Before we begin.
Please make sure you're somewhere safe where you can fully relax.
Not driving,
Not operating machinery.
Just free to let your whole system rest whatever woke you up in the middle of the night.
It probably feels bigger right now than it really is.
Everything does at this hour.
The worry,
The to-do list.
Even the quiet.
And you don't have to shrink any of it to fall back asleep Tonight,
You can leave the night to the rain.
And drift like under.
I'm Chibs O'Carrakel.
And welcome to this sleep meditation for when you wake up in the middle of the night and by the end.
If you're not asleep already.
You'll be settling straight back into sleep.
I'll give you calm,
Direct suggestions to the part of you that sleeps,
And a slow count will carry you down.
And under my voice there'll be gentle rain.
Falling the whole way through.
Rain asks nothing of you,
It simply gives the mind something steady to rest on,
Instead of the thought that woke you.
There's nothing to sort out first and no need to catch every word.
If you're asleep before I finish That's what this meditation is for.
So just shifting now into the position your body likes best for sleep drawing the covers up a little closer if you want them there.
And once you're settled.
There's nothing else to arrange.
Now allowing yourself to notice the bed underneath you.
The pillow cradling your head.
The mattress underneath you.
Noticing the contact of your hips and noticing the feet.
Still warm where you've been lying.
The bed kept that warmth for you,
Even while you were awake.
Out there,
The rain is falling on the roof on the windows.
On the empty streets.
And in here.
You're dry.
Covered.
Tucked in from every side.
The warmest,
Driest place in the whole night.
And you're already in it.
And turning to the breath now.
Just as it is.
If the breath is still quick from waking.
That's okay.
There's nothing to fix.
And if it feels comfortable.
We can invite the out breath to be a little longer than the in breath.
Just for a few rounds Breathing in Slowly.
And breathing out.
Slava.
And a little longer.
Breathing in again.
Easy and unhurried.
And breathing out.
Long and slow.
Like the rain running down the glass.
One more breathing in and all the way out.
As slowly as feels comfortable and if lengthening the breath ever starts to feel like work.
Just leaving the breath alone.
It knows how to slow down all by itself.
A long,
Slow out-breath is one of the ways the body tells itself it's safe to settle,
And the heart hears it,
And eases its pace.
And now.
With the rain falling outside.
A heaviness can start to arrive.
The particular heaviness of being warm and covered on a rainy night.
When there's no reason at all to get up.
Arms heavier.
Legs heavier.
The whole body settling a little deeper into the mattress with every breath out.
Let's begin where the middle of the night wake up does most of its work.
Behind the eyes.
And over the forehead.
This is where a thought at this hour gets turned up louder.
And bigger.
Than it needs to be.
So we are allowing the forehead to go smooth allowing the brow to soften.
Allowing the little muscles around the eyes to loosen their grip.
The eyelids resting heavy.
No longer on the lookout.
And the jaw next.
The back teeth easing apart.
The hinge of a jaw loosening.
The whole mouth going soft and quiet.
And into the chest now.
If you woke up with a jolt.
With a quick heart.
With that sudden feeling of being wide awake This is where it landed.
So allowing the chest to soften around that jolt allowing the ribs to widen and settle.
Allowing the heart to ease back towards its slow,
Night time pace.
All on its own.
Moving lower now.
Into the belly.
That place that tightens when that middle of the night thought starts to grow.
Allowing the belly to soften.
Belly going warm.
And loose.
Rising and falling slowly under the covers.
And if there's a knot there?
It doesn't have to come undone tonight.
The warmth can simply gather around it.
And from the belly.
That warmth and heaviness spreading down.
Through the hips.
The thighs.
The maze.
The cause.
The heels.
Right to the ends of your toes.
The whole body heavy now.
And warm.
And sheltered.
And now.
About the middle of the night itself.
At this hour.
Every thought arrives a size too big.
A small worry feels urgent.
