All right,
There's no time to spare.
The baby is down and you are on borrowed time.
So let's get you the rest you need and deserve.
If you're not already,
Get into a comfortable laying down position.
Grab a blanket,
Get comfy and then close those eyes and begin by taking a deep breath in.
Slow exhale through the mouth.
Take a big breath in and slow exhale out.
Carry on doing a few on your own.
Breath stays slow and controlled and you just want to carve out this time that's just for you.
While you're doing that,
I want you to imagine your body is broken up into 10 parts.
So your feet may be part 1,
Your calves and shin are part 2,
Your thighs are part 3,
Your bum 4,
Stomach 5,
Your chest and back 6,
Your arms 7,
Your shoulders 8,
Your neck 9 and your face 10.
So from bottom to top.
In a moment,
I'm going to ask you to exhale for a full 10 seconds and when I do,
I want you to relax each one of those stages.
I'll talk you through the whole thing so don't stress if you can't remember which one is which.
Let's try it together.
Deep inhale and exhale slowly.
Relax the feet,
Calves,
Thighs,
Bum,
Stomach,
Chest and back,
Arms,
Shoulders,
Neck and face.
Once again,
Inhale in.
Start at the bottom as you exhale slowly.
Relax the feet and the calves,
Thighs,
Bum,
Stomach,
Chest and back,
Arms,
Shoulders,
Neck and face.
One more just like that.
Deep inhale in.
Exhale slowly.
Relax the feet,
Calves,
Thighs,
Bum,
Stomach,
Chest,
Back,
Arms,
Shoulders,
Neck and face.
Carry on by yourself now,
Feeling free to extend the breath or shorten it as you need.
Just being sure to have smooth long breaths and just feeling that systematic switching off of your body from feet all the way to your face.
And then each round,
Just imagine your body is getting heavier and more relaxed.
Each round,
Imagine your body is getting so much heavier that you're sinking into the bed a little bit more with each exhale.
Deep breaths in and then switching off the body from feet to face.
If your mind starts to wander,
That's okay.
Just bring it back to what you're doing.
Okay,
Nice.
Come back to normal breathing now.
Just enjoying your body completely switched off,
Motionless,
Relaxed,
Heavy.
Feel how content you are in this bed,
How warm you are,
How comfortable you are.
Know it'd be nothing to do.
Just getting that rest you deserve.
Allow that rest and relaxation to take hold of the body.
Give in to that rest.
Give in to that sleep.
Any wandering thoughts that come up,
Just exhale them out.
Come back to thinking about how good it feels laying down and being motionless right now.
Each breath now a reminder of how relaxed you are and allowing yourself to drift away into sleep a little bit more.
