The Insomnia Beater

I've put together a compilation of scientifically backed techniques to get you relaxed and ready for bed. In this 18-minute meditation, you'll invite relaxation and sleepiness to come to you with breath work, exercises and visualization.

Transcript

Hey,

Welcome,

Come on in,

Come on in.

I want you to get seated or laying down and in my personal opinion,

Laying down is the right option here.

This session is all about getting into a relaxed state.

Now in general,

We try approaches from two different angles,

One the physical and one the mental.

So,

As I suggest,

Laying down is a great option here because that tells your body that it's relaxation time.

But if you want to get yourself into a nice comfortable sofa or love seat,

If you have one,

Anything like that,

That can also be great.

Now make your position as comfortable as possible,

All right?

Often in meditation we talk about sitting upright.

This one,

I want you to get in whatever method works for you.

Get a pillow under your knees,

Get a pillow under your arms,

Get a pillow under your head.

Get all the pillows.

As you're getting yourself sorted there,

I'm just going to explain that.

We're going to use a few different techniques today to get you into a nice relaxed state.

Now you may drift off during this meditation,

That's totally okay.

In fact,

That's what we want,

Right?

This method is really good for getting you into this calm state before you go to bed.

And whether that's in a few moments,

Whether that's in the next hour,

That's all good.

Maybe you just need a 10 minute break for today.

But that's very much what we're going to focus on.

So hopefully now you've got your relaxing fort set up.

From here,

I just want you to start to breathe in nice and deep for me.

And then sigh out through the mouth.

Now the deep breath in for me.

Exhale out through the mouth.

And carry on doing this on your own.

Not too much effort in either the inhale or the exhale.

The exhale should literally just fall out of you.

So you carry on doing that and I'll talk about the session a bit more.

Now whatever day you've had,

I want you to discard it.

Like you know when you come in from being in the rain and you have a wet jacket.

And you kind of can't wait to get that jacket off you.

That's the same feeling.

I want you to think about taking that wet jacket that is your day and hang it up somewhere.

Just take it off you so it's separate from you right now.

What we're doing here is taking a break from what's been and arriving at what is.

This is our relaxing time.

So we want to carve out this space for ourselves.

And you've done that quite beautifully with whatever comfortable set up you've made for yourself.

That's just the physical.

Let's now start to do it with the mental too.

So let's start to discard the day that we've had.

Let's start to cut ties with the past with our breath.

So this is all inhaling and exhaling.

That beautiful pattern you set up just a few moments ago.

Now each exhale you're going to let go of everything that's been.

And we'll start to arrive in just your experience right now.

Inhale just becoming aware of how comfortable you are.

As you exhale just slowing everything down.

And just see if you can sink into whatever seat or bed you've made for yourself there.

Each inhale thinking about how comfortable and safe you are.

And each exhale just allowing the body to relax a little bit more.

Like each exhale makes you heavier.

Inhale think about how soft your clothing is.

How soft your sofa or bed is.

And each exhale imagine yourself a melter a little bit further into it.

So as you're doing that slowly getting rid of that barrier between you and what's underneath you.

And I'll just tell you a little story and explain the session today.

So when I was growing up my dad had a phrase well more like a word actually.

Whenever my brother and I would be getting rowdy or he didn't approve of our enthusiastic behavior.

He would look at us and say guys relax.

Now he was totally right we should relax.

But my brother and I discussed over the years how that phrasing when my dad said it had the exact opposite effect to what he was trying to do.

In fact nothing riled us up more than when my dad said guys relax.

In fact even when I see my brother now we talk about it and it still kind of gets me wound up.

And I feel like this is the paradox of relaxing.

The harder you try to relax sometimes the harder it becomes.

So instead of me telling you just relax.

I want to just show you things that we can do that have the downstream effect of making you relaxed.

So I want you to focus just on doing the thing I tell you.

Doing the practice I put forward to you and letting the relaxation come to you.

It's not chasing it.

It's not chasing it.

Just doing these little tasks and then letting relaxation come to you.

Like a friend coming to pay a visit.

And this is you just getting the house into order.

As such I'm going to dedicate this to my dad.

I love you.

I miss you.

And I've learned to relax.

I promise.

So as you're lying there super comfortable.

Nice and melted into your surroundings.

