.

You then place your hands on your face firmly,

Pressing the cooling cleanser into your cheeks,

Then either side of your nose,

Then your forehead,

And your jawline.

You then take time to gently use circular movements,

Massaging the cleanser into your skin.

Melting,

Dissolving any facial makeup on your skin.

You use this time as a relaxing facial massage.

You use circular movements on your forehead to release tension from your furrowed brow.

You use pushing movements to stretch your forehead.

And you take a moment to give yourself a relaxing temple massage.

You then come round and focus on your cheeks,

Using circular movements outward to gently lift the skin.

As you run your fingers up and outwards across your cheekbone,

You can feel the tension of the day drifting away.

As you run your fingers up and outwards across your cheekbone,

You can feel the tension of the day drifting away.

It feels so nice to scoop the fingers underneath the cheekbone.

And as you use firm pressure to massage your jaw,

You can feel any last resonance of tension melting away.

You stimulate your skin gently by pinching your jawline,

Pinching your chin,

And gently pinching your lips.

It feels tingly and refreshing.

You then reach for more soft cotton wool.

And you use gentle,

Respectful,

Sweeping motions to remove the cleanser.

Piece by piece,

The cotton wool becomes away more and more clean.

Until the last time the cotton wool remains white.

There is now not a single molecule of makeup on your skin.

You feel fresh.

You feel so clean.

And you look in the mirror at your bare face with admiration.

Every freckle,

Every line,

Every blemish you absolutely adore.

You're so proud of your face without makeup on.

You are enough exactly as you are.

And you are so beautiful.

You now come to exfoliate the skin.

You take two more pieces of cotton wool rounds and pump the exfoliating acidic solution onto the cotton wool rounds.

You take a short smell of this cotton.

And you can smell the activity in the product.

Ever so slightly astringent,

You know that this product is going to have activity on the surface of your skin.

And you positively anticipate this refreshing action.

You start on the forehead,

In between the brows,

And push the cool exfoliating solution on the cotton wool rounds into your skin.

And sweep outwards across your brows.

You bring them together again from the temples into the centre of the forehead.

And sweep outwards.

You bring them together one more time.

In the centre of the forehead by the hairline.

And sweep outwards.

Your forehead feels alive.

It feels sensational.

You can feel this potent,

Cooling,

Calming,

Acidic exfoliation working.

And it feels so satisfying.

You then bring the cotton wool rounds in the middle of your chin,

Underneath the jawline.

And you sweep all the way out,

Slowly,

Towards the earlobes.

You then bring the cotton wool rounds into the centre of your chin.

And gently sweep out towards the middle of your ears.

You bring the cotton wool rounds into the centre,

Underneath your nose.

And you gently sweep across your ears.

And across the top lip.

Then you bring one cotton wool round into the middle of your eyebrows.

And sweep downwards on the nose.

First in the middle.

Then once either side.

And now that the cotton wool has slightly less acidic solution on it,

It's perfect for the delicate cheek area.

So you bring the cotton wool rounds to either side of your nostrils.

And gently sweep out to the top of your ear.

Then you bring them in to the middle of the side of the nose.

And gently sweep out again towards the temple.

Just slightly catching the under eye area and crow's feet.

As you place this cotton wool into the bin,

You take a moment to listen to the slight humming of the surface of your skin.

These potent ingredients are now at work,

Gently dissolving the bonds that keep dead skin cells attached to the face.

You feel refreshed,

More youthful,

So clean.

And it is so satisfying that the skin care is working this hard for you after such a simple application.

You also feel good knowing now that any other serum,

Eye cream or moisturiser that you apply is going to penetrate so easily and so deeply into your skin.

You've just maximised every single penny that you've spent on this value-aligned,

Active skin care.

You're so pleased to be gifting yourself this luxury.

As the tingling of your skin starts to cool and starts to fade,

As the activity of the exfoliator wanes,

You prepare to apply your retinol serum.

You pick it up and you twist the bottle until it clicks.

You administer two to three drops of the retinol serum.

You administer two to three pumps of the bright yellow serum onto your fingertips.

You feel so excited to use this retinol because you know the benefits that it brings to your skin,

Both in health and aesthetic appearance.

You've been using retinol for so long now and you can't imagine a skin care routine without it.

You know it makes your skin strong,

Resilient,

Prepared for anything.

As you gently blend this application of retinol between your fingertips,

You begin on the forehead.

You push up slightly from between your brows,

Up your forehead to your hairline.

And outward to your temples.

You then come down to the centre of your chin and massage the retinol outwards to your ears.

You gently sweep down your nose and across your top lips.

And with the majority of the retinol application already on your face,

You sweep the last little bit on your fingertips across your delicate cheeks.

You take a few moments now to repeat this application all over the face,

Not with more serum,

But just to ensure proper and even application.

You spend some time pressing and rolling the skin.

You know that the clever encapsulation is working hard to deliver that retinol deep down into the skin,

Where it can work so hard for you during this rejuvenating sleep.

To plump,

Hydrate,

Strengthen and rejuvenate your skin.

You can feel that tingling.

You can feel that slight warmth and it's so reassuring.

You know the investment was worth it.

It's like exercise for your skin.

It feels comforting,

Reassuring and you're so excited to see the results of this continued use of such a potent,

Active and miraculous skincare ingredient.

Now you focus on hydrating the skin.

You pick up your hydrating serum full of nourishing,

Protecting,

Defending,

Integral,

Active ingredients.

And for the second time,

You apply two to three pumps to your fingertips.

You gently massage them between your fingertips.

