Welcome to this meditation for sleep,
Preparing the body in a way that feels supportive for you.
Perhaps you'd like to start by lying on the back,
Adjusting any pillows or cushions,
And making sure that you're covered enough so that you'll be warm,
Because as the body relaxes,
Your temperature drops.
Taking some moments just to breathe into the body,
Slowing down your inhale and exhale,
Feeling all the places where the body is supported,
And using some of your next exhales to surrender more deeply to those points where the body is supported.
Just telling yourself there's no way to relax or do this meditation wrong,
And relaxing any amount more that's available to you.
Perhaps feeling like you're encircled in a circle of protection,
Maybe that's a circle of beautiful stones or flourishing trees,
A circle of animal protectors or guides or ancestors.
Lying here breathing in the center of the circle of protection,
And that circle will stay alert,
That circle will guard this space of rest,
So that you can let go any amount more.
Notice if you can use the breath to soften any places that feel like they're holding tension,
Holding a pattern of tension.
Just breathing into that space or those various spaces,
And noticing if they can soften.
The goal here is not to be perfectly relaxed,
But to begin to use the breath and awareness to create an environment that can hold all of it,
All of the spaces that are not yet relaxed.
The environment that can kind of expand to hold maybe a busy mind,
Not needing to change it or fix anything,
But just expanding your field of awareness using the breath,
Using the softening to allow however you are in this moment to be okay,
To be enough,
Even to be just right for right now.
Taking some breaths into your innocence that you have been doing the best that you can,
That in this moment you are doing the very best that you can,
No matter what.
Noticing what that message does to particularly your heart space,
Breathing into the chest cavity,
In through the center of the chest to a point on the spine,
Exhaling from that point on the spine back out through the center of the chest,
Repeating this a few more times,
And then locating with your awareness,
With your felt sense,
Kind of the center of the chest,
Breathing into that space.
With inhale coming into the center,
And with exhale expanding from the heart space in all directions,
Feeling the vastness of that space as you exhale,
Inhaling back to that little center point.
Maybe you can visualize it as a white or gold star points at the center of the chest,
Exhaling into this vast space all around from the heart.
The yogis call this the hridayakasha,
The vast heart space.
As you inhale to that point at the center of the chest,
It might be a little star twinkling.
When you exhale,
You can move this energy,
This heart energy,
Throughout the whole body and beyond.
And if it feels good,
Maybe you're continuing to expand your visualization of the light from the little star with inhale,
And then that light travels with the breath and the awareness way out into the vastness of the hridayakasha,
The heart space.
Inhaling pinpoint of light,
Exhaling the light infuses the whole body and beyond.
Continuing to breathe to this little star,
Expanding that star to create a huge,
Vast circle of light in and around the whole body.
If the mind drifts off,
Just very kindly remembering,
Oh,
I'm doing this heart space breath and visualization,
Gently releasing the thoughts and coming back to this felt sense of the pinpoint star of light at the center of the chest with inhale,
And then exhale,
Expanding this light through and around the body as you breathe out.
Letting this go and now feeling as though you're just resting in this kind of cocoon of light.
You're resting in this spaciousness that the heart has created.
Your body can rest within that space,
Cocooned by light,
Surrounded by protective circle,
Those watching over you,
Watching out to make sure that you can soften into this space of safety and of rest.
Resting in the golden cocoon of light.
Your breath is natural.
You're just curled up inside this protective,
Warm,
Soothing space,
Where nothing is required.
You are perfect as you are resting here.
Feeling the cocoon of light.
Draw inward.
Draw all the way inward,
Back into that star,
The center of the heart.
Star at the center of the heart dissolving back into your body.
Just returning back to the space of the body breathing.
The body breathing,
Just resting here.
Letting that be enough.
Namaste.
