Clear Your Racing Thoughts For Better Sleep

A ten minute guided meditation for the nights your mind won't stop racing. We'll settle the body first, then use a gentle energy clearing practice to release what you carried through the day, so your thoughts have somewhere quiet to land instead of somewhere to run. Rooted in both nervous system science and pranic energy healing, this meditation will help you feel lighter, calmer and primed for a restful night of sleep. Come back to this one as often as you need it, since the more you practice, the easier it gets for your mind to find its way here.

Transcript

If you're here, Your mind is probably racing a bit. Running through the day, Replaying a conversation, Making a list you don't need to make at this very moment. But that's okay. We're not gonna fight it. We're going to give yourself some compassion, Some peace, So that you can drift off to sleep. And have a lovely restful evening. So go ahead and get settled however you're lying right now. Simply start to check into the body. Letting your arms rest heavy at your sides softening the jar. And the face. Wiggling the fingers and then letting them Be still. Tuning in. To the shoulders all the way down to the chest. The belly, The hips. Perhaps clenching for a moment and then releasing, Softening all of the muscles in the body like you're melting into the bed pulling you to the center of the earth We'll do this again with the legs. The calves, The shins and the feet all the way down to the toes clenching our muscles here and then gently releasing. Take a big breath in through your nose. And then gently let it go longer than it came in. One more just like that, Inhale. Exhale, Slide out. Let the day release. Releasing that energy that we've collected from the entire day moving through the to-do list. Collecting other people's energies. We just let all of that melt off. Something to note before we continue is that your mind racing at night is completely normal. All day, Your senses had somewhere to put themselves. The sound of traffic, The light of a screen, A conversation, Another person's energy in the room. All of that gave your mind something to reach toward outward away from you. Now that it's quiet your mind still wants to reach for something so it reaches inward instead and it finds whatever you didn't have a spare moment to feel today That's the racing. It's your nervous system finally getting a moment alone with everything it's been carrying. There's a part of the brain researchers call the default mode network. It switches on in the quiet in-between moments when you're not focused on any one task. It's the same part of you that daydreams, That reflects, That wanders. And on a good night, It's gentle. But when there's been a lot to carry, That same part of the brain can link up too tightly with the part that senses threat and turns daydreaming into looping. The same worry circling again and again looking for somewhere to land. So tonight. We're going to give it somewhere to land. And if you keep practicing this meditation over time. The body will know to calm down. It'll get into the habit of lowering the cortisol. And having a gentle evening without all of the racing thoughts. More often you let the mind rest here the less that it wanders Let's bring your attention to your feet, Just noticing them heavy resting done for the day. Move up through your legs. Let them sink. There's nowhere they need to carry you right now. Notice your stomach, Your chest with every exhale. Let them soften a little bit more than the breath before. Your shoulders. This is where most of us hold the day without realizing. Let them drop even a small half inch away from your ears. Your face, Your jaw, The space between your eyebrows Let it all simply soften. Now the thoughts are probably still there. And that's okay, We're not asking them to leave yet. If a thought comes up, I want you to picture it simply as a cloud passing through the sky. And you're the observer watching these clouds pass by. Not particularly grabbing on to anyone. But just simply watching. And all of the thoughts start to soften and they start to dissipate. And you take a bigger breath in, Filling the belly with air. Exhaling letting everything go anything that is. Trying to tickle your attention. You're holding on so tightly to. Imagine gently releasing the fingers and letting the thoughts slowly evaporate from the palms. We're going to do a small energy healing. Quiet the mind. I want you to picture a low, Warm light. Buzzing with a soft energy just above the crown of your head It doesn't have to look like anything specific, Just warm. As you breathe in, I want you to imagine that warmth moving down slowly through the head through the neck. With your next exhale, Anything you carry today that you no longer need to hold. Maybe it was a comment, Connection, Someone's mood that you've held on to. Let the warmth gather it. Pick it up like it's almost dusting out your energy. Moving down through the body, Through the belly, The hips, The legs, The feet. And then out through the feet, We let go of all of the energy we've been holding. We let the warmth reset at the crown of the head. As we breathe in, We allow it to enter the body. And as we exhale, We let it move through, Gathering any energy that's left, Any tension in the shoulders or a worry that's been circling. And we move all of this down, Letting it go out through the feet. One more time. Inhale. Warmth gathers at the top of your head. Exhale it moves all the way down through the body clearing you all the way out through the feet lighter than when we started noticing your body now the thoughts that were racing have somewhere to land instead of somewhere to run. You did enough today. Everything will be waiting for you tomorrow. Gently shifting into sleep. Letting the eyes be heavy the mind be light. And all of the heavy energy you've been carrying continues to release out through the feet. You find some softness. And you let your breath get really slow letting sleep take you from here