And this time,

Because your cheeks need just a little more hydration than other areas of the skin,

That's where you start.

You gently push your fingertips into the apples of your cheeks and gently sweep outwards towards the top of your ears.

You then go to the forehead,

Starting in between the eyebrows and gently rolling your fingers out towards your temples.

You then come to the centre of the forehead and gently sweep outwards.

You then come to the centre of the forehead and gently sweep outwards before coming to the centre of the forehead by the hairline and sweeping outwards towards the temples once more.

You come down to the jawline,

Starting at the chin and apply a slightly firmer pressure,

Aiding relaxation of those powerful jaw muscles.

You come to the nose and top lip.

Then gently use your fingertips to press all over the skin,

Helping the penetration of this soothing,

Hydrating,

Plumping serum.

Any tingling has now completely faded for a beautiful,

Cool,

Calm,

Hydrated and nourished feeling.

Your skin already looks more radiant,

More glowing.

You're so pleased that you're taking this time to do this relaxing routine.

Then we come to apply an eye cream.

You gently press the pump of the eye cream until you have about half a pump on the very tip of your ring finger.

You rub your two ring finger tips together to distribute the product.

Ring finger tips together to distribute the product.

And you start in the outermost corner of your eye by the crow's feet.

You don't rub,

But you apply gentle,

Repetitive pressure,

Pressing the eye cream inwards from the crow's feet,

Underneath the eye area,

Working your way up towards the inner eye.

You care for your eye area so delicately.

You don't go too high.

You don't rub it in the eye.

You don't go to the lash line.

But you gently move towards the underneath of the most inside part of the eyebrow.

And you use a gentle pressure to push the eyebrows up,

Up,

Up,

Working outwards from the centre of the brow to the temple.

And you repeat this two or three times,

Pressing in,

In,

In,

In,

In,

Towards the centre of the eyes.

Moving up to the brows,

Gently pressing out,

Out,

Out,

Out,

Out.

Sweeping across the crow's feet,

Gently pressing in,

In,

In,

In,

In,

Towards the centre of the eyes.

Moving to the top of the brow,

Out,

Out,

Out,

Out,

Out.

You keep your eyes closed,

Gently apply some pressure to the temples.

You're feeling so relaxed.

Your skin is feeling so fresh.

You feel so clean,

So cool,

So calm,

So soothed.

Last,

But certainly not least,

Is your moisturiser.

This might just be your favourite part of your routine.

You pick up the bottle,

Open the cap,

And gently administer three pumps to your fingertips.

It's so creamy,

It's so rich,

Yet lightweight,

It's so nourishing.

You can gently catch the aroma of the natural,

Healing,

Botanical ingredients,

And you know that they complement the active ingredients in this formula so beautifully,

To offer regeneration,

Restoration,

And optimal skin health.

Regeneration,

Restoration,

And optimal skin health,

As well as cooling,

Calming,

And relaxing.

You gently massage this thick,

Beautiful cream between your fingertips.

You can't wait to get it onto your skin.

Again,

Because your cheeks need just a little more nourishment than other areas of the skin,

You gently press your fingertips onto the apples of your cheeks.

And you use very gentle,

Circular motions to massage this moisturiser into your cheeks and out to your ears.

And out to your ears.

You come to the forehead and use your fingertips.

And use your fingertips to create very small,

Circular motions.

This massage feels so nice on your forehead.

It feels so good to be giving yourself this time,

This attention,

This nourishment.

You know that it makes you a cooler,

Calmer person.

You know that restorative sleep is ahead.

As you massage this moisturiser into your cheeks and jawline,

You're so excited about resting your head on your pillow,

Knowing that you have nothing to do,

Nowhere to go,

And no one to be.

It's just you,

Your bed,

And a thousand winks.

As you gently use the palm of your hands to press your face,

Feeling the reassuring pressure and the cooling presence of all of the skincare that you've just applied,

You signal to yourself and your skin that this relaxing routine has come to an end.

You look in the mirror and you can hardly believe the glow on your skin.

It looks so taut,

So fresh,

So clear.

Again,

A gentle breeze escapes through the window,

Making your skin feel so soft,

So clean,

So fresh,

So clear.

Making that gentle,

Soft curtain dance.

The breeze catches your skin now,

Refreshed with these beautiful skincare formulas sitting on the surface and deeper down.

And the coolness of the liquid catches the breeze for an extra fresh.

Your shoulders are more relaxed than they were.

Your smile is a little wider than it was,

And your eyes are a little heavier than they were.

You gently pull the hairband backwards,

Away from your hairline,

And as it catches the length of your hair,

It gives you a slight goosebump on your head.

You run your fingers through your hair again,

Waking up those hair follicles,

Relaxing your scalp muscles,

And signaling to your body that you are ready for sleep.

You turn from your dressing table and gently unfold the quilt.

Your mattress is so welcoming.

Your mattress is so welcoming.

You gently envelop yourself between your mattress and pillow and your quilt.

It feels so heavy and comforting and secure.

You thank yourself for such a soothing,

Nourishing self-care routine.

You know that the skincare that you've just applied is going to work so hard for you overnight.

And as you feel melatonin flooding your body,

And you start to drift into a deep,

Restorative sleep,

You thank your body for the healing,

Rejuvenation,

And regeneration to come.

You're so excited to wake up in the morning and see the results of this deep sleep and soothing skincare routine.

A small smile unfurls on your face once more,

As you're drenched in gratitude and your body is heavy.

Oh,

You finally let go into a long,

Restorative,

Deep sleep.