Welcome to tonight's sleep session.
For tonight's session we're going to be using our breath to help us drift off to a peaceful sleep.
We can use our breath to down regulate our nervous system to slow our bodies and our minds and shift our mental,
Physical and emotional state into a place of relaxation.
So when you're ready,
I invite you now to find a comfortable position laying in your bed,
Ideally on your back,
But whatever position is most comfortable for you.
And if you haven't already done so,
Just softly closing down your eyes and beginning to settle yourself into the space,
Giving yourself permission to release the day,
To let go of anything you might still be holding on to.
And we're going to use our breath to help with this process.
So if your mind is still very active,
That's totally okay.
Just allowing yourself to be present and allowing whatever thoughts are there,
Whatever sensations are in the body,
Whatever tension might be present.
Just to be and allowing yourself to feel into your body as a cloud of sensations from the soles of your feet all the way up to the crown of your head.
And as you observe what's present in your body,
See if you can bring your attention to your breath and the sensations of breathing.
The air and the breath flowing softly in and out of your nose,
The rise and the fall of your belly and your chest,
Identifying but not trying to control your breath.
And as we start to become aware and follow those sensations of breathing,
We're going to start taking some deeper,
Slower breaths,
Breathing in and out of the nose,
Just breathing fully,
Focusing on drawing the breath down into your lower belly.
If it's helpful for you,
You can place one or both hands on your belly and start feeling that rhythm,
The soft rise and fall on the inhale and the exhale.
And as we start to breathe more deeply and more slowly,
We're beginning to send signals back to our brain that it's time for us to relax,
Giving ourselves permission to let go,
Moving us deeper towards sleep.
Continuing with these nice,
Deep,
Slow breaths,
Beginning to feel a heaviness in your body as you sink into the surface below.
With every exhale,
Just relaxing your body even further as your eyes also begin to grow heavy.
And we're now going to take five deep breaths in through the nose with a nice,
Slow,
Cold exhale out of the mouth,
Blowing the exhale softly.
So when you're ready with me,
Taking a nice full breath in and exhaling.
And again,
Breathing in and exhaling.
Again,
Breathing in,
Letting it go.
Two more breathing in.
One more full breath in.
Feeling that relaxation washing over the body.
Feeling a sense of peace and stillness as we drift a little closer to sleep.
And we're going to move into our first conscious breathing exercise.
But before we do so,
Just bringing your attention and your awareness to your mind's eye and the space in between your eyebrows.
And setting an intention of deep,
Peaceful sleep through the night.
Repeating back to yourself silently,
I will sleep deeply and I will wake up feeling refreshed.
With your attention at your mind's eye,
Using this opportunity as well to soften the muscles around your eyes,
To release any tension in the jaw.
And just to relax your body even further.
And our first conscious breathing exercise is our cadence breathing.
We're going to be breathing in through the nose for four and exhaling slowly out of the mouth for eight.
Really nice and simple,
Just staying with the breath.
So when you're ready with me,
Just taking one full inhale,
Opening the mouth and sighing out and following my count,
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In and out.
Taking one more round,
Breathing in and out.
And then just allowing your breath to settle,
Allowing the breath to breathe you,
Releasing any sense of control and feeling that softening,
That relaxation in the body.
And we're going to move into our second exercise.
This is our four,
Seven,
Eight breath,
Breathing in through the nose for four,
Holding for seven and exhaling slowly again out of the mouth for eight.
So when you're ready,
Taking a really nice full breath in,
Exhaling,
Sighing out,
Letting it go.
And following my count,
We're breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
In,
Hold,
Hold,
And out.
Taking one more round,
Breathing in,
Holding,
Sighing,
And out,
Extending that exhale,
Feeling the whole body relax and soften even further.
And after that exhale,
The breath settles,
We drop into stillness,
We feel the body fully letting go towards sleep.
And if it's helpful for you,
You can stay with either one of those exercises until you fall to sleep,
Or you can just allow yourself to drift and sink a little bit deeper towards a really nice peaceful sleep.
