Relax & Alleviate Stress Before Bed

This is a guided meditation to alleviate stress, led by Jade Zaroff. This meditation's intention is to put you in a relaxed state before bed. My hope for us is to mindfully approach our feelings, thoughts, and sensations with empathy and self-compassion, and love, leaving you with a sense of peace.

Transcript

Hi.

Welcome to this meditation to alleviate stress with three deep breaths.

Begin by taking a deep breath and hold it for five seconds.

Exhale and relax.

Take another deep breath,

As deep as you can,

And hold it,

Counting for five seconds.

And as you exhale,

Just imagine blowing out all of your stress.

Taking a third deep breath in and hold.

And as you exhale,

You blow out any stress you've been holding on to,

Saying to yourself,

Relax now.

Breathing is your new solution to stress.

Whenever you become stressed in the future,

You simply take three full and deep breaths,

Holding it at the top of the inhalation for five seconds.

And when you exhale,

Blowing out any stresses that you feel.

And on the third breath,

As you exhale,

You simply say to yourself,

Relax now.

To take this meditation further,

We will now go into a body scan.

So please begin by slowly blinking your eyes.

And with each number that I say,

Blink once.

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

And 0.

Allowing your eyes to gently close.

And when you do this,

You feel a wave of relaxation sweep over you.

Now I'd like for you to focus on the sensations at the top of your head.

Just noticing how the very top of your head feels.

And now letting your focus move down to your eyes.

Just noticing how your eyes feel and asking them to relax even more.

The little movement in your eyes is just rapid eye movement and is completely normal.

These small eye movements actually allow you to feel calm.

Notice how the back of your head feels against the surface that it is touching.

How heavy does your head feel right now?

Letting your focus move to your nose and feeling the slight sensations of the air moving in and out with your breath.

When you breathe in,

Imagine that you are being filled with calmness.

And when you breathe out,

Imagine your body feels heavy and deeply relaxed.

Very good.

Now focus on your ears.

Notice how they feel and what they hear around you.

Try to listen and hear every single noise.

When sounds come into your ears,

They act as little waves of relaxation,

Taking you even deeper.

Notice the sound of my voice and how soothing and relaxing it is,

Helping you go into a deeper state of relaxation.

And from here forward,

You can only hear my voice guiding you with all other sounds passing through,

Only to take you deeper into a state of relaxation.

Now focus on your mouth.

How does it feel and what do you notice?

Can you sense the flavor of something you recently tasted?

Perhaps you can imagine biting into a fresh slice of lemon and noticing how your mouth waters with the thought.

Very good.

Moving your focus down now to your neck.

If there is any tension,

Just asking it to release a little more.

Notice how your neck feels right now.

Just feel all of the sensations in your neck.

Now focus on your shoulders and move your attention slowly going down each arm,

Down all the way to each fingertip.

What are your fingertips touching right now?

Feeling the sensations on your fingertips.

Nice.

Allowing your focus to go to your chest,

Relaxing this area as well as your upper back.

And if you notice any tension,

Just ask it nicely to release just a little.

Now imagine you are focusing on your heart and feeling it beating strongly,

Supporting you.

Relax your heart and notice how good it feels to do so.

And now focus on your lungs,

Feeling them gently expanding and contracting with your breath,

Delivering oxygen to your body,

Allowing your focus to move down your vital organs and digestive system.

Just notice your belly and how it feels,

Just observing it working,

Digesting effortlessly for you.

Now notice your lower back and how it is pressing against the surface you are on.

And if you feel any tension,

Just say,

Please relax just a little more.

Focus now on your pelvis and hips and notice any sensations you are having there.

This takes you to an even deeper state of relaxation,

Allowing your focus to move down each leg now,

Slowly relaxing those as well.

Your legs have been taking you so many places over the years and they deserve to fully relax.

Notice this wonderful wave of relaxation moving down to your knees and down your lower legs,

All the way to your feet and the very tip of each toe.

Good,

You're doing so well.

Now that you have relaxed your body so well,

I am going to count down from 10 and with each descending number your conscious mind will relax even more so,

Letting go of any beliefs that hold you back from your goal.

And imagine that you are standing at the top of a set of stairs and when I begin counting you will walk down the stairs.

Okay,

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1 and 0.

Good.

It's natural that your conscious mind give less and less importance to the words that I'm saying,

Allowing your subconscious mind to be present right now.

From now on you choose to be relaxed,

You choose to be calm,

You choose to be in control of all you do because your mental and physical and spiritual health is very important to you.

Remember that it is natural for you to be healthy and happy,

It is unnatural for you to have sickness and misery.

Now hear yourself saying,

Each day in every way I get better and better.

In order to make change I challenge myself.

Change is not comfortable,

In fact it can be inconvenient.

So if I feel comfortable with the change I am making,

I am probably not extending myself enough.

When I have a negative thought I acknowledge that I feel this way and then I release it.

When another negative thought arises I catch it quickly and I say with confidence,

I acknowledge that part of me feels this way but this thought does not help me right now.

Whenever I am presented with feelings of stress I know my breath is there to soothe me and guide me into relaxation.

Every single day I become more aware of the good things going on in my community and in the world around me.

When I feel that darkness is surrounding me I know that the way to see light is to take three deep breaths,

Relaxing my mind,

My body and my spirit by doing so.

Each day in every way I get better and better.

In order to make great change I observe and challenge my thoughts.

From now on I challenge every single negative and unproductive thought that arises.

Starting now I invite you to be observant of your thoughts and whenever you find yourself having negative,

Unproductive thoughts immediately say to yourself,

Stop.

Slow down.

Whenever you find yourself having negative,

Unproductive thoughts you will immediately say to yourself,

Stop.

Slow down.

So that the negative thoughts can be witnessed and positive thoughts can arise,

Giving you the opportunity to start a new positive thought process.

How do you feel?

Notice how you feel right now and take great note of exactly how you feel right now.

Good.

Coming back to conscious awareness,

Bringing everything that you learned today back into this moment.

One.

Slowly coming back to the present moment.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Feeling fresh,

New energy coming in as you breathe.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Bringing back all that you have learned today.

Eight.

Nine.

And ten.

Good.

Meditation is very powerful work and by practicing this meditation daily this will support your awareness of more positive thoughts to alleviate stress and put your body and your mind and your spirit into a state of relaxation.

I hope I helped you today.

I hope you have a lovely day.

This is the way to change your life for the better and thank you so much for being here with me.