Okay,
I'd like you to have a shuffle around,
Get yourself into a nice calm,
Relaxed position.
You could be sitting or reclining,
Even laying down.
And when you've found your position,
Got yourself nice and comfortable,
I want you to allow your eyes to close down.
And I'd like you to become aware of your breathing.
Feel the coolness of that breath as it enters your mouth or nose.
Maybe you can notice how your chest rises and falls,
Rises and falls in an easy and natural rhythm,
Your own perfect natural rhythm.
Just breathing in and out,
In and out.
Allowing your awareness to focus on that breath.
Just allowing your awareness to remain focused on that breath,
As you allow it to quieten and deepen.
And begin to notice that as you allow your breath to become more and more relaxed,
That it's a natural thing.
That you don't need to make any conscious efforts to breathe.
That's because your inner mind takes care of that breathing,
From the moment of your birth throughout your entire life,
For as long as you live.
And just as your inner mind is the guardian of your breath,
And all of your bodily functions,
Your inner mind is also the creator of your dreams.
It's the champion of your highest aspirations.
It's the caretaker of any emotional baggage.
So together,
Let's encourage that inner mind of yours to relax into some positive thoughts,
And to release its grip on any negative energy from the past or the present.
Now,
As you continue to listen to the sound of my voice,
I'm going to be talking to you about a challenge,
A challenge that you may have been experiencing for quite a while.
And that challenge is overthinking at bedtime.
Now I know you've had problems dropping off to sleep,
And the reason for this is that events of the day,
And maybe other little worries,
They tend to surface at night,
When your mind is trying to relax,
When it's trying to drift off to sleep.
You worry,
In case you've done or said something wrong,
Perhaps in a situation that happened during your day.
You play out scenarios of what-ifs over and over in your mind.
What if this happens?
What if that happens?
Imagining the worst possible outcome,
You might be replaying an event,
And wishing you'd done or said something different.
And of course,
One thought leads to another,
And before you know it,
You're worrying about the possible consequences,
When really,
The whole event will probably blow over quite soon.
Deep down,
You know that most of the time,
You worry needlessly,
And the outcomes will not necessarily materialise,
But try as you might,
You can't seem to get them out of your mind.
Other thoughts are keeping you awake,
So that before you know it,
Dawn begins to break,
Before you feel sleepy and ready to let go of those impending thoughts and drift off to sleep.
So of course,
When you eventually wake up,
You feel tired,
Irritable,
Because you didn't have enough sleep to thoroughly refresh you.
It's easy to say,
Don't let those worries play on your mind,
But as you've discovered,
It's not always so easy to dismiss them,
It's as though they take on a life of their own in those twilight hours,
But during this relaxing experience,
You're going to learn how to master those thoughts,
To show them who the boss is,
And to do this,
You are going to use your wonderful inner mind,
Some call it the subconscious,
And it's a practical but remarkably simple trick that you're going to learn,
Starting with writing any worries down in a notebook,
Kept at the side of your bed,
And it really doesn't matter what those worries are,
However big or small,
When you take out your notebook,
You know that getting a good night's sleep is essential,
It's essential if you are to successfully tackle those or any other challenges during your waking hours.
Perhaps you're kept awake by thoughts of jobs that you need to do,
Rather than actual worries,
Maybe there are things that you feel are outside of your control,
And nothing you physically do can help,
If so,
This technique can,
And indeed will,
Still help,
Because you are off loading them from your mind,
You're putting them down on paper,
So that you can go to sleep with a much clearer head.
You may like to wait,
Half an hour or so,
After going to bed,
So that all the worries or jobs to do,
Or whatever it is that was keeping you awake,
Have had a chance to make themselves known,
Before then writing them down,
And that's fine,
Just do whatever you need to do,
And then settle yourself down,
Perhaps under that nice warm duvet,
And allow the bliss of sleep to take over,
And when you're ready,
And have made your entry into your nightly notebook,
You're ready for the next stage of this technique.
