Sleep Better With A Relaxed Brain 5

A busy mind often prevents us from being able to fall asleep and get a good refreshing night's sleep. This mindfulness meditation of breath and thoughts will gently guide you into an experience of relaxing your brain. This is accompanied by the relaxing sound of a flowing stream. Try different versions of these 'Sleep better with a relaxed brain' meditations to keep the mind engaged.

Transcript

I'd invite you to bring your attention to your breath and in particular feeling the physical sensations in the body caused by the breath so really feeling the breath in the body exactly what sensations occur in your body as you breathe in and as you breathe out so in the first part of this meditation we're going to use the breath in a sense to practice the approach that we're going to use for our thoughts and for the brain so for now just allow the thoughts to just do whatever we're going to come to those soon and hold the breath in the centre or the foreground of your awareness but keeping your awareness light,

Gentle and open so no force,

No concentration,

No real effort and allowing everything that's happening in this moment just to happen around the breath the breath just resting at the centre of your attention so just having a particular interest in the breath exploring how the breath feels,

Investigating and the idea is not to make any effort to change the breath in any way at all so you don't have to try and breathe differently,

More slowly or more deeply or more controlled really allow the breath to breathe as it wants to breathe so in a sense we're just getting out of the way of the breath often subconsciously we'll be restricting the breath not allowing the breath in fully and holding on to the breath when it's ready to go so try just having that thought,

That intention to allow the breath in fully and freely as it wants to without limiting the breath,

Without restraining the breath notice how that feels as you allow the breath into the body and the same for the out breath notice if you are holding on to the breath and again just have that simple intention to let go,

Release the breath allow it to leave the body just as it wants to letting go as you breathe out so allow the breath in,

Let go as you breathe out and begin to enjoy the flow of the breath the free flowing breath,

Rising and falling in and out one breath following the next in an effortless flow and as we allow the breath to breathe itself in this way that really helps the body to begin to relax and settle the more relaxed the body becomes,

The easier the breath becomes and we create a nice virtuous cycle of allowing,

Letting go and relaxing so just before we move on to the brain,

The thoughts and the mind let's just remind ourselves of how relaxation feels in the body I want you to scrunch,

Tighten your hands into fists or any other part of your body,

Maybe the leg muscles or the feet hold it for just as long as it's comfortable and let it release,

Really feel,

Notice what it feels like,

Feel the sensation of release and that relaxation response in the body if you like you could repeat that once or twice more with or without the clenching of the muscles because we can relax the body just with intention just with the thought to relax the shoulders for example or relax the jaw just needs that thought,

That intention and then we allow that part of the body to relax and enjoy that physical sensation,

That relaxation response a very natural response in the body okay so we've got all the tools we need now from allowing the breath to flow freely from noticing that relaxation response in the body and how those two things work together so let's take that exact same approach to the brain,

To the mind and to our thoughts initially this may feel different because we identify with our thoughts so much in a way that we don't identify for example with our breath so the initial challenge is to just see the thoughts as an experience happening within our awareness just as the breath is an experience happening within our awareness so initially just become aware of your thoughts,

Notice your thoughts just notice that that's possible,

You may be thinking all the time but now we're doing something different,

We're thinking with awareness,

With that attention and that's a different experience,

Feels different so getting used to that new experience of thinking whilst being aware that I'm thinking similar to walking,

We can be walking all the time without particularly noticing but if we become very self-conscious of walking then that completely changes the experience or if we suddenly become self-conscious of what we're saying so adding awareness to your thoughts,

Simply noticing your thoughts as they happen and there's two really important insights that can come as we practice this one is this idea that we are not our thoughts,

If I'm observing them,

If I'm aware of them then they are an experience happening within me but they are not me that can take time,

Just having that intention,

That openness to that possibility and just observing the thoughts gradually will identify with them less so the first insight,

I am not my thoughts because I am watching my thoughts my thoughts are an experience,

I am the experiencer just as I am not my breath,

My breath is an experience and the second main insight into the thoughts for this meditation is that I don't create my thoughts this part of me,

This awareness that's noticing my thoughts I'm not consciously choosing my thoughts,

I'm not deciding what my next thought is going to be my thoughts are arising naturally,

Spontaneously within my awareness I'm just waiting for each thought to come and go and I notice it and accept it and then with interest wait and wonder what the next thought is going to be I have no idea what that thought will be even in a few seconds time even the very next thought might surprise me so just as with the breath,

We allow the breath into the body and we are allowing the thoughts into our mind,

Into our awareness and we allow each breath to leave the body,

We allow each thought to pass through the mind we let go of the breath because we know that's necessary so we can accept the next breath and exactly the same with my thoughts,

I allow this thought to go so that I'm open and ready for the next thought to come along,

Whatever that might be and the next stage is to get a sense of a flow as we did with the breath so as we allow the breath in and out,

We can then feel the flow of the breath,

The continuous effortless breath in and out rising and falling in the body so see if you can get a sense of the succession of thoughts as they flow a stream of thoughts,

One after the next,

Coming and going through the mind and with the breath we just had that intention to allow the breath in without restraining it and to let go of the breath without holding onto it so I'd invite you to have that same approach with your thoughts allow each and every thought in to your mind without any restraint so no effort to change or stop or divert any thought at all and allow each and every thought to pass through the mind release the thought just as we release the breath so we're ready for the next thoughts and we can allow the thoughts to flow freely through the mind just as the breath flows freely through the body setting the breath free to breathe as it wants to breathe and enjoying that flow and setting your thoughts free to think just as they want to think and enjoy the flow regardless of the content of the thoughts,

It really doesn't matter set your thoughts completely free giving them all the time and space they want without restraint,

Without limit,

Without holding on welcome,

Allow and let go and feel the flow free flowing breath,

Free flowing thoughts and for the final part of this meditation I'd invite you to relax the head just as earlier we relaxed the hands,

The feet,

The legs in exactly the same way now firstly just become aware of the face and all the muscles across the face and allow those to relax notice how that feels,

That relaxation response and the same for the top back and sides of the head and the scalp just allow them all to relax just as you would any other part of the body and exactly the same for the brain bring your attention to the brain inside the skull and allow it to relax completely notice how that feels relaxing the body,

Relaxing the face,

Relaxing the brain relaxing the body allowing the thoughts to flow freely through the relaxed brain allowing the breath to flow freely through the relaxed body free flowing thoughts free flowing breath relaxed body and the relaxed brain relaxing the body ok so we'll bring the commentary to a close there ok so we'll bring the commentary to a close there ok so we'll bring the commentary to a close there And that's it for today's episode.

I hope you enjoyed it.

And I'll see you in the next one.

Bye!

Reviews

So relaxing and peaceful. Even hearing the little kitty come in was a very sweet surprise! Namaste