In this sleep meditation,
I invite you to first of all get really cozy into your bed.
Turn off the light,
Nestle down underneath your covers,
And rest your head onto your pillow.
And then maybe there's a big inhale through your nose,
And an even bigger sigh out your mouth.
Doing that a couple more times,
Feeling that relief that you've reached the end of your day.
And then breathing in and out of your nose.
And wherever you find yourself,
On your back,
On your side,
Or maybe on your belly,
Try to get a little bit heavier.
Releasing tension from your muscles,
Like you could feel a sweet release in your bones.
Allowing yourself to sink down into your mattress.
Relaxing the head,
The eyelids soft.
A little suppleness to your jaw.
In our lives,
We walk around and we create these layers of ourselves.
Our identity becomes complex.
Whether we're at work,
Whether we're taking care of our children,
Or traveling around.
We become heavy and dense with labels and responsibilities.
And in these sweet moments before sleep,
We can shed these layers.
Peeling them off.
Tripping ourselves down to what we are deep down inside.
Resting back into who we truly are.
Breathing home every single night.
Breathing in,
Expanding through your rib cage,
Maybe down into your belly.
And breathing out,
Letting go.
As you breathe,
Imagining creating a little bit more space around your heart.
Inhaling and exhaling.
And then we're going to go through the body and do some muscle relaxation.
Following along with my voice.
And the next big inhale you take,
Imagine the breath following that line all the way down to the bottom of your feet.
Releasing your feet.
So bring your toes in.
Bring some effort in through the soles of the feet.
Curl them all in.
Scrunch them up as much as you can.
Feel that tension.
And then as you exhale,
Release it.
And then traveling your awareness to your calves,
Your knees.
Give them a squeeze.
You might light up through the calf muscles.
You might,
Again,
Tense your feet.
Feel your kneecaps engage.
Scrunch it all up and then let it go.
And then bringing that awareness into your thighs.
You might press your thighs in together.
Engage through your glutes.
Engage.
Good,
Light up through your glutes and your thighs.
And then let it go.
Taking a moment to notice your legs,
Your feet.
Perhaps feeling a little bit heavier now.
And then we'll move into the space of the belly.
So as you exhale,
Draw the belly to spine.
Engage through your core muscles.
Engage,
Squeeze,
And then let it go.
Sighing out some relief.
And then bringing that tense muscle connection into your shoulders.
So you might bring your shoulders up slightly towards your ears.
You might crunch them in towards the sides of your body.
Anything that makes you feel some tension through the shoulders.
Tense up,
Press,
Let it go.
And then we'll bring that awareness into our arms.
So you might bring your hands in,
Clench your fists,
Clench your forearms.
Really squeeze your fingers in towards your palms.
Good,
Get tense.
Maybe feel a little heat here and then let it go.
And then pause.
Notice the rush of blood in your arms,
Your fingers.
And then lastly we'll tense up the jaw,
The face muscles,
Scrunching into the eyes.
Close down into your eyes.
Maybe feel your cheeks engage your jaw.
Squeeze in.
And then let it go with a sigh.
Whole body now relaxing down.
Feeling what you feel.
Bringing your attention back to your breath.
Notice what it feels like to just breathe here.
The stripped away version of you.
Just you and your bed.
Just you and your beating heart.
The suppleness of your breath.
The intelligence of your body.
Breathe.
And with the stripped away version of yourself,
Shed of all the layers that you use throughout your day that make up the complex and beautiful version of who you are.
Knowing that this stripped away version is more than enough.
Only you.
And if you find yourself still drawn away into your mind.
Focusing more intently on your breath.
The drawing in.
And then the letting go.
And with the stripped away version of yourself.
And unwinding yourself from everything else.
We often tether ourselves to negative thoughts.
Our worries.
What may be going on in the world right now.
So using your breath to untangle yourself from what's going on outside of this little room of yours.
And focus on your breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Inhale.
