Welcome to this meditation to wind down from your day and to prepare your mind and body for a deep and restful sleep.
Committing to an evening routine can really help to stabilize your mood and improve your sleep.
It's important to balance periods of effort with periods of rest,
Giving your mind and body all the time and space they need to unpack from the day.
As the energies of your mind and body begin to settle down naturally now,
I invite you to make your body as comfortable as you possibly can as you make the very simple shift from all of the activity of your day to this time of ease,
Rest and quietude.
Whatever you've done today,
No matter how much or how little,
See if you can let that be enough,
Trusting that tomorrow will take care of itself to ease this transition from doing to being.
Inhaling,
Let's take a few slow and low breaths.
Inhaling right down into your belly and exhaling with a long and soft sigh.
Breathing in,
Belly rises.
Breathing out,
Belly drops.
Inhaling and exhaling,
Just letting it all go.
Slowing your breath right down.
Inhaling like you have all the time in the world and just giving the exhalation away with a long and soft sigh.
Just as when we unplug a fan and it takes time to wind down to a stop,
Imagine that you're unplugging from the world.
The energies of your mind and body slowly winding down just like that fan.
With each breath in,
Unplugging from the past.
With each breath out,
Unplugging from the future.
The fan moving slower and slower,
Switching off from thinking.
The whole story of your life falling away as the fan slows down even more.
Barely moving now.
It's too much effort now.
Even to breathe.
Just body,
Breathing,
All by itself.
Breath,
By breath,
By breath,
By breath.
By breath,
Body,
Breathing,
By moment,
By moment,
By moment.
Tongue resting in the mouth.
Hinges of the jaw loosening.
Lower jaw falling softly away from the upper jaw.
Eyes resting back,
Shoulders emptying out,
Hips surrendering their weight.
Let thought be completely free,
Not getting involved,
Pushing it away,
But sinking beneath,
Landing right here,
Right now,
In the gentle,
Effortless space of just being.
Body bathing in a warm kindness.
Let's take a few more of those slow and low breaths.
Breathing right down into your belly and exhaling with a long and soft sigh.
Inhaling low and slow,
Exhaling,
Just letting it all go.
As you continue to breathe slowly and deeply,
Really taking your time,
Offer a moment of gratitude to yourself for taking time out for your evening self-care routine.
Let your body move now in whatever way it wants to for the rest of this evening.
Go easy on yourself.
Thank you for joining me for this meditation.
Wishing you a very peaceful and sound sleep this evening.
