Welcome.
My name is Ramsey Pierce and I am a yoga and mindfulness teacher based in Denver,
Colorado,
Working with Love Your Brain to make practices of mindfulness and yoga more available and accessible to the brain injury community.
The following practice is designed to help you fall asleep by relaxing the body and the mind and bringing you to rest in the heart-based quality of equanimity.
While many other heart qualities are imagined through images of the warmth of the sun,
Like kindness,
Love,
Compassion,
Equanimity is like the moon.
It is the quality of the heart that radiates stillness,
Non-reactivity,
And peace.
This practice will end with a visualization of the moon and there will be no closing at the end to allow you to continue into a deep and restful sleep.
If you do not intend to fall asleep,
You can practice seated or set an alarm to bring you back at the end.
Take a moment now to make yourself comfortable.
Take your time to adjust and move and fidget to really create as much comfort as you can in your body so that as best you can once we begin,
You are able to remain still.
We'll begin with a gentle muscle tension and relaxation exercise to release any last bits of tension or holding in the physical body.
We'll do this three times where I'll guide you to gently tense the whole body and then relax and let go.
Do this to whatever degree feels comfortable in your body and be mindful not to hold the breath.
Start with a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
With your next inhalation,
Begin to gently squeeze and tense your whole body,
Making fists with your hands,
Curling your toes.
Gently squeeze your legs,
Abdomen,
Arms,
Chest,
Face and exhale with a deep sigh and let your whole body relax and be still.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And again as you breathe in,
Begin to tense and squeeze your whole body.
Gentle effort,
Tighten and exhale to relax slowly and let go completely.
Breathe in and breathe out.
One last time,
Inhale and gently squeeze your whole body,
Tightening and exhale with a big sigh as you let go and release all effort and observe and follow the sensations of your body as you shift from effort into complete ease and stillness.
Feel your whole body go limp,
Heavy as you let go of all doing.
Take a deep breath in and exhale with a sigh.
Feel a deep sense of contentment and peace in your heart.
Say quietly to yourself,
I am entering into a deep and restful sleep.
I will remain still and let go of all effort.
Become aware of any sounds in the background of the room that you're in.
Allow your attention to simply move from one sound that you hear to the next.
Sound can often feel like a distraction or a disturbance,
But can you experience sound just as a vibration that gently moves through your awareness?
Can you become aware of the pockets of stillness and silence in between the sounds that you hear?
Can you sense both sound and silence at once?
Sensing that behind all the sounds and disturbances that move through your awareness,
There is an infinite backdrop of stillness and silence.
Imagine that you merge and melt into that silent space.
Become aware of your breath as it gently glides in and out of the body.
Sense how it moves through that silent stillness,
Easefully,
Without force.
Allow your breath to be slow and steady and feel yourself swept into the breath as it moves and flows gracefully.
Become aware of the breath moving in and the breath moving out.
Begin to count the breath,
Inhaling for two and exhaling for two,
Like this.
Inhale one,
Two,
Exhale one,
Two,
Inhale one,
Two,
Exhale one,
Two.
Gradually begin to deepen and lengthen your exhalations so they become just a beat longer than your inhalations.
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Exhaling for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Exhaling one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Continue breathing on your own,
Just like this.
Inhaling to a count of two,
Exhaling to a count of four.
Breathing at your own pace,
Your own count.
With each exhalation,
Feel your whole body relax and soften even more deeply into stillness,
Into silence.
If the mind becomes distracted,
It's not a problem.
Simply invite your attention back,
Breathing in for two and out for four.
Now release the count of your breath.
Breathe normally and be still,
Still in this silent space where all doing stops.
Rest back into just being.
Follow my guidance as we move attention throughout the body,
Allowing the body to remain still and relaxed.
Let your attention rest on each body part as I name it,
Without comment or judgment.
It's okay if you do not feel every part.
Aware of sensation or the absence of sensation.
Become aware of your toes,
Both ankles,
Both knees,
Hips,
Pelvis,
Abdomen,
Chest,
Shoulders,
Arms,
Hands,
Fingertips,
Throat,
Chin,
Face,
The whole head,
Back of the head,
Shoulder blades,
The whole back,
Buttocks,
Buttocks,
Backs of the thighs,
Calves,
Heels,
Soles of the feet.
Sense the whole body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes.
Whole body.
Feel the whole body resting in vast and spacious awareness.
Now bring into your mind the image of a radiant,
Full,
Silvery moon,
Shimmering in the night sky,
Surrounded by twinkling stars.
Feel the moon bathing you with a cool,
Peaceful,
Calm light.
Sense and feel the cool and radiant light of the full moon washing over you as you gaze into the night sky.
Now imagine that you can bring this moon,
This full and radiant moon down from the night sky and into your heart.
So the qualities of stability,
Stillness,
Of simplicity and calm begin to radiate in the center of your heart.
Feel this calm radiate throughout your whole body.
The light of the moon spreading and creating a deep sense of stillness,
Ease and quiet throughout the whole body into the corners of the mind.
Allow your self to rest in this radiant light of cool peace.
Imagine that you can begin to radiate the beams of this moonlight out in all directions.
Sense this light radiating out in front of you.
Sense it streaming out behind you.
Feel this radiant light moving out to the right and out to the left.
Sense this moonlight radiating out from within you in all directions until the entire world is bathed in this light and you have become this radiant,
Shimmering moon.
Now begin to shift from actively doing,
Extending,
Radiating this light.
To allowing yourself to rest,
Resting back into the radiance,
Just being.
The radiant light continues to extend on its own as you simply rest and let go.
If the mind starts to wander,
Simply begin again,
Imagining a full moon in the sky.
Bringing the quiet,
Calm light of this moon into your heart.
Let this light radiate out from your heart in all directions and then let yourself rest.
Allow this practice to be simple and easeful as you continue to rest as the moon,
Releasing completely into the stillness,
Quiet and peace of the radiance of the moon.
