Relaxing breath meditation for sleep.
Welcome to this relaxing guided meditation to help slow down your breath,
Allowing your system to switch into the rest state so that you can sleep.
Please take a moment to get as comfortable as you can for your rest.
Fidget and adjust and let stillness come and meet you.
I find that covering my eyes can be very helpful with a scarf or eye bag or whatever you may have on hand.
If it's comfortable and makes sense for you,
Place your hands on your belly.
Take a few deep breaths and as you do,
Imagine letting go of the waking day and making a commitment to rest and sleep.
Let's take a few moments to check in with the breath to notice what it's doing naturally.
At the same time,
Observe what's on your mind.
Often when we have trouble sleeping,
There are thoughts and worries that are keeping us up.
Take a moment to notice what those are,
If they're there,
And simply acknowledge them.
Let yourself think them.
Now it's time to set the intention to sleep,
To let go of those conscious thoughts.
Whatever you may be thinking about,
There's nothing you can do about it right now.
Sometimes the best thing to do with our worries is to submit them to the crucible of unconsciousness.
Our minds keep processing our experiences while we are asleep in a different way than our conscious minds can.
You may like to promise yourself that you'll come back to these worries in the morning,
But right now you'd like to let them go to your unconscious mind,
To trust sleep to help you in whatever it is you may be facing in your life.
And sleep is pretty much always helpful.
Keep in mind as well that even if you don't fall asleep,
These restful meditations will help your body to rest and repair and recover from whatever it is that's been going on in your day.
Trust that this rest will be useful to you whether you fall asleep or not.
Now turn your attention completely to your breath.
Notice how it feels,
How fast or slow the breath is.
Notice where you feel it.
Notice if you are resisting your breath.
Relax your jaw,
Your neck,
Your shoulders.
Relax your chest.
Imagine that you could relax your lungs.
Soften the muscles of your belly all the way down to your pelvic floor.
Imagine all the muscles involved in breathing are completely soft and receptive,
The breath completely free to move in its own way.
The breath cycle has natural pauses that are held within it.
There is a pause at the top of the breath in that transitional moment when the inhale becomes the exhale.
There's another pause at the bottom of the breath in that moment when the exhale switches to an inhale.
The breath phases much like the moon does,
Waxing on the inhale,
Pausing in fullness at the top,
And waning with the exhale,
Pausing in emptiness at the bottom before the cycle begins again.
I'd like for you to especially notice the pause at the bottom of the exhale.
Follow it with your mind.
Watch the way your exhale slightly slows down just before the bottom of the breath,
Resting in that slight pause,
And then softly rises again on the inhale.
Observe that slowing down with the exhale.
You don't need to change anything about your breath.
Just notice what that feels like.
Imagine also the way your body relaxes and slows down with each exhale,
Settling gently with the pause at the bottom of the breath.
Your shoulders relax a little bit more with each exhale.
Your body becomes a little bit heavier.
Your belly softens and releases with each exhale.
Again,
Without changing anything about your breath,
Without holding your breath,
Continue to notice the pause at the bottom of each breath.
Your breathing may shift and change in some way,
And that's completely fine.
Simply lean into that pause.
Feel your body relaxing toward that pause,
Softening into the bottom of your breath.
Continue to rest in the pause at the bottom of your breath just as long as feels natural.
Allow your body to soften more deeply with each exhale.
Feel the way your heartbeat slightly slows down.
Your thoughts resting toward quiet in the pause.
Your body at rest,
Soft with the breath.
Nothing to do but find that space in your breath and rest within it.
Rest,
Relax,
Breathe.