We'll start with the physiological side.

This is just a double inhale and then an exhale.

Sounds like this.

All I'm doing here is a double inhale and then an exhale.

The inhales are nice and big.

It's like you take one deep breath in.

You have an extra sip of air and then you just let go of all of it.

Let's do that together now.

Two inhales.

Round two.

Round three.

Round four.

Good.

Now those physiological sides have been proven to relax you.

Just four rounds like that.

Relaxation will come.

So you don't have to do anything else for that.

Just let that relaxation make its way to you.

It's like your bat signal to relaxation.

Now you just have to wait for it to arrive.

But don't worry.

We've still got a few more tricks up our sleeve.

So next up we're going to be doing tense and release.

For this all I need you to do is focus in on the muscle group.

Tense it,

Tense it,

Tense it while you inhale.

And then as you exhale just release that muscle group and relax.

Now let's start with the feet.

While you're lying there I want you to bring all your attention down to your feet.

These things work super hard right?

And I don't get enough attention as far as I'm concerned.

It's probably because they look a bit gnarly.

From here I want you to squeeze your toes like you're making a fist with your feet.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

Take a deep inhale while you're squeezing.

And then exhale out,

Let go of all of that tension.

Relax those feet completely.

Great,

Let's move to the calves now.

Keeping the rest of the body chilled out,

Just start to engage those calves.

Squeeze them,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Inhale.

And as you exhale release those calves.

Finding a new sense of relief.

On the next inhale,

Think about your thighs.

Start to engage those thighs.

Make them nice and strong,

Solid.

Keep tensing,

Keep enjoying that tension.

And exhale out,

Release it.

Next up I want you to think about your glutes,

Your bum,

Your buttocks as they say here in the UK.

Next inhale,

Squeeze that bum,

Get those cheeks together.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And exhale,

Relax.

Just think about how your lower body feels right now.

Reflect on the state of relaxation it's in.

Make your way now to the hands.

Squeeze your hands into fists.

While you engage those fists,

Engage the forearms as well as the biceps.

Maybe even the triceps at the same time.

Just all of your arm muscles,

Squeeze as you inhale.

Exhale,

Release.

Let that tension float out of you.

Then think about the core,

The abs,

The chest.

Start to squeeze all of them on the next inhale.

Squeeze.

Find that tension,

Pull everything towards the midline.

Squeeze,

Show me those muscles.

And as you exhale,

Relax.

Think about your back now.

Squeeze the shoulder blades towards one another and down the back.

Really feel that strong back.

Make sure you're inhaling here.

Exhale,

Release.

Last thing,

Focus on that face.

Squeeze that face into all sorts of faces.

Eyebrows down,

Lips up.

Squeeze your face like you're a kid that's having a tantrum or eating a lemon for the first time.

Whatever visual you need.

Squeeze that face,

Contort that face.

Inhale while you do.

And then exhale,

Release that face.

Beautiful.

Okay,

That's all the heart.

Beautiful.

Okay,

That's all the hard work done.

Now we're just going to focus on a breathing exercise to finish that is known to get you super relaxed and sleep easy.

This is the 4-7-8 method.

And simply,

We're going to inhale for 4 seconds,

Hold for 7 seconds,

And then exhale for 8 seconds.

Hence,

4-7-8.

If you can't hold for that long or you're having a hard time exhaling out for the full 8,

Do what you can.

And slowly build up to this.

If you need to do it a different pattern,

That's okay.

The purpose here is to try to breathe out longer than you breathe in.

If you can,

Try to stick with me.

Wherever you are in your breath cycle,

Breathe out now.

Inhale.

2,

3,

4.

Hold.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Inhale.

2,

3,

4.

Hold.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Inhale.

2,

3,

4.

Hold.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Inhale.

2,

3,

4.

Hold.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Inhale.

2,

3,

4.

Hold.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Just keep following this pattern.

Enjoy this rhythm.

Know where to be.

Nothing to do.

Just here.

To breathe.

Be comfortable.

And be present.

Carry on breathing like this.

Enjoy it for as long as you need.

I'm going to say namaste now.

While the music plays out.

For a few more minutes.

Enjoy.

Reviews

Loving the different techniques for relaxing. Progressive muscle relaxation was my favorite this time. Thank you Doug! 🤍🙏