Welcome!
This is a Getting Back to Sleep guided meditation after waking up from a night's sweat or hot flush.
So,
It's the middle of the night and perhaps you're feeling pretty uncomfortable right now.
Sometimes night sweats also come with an adrenaline surge and we can be so full of thoughts as well as difficult physical sensations.
Let's take a moment right now to pause and acknowledge where we are.
Perhaps you'd like to notice that you're in your bed.
Notice the surface you're lying on.
Notice the contact your body is making with the mattress.
Is the mattress soft or firm?
Notice the temperature.
Perhaps it's warm.
Perhaps you're beginning to cool off.
Notice your pillow.
Notice your blanket.
And let's take a deep breath right now with a long exhalation.
You might like to breathe in for three and out for six.
Take another one of those breaths.
And another.
And now just let your breathing be natural.
Perhaps you might want to acknowledge any feelings or thoughts or sensations that may have arisen from this experience of waking up in the middle of the night.
Try to acknowledge without trying to solve or story the experience.
So just noticing and naming the physical sensations.
Noticing and naming any thoughts.
And noticing and naming any feelings.
Any thoughts you might be having right now about the physical sensations,
Any thoughts about the feelings,
Might feel quite different in the morning.
I find it's useful in these moments to bring in a little self-compassion.
We might say something to ourselves like,
Oh,
This is hard.
I'm sorry you're feeling this way.
You might talk to yourself the way you would speak to a beloved.
Take a moment to say a few self-compassionate things right now.
If you're still feeling quite warm,
You might just send love to your body.
You might imagine cooling coming with that love.
Sometimes it also helps to remember that you're a human in a human body that changes over time.
Some of those changes feel good,
Give you pleasure.
And some of these changes come with some distress or waking up in the night.
But this human body that you're in right now that might be full of thoughts and feelings and sensations,
It's a perfectly human body.
And because you're human,
You are not alone.
Perhaps thousands of other people right now in this very moment are also awake.
Maybe they too have had a night's sweat or a hot flash.
Because,
Well,
That's just human.
You might like to take another couple of breaths with long exhalations.
The long exhalations invoke the parasympathetic system,
Which helps us with rest and digest.
And as you breathe with these long exhalations,
Take time to notice the contact you're making with your mattress,
Your pillow,
And your blanket.
And now let your breathing go back to normal again.
Just notice the inhalations and exhalations of this normal breathing.
Use your breathing to come back to this moment,
To lying on your bed,
To resting.
Perhaps your breath might help your body to rest,
Even if you haven't fallen asleep.
Perhaps it's just restful to breathe and to notice inhalations and exhalations,
Allowing your body to settle,
Allowing your mind to settle.
And when our mind starts to settle,
Our body starts to settle.
And perhaps you might be able to settle.
Settle back into sleep.
