Tonight.
You don't need a quiet mind to get real rest.
The mind can carry on thinking,
Ideas,
Reminders,
The thing you forgot to send.
It just doesn't need you anymore tonight.
Hey,
I'm Chibs Ikerike,
And welcome to this vagus nerve sleep meditation for the tired and wired mind.
Over the coming minutes.
We're going to bring your body all the way down into deep rest.
And will allow your mind to follow whenever it's ready.
We're going to do that without asking you to switch your thinking off.
Because here's the part worth knowing.
Is a nerve that runs from the brainstem.
Down through the neck.
Behind the chest and into the belly.
It's called the vagus nerve and it carries the message that tells the body the day is over.
As the breathing slows and the out-breath softens,
That message gets through more clearly so the body settles first.
And the mind takes the hint from the body.
Usually a bit later.
And usually without being asked.
So let's start by getting comfortable.
If it feels good.
Allowing the body to find its spot.
Maybe flipping the pillow to the cool side.
May be straightening the covers.
And now?
Noticing the bed.
Underneath you.
Noticing the mattress.
Taking the whole weight of the body.
Noticing the pillow.
Holding the head.
And noticing the covers.
Resting over the legs.
Nothing here is asking you to hold yourself up.
The bed has that job now.
And now.
.
.
It will give the mind one small job.
Just one.
Because a busy mind settles better with something to do than with an instruction to stop.
So.
.
.
Breathing in through the nose and breathing out softly.
Through the nose or the mouth.
Again.
Breathing in.
.
.
And breathing out.
Allowing the out-breath to be unhurried.
And once more.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Allowing the shoulders to come down with it.
Okay,
Good.
Now allowing the breath to go back to its own natural rhythm.
There's nothing to count.
Nothing to keep going.
That softer,
Gentler out-breath is the part the vagus nerve listens for.
Every time the outbreath slows and softens.
The body gets a little more of a message.
That the day is finished with you.
And while the body's settling.
Let's take a moment to notice what's actually here tonight.
Not the story of the day.
Just the feeling underneath the story.
That there might be a clear emotion.
There might be a mood you couldn't name if you tried.
There might be nothing much at all.
But if a word does come.
We can name the word.
And leave it exactly where it is.
Maybe the word is wired.
Or restless.
Or buzzing.
Fried.
Flat.
Frustrated.
Whatever's here.
We're not gonna work on it tonight.
Was simply allowing the feeling to be in the room with us.
And now.
Bringing a little attention to the hands.
Wherever the hands are resting.
Just noticing them.
Noticing the palms.
Noticing the backs of the fingers.
Noticing the small amount of warmth where the hands meet the sheets.
And staying there for a moment.
And seeing whether the hands feel any heavier than they did a minute ago.
Or any warmer.
There's often a small change there by now.
Nothing dramatic.
Just enough to notice.
And that change isn't something you did.
That's the nervous system starting to stand down.
On its own.
While we were busy talking about something else.
Which is worth knowing.
Because a tired and wired mind usually wants proof that something is working.
The hands are the proof.
Now we'll move through the body.
And we're going to start at the feet.
And work upwards.
There's a reason for that.
The head is where the noise usually lives.
So we'll leave the head until last.
And let everything else underneath it settle first.
Moving our awareness down to the feet now.
Allowing the feet to be still.
The heels.
Resting into the mattress.
Feet that carried you around all day.
And have nothing left to do.
Allowing the feet to be heavy now.
The soles of the feet.
Softening.
The arches.
Letting go.
The small muscles around the top of each foot.
Releasing.
The fate may be warm.
Or cold.
Or nothing much at all.
Whatever's there is fine.
And if there's a restless feeling in the feet.
Or the legs want to move.
That's allowed.
Moving them if you need to.
Restlessness is just energy that didn't get used up.
And it settles faster when we stop fighting it.
So if the legs need to shift shifting them.
And then allowing them to come to rest again.
No fuss.
Nothing to correct.
And now the ankles.
Loosening.
Carves.
Softening into the mattress.
The shins.
The maze.
Allowing the knees to be heavy.
Nothing down here has to hold a shape anymore.
And if it feels good.
