Meditation For Bedtime To Fall Asleep

Are you having trouble falling asleep tonight? Listen to this guided meditation with visualization. Just before bed, if your mind is still active and preventing you from falling asleep, use this meditation to wind down and drift off. We will gently review the past and the future, identifying and setting concerns aside for later so we can rest now.

Includes chimes and a singing bowl.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Tamara with MindBodyNow,

Here with a meditation to help you fall asleep.

So begin by setting yourself into a comfortable position.

I'm going to assume you're in bed and you've already done your bedtime routine,

Which could include a number of things to help you become sleepy.

Washing your face,

Brushing your teeth,

Dimming the lights,

Turning off the TV,

Maybe having taken a warm bath or shower,

Essential oils that are calming,

Whatever it takes to signal your body that you're ready for sleep,

And let's go ahead and get started.

Take a deep breath in through the nose,

Let it out through an open mouth.

Deep breath in through the nose,

Exhale out an open mouth.

One more time,

Inhale.

All right.

So very likely you want to fall asleep,

You are drowsy,

But there's something going on in your mind that's preventing you from drifting off.

So let's go ahead and see if we can't put our mind to rest or putting our mind to bed so that we too can allow the body and mind to go to bed.

So first,

Let's look at the past and we can begin with the day you've just experienced You can choose to relive the steps like you're watching a movie in your mind or the highlight reel and maybe taking a moment to identify what were the highlights,

The high points,

When did you feel good,

Who was in your day that made it better,

Friends,

Coworkers,

Loved ones,

Pets,

Strangers,

Was there kindness in your day?

So just picking out all of the positives,

Good.

And even if there weren't a ton of positives,

You can always dig a little deeper and find something that was good,

Something that went your way.

Okay.

So now,

Looking at that same day,

Is there anything that happened today that you don't feel great about,

It didn't turn out the way you wanted,

Was unexpected,

Had a negative outcome,

Made you feel a certain way that you didn't like?

So we're not reliving all those experiences right now because the mind would start to put you in distress.

So I'm only asking you to notice them,

But to have some grace and see if you can't let that go.

Good.

That's the past,

Seeing if you can let it go without having to work it out,

Okay?

So for any of these things that don't seem like you can just drop it,

Mentally get out a pen and paper,

Or physically do it if you need that actual writing it down.

And just write down the stuff that you'll need to work on tomorrow,

Something that may have come up today,

Or maybe is an ongoing thing,

It was from yesterday or the week before,

Something in the past,

And release it to the list so that your mind can rest and have some sleep tonight.

Write as many things as you need to.

Okay.

So there may be one other type of thought that's keeping you awake tonight,

And that's looking at the future.

That's going to be stuff you're anticipating,

You're excited,

Or you're nervous.

You might have a big event coming up,

You may have a medical exam coming up,

You might have an interview,

There's all sorts of things you may have scheduled,

And you don't know the outcome,

But you're still in control.

So for now,

Just for this exercise,

So that we can have a good night's sleep,

Let's go ahead and identify these future things coming up tomorrow,

Next week,

Next month,

Next year,

And start to visualize the best possible outcome.

So nailing the interview,

Giving an amazing presentation,

Being seen right away by the doctor and getting good test results,

Or any number of things that are on your mind,

Just see it play out in the positive.

Taking a moment here just to breathe into that possibility,

Breathing into the possibility that whatever's on your mind that's coming up is going to turn out great,

And that there's probably no need to worry,

Because worry doesn't help anything,

It just keeps you awake at night.

So we've given some awareness into the past,

We've taken our mind into the future,

Took a moment in gratitude,

So now we're right here in the present moment,

Right here in this moment where we're trying to fall asleep.

So if your lungs are healthy today,

After your deep inhale in through the nose,

Maybe pause the breath for a little bit,

And then exhale.

So I'm not going to count it out,

We all breathe a little differently,

Just taking the time here to deep inhale,

Pausing or suspending the breath for a moment if your lungs feel okay here,

Letting it go when you're ready.

Continue breathing in this way a few more times.

You're getting sleepy,

You're allowing your mind and your body to rest,

Letting go,

Feeling our brainwaves slowing down now,

Getting very heavy,

Beginning to fade,

Goodnight.