Relieving Restlessness Before Sleep

This guided visualization eases one of the three most common forms of sleep resistance: vague restlessness. This experience is designed to ease you into a state of relaxed confidence and contentment as you prepare for sleep, helping you cultivate your natural ability to relax into deep, restorative sleep. This guided experience is the extended version of a visualization offered on Day 3 of my course, “10 Days to Better Sleep”.

Transcript

And now coming into a moment of awareness as you settle into bed and prepare for sleep,

Taking a nice deep breath and letting it out on a sigh,

And maybe shifting a little bit to find just the right most comfortable position.

And then taking another deep breath,

Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth,

Bringing your attention to the body and just noticing any busy,

Restless energy,

Not trying to change or fix it,

Not trying to change or fix anything,

Just noticing.

And here's the power of noticing,

Of bringing our awareness to something.

Whatever we notice begins to shift simply because we noticed,

Without effort,

A gentle,

Easy shift,

Our simple awareness smoothing the energy,

Easing some of that restlessness,

Bringing a little bit of stillness to this moment,

And just checking in to see if it's okay just for a moment to let your body become heavy,

Bringing your awareness a little more present and centered within your body,

Maybe just noticing where your body makes contact with the bed beneath you,

And maybe having an awareness that you are completely supported,

That in this moment you are safe and it is okay to let go and relax.

There's no rush,

There's no hurry to get to sleep,

This is just a moment of coming present,

Getting comfortable and allowing the body and the mind to unwind,

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

Just an awareness that sleep is floating softly around the edges whenever you're ready,

And so simply relaxing into this moment.

And as you feel yourself relax,

Maybe noticing that your body feels a little heavier,

That you're a little more aware of the support beneath you,

Feeling even more held,

Maybe gently deepening the breath without controlling it,

Allowing the breath to be natural,

Allowing the body to breathe deeply as it so naturally wants to do.

And can you bring your attention to your shoulders?

And imagine that naturally deep breath easing any tension held there.

And as your shoulders relax,

Perhaps you feel the muscles in your neck soften and your head become heavy,

Sinking a little deeper into the pillow,

And maybe guiding your awareness to follow your breath down into the rib cage and the belly,

Letting the belly be soft and full with each deep breath.

Can you notice how good it feels to just let go and let the belly be big and soft?

And now moving your attention into your hips,

Letting them be heavy and sinking into the support beneath you,

Noticing that as your hips sink,

The heavy muscles of the thighs relax and fall open,

Completely relaxed,

So naturally heavy,

Without any effort,

Feeling the energy settle.

Really deep breathing,

Hips heavy,

Thighs loose and open.

Notice how the calf muscles just let go and the ankles and feet just relax,

Your whole body so naturally at ease,

So at ease.

Just relaxing,

Listening to the sound of my voice,

Following along with me soft and easy,

Gentle energy washing over you as wispy images drift across your mind,

Guiding you deeper and deeper into rest.

And imagine that you are seated in a really comfortable chair,

Maybe you have a favorite chair in your home,

Or you can imagine the most wonderful chair,

One that makes you feel like you are completely enveloped,

Supported and relaxed.

Just you in this amazing chair,

Your body feels so heavy,

Your eyelids are heavy,

Your face so relaxed,

And what you'd really like to do is just fall asleep,

Which would be perfectly okay.

But you notice that there are four lamps in the room with you,

The light is soft and warm,

But you'd really rather it was dark,

You'd rather the lights weren't on.

So without even moving a finger,

You look at the first light just to your left,

You notice the soft glow and think,

I don't need this light right now,

And the light goes out.

A feeling of pleasure washes over you that felt so good.

You look at the second light just ahead of you and slightly to the left,

It would be so nice if that light was out as well,

And the light goes out.

Now you feel a wonderful sense of contentment and satisfaction,

It's so easy to just turn out the lights,

No effort,

You don't even have to move,

Just think,

I don't need that light right now,

And the light goes out.

It's so easy and it feels so good.

You look at the third light ahead of you and to your right,

You smile and the light goes out.

Now the room is bathed in the very soft glow of one last lamp,

Just slightly to your right.

You gaze at the soft light and sigh,

Yes,

Yes,

That's so good,

That light,

That one last light is just right.

And maybe it feels good to drift off into sleep in this soft,

Warm,

Buttery light,

Just bright enough,

Just enough light to feel bathed and soothed and comforted.

Or maybe you are so relaxed and so ready to sleep that it feels good to easily turn off this last light.

An easy,

Gentle,

Sleepy thought,

And the light goes out and you can settle into the cocooning safety of cool,

Deep,

Velvety sleep.

Let's go to sleep.

Sleep well.

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Reviews

Wonderfully relaxing. I love visualising turning out the lights. Thank you!

As always, Bethany’s soothing voice will guide you into a profound and restorative sleep. Love her choice of words and music, the cadence is just right, and, for me anyway, I come back to this one again and again. 🙏🏼💕

Thank you 🙏🏻

I just love your voice, it is so very soothing, so much so that I fell asleep before the end!! 😴☺️

I love your meditations... and it's just amazing that you are helping people in a worse situation than I am, just by creating these videos. I hope this comment tells you what you've done. Because you are a person who is caring, helping, beautiful in personality and you are making a small difference in the world. - Ninx. 🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙

Was feeling restless and fell asleep before the meditation finished!

Always love Bethany’s liquid soothing voice and healing ❤️‍🩹 message Nameste

I loved the lights out in this meditation, super calming and off I went to sleep 🙏

What a gentle and lovely voice and message. Thank you. I fell asleep easily.

I think every meditation you guide me in is perfect. I am beginning to heal, still forever sad at the loss of my husband, but seeing that there is a reason to breathe and that I can do it. Sleeping meditations are good for me, anytime if day, because everything has felt so traumatic and unsteady. Thank you for helping me loosen my grip onto sadness and the longing to scream at the universe.. no and why?… just a little more each day. I will never be fully okay again, I know that, but at least some of the sorrow that disables me will be loosened some. Your meditations have been integral to that. Thank you is not enough.

Helps me sleep + return to sleep if I awaken. Serenity.

Amazing drifted off to sleep thank you🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💗❤💜💕😊🙏🏼🙏🏼⭐

Superb soothing warm voices that relaxes you completely!!Than you!!

Your soothing voice comforts and eases my troubled mind and helps me release the burdens of the day. I can’t thank you enough.

🙏

Thank you 🙏
This meditation was so helpful 🧡🧡🧡
I was able to unwind and get some sleep 😴

Soothing.

Fantastic total relaxation

Beautiful! Thank you 🙏🏼

As always amazing relaxation from the podcasts. Thank you