Welcome to this sleep meditation.
As you snuggle into your bed now,
Make your body as comfortable as you possibly can,
Really nestling in so that you can just let the weight of your whole body drop into the bed.
And when you're ready,
Begin to slow your breath right down,
Breathing in really low into your belly and breathing out with a long and soft sigh.
Really take your time inhaling like you have all the time in the world,
Feeling the movement of your breath and with every exhalation withdrawing from the whole world and everything in it.
Breathing in,
Belly rises,
Breathing out,
Belly drops,
Feeling your breath directly and let your body take as many of these low,
Slow,
Releasing breaths as it needs as you receive and feel these words.
Right now,
Nothing is being asked of you,
Nothing to control,
Nothing to manage,
Nothing that you need to figure out,
Nothing to remember or plan and I invite you right now to let the whole story of your life fall away and to trust that life will take care of itself,
Allowing everything to be completely free.
Every sound,
Every thought,
Every feeling,
Just let it all come and just let it all go.
Just as when we unplug a fan and it takes time to wind down to a stop,
Imagine now that you're unplugging from the world,
Switching off from thinking,
The energies of your mind and body slowly winding down just like that fan.
Feel the places where your body meets the bed,
That plane of contact between bed and body,
Body and bed.
Feel the sensation where your head meets the pillow and let the full weight of your head melt into that support.
Notice the feeling of the covers or clothes touching the skin and now let your breath be natural,
Not controlling it,
Not changing it,
Giving your full attention to the feeling of your breath,
Not thinking about your breath.
Can you feel the sensation in the inner passageways of your nostrils,
Noticing the parts of your body that move as it breathes,
Feeling the breath directly as body breathes all by itself,
Just quietly noticing breath coming in,
Breath going out,
Breath by breath by breath.
See if you can stay,
Feeling the sensation in your nostrils,
The touch of air on the throat,
Noticing the texture of the breath,
The temperature,
The breath arising and dissolving within you,
Wide open,
Spacious,
Effortless,
Awareness and now beginning to count your breath,
Inhaling,
Counting 1,
Exhaling,
Counting 2,
Counting 3,
Counting 4,
Counting 5,
Counting 6,
Counting 7,
Counting 8,
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And now let the counting drop and let your breath be natural just body breathing all by itself welcome the feeling inside the mouth the space inside the mouth softening the tongue let the sensations come to you root of the tongue softening less and less effort hinges of the jaw loosening the jaw opening the jaw opening the jaw softening the jaw opening the jaw opening the jaw opening the jaw opening the jaw falling softly away from the upper jaw throat settling into stillness softening of the whole face pure sensation skin releasing its weight none of this is to be done just words arising body responding awareness noticing a softening of the outer ears outer ears a softening of the inner ears let the words come to you an effortless listening sounds arising in awareness sounds dissolving in awareness let everything come let everything go right eyebrow left eyebrow space between eyebrows softening open feel the weight of the eyes sense the hollows of the eyes eyes softening back muscles around eyes releasing and letting go notice any tension around or behind eyes eyes and give it up the sensation behind eyes expanding in awareness skull softening back of the head pure sensation base of the skull top of the neck back of the neck whole head all sensation expanding in awareness awareness wide open unbound unlocated completely free and now welcoming the experience whole right arm not the image or the memory but right now the actual feeling whole right arm the direct experience back of right arm right hand palm of right hand the current sensation of right hand let everything come to you and give the sensation space of right hand see if you can stay and any time you leave just gently coming back right palm thumb thumb second finger third fourth little finger wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder right side of back right side of chest waist hip thigh knee back of knee shin calf ankle heel sole of right foot see if you can be right here right now with the immediate sensation sole of right foot tingling and alive the whole right side of body softening and now welcoming the experience whole left arm not the image not the memory but the direct feeling whole left arm back of left arm let the feeling come to you left hand palm of left hand let the sensation be free try to keep it left palm a flow of sensation thumb second finger third fourth little finger wrist forearm elbow upper arm shoulder left side of back left side of chest waist hip thigh knee back of knee shin calf ankle heel sole of left foot alive with sensation sole of left foot let the name fall away just being with the direct feeling whole left side of body softening even more the whole body the whole body a mass of sensation waves of vibration pulsation as heart beats breath by breath simply here safe really safe perhaps mind is busy maybe mind is calm either way awareness noticing awareness untouched and even if mind is active body is deeply at rest welcome the feeling of the breath a whisper of sensation notice the momentary change between each breath just before inhalation becomes exhalation and just before exhalation becomes inhalation and now attention dropping away and just giving it all up handing it all over trusting that all is well trusting that all will be just letting it all this body knows how to sleep sleep sleep soundly dear friend sleep peacefully dear friend