So,
Let's set the scene right now,
I want you to imagine,
Imagine that you've had an active day,
And you're now ready for bed,
And half an hour or so has gone by,
And all those thoughts have,
As usual,
Been whirling around in your head,
You've given them all a chance to surface,
Perhaps there is the problem of what to do about an annoying neighbour,
Or perhaps a natural disaster that you're going through,
Maybe ill health,
Maybe there's a colleague at work,
Maybe it's a relationship issue,
Perhaps you have unread emails or messages to respond to,
And you're wondering what the best thing is to say,
Perhaps a relative or a friend is causing concern,
Maybe you have a pet that needs to go to the vet,
Whatever the problem is,
You know full well that bedtime is not the right time or place to fix the situation,
Or to produce a solution,
So after a short while,
You turn on the bedside lamp,
You take out that notepad and pen,
And you spend a few moments writing everything down,
Everything that's been bothering you,
Don't worry if you miss something,
You can always turn on the light again and finish off your entry,
I want to give you a few moments right now to have a think of some of the things that you'd be writing down in this notebook,
And then I'll continue speaking again,
Okay that's good,
Now I want you to imagine that you've written the last word in your book,
And you've placed it at the side or underneath your bed,
You've turned off the lamp again,
And you're ready for sleep,
So you snuggle yourself down perhaps under a duvet into a comfortable position,
Making yourself as warm and snuggly and comfortable as you like to be,
And the next stage is a simple breathing exercise to clear your head of any remaining debris,
And this part will take less than five minutes of your time,
But I want to assure you that you do it properly by breathing deeply into your abdomen,
I want you to practice your breathing now with me,
And to do this I want you to take a deep in and hold that breath for just a moment before breathing it out slowly as you empty your lungs of air,
When you breathe deeply in this way you begin to slow your heart rate down,
You're preparing your body for sleep,
And you're also naturally increasing your melatonin level,
You may or may not be aware that melatonin is a hormone released by something called the pineal gland,
And it's released at night,
And it's long been associated with the control of the sleep and wake cycle,
This pineal gland is situated in the middle of the human brain,
Where the two hemispheres of the brain join,
And it's the major site of the body's melatonin production,
Your pineal gland,
It resembles a pine cone,
You might know that real pine cones have the vital job of keeping pine tree seeds safe,
Protecting them from freezing temperatures,
To protect the seeds,
These pine cones close their scales tightly to keep out the cold and the icy winds,
And even the foraging animals that might eat their precious cargo,
Perhaps you can imagine your pineal gland curled up like an embryo in the womb,
Or like an animal that's gone into hibernation for the long winter months,
And in your imagination you are in your warm and comfortable bed,
Breathing deeply in and holding each breath for just a moment,
Before slowly exhaling all that air from your body,
All of those worries and cares have been written into that notebook,
And right now there is nothing to do but breathe,
Slowly,
Deeply,
Calmly and evenly,
Allowing your body and your mind to rest,
Relax and let go,
And as you rest in your bed,
You feel all the muscles of your body beginning to relax,
As the tensions of the day just slip away,
All you want to do is,
Like the pine cone,
Close your scales,
Curl up into a nice comfortable ball and drift off to sleep,
So take a moment to relax the various parts of your body,
From the top of your head all the way down,
Down to the tips of your toes,
Just feeling any tensions softening and draining away from your body,
Emptying your body like a warm soapy water,
Tipped out into the drain,
Your feet and arms and body begin to relax and feel empty and comfortable,
And your deep breathing begins to relax and release that melatonin that your pineal gland is slowly but surely producing,
And this sleep producing chemical begins to drip slowly and regularly,
Making you feel tired and comfortable and sleepy and so relaxed,
And your mind relaxes and begins to wander,
As you breathe deeply and comfortably,
You can come back to your mind and imagine that pineal gland in the shape of a pine cone,
Or any shape or form that you wish,
See or feel or sense that gland nestled safely away between the left and right halves of your brain,
As you empty your mind of any remaining thoughts or worries or cares,
Just tipping them into the drain if you wish,
Along with any tensions from your body,
As you empty your mind,
It's only natural that after a short while,
Some stray conscious thoughts may from time to time flutter by,
In the vague hope of gaining admittance to the peaceful calm within the cone that nestles in your mind,
But right now your pine cone is curled up tightly,
It doesn't welcome any interruptions at this stage,
And although these thoughts may vainly knock upon the door,
Hoping to engage you in their nonsense dialogue,
The door is closed,
It does not respond to uninvited guests,
You have written down any worries or thoughts or cares in that notebook,
And they'll be there to read tomorrow if you want to deal with them,
But right now,
You're feeling so tired,
So sleepy,
So relaxed as you begin to drift into dream time,
And instead of thoughts,
You begin to find images waiting to welcome you into the land of sleep,
They hold out their hand and they lead you to a place deep within,
A place where wonderful magical things can take place,
Perhaps you might find yourself in a garden surrounded by sweet scented flowers,
Sheltered by overhanging trees that wish to protect you from the rays of the summer sun,
Maybe you find yourself on a beautiful sandy beach,
Dipping your toes into the warm ocean,
And you might be high in the mountains,
Talking to goats or sheep,
Or just admiring the wild scenery,
Your mind can take you wherever you wish to go,
So follow that dream and enjoy a deep restful sleep,
And during this resting period,
Nature begins its work,
Restoring your energy,
Ready for tomorrow,
Repairing cells,
Releasing molecules such as hormones and proteins to keep you healthy,
Your brain is storing all current information,
At the same time it's getting rid of toxic waste,
Your nerve cells are communicating with each other,
Sharing information,
Sharing instructions on what needs to be done,
So good sleep is essential for your emotional and physical wellbeing,
And I'm sure you're already aware of ways of helping yourself,
Such as avoiding caffeine or stimulants,
Perhaps avoiding food late at night,
And reducing that screen time an hour or two before bedtime,
Sleep also plays a significant role in helping you to maintain a healthy weight,
Maintaining optimal brain functions,
Allowing your neurons and nerve cells to reorganise,
To strengthen,
You now make bedtime a special occasion for you,
Keeping your room at a temperature that's exactly right for you,
Making the environment pleasant,
Welcoming,
So that you can look forward to going to bed,
And then waking up alert and refreshed the next day,
You now recognise that those old thoughts that used to prey on your mind before allowing you to sleep,
They were unwelcome intruders,
And you now have a way to successfully shut them out,
To enable you to sleep peacefully and soundly night after night,
And these ideas can drift and float and sink slowly down into your subconscious inner mind,
And these ideas can grow stronger and stronger day by day,
