Hello and welcome.
I'm Leslie Brooks.
In this session,
We'll explore how to redirect challenging emotions that may arise at bedtime or in the middle of the night.
Start by getting into a comfortable seated position,
One in which you can relax while remaining alert.
If you're comfortable,
You can sit up straight.
Allow your shoulders to drop and your arms to lay heavy in your lap.
We'll begin by focusing on the flow of your natural breathing pattern.
Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breathing.
Feel the air passing through your lungs and nostrils.
Visualize the air passing in and through you.
Follow it down through the chambers of your lungs.
Observe the flow of your breath as if you were standing next to a stream,
Watching the air move past you like water.
Notice what you feel.
What do you see with your mind's eye from this moment into the next and into the next?
Notice the sensations in your body as you inhale.
Notice the sensations as you exhale.
Note the way that your stomach moves as you breathe.
Feel the rise and the fall.
Note the movements of your chest.
Follow its motion through each passing breath.
Eyes of the inhale,
Fall of the exhale.
Follow your shoulders through each breath.
How do they move when you inhale?
How do they move when you exhale?
When you exhale,
Notice the expansion and contraction of your back with each breath,
Expanding broad and wide with each inhale and contracting with each exhale.
Now notice the entry point of each breath.
Are you breathing through your nose or through your mouth?
Take note of what the air feels like as it enters the body.
Is it cool?
Is it warm?
And note what it feels like on the exhale when the air departs your body.
Has the temperature changed?
And now release your focus on your breath and let your eyes remain closed.
Let's talk about challenging emotions.
You've probably heard of the flight or fight response.
It's our natural automatic response to anything we perceive to be a threat.
It's one of the oldest response mechanisms in human evolution.
In ancient times,
Our ability to fight or flee typically meant the difference between life and death.
We've kept those core responses over thousands of years.
While the complexity and nuance of human life have evolved,
Some of our emotional reactions haven't.
As a result,
We find ourselves fighting or fleeing without discernment between what scares us and what is actually dangerous.
We have an innate fear of being uncomfortable.
That's why when undesired emotions arise,
Our initial instinct is to war against them.
For many of us,
These emotions arise at bedtime.
When the tasks of the day are done and you lay quiet,
Hoping to drift off to sleep,
The mind can be bombarded with thought after thought about anything that concerns you.
So instead of drifting down a mental stream to sleep,
You find yourself struggling.
Your body may be comfortable in your bed,
But your mind could be sinking into the emotional quicksand of your anger,
Sadness,
Embarrassment,
Or whatever the uncomfortable emotion is.
And it seems that the more you struggle,
The deeper you sink.
You may not be able to change whatever is causing the emotional quicksand to arise,
But you can change your perception of it and how you choose to navigate through it.
So let's try a little exercise.
With your eyes still closed,
Imagine your fearful emotions manifesting as a pool of emotions.
Imagine that you're in a pool of emotions.
Imagine your fearful emotions manifesting as a pool of quicksand around you.
Your initial reaction might be to try to find a way out of the pool.
Instead,
Let's remember a fun fact about quicksand.
It's more than 70% water.
So with that in mind,
You can take a different approach.
Imagine spreading your arms out wide and slowly laying back into the quicksand.
Your legs become buoyant and begin to rise.
Your chest and head are supported by the water and you gaze up at a calm night sky.
You realize that though the pond is filled with the grit and abrasiveness of the sand that represents your emotional challenges,
You are also surrounded by peaceful water and you can use that water to float and rise above the challenges,
Both in your life and in your bed when you're trying to sleep.
The sand is still around you.
You may come out of the pond covered in it and that's okay.
The important thing is that you know you can stay afloat and eventually find a way out.
Now you can become more comfortable floating through the murky waters,
Comfortable enough to gaze up and admire the stars,
Comfortable enough to appreciate the weightlessness of your body skimming the surface of the pool.
And maybe,
Just maybe,
Comfortable enough to drift off to sleep.
Now with your eyes still closed,
Gently allow your attention to return to your surroundings.
Notice the sounds you hear.
Notice the feeling of your garments on your skin and the pressure of the surface beneath you.
Linger here for a few more moments if you like and when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
What are you taking away from our time together today?
How might that improve your sleep?
Record your answers in a journal so you can reference them when needed and if you feel like sharing,
Please leave a comment.
I'd love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoyed meditating with me and I hope to see you here again really soon.
