Welcome.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth.
Breathe in through the nose.
Breathe out with a sigh.
Relax your jaw.
Notice how your body feels in this moment.
Perhaps you feel restless.
There may be some frustration or possibly even anxiety in a heightened sense from not being able to sleep and calm down.
Notice where in your body you're feeling this discomfort.
Is it mostly in your chest?
Do you feel it in your face?
If you imagined holding tension or anxiety in any organ in your body,
Which one would it be?
Allow yourself to notice the physical sensations of this restlessness,
This anxiety.
Sometimes we are quick to say we have anxiety or restlessness and it becomes a heightened concept in our minds that then creates an emotional reaction and a physical reaction.
When we can come into a place where we start tuning into the body,
And I speak from direct personal experience,
We begin to come into the exact moment,
Into this exact moment right now.
Sometimes the relief does not feel fast enough,
But over time mindfulness starts to have a cumulative effect and an exponential positive effect in calming your nervous system,
In calming your emotions and thoughts.
So we're taking these next few moments to do some focused practice on learning,
To simply tune in to the experience that we're having in this moment.
Once again,
Take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose or the mouth.
Imagine that you have an awareness of every tooth in your jaw.
Imagine you can relax your teeth.
Notice how that feels.
Then imagine as your teeth relax,
Your jaw begins to part slightly open,
Relaxing slightly more than the breath before.
If your eyes are open,
Close your eyes.
Notice the light and shadows behind the eyes.
If you have a light on in the room,
Consider turning it off or having a salt lamp or small light in the corner out of direct eyesight.
If you did any sort of movement,
Reposition your body into a place where your spine is relaxed.
If you're sitting,
Allow the spine to be upright and neutral without slouching.
If you need to set up pillows and lean against a wall,
If you want to sit on a meditation cushion,
Consider the best option for calming your body down.
If you are listening to this meditation because you can't sleep or are having trouble calming down,
Lie on your back.
Perhaps you need a gentle pillow under your head or neck.
Have your palms face up by your sides or directly on your belly in a gentle way.
And begin to notice the weight of your body on the bed or wherever you're seated if you're upright.
When we have trouble sleeping,
One of the thoughts that may be hard to overcome is the thought or feeling that we're not going to get enough sleep for the next day.
Usually there is an allotted number we've assigned to be the right number to sleep for each night.
Consider the idea that perhaps a long nap will be the perfect amount of sleep to face all the tasks of the next day.
Give your body permission to let the amount of sleep you receive tonight to be exactly what you need for tomorrow,
No matter how many hours or even minutes it is.
And then allow your body to take a sigh of relief,
Breathing in through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
Smile from the heart.
Don't worry about how.
Just allow a smile to be felt in your chest and perhaps even across your face.
Because in this moment you are practicing mindfulness.
You are practicing a tool that over time calms your nervous system.
This tool allows your brain to function more efficiently,
More rationally,
And with more clarity.
When we practice the tool of mindfulness and meditation,
Quieting our minds,
Quieting our bodies,
We build resiliency in the nervous system.
So that daily routines,
Stresses,
And events have less of a disruptive effect on our experience.
We have a little bit more space to choose our response in the next moment.
So in this moment right now,
Give yourself permission to move in the direction in your life of greater calm,
Of greater awareness,
Of greater clarity.
Smile from the heart.
In this exact moment,
There is nowhere to go.
Allow the back of your neck to relax and feel heavy.
In this exact moment,
There is nothing to do.
Feel the weight of your pelvis,
Your hips relaxing into the softness of your sheets or pillows or bed.
In this exact moment,
There is absolutely no one you have to be.
Give yourself permission to let go of any personality constructs you have in needing to be or think or feel a certain way right now.
Let the experience you're having be exactly what it is.
Take a deep breath in and exhale.
Do that a few more times.
As you breathe in,
Smile from the heart.
Imagine the inhales relaxing your torso.
As you breathe out,
Don't worry about how.
Just release any mental tension,
Emotional tension,
Spiritual tension,
Physical tension,
And any other tension that might be in your present experience.
Notice how your body feels in this moment.
Wiggle your toes.
Notice if you can feel your toenails.
Feel the bottoms of your feet,
Your heels,
And your arches.
Imagine you can feel in between the bones that extend to each toe.
Feel any air between each toe.
And bring awareness to your ankle bones.
You might feel a tingling sensation very subtly in your feet or toes or ankles.
Notice this as a gentle activation of nerve endings,
Of the consciousness in your feet,
And of a gentle increase in circulation.
Once again,
Relax the back of your neck.
Feel the weight of your head on the pillow.
Take a deep breath in and out.
Focus on breathing in and out two more times.
And then imagine that you have an individual awareness of every finger and fingernail.
Feel the bones extending from the wrist to the tip of every finger.
Imagine you can feel the space and connective tissue in between all those bones.
Feel the air in between the fingers,
Any fabric touching your skin.
Bring awareness to the center of your palms.
And once again notice a tingling sensation.
Imagine once again that this tingling sensation is calming down the nervous system,
Increasing awareness in the nerve endings,
And moving through your whole body to quiet your mind,
Your physical body,
Your emotions.
Bringing in deep rest,
Bringing in deep nourishment,
And bringing in deep sleep for the rest of your night and moments of quiet before the next day.
Take a deep breath in and exhale.
Imagine you can relax your ears and earlobes.
Bring awareness to your ear canals going into your head.
At the same time feel the back of your skull,
The back of your head relaxing,
Releasing tension,
Becoming heavier in your pillow.
With your eyes remaining closed notice your eyeballs in your head.
Relax the muscles holding your eyeballs in place.
Imagine you can relax the optic nerve and any other connective tissue in your eye sockets,
Your eyes,
Or around your eyeballs.
Imagine that can relax your brain.
Imagine the feeling of a floating sensation in your brain that then relaxes your spinal cord moving all the way down to your tailbone.
Breathe in and out.
Smile from the heart.
Without thinking about how,
The next time you exhale,
Relax twice as much.
There is no need to solve this moment.
It is exactly happening now.
