Meditation For Better Sleep

This meditation uses techniques of body scan and deeper breathing to minimize feelings of restlessness, calm the mind, and build body awareness while getting a better night's sleep. This soundtrack includes calming ambient music.

Transcript

Hi and welcome to this meditation.

This will be a guided meditation to help you get to sleep whether it is insomnia or restlessness in the body.

This meditation will use the breath and deeper inhalations,

Exhalations,

As well as concentration to calm the mind and still the body.

Go ahead and take a comfortable position.

I recommend lying down or you may sit.

If you are sitting,

Allow the spine to be straight,

Lengthening through the crown of the head.

If you are sitting or lying down,

Allow the face to be relaxed,

Relaxing the jaw,

The forehead,

The cheekbones,

Removing the tongue from the roof of the mouth,

Allowing the body to become limp.

We'll start this meditation with a body scan.

Relaxing each part of the body,

Let's begin.

Notice the natural state of the body,

Exactly how it is.

We won't resist any thought,

Sound,

Or a bodily sensation that comes up.

Throughout the meditation,

We'll simply allow all of those things to fade,

Re-centering our awareness.

Bring the awareness to the toes of the left foot,

Feeling any sensations,

Moving the awareness up through the ankle of the left foot.

Now moving the awareness to the calf of the left leg,

Now to the knee,

To the thigh,

Now becoming aware of the left leg as a whole.

If any sensations come up here,

Allow them to fade away.

Allow your center of awareness to be like a spotlight over these parts of the body.

Now bring the center of awareness into the toes of the right foot.

Notice the entire right foot as a whole.

Now becoming aware of the right ankle,

And moving that awareness to the right calf of the right leg,

Now to the right knee,

And then to the right thigh,

And now the right leg as a whole.

If any sensations come up in any part of the body,

Allow the spotlight of awareness on this part of the body to bring your awareness back to the relaxation of each individual body part.

As we move through,

When you notice any discomfort or restlessness,

Allow that part of the body to relax,

Reminding yourself that you are comfortable,

You are not harmed,

And you are protected.

Now moving the awareness up to the pelvis,

Noticing any sensations.

Now drawing a line from the bottom of the spine with your mind's eye,

Imagining each vertebrae of the spine as you slowly go up,

Up,

Up,

Until you reach the crown of the head.

Allow this part of the body to become heavy.

Allow the entire lower body to become heavy.

You may close the eyes if they are not closed already.

And now bringing the awareness to the belly,

The front of the body,

Notice the belly expanding on your inhale and contracting on the exhale.

As breath moves freely throughout the body.

Now becoming aware of the right hand,

Chasing a line up through the wrist of the right arm,

Now up to the right forearm,

Through the elbow in the right arm,

Through the upper arm,

Through the upper arm,

And now to the shoulder.

If there are any sensations present,

Simply allow them to fade away.

Become aware of the arm as a whole.

Relax the arm.

Allow it to fall into the bed or into the chair beneath you.

Become aware of the left arm,

Starting with the left hand,

Then becoming aware of the left wrist,

The left forearm,

Going up through the left elbow,

And then the left upper arm,

The left shoulder,

And now the left arm as a whole.

Noticing any sensations there.

Noticing also how each part of the body works together,

Comes together to serve an overall function.

Repeat this body scan in your mind's eye by yourself in your own time.

And now becoming aware of the body as a whole.

Feel the body sinking deeper into the bed or into the chair beneath you.

Feel the body becoming heavy.

Feel the body being relaxed.

Become aware of the breath,

The breath as it is.

Notice how the breath flows naturally,

Normally,

Coming in through the nostrils and going out through the nostrils.

Breath coming in and breath going out.

Become aware of each breath,

The breath as it is.

And now we'll start to deepen the breath,

Making the inhales about twice as long as the exhales.

So if your inhale is three seconds long,

Allow your exhale to be six seconds long.

Allow a slight pause in between your inhale and exhale.

It may go something like this.

Inhale for one,

Two,

Three,

Pause for one,

Two,

Now exhale for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

Again,

Inhale for one,

Two,

Three,

Pause for one,

Two,

Exhale one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

Repeat this cycle of the breath,

Allowing your exhale to be about twice as long as the inhale,

Pausing in between the inhales and the exhales.

Deepen the breath,

Calm the mind and calm the body.

Deepening the breath,

Making our inhales and exhales smooth and easy.

We won't force the breath.

We'll give little force,

Little effort.

Simply allow the flow of the breath to be long,

Deep,

And easy.

The natural flow,

The natural rhythm and cycle of the breath,

Pausing in between inhales and exhales,

Allowing this breath to relax the body.

Breathing with awareness.

You may find the mind wandering off onto thought.

If so,

That's completely normal and natural.

Notice the mind wandering and redirect the mind to the breath,

The inhales and the exhales twice as long.

Relax the body,

Relax the mind.

Deepen the breath,

Smooth inhales,

Smooth exhales.

Breathe.

Breathe with awareness.

We won't resist sound.

We won't resist thought that comes up.

We won't resist bodily sensation.

We'll simply notice these things,

Be the observer of our experiences,

And redirect the mind to the breath.

Allow the breath to anchor the mind in this moment right here.

Feeling the body sink deeper and deeper.

Feeling the mind become still,

The body become quiet.

Deepen the breath.

Breathe smoothly.

Breathe easily.

Breathing with awareness.

Noticing the breath becoming easier and smoother.

Noticing the breath become deeper.

Noticing the mind becoming calmer.

Using the breath to redirect our mind,

Redirect our focus.

We program our mind even to be more focused and concentrated.

We are the directors of our mind.

Relaxing deeper and deeper.

Still in the body,

Still in the mind.

Breathing with awareness.

If the mind is drifting off onto thought,

It's totally normal and it's okay.

Continue to feel the body become heavy,

Including the eyelids,

The cheekbones,

The jaw,

The eyebrows,

Even the tongue in the roof of the mouth.

Relaxing the shoulders down the back body,

Becoming one with the earth beneath us.

Grounding down,

Becoming still,

Becoming quiet.

Continue breathing,

Continue relaxing.

As you continue to breathe,

If the mind wanders,

It's totally okay.

If you feel the need to turn off the meditation and go to sleep,

It's perfectly fine as well.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

As we sit in silence and direct our mind to the calming breath,

If you feel the mind wanders off onto sensations in the body that distract you,

Simply bring your awareness back to the breath,

To the deeper inhales,

The deeper exhales.

Allowing the breath to be smooth,

Allowing the exhales to be twice as long as the inhales.

Breathe.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

Listen to the body,

Listen to the mind.

And now relax the concentration.

You may relax the awareness of the breath,

Bringing gentle,

Soft movements to the body.

Maybe wiggling the fingers,

Moving the fingers,

Wiggling the toes.

And possibly,

Whenever you are ready,

You may slowly flutter the eyes open.

Thank you for joining me for this calming meditation to calm the mind and bring stillness to the body before we get into the bed and go to sleep.

I hope this meditation helped you.

I recommend listening to this soundtrack every night before you go to bed to help ease the mind and ground yourself in this present moment,

Using the breath to heal.

I hope you have a great restful night and have a great day tomorrow.

Namaste.