This meditation is intended to help you relax and calm the activity of the mind at the end of the day so you can more easily drift into sleep.
So to begin,
You can either find a seated position or find yourself lying down.
So wherever you decide to meditate,
Just see if you can find the most comfortable position possible,
One where you feel supported and at ease.
If it feels okay for you,
You can let your eyes close or just let your gaze be soft.
Take a moment to bring the image of a snow globe to mind.
You might imagine yourself shaking the snow globe,
Seeing how all the little snowflakes go crazy or flying everywhere in the globe.
You might imagine yourself setting the snow globe down and watching how all the snowflakes gently fall to the bottom.
And by creating this space at the end of our day now,
This is kind of what we're doing.
We're allowing all the things that have been shaken up in the day,
Especially all the thoughts in the mind,
To just gently sway down,
Find a place to rest.
And we'll begin with some deep breaths in the body.
So start by letting out all the air that you currently hold.
And then take a deep breath in,
Filling the lower belly and the chest,
And a slow exhale through the nose to soften through the body,
Relax the shoulders,
The hands,
Again a deep breath in through the nose,
Expanding through the torso and the chest,
And a slow exhale,
Releasing,
Letting all the snowflakes fall,
Again a deep inhale,
Expanding all the way through the collarbones,
And take a moment to hold the breath at the top,
And slowly exhale through the nose,
Beginning at the collarbones,
And then moving down through the chest,
The belly,
Squeezing out the last little bit of air in the pelvic region,
And again a deep inhale in through the nose,
Filling the lower belly,
The diaphragm,
The chest,
Collarbones,
And a slow exhale to release.
And continue with this deep breathing on your own for a moment,
And seeing if you can really focus on filling the entire body with oxygen on the inhale,
And then as slowly as you can,
Letting the air go,
And bringing in a sense of softness and releasing through the body.
And now you can let the breath come back to its natural rhythm,
Releasing any control over the breath and just letting it be.
Now bring your awareness into the forehead and the space around the eyes,
Releasing any tension in this area,
And letting that spaciousness spread into the cheeks and the jaw,
Maybe taking a moment to move the jaw left and right,
Softening the tongue,
Letting the tip of the tongue fall from the roof of the mouth,
And then relaxing down to the root of the tongue,
And bring a sense of softness and spaciousness into the entire face and the head,
The scalp,
The ears,
The top of the head,
And then let your awareness fill the throat,
Let the awareness expand in the space between the back of the neck and the front of the throat,
And then soften your shoulders,
Feeling gravity's pull on them,
As if gravity is an invitation to release,
And let your hands rest in an easeful,
Relaxed way,
Feeling into the hands from the inside out,
And sensing how the more you relax the hands,
The more you can sense into them,
And then bring that same depth of awareness into the belly,
Letting each inhale and exhale bring a greater sense of softness into this area of the body,
Relaxing completely down into the pelvic region,
Into the tailbone,
Just allowing this whole space to empty out,
And then let this sense of awareness and spaciousness spread into the upper legs,
And then the lower legs,
Down into the feet,
And notice the feeling of pressure of the bed or the chair under your body,
Noticing this sense of support,
And seeing if you can allow yourself to soften even more,
Letting go of anything that you might be holding on to,
Any tension that you might be carrying in the body,
Just let it fall away from you and into whatever it is that's holding you right now.
You might bring a sense of heaviness into the body,
Maybe imagining the body's filled with sand,
It's keeping you weighted to the earth,
It's grounding you,
And each exhale brings just a little bit more sand into the body,
Adds a little bit more weight.
May you rest easily.
Good night.
