Welcome to this five senses meditation for sleep.
I invite you to lie down comfortably and once you find a position that serves you,
That gives you the best comfort that you can,
Ask yourself can you make yourself five or ten percent more comfortable and if you can,
Use this time now to treat yourself to that extra comfort.
Good.
Now we're going to start with the sense of taste and it's not so much what we taste but it's the sensations of the mouth.
So feel into does your mouth feel firm,
Soft,
Dry or moist.
If you take a moment to breathe in through your mouth and breathe out through your mouth,
Where does the air seem to flow?
Do this a few more times and ask yourself does the air flow through the sides of the lips,
Directly through the center,
Does the air feel hot,
Warm or cool?
If you make a small ball of saliva and move it around on your tongue,
Let it lie on the tip of your tongue.
How does that feel?
Move it to the sides of your tongue,
Right then over to the left.
Is there a difference between one side to the other?
Let that small ball of saliva lay on the middle of the tongue.
Is there a desire to swallow?
If so,
Allow yourself that,
You can always make another ball and just think or in fact feel and resonate with the sensations that you had.
I'm not trying to change them,
I'm not judging them,
Just seeing what was there.
Next let's move our awareness to our nose and nostrils and our sense of smell.
As you take an inhalation through the nostrils and breathing out through the nostrils,
Can you feel how the air comes in?
Does it flow through the nostrils smoothly?
Does it feel turbulent?
Is there more air travelling through your left nostril or your right nostril?
Are you more aware of the air coming out or going in?
Is the air cool or warm?
Is it a pleasant feeling to breathe or is it a challenge?
Here we're not forcing the breath,
Elongating the breath,
We're literally observing.
And even within one nostril,
Let's choose the right,
As you breathe in,
Does the air feel like it's coming up through the sides,
Around the rim of the nostril or directly in the centre?
Can you,
As you breathe out of the right nostril,
Feel what direction does the air flow?
Is it directly down?
Is it down and away?
Or can you feel it close on top of your upper lip?
Can you feel into the left nostril?
Does the air feel thick,
Thin,
Smooth or rough,
Jagged?
As you breathe out through the left nostril,
Is there a direction that the air flows here?
As you breathe in,
Is there a strong smell,
A subtle scent?
Does the air itself have an aroma?
Just sit with that for a moment.
Let's move to sight.
Now if your eyes are closed,
I invite you to keep them closed.
If they were open,
Gently close your eyelids.
Before we even consider the outside world,
What can you see on your inside?
Is there a colour or shade to your inner eyelids?
If you look up or down,
To the left or the right,
Does the colour or shade change?
Are there shapes,
Moving images on the back of your eyelids?
And if you allow your eyes to sink slowly backwards into your head,
Does anything change?
Gently breathing,
Air travelling down low into our lungs,
Abdominal breathing,
And slowly breathing out through the nose.
As we focus on what we can see as the eyes are closed,
We make a circle,
A clockwise circle with the eyes.
Is that comfortable?
Does it create tension?
Perhaps let's circle with the eyes as if we're trying to look around each and every edge of our eyelids.
Again,
Is the tension going towards the left?
Counterclockwise.
Now allowing the eyes to rest in the centre.
Next,
We will move to what we can hear.
Let's bring our awareness to our ears and the sounds in the room around you.
Is there a gentle hum of the electronics in the room?
Maybe a soft ticking of a clock?
Breathing of a loved one close by?
Perhaps you can hear your own breathing.
Now let's take your awareness a little further afield.
Can you hear what's happening outside of your four walls?
Perhaps even the walls of your house or home,
Wherever you find yourself lying right now.
Can you hear vehicles meandering along the road?
Perhaps there's voices?
Or perhaps Mother Nature is singing her song.
Raindrops on a window.
The wind rustling.
Leaves twitching.
Draw your awareness all the way back within yourself.
What can you hear inside your own body?
Can you hear yourself breathing?
The gurgling sounds of digestion?
Finally,
We bring our awareness to sensations.
Feeling.
What can you feel against your skin?
Warmth.
Coolness.
Feeling of the fabrics that touch you.
Silky.
Smooth.
What's the weight of the fabrics that may be laying on you?
Aware of what parts of your body feel the most pressure as you lie down.
How much of your body can contact the surface that's supporting you?
Can you allow yourself to let go just a little bit more?
How much of your body can you allow to sink into the supporting surface?
Can you allow the sensations of your body to gently calm and drip away?
I invite you to bring your awareness just gently to the rising and falling of your abdomen and chest as you breathe.
Breathing in,
Rising.
Breathing out,
Falling.
Breathing in,
Rising.
Breathing out,
Falling.
Thank you for joining me in this five senses for sleep meditation.
I look forward to seeing you and working with you again.
