Let's get you ready for bed,
Shall we?
Get yourself into a comfortable laying down position.
So often we overlook the obvious when we are tired and being comfortable is ground zero for good night's sleep.
So take your time,
Get your body into that ideal position for sleep.
Do whatever you need to do,
Take as much time as you need to take and then slowly bring your eyes to close and begin to breathe in and out through the nostrils.
With each exhale,
Just allowing yourself to relax that little bit more and now bring some attention to your belly as you breathe in and out.
Imagine your belly button is an astronaut jumping on the surface of the moon.
That's the kind of pace I want you to keep.
Gently up and gently down.
Now tonight's session is a mashup of yogic tradition and Japanese anime culture.
It's a bit wild but if you want all the details just check out my course Sleep Yourself Better.
What I can tell you is this one is scientifically backed to make you feel relaxed.
It's called moon breathing and I'm going to explain how it works now.
Without changing anything,
I want you to just bring some awareness to your nostrils.
Notice how it feels with the air coming in and the air going out.
Believe it or not you've actually got one dominant nostril so see if you can isolate which is the most dominant nostril right now.
Now I want you to just notice the difference between the inhale and the exhale on the nostrils.
Think about where you feel the breath the most at each stage.
Now notice the temperature difference between the two.
Maybe cooler on the inhale and warmer on the exhale.
Just explore that.
Alright now with your brain firmly in your nostrils I want you to take your right hand and use the thumb of the right hand to close off the right nostril.
As you do this of course you're forced to breathe in and out just through the left nostril.
That's what we want.
That's up to you where you put your other fingers but traditionally people put the index and middle finger on the third eye and they bend the ring finger and the pinky finger like a scout's signal I guess but it's up to you what you do.
The important thing is you just block the right nostril.
Okay so whatever you're doing with those other fingers make sure you're breathing in and out through the left nostril for this practice.
Just get used to that for the next few moments and I'll explain what we'll do from this point on.
In a moment I'm going to ask you to inhale through the left then pinch the nose closed,
Hold for a moment,
Then release the left nostril and exhale through the left nostril.
We'll do this for three rounds to get used to it and then we're going to do it to an even four count.
Four in,
Four hold,
Four out.
Then after we've done that we're going to add on a few numbers so that we end up inhaling for four,
Holding for four and exhaling for seven.
If it sounds complicated don't worry I'm going to be guiding you the whole way so just listen up before my count and make sure you breathe in and out through the left nostril.
Sound good?
Nice.
Let's do this.
So inhale through the left,
Nice and deep,
Pinch the nose closed completely,
Hold,
Release the left nostril and exhale out.
Again,
Inhale through the left,
Pinch the nose closed,
Hold,
Release through the left,
Exhale through the left.
Take a moment now,
Just take an extra recovery breath there.
Next up we're going to do a four count on each element.
Alright,
Get ready.
Exhale through the left for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Close the left,
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Release the left,
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Pause,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pinch closed,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Release the left,
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Pause,
Hold.
Last one like that,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pinch the nose closed,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Release the left nostril,
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Back to normal breathing for a moment.
Next up we're going to add a single number to the exhale each round until we get to seven and then we'll do a few practices of seven together.
Let's go.
Inhale through the left,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Close,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Pause,
Get ready to inhale once again,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Close,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Hold for a moment,
Get ready to inhale as we add a number.
Inhale through the left,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Close,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Repeat this now two more times,
Here we go.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Close,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Hold,
Wait,
And inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Close,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Hold,
And when you're ready,
Three rounds on your own at that same pace,
Over to you.
Each round feeling yourself becoming more relaxed,
More calm,
More ready for sleep.
Keep it going,
Keep that pace.
And when you are done with your three rounds,
Just bring your hand away and begin to enjoy this calm state that you've cultivated in yourself.
Allow this feeling of your brain shifting to this relaxed state with nowhere to be and nothing to do.
Gently back to thinking about the belly button moving up and down like that astronaut.
Gently up and gently down.
Sleep well.
