Make sure you're seated in a comfortable position with the spine straight.
And ideally,
Make sure that you're seated so that the hips are higher than the knees.
Today's meditation is about sleep health and mindfulness for sleep hygiene and sleep health.
So if you prefer to lie down for the practice,
That's also fine.
Just make sure the head's slightly elevated to induce the relaxation response with that cervical flexion,
I.
E.
That chin being a little lower down than the forehead.
So mindfulness really assists in sleep health.
And it can cool down or pacify a racing mind.
So be very mindful of breath.
Be very mindful of body.
And recognise that mindfulness practitioners are excellent at recognising the dream state,
The sleep state,
The waking state,
And become mindful of all three.
Therefore,
They're excellent at realising when you become lucid,
So very good at lucid dreaming,
Which is quite an art when you look at the traditional practices of Tibetan Buddhism and yoga.
But today we'll look at the assistance that mindfulness can bring in in sleep.
And so I want you to be really mindful of the eyes.
Bring your attention behind the eyes and relax the muscles of the eyes,
Almost letting the eyes sink back into the skull.
This will induce the relaxation response via the ocular vagal reflex.
See if you can relax the inner corners of the eyes this time,
Then the outer corners,
And then again behind the eyes.
Let the energy of the frontal lobes of the brain,
Which is often heightened when sleep is lacking,
See if you can sink the energy to the back of the brain.
So you might feel this is a sort of buzzing sensation.
We might refer to this as prana in yoga or chi in Chinese medicine.
And I want you to sink the energy,
The prana,
The chi to the back of the brain.
You might almost feel it as a sort of electrical activity in the brain.
See if you can sink it back,
Cool the frontal lobes of the brain down.
And then bring your awareness to the back body,
So the back of the head,
The back of the neck,
And the back of the spine.
This can similarly reduce heightened sympathetic nervous system activation and bring us into a more relaxed state.
Be aware of the whole back body.
Let the tongue sink right,
Right back.
It will become broad and soft.
In some of the yoga traditions,
We link the tongue to the brain.
And so again,
We sink the mental energy back with the tongue.
The eye is being connected to the heart,
And definitely Western medicine would agree with this,
If we reduce the ocular tension,
We'll pacify the heart rate,
Quieten the heart rate.
And the tongue has a definite link to the brain.
We certainly know that we have 50 million neural endings at the tip of the tongue.
And of course,
Every part in the body is intricately linked to the brain.
See if you can sink your awareness of the tongue back,
Back,
Back,
And see if it affects the energy of the mind,
The brain itself.
And then let the body,
The whole body become very heavy,
Very heavy and at ease.
Let the whole body become very heavy and at ease.
And if you can,
Let the body sink further and deeper and deeper into the earth beneath you,
Or the bed that lies underneath you.
Really sinking lower and lower and lower.
Let the energy drop.
Good.
Bring all of your awareness now into the feet.
Often drawing awareness into the feet,
And then bringing awareness into the feet.
Often drawing awareness into the feet can take the energy away from the top of the head,
The mind,
The brain.
Be really mindful of the sole of the foot and each toe.
Let's start with the left foot.
Left big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth and fifth.
Fourth and fifth.
Sole of the foot,
Arch of the foot,
Right foot,
Right big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth,
Fifth.
Be aware of both feet.
Come back to the breath and focus on a long and steady exhalation.
The exhalation reduces heart rate.
And continue to make the body sink further and deeper into the earth beneath you.
And continue to make the body heavy,
Sinking it down into the earth with the exhalation.
Use the exhalation to pacify,
To quiet,
And to drop down deeper and deeper into the sleep state.
And be mindful as you cross between worlds,
Dreaming,
Sleeping,
Waking.
As the brainwave patterns change,
Both through meditation and as you drift away into sleep.
Let the whole body be steady and at ease.
Heavy,
Grounded,
Rooted into the earth.
Let your whole body be happy,
Healthy,
Filled with deep compassion and peace.
May you be happy.
May you be happy.
May you be happy.
May you be happy.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be filled with deep compassion and may be at peace.
May you sleep well.
Thank you.
