Relax For Sleep

This meditation involves breathing techniques to help us to fall asleep and relax at the end of the day. You can do this from a chair or from your bed, anywhere most comfortable for you to feel relaxed and sleepy.

Transcript

My name is Lucy Stone and this is Meditation Rocks.

So this meditation is perfect for you if you would like to try and get to sleep or make that transition from your daytime routine to your nighttime routine and prepare your body and mind for sleep.

So you might be doing this meditation in a chair before you go to bed or you may already be in bed listening to this meditation.

And it builds on a number of the different techniques that we've used in other meditations and it brings everything together.

So it's like almost a mashup or a perfect storm of all of the techniques that you might need to help you get ready for a night's sleep,

A good night's sleep.

So let's just start by making sure we're in a comfortable position.

And in meditation,

We're not looking to necessarily fall asleep during our practice.

But if that happens,

Don't you worry,

It's very common.

So just start to let go of your body in terms of your tension or tightness that you're holding and begin to feel supported by the bed or the chair where you are.

And if you haven't already done so,

You might like to now close your eyes or soften your gaze on a fixed point.

And I'd like you to just to try and feel a connection now with your breath.

So simply feeling the rise and fall of your breath within your body.

And we'll start by taking the Yuzhai breath.

So breathing in and out through your nose with your mouth closed.

And as we're doing this,

I'd like you to have an awareness on your inhale.

And as you exhale,

Try and find as much softness,

Release and kindness to yourself.

Within your body,

So letting go of tension in your muscles,

Beginning to let go of any thoughts or resistance to meditation.

So as you're breathing out now through the nose,

You might like to say in your mind,

I let go.

So you're breathing in the intention of letting go and you breathe out the action of letting go.

So you're breathing in the intention of letting go and you breathe out the action of letting go.

And if you can,

With every exhale,

Just begin to feel a little lighter.

Like a weight has been lifted from you.

I let go.

It's almost unraveling the body,

Finding all of those parts of the body that you can release.

And feeling the support of the chair or the bed,

Wherever you might be.

And beginning now to count your inhale and your exhale.

So try to count in for a count of four and breathe out for a count of four.

And now over the next few breaths,

Just beginning to lengthen the exhale.

So you'll start by breathing in to four and breathing out for five.

You'll work up to six,

Out for seven and out for eight.

So over the next few moments,

Working out to a double length exhale.

And once you have that double length of exhale,

Start to build in a pause between the inhale and the exhale.

So you count in to a breath of four.

You take a moment of pause and you count and then you exhale to a count of eight.

And try to make this pause as long as you can,

Whilst you're feeling comfortable.

And as you're breathing out,

Continue to release any tension and continue to say,

I let go.

Almost as if you're wringing a sponge of any tension or thoughts,

Anything that you don't need to take with you to sleep.

So maybe you can work up to four beats as you breathe in.

Maybe you can hold for a length of seven and then maybe you can exhale for a count of eight.

Continuing to find softness as you breathe out.

We will now work from the toes to the head to fully relax your body.

So starting with your feet and your toes.

Just bring attention to your feet and toes as you breathe in.

And then fully relaxing your feet and toes as you breathe out.

Allow your feet and toes to feel light and relaxed.

Moving to your legs,

Your calves,

Your thighs,

Your knees.

Breathing in,

Feeling any sensation here.

And as you breathe out,

So now moving to your legs.

Breathing in,

Feeling your calves and your thighs and knees.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your legs to completely relax.

Allow your legs to feel light.

Moving to your tummy,

Your hips and your sit bones.

Just breathing in to feel any sensations that you hold here.

And as you breathe out,

Allow this area to completely relax.

And now tracing your spine from the base to the top and all of your muscles in your back.

Breathe in to your back ribs,

Feel your back expand and stretch.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your back to completely relax.

And now your chest,

So as you breathe in,

Feel your chest,

Heart space expand.

And as you breathe out,

Completely relax your chest.

And now your shoulders,

Allow your shoulders to soften.

And as you breathe out,

Relax your shoulders entirely.

Now your arms and hands and fingers,

Bring awareness to these as you breathe in.

And as you breathe out,

Completely relax your arms,

Your hands and your fingers.

And now your head,

Your neck and your face.

Just allow your head,

Your face and neck to completely relax.

As you breathe out,

Relax your jaw,

Your mouth,

Your cheeks,

Your eyes,

Your forehead.

And just allow your whole body now to completely relax and soften as you let go of your day.

Just give you a few moments of peace and stillness to absorb your meditation.

Thank you.

You may be choosing to just go off to sleep now,

In which case just stop this recording.

But if you do want to come back out before you go to sleep,

And just start to wiggle your fingers,

Your toes,

Stretch your head from side to side to release your neck.

Taking a little moment just to wiggle fingers and toes.

And then bring your hands together and give them a little bit of a rub to create some warmth and heat.

And hovering the hands over your eyes,

Blinking your eyes open inside your hands.

And bring your hands down when you're ready.

And I hope that's a nice end of your day meditation that will help you prepare your body and your mind for a good night's sleep.

If you're off to bed now,

Good night and I'll speak to you again very soon.

Reviews

Very relaxing and effective meditation for sleep. Thank you . Namaste 🙏