Let's begin by lying down and getting very comfortable.
Make sure you have a blanket if you feel cool.
An eye mask if you need it.
And any props that might support you to sleep.
And maybe it's late.
And your body is tired but your mind is still awake.
You might be replaying what you've said today.
Or replaying what they said.
Or maybe you're planning what you need to do tomorrow.
Or simply holding everything all at once.
So if that's you tonight,
Just let yourself be exactly as you are.
Now start to notice your breath.
Let a soft breath come in through your nose,
All the way down into the belly.
And part your lips as you exhale as one long slow sigh through your mouth like you're fogging a window with the breath.
Again,
Inhaling through your nose all the way into the belly.
And a long,
Slow exhale through soft lips like you're fogging a window.
Again,
In through your nose.
And a long slow out through the mouth.
Do that a couple more times on your own now.
Now let your breath come back to its natural rhythm.
And start to sense that above you the night sky is vast and endless.
It's big enough to hold all that you've been carrying today.
As you connect with the night sky above.
You might notice that thoughts are still coming.
If so,
Simply let them.
When a thought appears,
Simply notice it.
And imagine it gathering softly at the forehead and coming toward the surface until the thought itself begins to take shape.
A small bubble of light.
Luminous and warm.
And then let it drift gently away from you out into the open night.
Watch this thought bubble move beyond you until it disappears into the vastness of the night sky.
And when another thought appears.
Let it gather at the forehead.
A small bubble of light again.
And then let it gently drift away out into the night.
If something from today is still circling through the mind.
Let it become light.
Let it rise away from you and disappear into the vastness above.
And if tomorrow starts creeping in with its plans,
Its questions,
Its unfinished things,
Let those thoughts become bubbles of light too.
You don't need to answer any of them tonight.
Let them rise and leave them to the sky above you.
Allow the body to become heavier and sink into the surface beneath you.
Feel your feet getting heavier.
Warm and heavy like wax melting into the bed beneath you.
So heavy you couldn't move them if you tried.
And feel that heaviness spread into your legs.
Your legs are sinking and melting down.
Completely supported and held.
Feel that delicious heaviness move into the hips.
Letting them sink into the surface beneath you.
Feel your belly getting heavier and letting go.
You've held so much here today.
Let it be held now.
Feel your chest and your shoulders get heavy and soft and releasing.
Like the beds rising up around you to hold you.
Feel your arms and hands getting wonderfully heavy.
Your fingers softening.
Feel your face softening.
Your jaw unclenching.
The forehead is smooth and clear and cool as each thought lifts away from you.
You're heavy and supported here.
While above you,
Bubbles of light continue to rise.
All by themselves now.
Lifting.
Dissolving far above you into the night.
And as I go quiet.
Your unconscious can continue this for you.
Lifting whatever it needs to lift.
Dissolving whatever is ready to dissolve.
Nothing to hold.
Nothing to figure out.
Nothing to do.
Heavy down here.
Light up there.
Drifting.
Softening.
Releasing.
You can let my voice fade now.
As you drift deeper and deeper into rest.
Sweet dreams.
