You're listening to the Motherhood Unstressed Podcast and I'm your host Liz Carlisle.
Thank you for joining me for another guided meditation,
For making the decision to sink in deeper,
To reflect,
To see the truth of what's really going on inside,
And to breathe through that so that you are more able to go out into the world from a place of groundedness and calm.
But for this meditation,
We're not going out into the world,
We're drifting off to sleep.
We've had so many requests come in for sleep meditations or meditations that can get you into that state where you do feel relaxed and calm enough to drift off.
So often our days are amped up with stress and cortisol,
A blue light from every direction,
So it's important to do these restorative practices that bring us back into para,
That state of calm and restfulness and peace and really effective decision making.
So you're probably already laying down in bed.
If you're not,
Find a comfortable seated position.
You can close your eyes and start elongating your breaths.
So you might notice almost immediately how shallow your breathing has been all day.
And that,
Of course,
Is never good.
That increases the stress hormone,
Cortisol,
And everything else,
The fear-based responses to life,
To emails,
To text,
To everything.
So start elongating your breathing.
Fill your lungs with air.
Let it circulate.
And then breathe out.
And when you breathe out,
Elongate that out-breath a little bit past where you're comfortable.
And you'll want to breathe in deeply to compensate for that.
So do that.
And then breathe out gently.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Again,
Together,
Let's breathe in.
And breathe out.
And return to a gentle,
Rhythmic breathing.
Already you might feel drastically different in your body.
That's good.
It shows you how easily you can get into para just by focusing on your breath and releasing everything else that you've been grasping so tightly to.
All you have to worry about right now is your next inhalation and your next exhalation and the soft,
Gentle guiding of my voice.
So I want you to bring your attention now to the top of your head.
Feel it resting on the pillow.
Feel it in its space.
And like an egg has been cracked on the top of your head,
Trickle down your awareness inch by inch over your beautiful body so your attention goes from the top of your head to your eyebrows,
Down your temples,
Dripping down your nose and lips,
Going down your throat,
Past your collarbones and shoulders,
Releasing tension with every in-breath and out-breath,
Down your arms,
Releasing tension in your wrists and your fingers.
Bring back into your heart space.
Feel your heart beating rhythmically with such strength.
It's been with you from your first breath and will be with you until your last,
Your strong beating heart coming down,
Down into your belly.
By now,
Your breath should be in your belly,
Not up high in your shoulders.
Relaxed,
Calm.
You're at one with your body now,
Your back,
Not ignoring signs or pains or indications of things going on.
You're there,
You're present,
You're listening.
Bring your attention down into your hips,
Releasing tightness and tension there.
Further down into your legs,
Loosening your hamstrings and quads,
Past your knees,
Releasing pain,
Tightness,
Down your shins,
Your ankles,
Bringing your energy there,
Your attention there,
Your healing there.
Come to the tips of your toes and if that felt particularly good,
You can bring your attention back starting from your toes all the way back up and you'll pass through each of the seven chakras,
Starting at your base and higher into your belly,
To your heart,
To your throat,
To your eyes,
To the top of your head,
Igniting each energy center with your awareness,
Bringing everything back into homeostasis where no one chakra is dominating another.
Keep breathing.
Now that you're fully embodied,
We can start to down regulate everything.
So with every breath,
I want you to realize how much heavier your body's becoming against the mattress.
With every breath,
You're sinking deeper to a state of relaxation.
Already you're crossing over the border into sleep.
You're starting to dream.
Your breaths become longer.
You feel restful and at peace.
Until next week,
Have a beautiful night's sleep.
Namaste.