An ordinary conversation feels like a mistake.
And anything unfinished.
Feels like it's all going wrong.
And if the thought that woke you is about whether you did enough.
Or said the right thing.
That's usually the one that grows the most.
But the middle-of-the-night version of a thought is never the last word on it.
In the morning.
In daylight.
With some sleep behind you That same thought will be back to its real size.
Often much smaller than you'd expect.
So there's nothing that needs settling tonight before you're allowed to fall back asleep.
Nothing to answer.
Will decide.
Or get right first.
Every one of those thoughts can stay exactly where it is.
For the morning to look at.
Because the morning is so much better at it.
You can leave the night to the rain.
The rain was falling long before you woke.
And it will still be falling long after you've drifted off.
And it's never once needed you to stay up and keep it going.
And now we're beginning a slow count.
From 10 down to 1.
With each number.
Whatever woke you can grow a little smaller a little further off.
And the body can settle deeper into the warmth.
And back towards sleep.
10.
Settling in now.
Nine.
Warmer.
Heavier.
8.
The thought that woke you.
Smaller.
Further away now Seven.
Softer.
And slower.
Six.
The rain going on outside.
Unhurried.
5.
Halfway down now.
The bed holding more of you.
Form.
Drifting.
3.
The day's worries back to their daytime sighs.
Small enough to leave until morning.
Too.
Nearly there now.
One.
Cupboard.
Quiet.
One.
Right at the edge of sleep.
And the rain carrying you the rest of the way.
From here.
Your body can take care of the rest of the night.
While the rain falls on the roof and the windows.
You're in here.
Warm and dry.
And the deep repairing work of sleep can begin again.
The heart settling into its slow night rhythm.
The breath lengthening on its own.
Every muscle that tightened when you woke.
Easing one by one.
Back into rest.
And the next time you wake in the night.
Your body will know this way back.
Turning over.
Hearing the rain.
And falling back asleep sooner than before.
You can leave the night to the rain.
And from here.
If you ever need to wake up for any reason at all You will.
Easily.
Naturally.
Just as you always do.
But if there's nothing that needs you.
No reason to wait.
You can allow yourself to sink even more fully into this deep.
Restorative sleep.
And my voice can begin to mix with the rain now.
Words running together.
Softening.
Losing their edges.
Some of them reaching you.
Some of them not.
And none of it mattering.
Just one more soft sound in the room.
Warm.
And far away.
And if you're already asleep.
The rain knows how to keep going,
All on its own.
From here.
A few quiet phrases would drift in under the rain.
There's nothing to do with them.
No need to hold on to a single word your deeper mind can take them in while you go on sleeping.
I can leave the night to the rain.
The thought that woke me will be its real size in the morning.
I'm warm and dry and tucked in for the night.
My body can find its own way back to sleep.
When the night wakes me,
The rain can take me back down.
My heart is easing back to its night time pace.
My breath is slow and long and sleep is coming back to me.
Each time I wake,
I turn over and fall back asleep.
I can sleep now and let the morning find the answers.
The rain keeps falling,
So I can rest.
Hearing the rain,
My body remembers it's time to sleep.
This bed is a warm,
Safe place to be.
Falling back asleep is getting easier each night.
Tomorrow can start from rest.
I'll wake up with a clearer head.
I can leave the night to the rain.
The thought that woke me will be its real size in the morning.
I'm warm and dry and tucked in for the night my body can find its own way back to sleep.
When the night wakes me,
The rain can take me back down.
My heart is easing back to its night time pace.
My breath is slow and long and sleep is coming back.
Each time I wake,
I turn over and fall back asleep.
I can sleep now and let the morning find the answers.
The rain keeps falling,
So I can rest.
Hearing the rain,
My body remembers it's time to sleep.
This bed is a warm,
Safe place to be.
Falling back asleep is getting easier each night.
Tomorrow can start from rest.
I'll wake up with a clearer head.
