Hey,
It's Doug.
Before anything else,
Get yourself comfortable,
Close your eyes and just start to chill out.
Take your time and while you do that,
Let me explain this session to you.
Tonight,
I'm going to guide you through a highly effective technique for relaxation and sleep.
In fact,
It's part of a family of techniques that sits just below sleep therapy for effectiveness to help you get to sleep.
If you'd like to learn more about techniques like this,
Then check out my course,
Sleep Yourself Better with Science.
There's tons more in there.
For now,
Let's get you to sleep,
Shall we?
Now the thing about being relaxed is that sometimes it takes feeling tense to actually notice that we're relaxed,
Which reminds me so much of one of my favorite movie quotes.
It comes from a movie called Lucky Number Slevin.
Morgan Freeman has this great line that he says to Josh Hartnett as he finds himself in this precarious position.
Mr.
Freeman says with that bassy voice of his,
Yesterday you were better off,
But it took today for you to realize that.
Relaxation is a lot like that.
We swear blind we are relaxed until we feel real relaxation.
So with that in mind,
I want you to take some deep breaths and pay attention to your body.
Imagine your breath is this illuminating light that allows you to see how your body feels.
The deeper you breathe in,
The more your body lights up and the more you can feel it.
Try this out.
It may take a few deep breaths before you have the whole body illuminated,
But once you do,
I want you to take a gauge of your level of relaxation,
With 10 being the most relaxed and 1 being the least relaxed.
So breathe into that body,
Awaken your senses to feel it all,
And then give yourself that score out of 10.
Okay,
Great.
Carry on breathing and carry on feeling your body.
So you just begin to connect with the area that I say out loud.
It's like hide and seek with your breath.
Here we go.
Breathe into your left foot and feel that.
Now your right foot,
Your left shin,
Your right shin,
Your thighs,
Your bum.
Those abs of yours,
Your chest,
Just your back,
Just your shoulders,
Both your arms,
Both your hands,
Your neck,
And your face.
Alright,
So you get the idea.
Each time I mention the body part,
Try and restrict your attention just to that area.
Now as I say the name of each area,
I want you not just to feel that area,
But to tense that area with all of your might on it,
Inhale.
And then when I say relax,
Exhale out and release that area completely.
Now to make this work really well,
I want you to imagine your breath once again is that illuminating source.
And when you inhale and tense that area,
It lights up bright.
But then when you exhale,
You imagine the tension leaving your body through the exhale and that light dimming in the area we are talking about.
Get the idea?
Great.
Let's do it together.
When you're ready,
Inhale into that left foot,
Tense it,
Make a fist with that foot,
Bring your toes towards your foot,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Illuminate,
See that bright light?
And exhale,
Release that foot,
Let that tension go.
Let that light dissipate out.
Let's move on.
Now inhale in to that right foot,
Same thing,
Tense it,
Squeeze it,
Make a fist out of that foot.
Do just what you did with the left,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Illuminate.
And exhale,
Release that right foot,
Let the tension out,
Let that light go,
Normal breath.
Notice how your feet feel now.
Next up,
Inhale into that left shin,
Tense it,
Squeeze it,
Pull your foot towards your shin to get maximal tension,
Really squeeze it.
Imagine that light getting brighter and brighter and brighter until you relax,
You breathe out,
Reestablish your breath.
Feel that relaxation in your left shin now.
Other side,
Inhale into your right shin,
Squeeze it,
Tense it,
Pull the toes towards the shin as if you could touch the two together,
Illuminate,
And relax,
Normal breath.
Notice how both shins feel.
This time,
Both legs at the same time,
Inhale,
Engage right thigh and left thigh together,
Straighten the legs,
Squeeze those thighs,
Make those muscles work.
There's lots of them there.
They are big,
They are strong.
Imagine that illumination in this area.
It's getting higher,
Higher,
Brighter,
Brighter,
And relax.
Let both thighs go,
Let that tension dissipate.
Imagine that light getting dimmer,
Feeling that relaxation in the thighs.
From here,
Inhale into your glutes,
Also known as your bum,
Tense those two things,
Left and right together,
Tense,
Engage,
Push hips to the ceiling if you want,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Illuminate like a firefly,
And relax.
Let that tension go.
Whole bottom half of your body now is totally relaxed,
Heavy,
And sinking into the bed without a single drop of tension.
Enjoy that.
Just notice the difference between your lower half and your upper half.
Great.
Now,
Let's move in to the upper half.
Inhale into your abs and chest,
Tense them like a bodybuilder or a 14-year-old trying to impress his first crush.
Squeeze everything,
Tense,
Tense,
Tense.
Feel that illumination,
Feel that tension,
And relax.
Breathe it out.
Feel that relaxation come in as the light goes out.
Inhale in to the left arm and hand.
Make a fist,
Tense that arm,
Make it like a superhero arm,
Engage it,
Illuminate it,
Hold it,
Squeeze it,
Let those veins pop out,
Or if they're imaginary,
That's okay,
Too,
And then exhale.
Let it all go as you breathe easy,
And now feel the weight of that left arm,
Heavy,
And feel that relaxation in there.
Switching across to the right arm,
Inhale,
Same deal,
Make a fist,
Make a bicep,
Make a tricep,
Just engage that arm,
Make it as strong as possible.
Engage it,
Illuminate it,
Make those muscles pop,
And exhale,
Relax,
Breathe it out,
Arm gets heavy,
Light gets dim,
Breath gets easy.
Inhale now into your neck and shoulders,
Squeeze the shoulders towards your ears,
Hide your neck,
Engage those muscles,
Keep tensing,
Keep squeezing,
Feel that upper back have to work,
Illuminate it all,
And relax,
Breathe it out.
Shoulders fall heavy,
They travel away from the ears into whatever you're lying on as they relax.
Now breathe into your face,
Eyebrows knit together,
Lips squeeze together,
Maybe you tense the jaw,
Eyes squeeze,
Teeth squeeze,
Everything squeezes,
Feel that tension in the face,
Illuminate it all,
And relax.
Face falls heavy,
All muscles switch off in the face,
Light dims,
Tension escapes.
Breathe easy,
Nice big breaths now.
Lastly,
We just sweep the body for any residual tension,
As I name the area,
You're just going to meticulously check if there's any modicum of tension there,
And if there is,
You're just going to exhale and let it fall limp,
And start at the top.
Breathe into the face,
Is it totally relaxed?
Exhale out.
Inhale into the neck and shoulders,
Are they relaxed?
Exhale out.
Breathe into both arms and hands,
Can they be more relaxed?
Exhale let them fall heavy.
Inhale into the abs and chest,
Check for any tension here,
And then as you exhale let them totally switch off.
Breathe into the back,
And as you exhale let the back totally relax.
Inhale into the glutes,
Check for that residual tension,
And now exhale let it all go.
Breathe into both thighs,
And as you exhale let them sink deeper into the bed.
Inhale into both shins,
Looking for that tension wherever it may be,
And exhale let those shins relax.
Breathe into those feet,
And as you exhale let them turn off completely.
The body is fully relaxed,
With nowhere to be,
And now enjoy your breath,
Enjoy your relaxation.
Sleep well.
