In this meditation I'm going to guide you to settle into a breathing pattern that's really great for calming and soothing an overactive mind feel free to return to natural breathing whenever you'd like to we'll also do some full body relaxation to help you soften into a deep,
Really restoring sleep before we begin it might feel good to have a big yawn or a big sigh maybe yawning your jaw from side to side,
Releasing tension in your jaw muscles maybe a big full body stretch yawning,
Sighing and stretching will signal to the nervous system to switch gear,
Helping our mind start to rest when you're ready to settle,
Start by lying on your back and you can roll over any time you feel sleepy make sure you don't have too many pillows so that your head can really rest and relax back without putting any pressure on your spine feel your shoulders relax down resting away from your ears releasing tension in your neck and resting your hands wherever feels most natural shift in any way you need to,
To make sure you're as comfortable as possible just coming into stillness when you're ready if you haven't already,
Just close your eyes start to notice your breathing breathing in through your nose and you can breathe out through your nose or your mouth do whichever feels more natural notice the sensations of the breath coming in through your nose really slow the breath down inviting a lengthening in the inhales and the exhales allowing the breaths to become a little slower a little deeper and a little smoother with each breath mind steadying with the breath if your mind wanders or you notice any distractions just gently bring your mind back to your breath noticing the way the breath feels in your body as it gently flows follow the breath from the tip of your nose all the way into your lungs feeling the centre of your chest swell let the breath go softly and slowly notice how the breath feels leaving your body tension from your day carried it out of your body with the exhale imagine you're laying down the stresses of the day releasing any feeling of holding or gripping feel your shoulders relax and release with the falling breath,
Smooth inhales feel your forehead soften,
Your jawline softening allowing a heaviness to spread down the back of your body back of your body melting onto the bed beneath you feeling a sense of softening through the whole of your back tongue just rest at the bottom of your mouth teeth resting apart feel a soft openness in your jaw muscles inviting the breath deeper into your body feel your stomach soften and relax let the base of your ribcage flare imagining breathing into your belly if you find it difficult to breathe deeply for any reason just breathe as deeply as feels comfortable for you if it's comfortable,
Breathe first into your belly and then up into your lungs feeling your belly swell and then your ribcage expand and then just let the breath go without effort as slowly as possible whole body softening with the exhale with the inhale,
Belly swells and ribcage expands into the front,
The sides and the back of your body body slowly emptying mind softening with the out breath feel the back of your head relaxing and releasing notice the feeling of expansion and fullness at the top of the inhale a welcome feeling of emptiness a spacious vacuum at the bottom of the exhale the spaciousness the breath leaves behind if it feels comfortable,
Start to gently hold the breath at the top of the inhale and at the end of the exhale the pauses might be long or short pausing for as long as feels comfortable and natural at the top of the inhale and at the end of the exhale really savouring the fullness at the peak of the inhale whole body soothed by the slow effortless exhale allowing a natural and easy pause in the spacious emptiness at the bottom of the exhale for as long as feels comfortable and natural allowing the breath to fill your body when the urge to inhale naturally returns pausing when you're full and again when you're empty allow the breath to simply dissolve into stillness with each exhale sense each new breath expanding from this place of stillness and then falling back into the stillness noticing the sensations of the in breath and the out breath mind becoming still as the breath becomes still allow the breath to start to flow freely without controlling it in any way connecting with a deep feeling of peace within your body as the breath naturally rises and falls eyes completely resting and behind closed eyelids feel your focus soften feeling a welcome drowsiness and a calm heaviness that fills your body a natural effortless stillness unfolding through the core of your body imagine the deepest layers of your body unwinding every cell in your body softening into the deepest rest welcoming heaviness and sleepiness skull bones heavy,
Feel the back of your head soften muscles softening,
Back of the neck any efforts in the muscles in your face,
Across your scalp dissolving and disappearing muscles in your neck softening and melting body sinking and melting onto the bed beneath you let the bed support you completely a sense of softening along the length of your arms from your shoulders,
To your elbows,
To your wrists hands completely resting,
Fingers softening tension melting,
Flowing out of your fingers muscles releasing along the length of your spine muscles softening,
Backs of the thighs,
Your calves and your feet releasing tension along the length of your legs leg bones heavy,
Feet completely resting stress carried out of your feet feeling a gentleness and a softening from the tips of your toes,
To the tips of your fingers to the top of your head softening all the way to the sides of your ribs allow yourself to sink a little deeper onto the bed beneath you feel yourself resting more and more deeply every cell in your body soothed by the peaceful,
Unhurried rhythm of the breath noticing the stillness that exists throughout and beneath each breath breath rises and dissolves paying attention to the underlying stillness becoming a little bit sleepier with every breath I'm going to leave you here,
The music will continue wishing you a peaceful rest and restoring sleep