Allowing the legs to get heavier still.
As if each leg is being pressed gently into the mattress by its own weight.
The thighs.
Releasing.
The big muscles at the front of the legs.
Letting go.
And moving our awareness into the hips now.
The hips carry so much of the day without ever being asked.
So allowing the hips to widen.
And the pelvis to feel heavy.
Allowing the bed to take that weight as well.
The hips are one of the places the day tends to stay.
Sitting.
Standing.
Driving.
Carrying things.
So we're giving the hips a moment longer here.
Softening the hips.
And softening again.
And now moving our awareness to the belly.
This is where so many of us hold the day.
That braced feeling.
As if we're still waiting for something to happen.
So if it feels okay.
Allowing the belly to be soft.
Allowing the belly to rise and fall without holding anything in.
And if the belly wants to stay a bit guarded tonight.
That's fine too.
We're always inviting.
We're never insisting.
And this is where the vagus nerve finishes up.
Down here.
In the belly.
So a soft belly and an easy out breath are saying the same thing to the body.
They're saying the day is over.
You can stand down now.
Moving our awareness to the lower back.
Settling the lower back.
The middle back.
Widening.
Allowing the whole back to spread into the mattress.
As if the bed is sharing the weight out for you.
Now moving into the chest no need to breathe any bigger.
Just noticing the rise.
And the full.
And if there is a fizzy.
Buzzy,
Failing in there.
We don't have to switch that off.
We can soften around the feeling instead.
Giving it more room.
So the feeling has somewhere to go.
The muscles across the front of the chest Loosening now.
Collarbones.
Widening.
And the heart.
Carrying on.
Inside a chest that's no longer braced.
Now moving our awareness to the upper back.
Between the shoulder blades where so much of the holding happens.
Allowing the shoulder blades to settle.
Allowing the back to widen.
And around the ribs now.
Front and back.
Allowing the ribs to move a little more freely with each breath.
Moving our awareness to the hands again.
Head the end now.
Woman now.
The fingers.
Uncurling.
And if they are already loose,
Allowing the fingers to be even looser.
Moving our awareness to the wrists the forearms.
The elbows.
The upper arms releasing.
And the shoulders.
Coming down away from the ears.
Even a centimeter helps.
Shoulders that have been holding things together since the morning.
Allowing them to put it all down now.
Moving our awareness to the neck now.
Back of the neck.
Softening.
The throat.
Loosening.
So often the neck is still on duty.
Long after the rest of us has clocked off.
So giving the neck one simple message.
You can let go now.
And if the neck doesn't let go straight away.
That's fine.
We're not fighting the body.
We're inviting the body.
And now we arrive at the head.
Starting with the jaw.
Allowing the teeth to come apart.
Just slightly.
Allowing the tongue to rest heavy in the mouth.
The jaw holds so much for something so small.
So we're giving the jaw a bit of extra time here.
Softening.
And softening again.
And now the face.
Cheeks.
Loosening.
The muscles around the mouth.
Letting go.
And now the eyes.
Allowing the eyes to rest back.
As if they are sinking into a warm pillow.
The eyes have been working all day.
Reading.
Scanning.
Checking.
The eyes can stop now.
And moving our awareness to the scalp now.
Allowing the scalp to soften.
All the way across the top of the head.
Behind the ears.
The temples.
In the forehead.
Allowing the forehead to smooth out.
Even slightly.
And the space just behind the forehead.
Where the thinking happens.
We don't need to switch that off.
We're simply letting the effort out of it.
Because we don't have to switch the mind off to rest.
We only have to stop needing it.
Now.
Taking a moment to feel the whole body at once.
Not in detail.
Just a general sense of it.
Feeling the feet the legs.
The hips.
The belly.
The chest.
The arms.
Shoulders.
And neck.
The face.
All of it heavier than when we started.
All of it off duty.
A body that's been going since morning.
Finally allowed to do nothing at all.
And that's worth staying with for a moment.
Because a lot of us have been told.
That a busy mind is a fault.
That everyone else manages to switch off at night.
Am we somehow done?
And here's the truth of it.
The mind that won't stop tonight is the same mind that got everything done today.
