Hey there!
If you're watching this you might be in bed,
Wide awake right now,
Frustrated that you can't sleep,
Maybe a little tense or restless or even anxious about not being able to sleep.
I used to feel that way too when I struggled with my own insomnia.
So right now in this video I just want to hang out with you for a little bit and help you and help your body remember that it's actually safe to be still because all that those feelings are is just energy that's still in your body.
Any feeling of restlessness like your heart pounding or anxiety or just not feeling tired or like you can't get comfortable,
Whatever it is that you're feeling,
All that is is excess energy.
That's all it is.
It's just energy that wants to be released and then it becomes so much easier to fall asleep.
And the reason it feels uncomfortable is because your body has energy and so it essentially wants you to get up and go do something to use up or release that excess energy.
And it's only because you're lying still in bed and you're trying to sleep that it feels uncomfortable.
If you got up and went to run a mile right now that wouldn't feel uncomfortable but I know that's probably the last thing that you want to do right now at this moment in time because what you want is to sleep.
But you have the energy to go do something like that and it's only because you're laying in bed with energy that it feels frustrating.
So what we're going to do is let's start to release some of that energy in a much more gentle way to help your body wind down and sleep.
So to do this the first thing I like to do is I just like to sit up straight and just feel my body exactly where it is.
And I find that it helps to do this with your eyes closed so go ahead and close your eyes right now if you'd like.
Just sit up straight,
Close your eyes,
And just feel the weight of your body seated or laying down exactly where you are.
If you have tension in your neck let your shoulders drop.
Now also relax your forehead,
Relax your eyebrows,
Relax your jaw,
And bring your attention back to the weight of your body.
And just acknowledge its presence.
Acknowledge the physicality to you.
And I don't know about you but a lot of the time I'm kind of floating up in here in my head.
And so by doing this and placing your attention on just feeling where you physically are in this moment you're coming fully back into your body and actually acknowledging its existence.
When our body feels uncomfortable and doesn't want to sleep that can cause the mind to start spinning and trying to figure out why that's happening and what to do about it.
But you don't actually have to do anything about it right now.
You don't need to do anything.
You don't even need to fall asleep right now.
You can just sit here and just take a second to notice how your body feels right now.
Not to fix it or change it,
Just to become aware,
Aware of it.
And now from this place of awareness we can start to bring some softness back to your body.
So let's do that together.
Go ahead and first take a breath with me right now,
Just a soft inhale,
Then a soft exhale,
Just like that,
Nothing fancy.
Now go ahead and close your eyes.
And gently say this to yourself.
It's safe to be in my body right now.
It's safe to be in my body right now.
Even if you don't fully believe it yet,
Just try it on.
It's safe to be in my body right now.
Now here's another thing that I want you to try.
There's two different points on my face that sometimes I like to tap on.
I find that our eyes are like open all day long,
Right?
And a lot of us are looking at screens for hours,
And I find that a lot of tension tends to get held.
All around this area around your eyes.
So the first point is the inner eyebrow.
It's right here where the inside of your eyebrow meets like the bridge of your nose.
So just take one or two fingers and just find that point on your face and just gently move it around for a few moments.
I could do this literally forever.
Now just start tapping on it gently.
You can follow along with me.
Just tapping on the inner corner of the eyebrow.
And while you're doing this,
Just take some slow,
Deep breaths.
I really love how this feels.
I can feel the tension there,
And tapping on it is bringing our awareness to release that.
So I could just stay here for like literally 20 minutes,
But I'll show you another one now,
And it's on the very outside corner of your eye.
The little bone right on the outside corner.
So do the same thing here,
And just take one or two fingers and feel where that is.
And then you can also gently tap on it again.
Just take some deep breaths.
The reason that I find doing this tapping helpful,
Especially for times like these,
Where you're restless and frustrated that you can't sleep,
Is because you're actually doing something.
You're physically focusing on your body,
And it's giving you something to do rather than think.
And you can do this laying down in bed on your back.
I do this,
And your arm is going to get tired,
Which is like a good thing,
Because it'll just make you tired and help you fall back asleep.
So sitting up or lying down.
So you can keep tapping on these if you'd like,
But you can also go ahead and take a deep breath with me.
And all I want you to do right now is just repeat after me.
Let's take a deep breath.
It's safe to be here right now.
It's safe to be right here.
And when you exhale,
I want you to focus on feeling the weight of your body,
Wherever your body is sitting or whether wherever your body is laying down.
Just feel the weight and say out loud or think to yourself,
It's safe to be right here.
I know that when you have trouble sleeping,
Especially if this is something that's been going on for a long time,
Your body can start to feel like your enemy,
But it's that's the farthest from the truth.
It's absolutely not.
Your body is always on your side.
It's just been trying to protect you and it got stuck in a little bit of overprotection.
And the way that we help it feel safe again isn't by trying to force yourself to sleep or force yourself to relax.
It's just by intentionally and gently guiding it back into a peaceful state.
You are safe right now.
Even if it's hard to sleep right now,
You're still safe.
You're not in danger.
Your sleep isn't broken.
You're just still winding down.
That's all.
So let's try something together.
Go ahead and close your eyes.
You can lay down if you want,
If you aren't already.
And just close your eyes.
And I want you to imagine inside your chest that there's a warm glow,
Like a warm glowing light.
It's like the softest,
Coziest light that you can imagine.
This gentle,
Soft light.
This soft,
Gentle,
Warm,
Golden light.
It's glowing within the center of your chest.
And every breath you take,
It helps that light grow and expand inside you.
It's like filling you up.
It's like this light is embracing you in a warm hug.
So just inhale.
And every time you inhale,
Place your awareness there on that warm light in the center of your chest.
And every inhale is making it glow more and more.
It's like this feeling of being held.
And the best part is,
You are the one generating this feeling all on your own,
Just by breathing and acknowledging this space within you.
So just take a soft inhale.
And a soft exhale.
That glow is always there.
Even if your thoughts are spinning,
Even if your muscles are tense,
Even if you're feeling awake and still in the process of winding down,
That glow doesn't leave.
It lives inside you.
So your body knows how to return back to a state of balance.
It knows how to rest.
And the more you give it little moments like this,
Like what we're doing right now,
For your body just feels space to be seen and heard and supported,
The easier sleep becomes.
But even without sleep,
You're perfectly okay.
You're allowed to just be here with me tonight,
Breathing and resting.
Right now,
Just let your body soften one percent more.
Just one percent more.
And take a soft inhale.
And let it soften another one percent more.
You don't have to force it.
Just gently breathe and invite it.
No matter how your day was,
No matter what tomorrow holds,
Right now,
This moment is about just being.
It's just about reminding your body that you are safe.
And if you feel a little bit calm,
Or even if it's just a tiny bit,
That's a win.
You gave your nervous system this gift tonight.
This feeling right now is just as good as sleep.
This soft,
Grounded,
Peaceful feeling,
This is enough.
You don't have to do anything tonight.
Let yourself just be.
And if you need to hear this again,
You can save this for later and come back as many times as you'd like.
I'm right here with you.
