Falling in and settling down.
Maybe a big yawn or a great stretch.
And help you set the tone.
Shift and shimmy,
Relax,
Get comfortable.
Maybe you exhale with the ancient word cella.
Oh well.
You notice your body.
Stiff or tired,
Eager,
Awake.
Comfortable.
Uncomfortable.
None is better or worse.
Some are more pleasurable.
But we're not here to judge,
We just take a moment to narrate.
And notice.
.
.
Oh,
That's what I'm feeling.
I've been putting that on hold while I was doing tasks.
He even realized that I was tired.
Just let it seep in through your skin and your muscles,
Into your bones.
That your body needs rest.
It's good to take a break.
It's good to end the day.
Moving towards stillness and quiet.
You notice your breath.
Okay,
It's deep or shallow.
Stretchy or loose,
Ragged,
Tight,
Congested,
Getting over a cold maybe?
Ticks talk.
Oh,
Those are my lungs.
That's how they're doing right now.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Maybe I want to breathe in a little deeper and out a little slower.
Try that.
Slowing down.
The cue of your breath slowing down.
Indeed,
That's slow.
R.
I.
P.
Sama.
It's going inward.
Getting heavy.
Than letting the sleepy and the tired take over.
You can fight it if you want,
But it'll be there.
You don't have to make yourself sleep.
You can't make yourself sleep.
Just take away obstacles.
One of the best things you can do is just allow it.
Say that you deserve sleep,
You need it,
You're worth it.
It's not an indulgence.
One of the things you can do to remove obstacles from sleep is forgive,
Not hold on to anger and other resentments.
So you can.
.
.
Forgive people who anger you,
Or bump into you,
Or mischarge you.
Foul you on a soccer pitch.
Could be by accident,
Might be on purpose,
Who knows?
That you can let go.
Or Start to let go.
Always an incomplete process.
Just growing in forgiveness.
Breathing deeply,
Exhaling slowly.
And since other people injure you and you can forgive them.
Maybe you start to acknowledge that you make mistakes.
And you need forgiveness,
Even from yourself.
And someday you'll ask for forgiveness from the right people,
If you're ready.
But for now,
Just contemplate it as a way of letting go for the night.
May that be so,
May it be acceptable.
And you're just breathing heavy in your lying place.
Resting.
Your eyes get heavy.
Your sight gets a little dim.
The world starts to fade away.
You drift.
Heading into good dreams,
Not bad dreams,
Good dreams.
Sweet dreams.
Illuminating dreams.
Restful sleep.
Healthy sleep.
Let me take a moment just to notice.
The majesty of the world.
That it all comes out of the same stuff,
The same elements and cells and protoplasm.
Chemistry and physics and biology.
Simple rules that produce unimaginable diversity of experience.
All together.
One existence.
One universe.
And maybe that oneness fills you with awe.
And joy,
And even love.
Maybe you contemplate this when you sleep,
When you lie down.
Maybe you'll notice it when you.
.
.
Wake up.
And you walk or speak.
When you leave,
When you go and come.
Maybe,
Maybe it'll be just background.
An awareness that all of this is.
Nearly a kind of magic.
And getting to exist is enough.
You're sheltered and protected.
With Refuge and Shield and Great Wings.
Nothing to frighten you,
Nothing to harm you.
Just rest.
Healthy and protected.
Safeguarded by great and good forces.
Your feet are protected in all your travels and you will walk safely.
And sleep sweet dreams.
Maybe you breathe in deeply and exhale on the word cella.
Salah.
And you lie down in peace and wholeness and tranquility.
And when the time comes,
You'll get up with as much peace and wholeness and tranquility,
Maybe more.
Protected and shielded.
All the obstacles brushed aside.
You can go out of conscious day in peace to return to a new day in peace.
Resting your spirit with the universe.
And great and good forces preceded us.
Over those who preceded us.
And they will sustain us and look over those after us.
Watching us always as we grow and transform.
And the universe blesses you and guards you,
Keeping you safe.
Take that in,
Absorb it.
The universe shines down on you to give you grace.
Make it in and absorb that.
May it be so.
And the universe looks toward you to give you peace.
All through you.
And great and good forces look over us in our sleep.
During the day,
We have questions and doubts and fears.
You can put.
All that down to your right side with a great and good force that will manage and hold your fears and your questions.
And during the day,
You wrestle,
You lift heavy things,
Drag them.
Emotional loads,
Too.
You can put all those loads down at your left side.
With a great and good force responsible for vigor and energy and strength.
And another forest holds a light ahead,
Like a nightlight through the worlds of dreams.
And behind you,
A force gives you healing,
Massaging it in to you as you sleep.
The greatest gift of sleep,
That healing.
And above you while you sleep.
The glory of the universe all around.
Maybe take a few more moments just to shift and scratch.
Toss.
Adjust.
Get a little quieter,
Maybe breathe in one more time and exhale Salah.
Oh well.
And the universe was,
And it is,
And it will be.
No other.
No beginning,
No end.
In which you rest and can rest.
It is a safe and loving universe.
That is glad for you to be here.
And provides for you.
You can rest your body in the hand of this loving universe.
Nothing to fear.
Just drifting.
Moving away through the cosmos,
Letting it all go.
Letting everything fade.
Getting heavier and heavier in body and lighter and lighter of spirit.
