Reactivating Your Ability To Sleep

In this Sophrology visualization practice, you’ll start with a relaxing body scan, and then you’ll remember a time when you slept deeply through the night. You’ll tap into the external feelings, physical sensations and internal emotions of that time, then you’ll anchor your emotions in the here and now. By tapping into the feelings and sensations of that time, you'll reactivate your ability to sleep well through the night.

Transcript

Welcome to reactivating your ability to sleep.

I'm Marianne DeClair and thank you for joining me.

In this practice you'll start by relaxing your body and mind and then you'll remember a time when you slept deeply through the night.

You'll tap into the external feelings,

The physical sensations and the internal emotions of that time and then you'll anchor your emotions in the here and now.

So before we get started take a moment to get comfortable either sitting on a chair or lying down on the floor and know that you can always change your position at any time during the relaxation.

As you get into place begin thinking of a time when you had a good night's sleep.

If there are many memories or examples that come to mind simply choose one without any judgment.

And if you're having more difficulty finding a memory of a good night's sleep think of a time when you slept better than usual.

As you go through this visualization welcome any feelings sensations or images with kindness,

Gentleness,

Self-compassion and non-judgment.

And take this time for yourself to connect within.

Get into a position in which you feel no tension.

Close your eyes and let your body begin to relax.

Take a deep breath in filling the chest and the belly with air.

Exhale allowing the chest and the belly to fall.

And take a normal breath.

Become aware of your body comfortably settled in your seat or lying down on the floor.

And feel all the points of contact between your body and the support beneath you.

You'll feel the back of your head if you're lying down.

And for everybody your arms,

Your hands,

Your back,

Your buttocks,

Your legs and your feet.

Feel your body begin to naturally stretch out and relax even more with every breath.

Become aware of the peace and calm settling into your body.

To deepen this feeling imagine a point of relaxation at the top of your head.

Imagine this point of relaxation spreading over your scalp.

Relax your scalp.

Soften your forehead.

Imagine it like the surface of a peaceful lake.

Feel all your expression lines smoothing out and disappearing.

Relax your eyebrows.

Maybe you feel the space between your eyebrows.

Feel your eyelids getting heavy.

Relax all the muscles around your eyes.

Relax your temples,

Your cheekbones,

Your nostrils.

Notice the cool air around your nostrils when you breathe in and the warm air around your nostrils when you breathe out.

Relax your cheeks and clench your jaws.

Maybe slightly open your mouth.

Let your tongue rest naturally in your mouth.

Feel your throat relax and swallow freely.

And now become aware of the shape and volume of your face.

And let this relaxation continue down into the nape of your neck,

Your traps,

Your shoulders.

Allow your shoulders to naturally drop down and relax.

Let this feeling of relaxation go down into your upper arms,

Your elbows,

Your forearms,

And your hands right down to your fingertips.

You feel your arms and your hands begin to feel heavy.

Become aware of the shape and volume of your upper limbs.

Bring your attention to your back.

Imagine it stretching out bit by bit with each and every breath.

And relax all the muscles along your spine from your upper back down through your shoulder blades,

Your mid-back right down to your lower back.

Become aware of the shape and volume of your back.

And now bring your awareness to your chest.

Observe the movements of your ribcage.

Notice how they open and close with each inhale and exhale.

And notice how these movements are calm and regular.

And now tune into the sound of your heartbeat.

And notice how it's steady and calm.

Feel your belly relaxing and letting go,

Unwinding.

And observe the movements of your belly as you breathe.

Notice the rise and fall of your belly as you inhale and exhale.

Notice how these movements are also calm and regular.

And let this feeling of relaxation diffuse down into your pelvis.

Relax your hips,

Your buttocks,

Your perineum.

Now become aware of the shape and volume of your upper body.

Allow the feeling of relaxation to continue down into your legs.

Relax your thighs,

Your knees,

Your calves,

And your shins,

Your ankles,

And your feet right down to the tips of your toes.

Become aware of the shape and volume of your lower limbs.

Become aware of the shape and volume of your whole body.

