How To Sleep Mindfully Every Night 5

Trying to fall asleep is often counterproductive, but we can make falling asleep more likely. This mindfulness meditation will gently guide you into an experience of accepting and relaxing into the present moment as it is, followed by the sound of relaxing ocean waves, giving you plenty of time to drift off into a deep sleep, naturally and effortlessly. For best results, use a different one of these 'sleep mindfully' meditations each night so the mind stays freshly engaged with the process.

Transcript

So this mindfulness meditation will help us really relax into the present moment, To be with the body just as it is, To be with our minds just as they are, And a feeling of releasing ourselves, Mind and body, Into the present, And the deep relaxation that can bring creating the perfect experience from which we can naturally and effortlessly drift off into a deep and refreshing sleep without trying to fall asleep. The first part of the meditation will be mindfulness of the body, And to begin with I like to just get a sense of how the body's feeling, A sense of the energy of the body, Scanning throughout the body with my awareness, And just noticing what sensations are there, Noting if there's any new or unusual sensations, Or if it feels familiar, And often that will include the breath, As that is something that's creating sensations in the body, So I'll also be aware of the breath in the body as I scan through, And rather than focus on any particular part of the body, I like to be mindful of the whole body, To really see and experience the body as one whole thing, Rather than focusing on any particular part of the body, And one way to do that is to simply get a feeling of the weight of the body, So does the whole body feel heavy or light, Or somewhere in the middle, Feel the gravity gently pulling on the body, And feel the floor, The chair, The ground supporting that weight. I sometimes like to imagine, Feel, Or experience that the centre of my awareness is just a fraction behind the body, So the whole body is right there in front of my awareness, So the whole body is open and available to my awareness and my attention. So allow yourself to see if you can really fully inhabit the body as well with your awareness, Really being present with your body. Your body is always present, Always connected literally to this present moment. The body is always here and always now, So can you allow your awareness to join your body and also be completely here and now with the body. The whole body sensation I like to become aware of is that sense of aliveness in the body, Really feeling your body as the living organism that it is, Feeling the living energy, The aliveness throughout the body. As we bring our awareness fully into the body and into the present moment, We really feel the aliveness of the body, Exploring the living energy and the living presence of your body with your awareness in this moment. The final part of the mindfulness of the body before we move on to mindfulness of sounds is to get a sense of the location of your body within the space that you are and a sense of the immediate environment around the body and sensing the space just above your body. The more present you become with your body, The more you allow the body to relax and the more the body can radiate into this space that's around you right now. Okay so when you're ready we can move on to the second part, Mindfulness of sound. So for this we can really allow our awareness to widen and broaden as we actively listen out for all the different sounds that are coming and going in the environment surrounding us. So not just in the space of the room or immediate environment, Not just the sounds happening close by, But really opening the awareness and listening out for the more distant sounds. There may be plenty of sounds going on around you where you are, But if not you can still keep that open and alert awareness so that you're ready to catch any sound that does appear arrive within your wider environment. So maintaining an active awareness and alertness, Listening out for sounds that are there and listening out for any sounds that might arrive at any time. I find it useful sometimes to think of the image of an animal out in the wild whose survival maybe depends on its attentiveness, Its alertness to really listening to everything in its environment no matter how quiet or distant. So really bringing that alertness and attention but with an open and relaxed awareness. Noticing every sound and anticipating being ready for any new sound to arrive within your environment and within your open awareness. Really appreciating the unique blend of sounds in each moment. Every moment will be exactly the same. And if we keep our awareness nice and light and open, Broad and wide, Then there's plenty of space for everything that's happening in this present moment to come and go within that awareness. So although we're paying particular attention and being particularly interested in sounds at the moment, There'll still be thoughts and feelings and sensations in the body. So not to try and exclude or ignore any of these other aspects of the present moment. You can welcome everything of this moment within this open awareness. And amongst all these different things, Simply choosing to be particularly interested for this time in the sounds we can hear. And within that, Being particularly alert to any distant sounds that are there now or may arise. So after a while of really paying attention to sounds with an open awareness, You may notice that you can begin to get a sense of a quietness, Even a silence that coexists with all the different sounds. A silence, A quietness that is the space within which sounds come and go. A quietness that exists between and behind every sound. The silence is the background and the container of all sounds. And if you can get that sense of that quietness, Then see if you can gently bring the silence more into the foreground of your awareness and allow the sounds just to step back a little, Just into the background. So we're more interested in the quietness than in the sounds. We can allow ourselves to be absorbed into that open space of silence. And as we experience this silence, We can also experience it as stillness, As emptiness, As an unlimited space within which all movement, All form and all sound comes and goes. Feeling as if you're gently holding this present moment within the space of your unlimited awareness, Within this silent, Still space. Having a sense of this space, This stillness, This silence, This emptiness, Also being changeless or timeless. As all change, All movement of time happens within it. So just as all the sounds come and go within the silence, All change of any kind, All passage of time happens within this timeless and changeless space. Allowing your open awareness to touch the eternal that is ever present. It sounds fantastic for getting connected and each sound is remembered and refrigerated. . . . . You