SupaBreath - Get Ready To Sleep

This is a guided breathing exercise that uses belly and diaphragmatic breath to achieve a state of relaxation during which we are able to "melt" into the mattress or floor to "fall" asleep. Through the power of breath and touch, prepare to sleep in less than 20 minutes.

Transcript

This is the Super Breath exercise.

So for this exercise,

We're going to lie down.

So find a comfortable place where you can lie down very comfortably.

You can place a pillow under your head and for your legs,

If you have lower back issues or knee pain,

Put your feet flat on the ground,

Having your knees pointing towards the ceiling.

And if you're comfortable lying down with your legs straight out,

Just go ahead and lie down like that.

During this entire exercise,

If at any point you feel like you want to shift your legs or your body,

Please feel free to do so.

You do not need to stay still for this exercise and this is very important.

Listen to your body.

So find a comfortable lying position with the legs on the ground or knees pointing up.

Bring your attention to your hands and place them on your stomach,

Ideally around your navel.

Close your eyes and start to notice your breath.

For this exercise,

We're going to bring our tongue to the roof of our mouth and breathe in through the nose and out through the nose.

And for the first few breaths,

Just observe the rise and fall of your stomach underneath your hands.

And again,

If thoughts come to mind,

Bring your focus back on to the hands,

Accepting the thoughts.

Our minds never really stop,

But we can zoom in our focus on our body for the purpose of this exercise,

Training the mind to focus.

So in the first step,

We're going to breathe for a full minute into our stomachs,

Breathing in and sending the air into the stomach and breathing out,

Sending the belly button towards the spine.

Be gentle with yourself.

Breathing in,

Blowing up the stomach in all directions,

Front,

Back and sideways,

Holding and exhale,

Bringing your belly button towards your spine.

And keep going,

Find your own rhythm.

You do not need to pull,

Make it as comfortable as you can because you can make it as comfortable as you want for yourself.

Breathing in and blowing the stomach out,

Exhaling,

Bringing the belly button towards the spine.

We're massaging our organs,

Allowing them to expand and contract,

Allowing them to be flexible to breathe,

To become as big as they can and want in this moment,

And as small as they can and want in this very moment.

Allow your shoulders and your upper body and your legs to relax as you're breathing in and out,

Bringing your attention to your stomach.

And notice whether with every breath you're able to breathe in more or less.

Notice if with every exhale it appears that you can squeeze your stomach more than before,

But just 1% more than before.

We're creating flexibility and resilience.

Bringing your hands,

Bringing your attention to your hands again,

We're going to place the right hand on our left rib and the left hand on our right rib,

Hugging our ribs in an X shape.

And now we're going to breathe into our ribs,

Expanding our body left and right and exhaling,

Allowing everything to let go and relax.

Breathing into your hands,

Exhaling and relax.

Inhale 1% further than before and exhale,

Just let everything go.

And you feel how your ribs are moving left and right,

Making more space for everything that's in between.

With this breath,

We're unlocking the diaphragm,

Allowing our lungs to be massaged when we inhale and allowing our stomach,

Liver and spleen to be massaged when we exhale.

The diaphragm moves up and down as we breathe in and out.

And notice how much more space you're making in your lungs.

And remember to relax neck and shoulders.

Feel your touch and breathe into those hands.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

We're going to bring our attention to our hands again and place the right hand on your right chest and the left hand on top of your left chest.

So your hands are underneath your clavicle,

Touching the top of your lungs.

And this third part of the exercise,

We're going to direct our breath to our hands and very,

Very gently breathe into our upper hands and very gently breathe into our upper lungs.

Be gentle with yourself because if you breathe too hard here,

You're going to start to feel tension in the front of your chest,

But also in your upper back.

So be gentle and gently breathe into one of the areas that is the most stuck and tense in our bodies.

And as you're gently breathing in and out,

Remember to go 1% further than what was last most comfortable.

And breathing out 1% more than was last comfortable.

And take your time to explore,

Bringing softness into any points that aren't soft.

And let your breath soften the edges and release tension to relax further.

And on every exhale,

Just let everything go.

Allow your body to be soft and gentle.

Allow your upper lungs to free and feel safe to be used and expand upwards.

We're now going to move to the last stage of the super breath,

The fourth stage,

Which is the upper part of our lungs.

And for that,

We're going to bring the right hand on the right shoulder,

Just behind you,

And the left hand on the left shoulder.

This may be uncomfortable at first,

So if at any point it is too uncomfortable to have your hands and arms like this,

Please put them back down.

But for the first few breaths,

Leave them.

Because our hands are here for us to direct our breath.

So very,

Very gently breathe into your upper back and where your hands are touching.

Inhale and let everything go.

And very gently inhale into the upper back.

And feel how the fibers of your muscles are gently moving sideways.

As you're inhaling,

How your muscles are stretched towards the left and right.

And as you exhale,

How they're released and relaxed.

Be very gentle with yourself.

Again,

This is one of the most tense parts of our bodies.

We're going to stay here for a while,

Breathing into that upper back and those upper shoulder muscles.

And exhaling,

Letting absolutely everything go.

Feeling our upper back lungs and how much air they can hold.

Noticing how the softer and most gentle you are with yourself breathing into those upper lungs,

The softer and gentler all of that tension becomes.

And remembering that just with your breath,

You have the power to relax any part of your body.

Breathing into the upper back lungs.

And perhaps you can even feel how much more space you have.

Or perhaps today it's very shallow.

Or anything in between.

We witness and observe impartially.

Every time you do this exercise,

Your body will feel different and you will notice different things.

Bear witness to that,

Honor it.

There's no need to judge any of that.

And remember the principle of impermanence.

The body changes all the time and nothing ever remains the same.

And now take an inhale and hold the breath in your whole lungs.

We're now going to close the practice.

Take a very deep breath.

We're going to finish this practice by wholeheartedly breathing into our entire lungs.

And exhaling entirely.

Breathing into your entire lungs.

Noticing how much space there is.

And exhale.

Now breathe in and hold for 4,

3,

2,

1 and exhale for 4,

3,

2,

1.

Inhale for 3,

2,

1.

And hold for 3,

2,

1.

Exhale for 3,

2,

1.

And hold for 3,

2,

1.

Inhale for 3,

2,

1.

And hold for 3,

2,

1.

Exhale for 3,

2,

1.

And hold for 3,

2,

1.

Last round in.

For 3.

Inhale for 3,

2,

1.

Hold for 3,

2,

1.

And exhale for 3,

2,

1.

And hold for 3,

2,

1.

Take a breath in.

Exhale out through the mouth and sigh.

And take a moment to body scan.

Feel the sensations in your body.

Scanning from head to toe and toe to head.

And noticing.

Accepting.

Remembering that all we're doing is our best.

This is an amazing exercise to do in the morning when you wake up.

To start your day.

Making sure that your entire lungs are being used and your diaphragm is freed.

It is a great way to wind down and release tension.

But also a great way to prepare for sleep.

Happy practicing and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and whatever you put into your journals soon.

Reviews

This is an incredibly helpful meditation for me especially to induce sleep. I listened to this meditation over 20 times before actually getting to the 4th step in the breathing exercise. I would fall asleep around the 2nd or 3rd exercise. 😊

I love this meditation! I am a Trauma Therapist and recommend this meditation to all of the individuals I work with who experience sleep difficulties.

Thank you!!!!

Most excellent … 💕🙏

Very relaxing and energizing! 🙏🌸💖