I now invite you to remember a time when you slept deeply through the night.

You fell asleep easily and woke up feeling refreshed.

Choose a memory without any judgment.

Focus on the environment of this particular memory.

Observe the space around you before,

During,

And after this good night's sleep.

Look at the colors in your environment,

The quality of the light.

Notice if there were people with you.

Pay attention to the noises and the sounds.

Breathe in and smell the scents and the fragrances.

Touch the objects in your surroundings,

And become aware of all your outer perceptions of this environment in this memory.

I now invite you to immerse yourself in all these external feelings that you experienced before,

During,

And after your good night's sleep.

And here's a little explanation how you will do that.

In a moment,

At my signal,

You'll inhale while expanding your belly,

Then you'll hold your breath and bring all these feelings,

These outer perceptions to mind,

And then you'll exhale gently to diffuse them throughout your body.

Here we go.

Inhale and your belly expands.

Hold your breath and bring these external feelings to mind.

Exhale gently through your mouth to diffuse them throughout your body.

Take a normal breath when you're done,

And anchor these external feelings.

Now focus on your physical sensations that you had before,

During,

And after your good night's sleep.

Listen to your body.

Distinguish the different physical sensations and identify the areas in your body where you can feel the different sensations.

Imagine their shapes and appearance.

Feel their intensity,

What makes them different.

Become aware of all your physical sensations.

And now invite you to immerse yourself in all these internal feelings and physical sensations that you experienced before,

During,

And after your good night's sleep.

So a little explanation.

On my signal,

You'll inhale and expand your belly.

You'll hold your breath and bring the feelings of these physical sensations to mind.

And then you will exhale gently to diffuse them throughout your body.

Here we go.

Inhale and the belly expands.

Hold your breath and bring all these feelings of physical sensations to mind.

And exhale gently through your mouth to diffuse them throughout your body.

Take a normal breath when you're done and anchor these feelings,

These physical sensations.

And now focus on your emotions that you experienced before,

During,

And after your good night's sleep.

And let them freely emerge without judgment,

Without trying to control them,

Welcome them.

Identify these emotions.

Observe each of them.

Distinguish their intensity and become aware of all your emotions.

I now invite you to immerse yourself in these emotions.

A little explanation.

On my signal,

You'll inhale,

Expanding the belly.

You'll hold your breath,

Bring all these emotions to mind,

And then you'll exhale gently through your mouth to release them throughout your body.

Inhale and the belly expands.

Hold your breath,

Bring all these emotions to mind,

And exhale gently to diffuse them through your body.

Take a normal breath,

Anchor these emotions.

And finally,

You're going to immerse yourself in the feelings and emotions here and now.

Same explanation.

On my signal,

You'll inhale while expanding your belly.

You'll hold your breath and bring the emotions and feelings that you have here and now to your mind.

And then you'll exhale through your mouth to release them throughout your whole body.

Here we go.

Inhale and the belly expands.

Hold your breath and bring these feelings and emotions to mind.

Exhale gently through your mouth to diffuse them throughout your whole body.

Take a normal breath.

Anchor it all here and now.

Integrate these feelings and sensations.

Remember that these sensations are always in you.

Think about activating them in your everyday life.

Come back to the points of contact of your body with your support.

Feel the back of your head,

Your arms,

Your hands,

Your back,

Your buttocks,

Your legs,

And your feet.

Imagine the space that you're in and bring your awareness to the sounds outside.

And now take a deep breath in through your nose to energize you.

Exhale through your mouth.

Take a normal breath.

Start to slowly move your hands and feet,

Your arms,

Your legs.

Take a nice big deep stretch.

Reach your hands out overhead,

Point your toes,

Yawn if you want to.

And when you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

Take a moment while you're still in this state of relaxation to think about what came up for you during this visualization.

And remember that you can always come back to this recording at any time that you want to reactivate your ability to sleep well through the night.

Thank you once again for joining me here today for reactivating your ability to sleep.

I'm Maryann De Clear.

Reviews

Very nice calming voice and relaxing, more exercise than sleep meditation. But it did work 🙏