Hey,
I'm sorry you're having trouble sleeping,
I'm sure you've tried a lot of things already,
So why don't we try something different,
Why don't we flip the script,
Let's not try sleep and instead,
Let's try enjoy being awake,
Which,
Spoiler alert,
Can help us sleep.
I do this a lot when I wake up to my son stirring,
Or when I wake up to my wife snoring,
Or when I wake up to my cat,
Gus,
Crying for more food.
Yeah,
My house has become pretty loud over the years.
So let's get into it.
So remember,
We are not trying to sleep,
But we secretly are.
So let's think about some other things.
With your eyes closed,
Lying nice and still,
Can you think about how you feel in that bed right now?
Can you notice the weight of your body on the mattress?
Can you almost feel how you sink in and how the mattress hugs you back?
Can you notice the contact points where your body is most sunken in to your mattress?
And now can you feel the warmth at these points?
Okay,
Good.
Let's turn our attention to how that duvet feels.
How soft is it?
And how warm is it under that duvet?
Okay.
Can you now notice how heavy it is and how it presses on you as you press into the mattress?
Now start to pay attention to the stillness of the room.
No right or wrong,
Just noticing.
Maybe there's a hum or movement.
Maybe there's a cat snoring.
God knows I've had that.
Just pay attention to the stillness or lack thereof in your room.
No need to change your breathing now,
But just see what it's up to.
Notice it coming in and out.
Just feeling the in and feeling the out.
Take a moment to just notice if you're breathing through the mouth or the nose.
And how does it feel?
Is it easy?
Is it slow?
Is it smooth?
No need to change anything,
Slow it down or speed it up.
Just noticing.
Simply checking what your breath is up to.
Now diving a little bit deeper.
Tap into what your heartbeat and pulse is up to.
First off,
Can you even feel it?
Maybe it's imperceptible,
That's okay.
Or maybe you can feel a faint beat,
Rhythm in the background.
Maybe it's in your wrist.
Maybe it's in your chest.
Maybe you can feel it in the side of your throat.
Just see if you can notice that hard-working muscle as it pumps that lovely life force around your body.
Sometimes the fingertips are a good place to look for that pulse.
Not searching too hard,
Just noticing.
Okay,
We've got a pretty good observation of how we're doing in this bed right now.
Now gently say to yourself,
I am awake and that's okay.
Say to yourself,
As long as I'm awake,
I may as well enjoy this.
And you can do that by starting to notice how your eyes feel closed.
The softness of the inside of your eyelids.
And maybe even the seal between the upper and lower eyelid.
Something we don't often feel.
Now notice the darkness inside your eyes.
Sometimes it's not totally pitch black here.
The speckles of light or color,
Totally normal.
Just see them,
Notice them,
Enjoy the show.
Turn your attention to the back of your head now.
And see if you can feel the pillow under your head.
Notice how it makes a way for the weight of your head to press down.
Notice how it supports your head,
Almost hugs it on either side near your ears.
Can you feel that indentation that hugs your head now?
Can you totally let go of any tension in your neck so that you can feel the pillow?
Your pillow totally takes your weight.
Observing that heavy head in that lovely soft pillow.
You're allowed to be awake.
Wakefulness is not a problem.
And if any thoughts come into your head between your eyeballs and the back of your head that's resting in that pillow,
Well,
You don't feel the need to go with it.
You just notice it and you come back to observing your body in this bed resting.
You just notice your body in this bed slowly resting.
If your mind starts to check,
Am I falling asleep?
You know as well as I do,
It doesn't matter.
You are warm,
You're comfortable and you are resting.
It's a good place to be.
So let's run through that comfort checklist together.
And as we do,
Try enjoy every aspect.
Enjoy the comfort of that bed beneath the weight of your body.
Notice that steady support of the mattress.
Notice the warmth of your body under that duvet.
Enjoy the gentle heat gathering around you,
Resting on your skin.
Enjoy the pillow resting under your head.
The softness meeting you without effort.
Enjoy the darkness of the room.
The sight behind your eyelids.
Enjoy the weight of your body sinking to the floor.
Lower and deeper into the bed.
Fully supported,
Fully held.
Enjoy your breath moving in and moving out.
Unforced.
Your heart beating quietly,
Steadily.
And the result of all of this is you gently resting.
If sleep comes,
You let it take you.
If you're still awake,
That's fine.
You're practicing comfort in whatever state.
Allow the night to unfold on its own.
If you're still awake and listening,
Let's go back to noticing.
Noticing the mattress carrying you with no effort required.
Notice the warmth wrapped around your body,
Contained and safe.
Notice the heaviness of your limbs.
Settling deeper with every moment.
Notice the duvet lying across you.
Light but present.
We notice the pillow taking shape around your head,
Holding you there safely.
Notice the quiet darkness around you.
Nothing needed from you.
Nothing demanded from you.
You just have to be.
Those eyes feeling softly closed.
No need to move.
Simply breathing in.
And breathing out.
Your heartbeat,
Gentle,
Rhythmic.
The feeling of being rested.
The enjoyment of being rested.
Once again,
We feel everything around us.
We observe the situation that we're in.
This luxurious situation of resting as we feel the bed underneath you.
Firm and steady.
Reliable but comforting.
We feel the warmth rising from your body.
Being trapped by that duvet.
The gentle pressure of the duvet pushing down on us like a hug from above.
Even and calm.
Your head supported.
Your neck completely relaxed.
Even the room is resting in darkness.
It's still and so are you.
Your eyes are becoming even softer,
Closing with ease.
The weight of your body fully submitting to the mattress below it.
The mattress more than happy.
To support you.
No need for a single muscle to be on right now.
The air moving quietly in and out of your lungs.
Automatically without any effort.
That heartbeat calmly beating in your chest.
You're allowed to rest.
You're allowed to just be.
