Bedtime Practice: Deep Somatic Rest

This practice helps the body and mind come into a deep state of rest prior to sleeping. Using somatic practices, gentle visualization, and our connection to the earth, you are invited to let everything go and have the best night's sleep of your life.

Transcript

So taking care of anything you need to do before you go to bed.

You can return to this recording in a few minutes if there's anything else you need to take care of.

And then when you're ready,

You can lie down and make yourself as comfortable as possible.

You'll be adjusting the pillows,

Really seeing what feels like the most comfortable way for you to lie right now.

You may feel comfortable to have a pillow underneath your knees that will support your lower back,

As you're lying in your back right now.

And then we'll start to slowly deepen the breath through the nostrils.

We'll elongate the breaths,

Making them longer.

And then in the next exhale,

You can bring one of your hands towards your nostrils and use one of the index fingers to block your right nostril.

So in the exhale,

You're closing your right nostril,

And you're exhaling all the air out through your left.

And then breathing in through your left nostril,

And then closing your left nostril,

Exhaling fully out the right.

And we'll continue to cycle like that for about a minute or two.

And you can make the breaths very long and slow and steady.

So alternating where you have your index finger,

Alternating which nostril you have your index finger on,

And just letting this relax the body and mind really deeply.

The slower you get with the breath,

The slower your mind naturally gets.

And just for another few seconds,

Just really slowing down the breath.

Very long,

Slow inhale,

Long,

Slow exhale.

And then you can bring your hands to your belly,

To your lower belly,

To your left hand under your right.

And just grounding the energy in your body,

Softening,

Relaxing.

Continuing those long,

Slow breaths through your nostrils.

And then we'll start the body scan,

Starting from the head and working all the way down to the toes.

And everywhere we notice in the body,

We're paying primary attention to where tension is there.

And anywhere we notice tension,

Just let it fall down through the body into the earth.

Starting with anywhere in the head,

Scan your head for tension,

Noticing feeling there.

Just letting everything soften,

Your face,

Ears,

Top of your head.

Let everything melt down through your body into the earth.

Same with your neck and your shoulders.

Deeply feeling your body,

Anywhere you notice tightness or tension,

Just letting it fall down and dissolve into the earth.

And if you find yourself thinking,

Just treat that as tension,

Let it fall down.

Maybe you need to notice it over and over at the beginning.

Just let it soften,

Let it fall,

Don't hold onto it.

Both of your arms,

All the way down to your fingers,

Just softening and melting everything.

All the way through your chest,

All the way down through your torso,

Your belly,

Softening your belly.

Imagining your belly as really large,

Large,

Expansive.

It's like it goes well beyond your physical body,

There's so much space for it to rest.

And all along your pelvic floor,

Your root,

Everything there just relaxing,

Dissolving downwards.

Your hips,

Upper legs,

Softening everything,

Melting.

Your knees,

Your lower legs,

And then your feet.

So from now on,

Whenever you notice any sensation in your body,

When your attention draws you to any sensation in your body,

The moment you notice it,

Just let it fall downwards.

Let it soften,

Fall down through your body into the earth.

And then as you're doing that,

Just imagine what would it be like if the earth loved you fully?

How would it feel if she was holding you fully?

You could let all your tension melt into her.

What if she cared for you totally in this moment?

And was able to hold everything you're experiencing completely.

Just let yourself experience that and the relief in your body as things melt down even further.

As you're melting with the earth even more,

Getting more and more gentle in your body.

See if you can let a very gentle smile on your face.

It doesn't have to be big.

It's very gentle.

Feeling the enjoyment of this,

Being able to let go so much.

Not just your mouth that's smiling.

It's like your entire body is smiling gently.

Feeling more and more relief,

More and more ease.

Everything just dissolves,

Especially with thinking.

No need to hold onto anything.

Just feel this love underneath you.

How it allows you to wash everything into the earth.

Everything can melt.

And then bringing your hands on your heart.

Just saying out loud,

May I sleep well tonight?

May I sleep well tonight?

Feeling that in your body.

And then saying,

May I dream well tonight?

May I dream well tonight?

Just letting that wash through you.

And as you're connecting with the earth underneath you and her love for you,

Just again imagine what it would feel like to feel completely loved and taken care of in this moment.

How would that feel in your body?

Just feel that.

And then you can say the words,

I love you,

Out loud a few times.

And just notice how that affects you too.

It allows you to rest even deeper.

I love you.

Just letting those words wash through you and touching any part of you that hasn't come fully to rest yet.

You can say your name as you're saying it.

Whatever other words could really touch you.

Maybe something like,

You can rest now.

You can rest now.

And then you can bring your hands back down to your belly.

You can leave them where they are.

You can bring them to wherever feels comfortable for you.

And as you're relaxing in your body,

You're still breathing long and slow,

Rested,

Feeling the love of the earth,

The holding.

If you can bring in your environment to imagine people around you,

Around your bed.

You either know from the past or now who love and care about you deeply.

It could be friends,

Family members,

Partner,

Anybody who loves you deeply.

And allow them to be there with you around your bed.

Just visualize them there.

And look at their faces.

Look at the love they have for you.

And look in their eyes as they're almost saying,

You can rest now,

Your love.

They feel so tender towards you.

And at the same time,

If you'd like to imagine any beings who really inspire you,

Who you connect with deeply,

Could be spiritual beings or otherwise,

You can bring them in the room with you too.

Feel their energy and kindness towards you.

As they're encouraging you to let go of everything now for tonight,

To rest really deeply.

So you're being held now from all directions so you can let go so completely.

As you get ready to go to sleep and relax even deeper.

You may visualize that these people's love is almost like it's forming a golden cocoon around your body.

So your body is completely held.

This golden cocoon will be a few feet around your body.

And it protects you completely.

And these beings will stay with you all night and surround you in this love.

So that you can sleep deeply and dream really peacefully.

And have a really deep and rejuvenating sleep.

And now you can start to let go even deeper.

You can trust that these beings will stay with you.

You can let everything go now.

It's like you're letting everything fall down into the earth,

Into this beautiful womb of creation.

Everything's just falling down.

Anything comes to mind now just falls down into the darkness.

Where it can come to such a peaceful rest.

Your mind is getting quieter and quieter.

Your body is getting more and more relaxed.

And as your body gets relaxed you can start to feel the energy drain out of your body melt down into the earth.

We're going to give it all away now.

So that in the morning we can be totally completely rejuvenated with new energy from the earth.

So before we sleep we give it all away.

So allow yourself to become really tired now as the energy leaves your body.

You're becoming more and more exhausted,

More and more tired.

That really good type of tired like a job well done for the day,

It's time to rest.

More and more tired in your body.

Everything is just resting and falling down.

You can just let yourself drift off in this state.

Knowing that in the morning the earth will naturally fill you with energy when you wake up.

Just letting go of everything.

Deeply held.

Sleep well.

Sleep well.

Sleep well.

Reviews

Very relaxing, thank you! Nice combination of spoken guidance and soothing music.

Very deep sleep thank you so much will defo use again

Thank you I will listen again at bedtime! Very relaxing ‼️‼️🌺

🙏🏻🙏🏻

This must've worked because I don't remember anything after the nostrils breathing part

Gentle and calming guidance, lovely prompts that felt relaxing. I drifted off before the meditation finished. Thank you so much 🙏🌻🧡

I am loved, I can rest now. Beautiful 💕
Thank you

Soothing and relaxing.
Thank you for helping me to find deep sleep 😴

Great voice & pace to journey into slumber ✨