Relaxation Before Bed

Join me as I walk you through a gentle exercise helping you to relax from your toes all the way up to your body. This relaxation is meant to be done at bedtime, allowing you to drift off to sleep afterward.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Lori and welcome to this deep relaxation meditation to help you ease into sleep at bedtime.

So get comfortable in your bed.

Make sure you've turned off your cell phone or any other distractions around you.

Close the door to the room if that helps.

Get comfortable under the covers adjusting your pillow.

Now let's just start by taking a nice deep relaxation breath in.

Taking another nice breath in.

Good.

Now just breathe normal.

Pay attention to how your breath feels as it passes into your nostrils,

Into your lungs and diaphragm.

As you exhale,

Try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth,

Cleansing and recycling the oxygen in your body.

Now I want you to breathe in for four,

Hold for four and exhale for eight.

And when you exhale,

Press your belly button into your spine.

Exhaust all air.

Do that again.

In for four.

Hold for four.

Out for eight.

In for eight.

Now I want you to turn your attention to your toes.

Wiggle them.

Bend them over as far as you can,

Closing them tight.

And then release and relax them.

Let the blood,

The fluid and the energy flow into your toes.

Scrunch up your toes again and relax them.

Wiggle them as you need to.

Get any tightness or tension out of your toes.

Now turn your attention to your feet,

Your heels and your ankles.

I want you to stretch your feet out.

Straight out,

Reach with your toes and then relax.

Then go the opposite way.

Bring your toes towards your shin,

Stretching out your calf and then relax.

Do the other leg.

Stretch out.

Point your toes.

Relax.

And then go the other way,

Bringing your toes towards your shin.

And then relax.

Now go to one leg and rotate your ankle in a circle,

Stretching out all the muscles you can feel in the calf and your ankle,

The front of your foot,

Up the front of your leg.

Good.

And now the other one.

Nice gentle circle,

Stretching everything out,

Unlocking and releasing any tension or tightness.

Good.

Now just take a deep breath in and relax your feet.

Now turn your attention to your calves,

Your shins.

Tense up your calf muscles,

Tense them and try and hold them for as long as you can.

And then take a nice breath in and on the exhale,

Relax and release.

Do that again.

Tense up your calf muscles.

And when you're ready,

Relax and release.

Just keep breathing nice and slow,

Nice and relaxed.

Next we're going to crunch up our thighs.

It will in turn make us crunch up our buttocks muscles.

That's okay.

Crunch,

Crunch,

Crunch your thighs and your hamstrings.

And when you can hold it no longer,

Relax and release.

Breathe nice and slow and deep,

Releasing any tension or tightness that's come out.

When you're ready,

Do it again.

Crunch up your muscles,

Your thighs,

Your legs,

Your bottom.

Crunch,

Crunch,

Crunch,

Crunch,

Crunch.

Relax and you can hold it no more.

Just exhale all the tension away.

If you feel the need to adjust or wiggle anything out,

Go right ahead.

Next we're going to focus on relaxing our abdomen and our stomach area.

So let's start by crunching up the muscles,

Contracting the muscles in the abdomen.

Squeeze them tight,

Tight,

Tight.

And then relax on the exhale.

Take a nice deep breath in.

And again,

Scrunch up your abdomen muscles.

Relax on the exhale.

And turn your tension to your stomach area.

Crunch up your stomach area.

And relax on the exhale.

Take a nice deep breath in.

Crunch up again.

And relax on the exhale.

Now we're going to contract the muscles in our back as best we can.

Some people feel arching helps.

Whatever works for you,

Contract your back muscles as best you can.

And relax on the exhale.

If you feel the need to stretch or elongate in any way,

Wiggle or turn or twist,

Go right ahead.

Take a nice breath in.

Contract your back muscles again.

Relaxing on the exhale.

Alright.

Now we're going to turn our attention to our chest and shoulders.

So take a nice breath in.

And contract the muscles across your chest,

Into your pectorals,

Into your shoulders.

And relax on the exhale.

Another big breath in.

Contract.

Relax on the exhale.

Alright.

And on your next inhale,

Let's bring the shoulders up,

Crunching up towards our ears.

And hold until you can't hold anymore.

And relax on the exhale.

Do that again.

Inhale.

Scrunch up your shoulders.

Release on the exhale.

Now stretch your head a little to the left so you elongate your neck and shoulder muscles onto the right.

And then do the opposite.

Stretch out towards the right,

Elongating your neck and shoulder muscles on the left.

Nice big breath in.

Allow your arms,

Your biceps,

And your triceps to release and relax.

And clamp and tense up your forearms.

Make a fist with your hands.

And then relax on the exhale.

Do that again.

Make a fist and clench your forearms.

And then relax on the exhale.

Take another nice,

Long,

Slow,

Deep breath in.

Now I want you to crinkle up your face,

Crunch up your face muscles really tight.

And then relax them on the exhale.

Allow the feeling and sensations of the energy flowing and the blood flowing into your face and the stress and tension just melting down your cheeks.

Do that again.

Crunch up your face really hard.

Hold it as long as you can.

And when you exhale,

Just relax everything.

Let it just float down you and away.

Take a nice big breath in and just release any of that tension that's coming up.

Blow it away.

Now I just want you to slide or wiggle your jaw left and right,

Unlocking any stress or tension that's locked in your jaw.

Take a nice deep breath in and blow out any stress or tension that's come to the surface.

Nice,

Slow,

Deep breaths.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Starting at your toes,

Slowly working up to the top of your head.

Is there anywhere that feels tight or tense?

Anywhere you think an extra little scrunching of muscle or focused breathing might help it relax and release.

Work up your calves and your thighs.

Be very mindful of how your body feels.

Is there anything pinching or strained?

Adjust as you need to.

Work up your bottom and your spine.

And to your shoulders,

Your arms and hands,

Your abdomen,

Your stomach.

Slowly work up through your body.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Good.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

Now I want you to do your own body scan.

And if your heart says yes,

You do need to hang on to that.

I want you to give it a number.

I want you to put it on a leaf and float it down the most beautiful creek or stream you can imagine in your mind's eye,

Knowing there's an eddy pool at the end where you can pick up all the things you need to hang on to and come back to your center point and just be.

And as things arise,

Process them.

Let as much go as you can and float the rest downstream for later.

Keep coming back to center.

And as things arise,

Process them.

Let as much go as you can and float the rest downstream for later.

Keep coming back to center.

Let as much go as you can and float the rest downstream for later.

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Reviews

I was really stressed and that was super relaxing. I truly felt my cortisol levels decreasing and I was also before it ended

Fell asleep very shortly into it, which is always a good thing for me!