Hi,
This is Paige.
Several of you have asked for a pre-sleep meditation with minimal movement so you can use it in bed without disturbing anyone who may already be enjoying sweet dreams beside you.
So that's what we have this week,
A still guided body relaxation to help you drop the residue of the day and settle into deep sleep.
Begin right in bed if you like,
However you're comfortable.
Maybe gently stretch without a whole lot of movement,
Just stretching enough to feel ready to relax.
Let's do three full body squeezes and releases.
Inhale,
You can squeeze the whole body as if you're hugging the muscles to the bones,
Maybe even squinching your face a little bit,
Gentle fists curling the toes,
And a gentle perhaps even sighing exhale relax that effort.
Twice more squeeze of the whole body engaging and maybe a soft sigh as you exhale,
Let the physical body go.
Once more like that,
Inhale a gentle squeeze,
Everything engages,
And perhaps a gentle sighing exhale release.
It's really common to carry the stress of the day in our bodies,
Almost contracting to attempt to hold everything together.
What we'll invite now is a dropping away of anything your body is holding,
Imagining releasing the heaviness of it and feeling,
Watching it drop and dissolve along with any tension that's accumulated around holding it.
Begin all the way down in your feet.
Let your feet feel 10% heavier.
Maybe you can feel them sinking into the bed a little bit more,
And then allow any tension that has accumulated in your feet as they've moved you through the world today.
Imagine that tension getting even heavier still and eventually dropping way down through the bed,
Through the floor,
Through the foundation all the way down to the ground,
Where that energy can simply be absorbed and recycled,
Leaving your feet completely relaxed.
Let your attention slip up to your lower legs,
The two strong bones there,
The muscles of your calves spreading,
All of this becoming about 10% heavier.
Anything extraneous dropping away down through the bed,
Through the floor,
Through the foundation to the earth where it can be absorbed and recycled.
Let your attention drift to your knees,
The largest joint in your body,
This hinge point between your lower and upper legs.
It's a place where the ability to walk,
Run,
Jump,
Kick,
Climb stairs,
Move up and down resides.
Let the joints of your knees get just a little bit heavier.
Feel them sink into the bed,
And feel any tension they're holding drop all the way down to the earth.
Allow your attention to effortlessly wind up to the thighs,
Heavy thigh bones,
Powerful muscles,
Source of strength and support.
The thighs getting a little bit heavier,
Dropping a little bit more completely into the bed.
Anything you've been holding here that you don't need right now can just continue to drop to the floor,
Through the foundation to the ground.
Moving up to the hips,
Pelvis,
Hub of movement and stability.
This point between the lower and the upper body seed of balance,
Of equanimity.
Allow anything that feels like an imbalance here in the hips and the pelvis to get so heavy that as the hips and the pelvis sink into the bed a little bit more,
Any of that imbalance drops right on down to the floor,
The foundation,
The ground.
When you're ready,
Your attention can move its way to the belly,
The torso,
The sides of the waist,
The spread of the low back,
The ribs.
So many of our vital organs are held in this part of the body and our vitality in general resides in great part right here.
As you have carried the day,
Have parts of the body here maybe worked their way into some knots or become constricted or clamped down in an effort to hold you together.
Let everything here in the belly,
The torso,
The waist,
The low back,
The ribs,
All of it get about 10% heavier.
Rest right into the bed and then let anything you don't need for rest to drop down and away,
Leaving this part of the body relaxed,
Resting back,
Slowing down.
Allow your attention to move into your chest,
The origin point of breathing and circulation.
Have these functions become maybe shallow or choppy or labored as you've carried your day?
Let the whole chest get about 10% heavier.
Any excess effort simply dropping.
Your breathing now moving like breath moves in a baby as it sleeps.
Attention drifting to your shoulders and your arms,
This place where burdens sometimes settle.
The shoulders and the arms getting a little bit heavier,
Sinking into the bed and anything extra you've been carrying and dropping on down.
Floor,
Foundation,
Ground.
Attention moving to your wrists and hands,
Releasing what you might be holding here,
Feeling the relief as it drops and the wrists and the hands are left here,
Just heavy and relaxed.
Allow your attention to move into your neck,
No longer efforting here to hold your head.
That responsibility simply drops,
Sinks down,
Dissolves away,
Leaving the neck resting against the bed or the pillow,
Completely released.
Drifting finally to the head,
The face.
So much potential to hold here.
Headquarters of the nervous system where we process so much of what comes in.
Let everything here effortlessly become 10% heavier.
Your jaw,
The root of your tongue,
Your inner ears,
Nasal passages,
Eyes,
Thoughts themselves feeling heavy,
Dropping as your head and your face rest,
Thoughts themselves dropping down,
Dissolving.
Your whole body resting a little bit more deeply into the bed,
Relieved of tension,
Lighter,
Even as it rests more heavily towards sleep.