The same mind that noticed the thing nobody else noticed.
The same mind that held six things at once and dropped none of them.
This isn't a broken mind.
That's an engine.
And engines run hot.
So tonight,
We're not repairing anything.
We're letting the engine idle.
While the body gets on with the rest.
And you don't have to earn this.
The list will still be there in the morning.
And you'll be better at it.
And their thoughts are still here.
That's perfectly okay.
None of it is urgent.
It just turned up at an inconvenient hour.
Right now.
We don't need to process any of it.
We just need to stop carrying it through the night.
If we like,
We can even say quietly.
Not now.
Tomorrow can have it.
And when the thought comes back.
And it will.
We can hand the thought over again.
As many times as we need.
And now.
Giving the mind something easier to rest on.
If it feels good.
Imagining a warmth arriving.
Nothing dramatic.
Just the kind of warmth you get from a blanket that's been sitting near a radiator.
Or late afternoon sun through a window.
Starting wherever the warmth is easiest to feel.
Maybe it's in the hands.
Maybe the warmth is in the belly.
Maybe it's in the middle of the chest.
And allowing that warmth to spread outward.
Slowly.
In every direction.
Along the arms.
Spreading across the shoulders.
Down through the hips.
The legs.
Of fate.
Up through the neck.
And into the face.
The warmth isn't pressing down on you.
The warmth is wrapping around you.
Like being covered on every side by something that has no opinion at all about how your day went.
And as this warmth spreads noticing that the edges of the body feel a little less defined.
Less sharp.
Less on duty.
The line between you and the bed.
Softening.
The weight of your body.
Being shared.
And if warmth isn't what you're feeling tonight.
That's fine.
Some of us feel heaviness instead.
A comfortable heaviness.
The kind that makes it easier to stop trying.
Either one works.
We're after the same thing.
A body that stopped holding itself up.
And allowing the warmth to go round once more.
Slower this time.
The hands.
The arms.
The shoulders.
And the neck.
The chest.
And the belly.
The hips.
And the legs.
All the way down to the feet.
And everything in between.
Bleh.
Happy.
Held.
And the mind can carry on doing whatever the mind is doing.
Thoughts can pass through the warmth.
They can pass through and out the other side.
Without taking anything with them.
Like traffic in a street outside.
While we're inside.
Wrapped up.
And going nowhere.
And from here.
The words can start to thin out.
List to follow.
Less to do.
The body.
Heavy.
And warm.
The breath.
Slow.
And moving on its own.
The engine.
Idling now.
Nothing being asked of you.
And if the mind is still going.
That's allowed.
The mind can go without you.
Resting like this is already doing its work.
Even if sleep takes a little while tonight.
None of this is wasted.
The body's already recovering.
And nothing is being asked of you between now and then.
And mourning.
Now.
A few gentle phrases can drift softly in the background.
You don't have to remember them.
You don't have to repeat them.
They can simply be there.
While you sleep.
My mind can keep moving.
And my body can still rest.
I don't have to switch my mind off to sleep.
Nothing needs me tonight.
The day is finished with me.
My body is allowed to stop first.
Rest isn't something I have to earn.
Everything I didn't finish today can wait for me.
My mind isn't broken,
It's just still running.
The engine can idle now.
Each out breath is settling me a little more.
My hands are warm.
My body is heavy.
And I'm safe here.
Thoughts can pass through without taking me with them.
Through the night,
My body repairs and restores.
Every hour of rest is doing something for me.
Sleep can come in its own time.
I'm held,
I'm safe and I can drift.
My mind can keep moving.
And my body can still rest.
I don't have to switch my mind off to sleep.
Nothing needs me tonight.
The day is finished with me.
My body is allowed to stop first.
Rest isn't something I have to earn.
Everything I didn't finish today.
Can wait for me.
My mind isn't broken,
It's just still running.
The engine can idle now.
Each out breath is settling me a little more.
My hands are warm.
My body is heavy.
And I'm safe here.
Thoughts can pass through without taking me with them.
Through the night,
My body repairs and restores.
Every hour of rest is doing something for me.
Sleep can come in its own time.
I'm held,
I'm safe and I can drift.
