This is Marika Joe Knight from Kulkama Collected and this evening I want to lead us through a guided meditation that's primarily focused at getting us ready for sleep.
Often it's pretty hard to find even a moment of space in our fast-paced busy life.
So with this body scan I'm hoping we just have the opportunity to begin to slow down a little bit.
The outcome might not be sleep but it's just an opportunity to check in and begin to let go of the day that we have had.
So if you're listening to this before bed,
Perhaps lying down and finding a position where you are most comfortable,
Where you feel most supported.
Doesn't matter what that position is,
Just finding a place of ease.
And when you're ready just beginning to start to drop into your breath.
It may be that you want to place your hands on your belly or one hand on your belly,
One hand on your heart,
Maybe just have the hands resting by the body.
But just getting a sense of the movement of the breath.
Arise and fall of the belly.
Arise and fall of the chest.
You might like to begin to take a few more conscious deeper breaths now.
Really breathing in and getting that sense of a deep expansion of the chest and the belly,
The diaphragm.
And then on the exhalation,
See if you can really lengthen it out.
So we're ironing out the kinks of the breath and again breathing in.
Long,
Slow,
Steady,
Deep breaths.
And long,
Slow,
Smooth exhalations.
You might even like to open your mouth on the exhalation,
Maybe even physically getting that sense of letting go.
Just taking a few more of these deep conscious breaths now.
Breaths that by their very nature begin to help us to start to let go.
Help us to settle a little more into this space for sleep.
If it helps,
Giving yourself permission now to take this time.
Giving yourself permission to unwind and especially to just be however you are right now.
And maybe that's noticing all the planning,
The to-do lists,
The worries that you've got going on.
Maybe you're noticing that you're rehashing some conversation or situation that didn't go as planned.
And just perhaps reminding yourself as you might do a friend,
It's okay.
Just reminding yourself,
I know you're busy,
I know you have a lot going on.
But just right in this moment,
Right in this breath,
Is it just possible to set it all down?
Can I just allow myself a little break from all of these thoughts and plans and just breathe?
You might just begin to gently scan the body,
Working from the crown of the head down the neck and the shoulders.
Just aware of any tightness,
Any tension.
And if it's possible,
You might like to just invite this tension to just soften ever so slightly on each exhalation.
Maybe visualizing the tension,
The tightness,
Just like an ice cube in water.
Just gently melting.
Nice to water,
Water to vapor,
Vapor to air.
Just constantly changing of sensations.
And moving down through the chest and the belly and in the same way,
Just exploring any holding here,
Any bracing and the tension.
Maybe there's just a slight sense of anxiousness from the day.
And seeing if in the next few,
Three,
Four breaths,
You can just let the breath be met with a softening belly.
Soft and easy.
And then moving down the shoulders,
The arms,
All the way to the elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists and the backs of the hands and the palms of hands and just noticing whether they are heavy and relaxed or perhaps there might be some holding or tension here.
Just getting a sense of the volume and the length of the arms.
See if you can feel the hands and the arms from the inside out.
And again in the same way that you did the back and the shoulders,
Just letting them grow heavier,
More relaxed.
Letting go now of the arms and the hands and moving your attention down to the lower back all the way down the buttocks,
The backs of the legs,
Knees,
Backs of the knees,
Calves,
Shins,
Ankles,
The soles of the feet,
The tops of the feet,
The toes.
So you're feeling into the whole of both the left and right leg.
And again just exploring any qualities here,
Maybe of holding or tension.
The outcome isn't what doesn't have to be to relax but there's always that invitation.
If we have awareness of the tension there's a possibility of just allowing it to begin to dissolve.
The stitch,
Exhalation,
Feeling as if you can let the body feel even more supported by the floor or by the bed.
Let it grow even more heavy.
Feeling the left and the right leg,
The feet,
The toes from the inside out,
From the outside in.
And then in the next few exhalations just inviting this sense of letting them go.
Now we're just feeling the entire body totally relaxed,
Totally heavy.
Reminding yourself there's nothing else to do,
There's no place to be right now.
This is the time for you to really rest,
To give your body the time to work through the day so that you're ready for everything that tomorrow has to offer.
And so with the last few moments just taking a few deep breaths,
Breathing with me,
Breathing into sleep.
Sleep well and good night.
