You can use the skills of mindfulness meditation as a sleep aid.
Tonight when you go to bed,
Start doing a mindful body scan.
So what you're going to do is,
You'll lay in bed,
Close your eyes,
And take a few calm,
Deep breaths.
In through the nose,
And out through the mouth.
Nice and slowly.
And as you take those slow and calm and deep breaths,
You'll draw your attention to the different parts of your body.
Maybe starting at your feet.
What do your feet feel like?
Is there tension in your feet?
Or any pain,
Discomfort?
Any mood or emotionality?
And while you're slowly and calmly breathing,
You'll move your way up to your legs.
Once again asking,
Is there any tension,
Any pain,
Any emotionality?
Anything that your legs need to show you.
And in this way,
You'll move your way up your body,
Your feet,
Your legs,
Your belly,
Your back,
Your chest,
Your arms,
Your neck,
Your face,
And your head.
And you're slowly breathing,
But also mindfully observing those parts of the body.
And if you notice tension,
If you notice any discomfort,
Simply observe it.
Your goal isn't to run away from that pain or discomfort,
Or to correct it or fix it.
Just note it.
Just observe it.
That's your body telling you something.
Maybe you're holding some emotionality from the day.
Maybe there's something physically wrong.
Maybe there's some stress or tension.
Who knows?
Your body is telling you something though,
So observe it,
Listen to it,
And accept it.
And then gently ask your body to release it and continue with the scan.
And in this way,
The slow breaths combined with the mindful observation of the body will provide a level of deep relaxation and healing.
In the meditation I had today,
I noticed tension in my belly.
And it was towards the end of the session,
And I just observed it and looked at it.
And then noticed I was clenching my belly.
I was holding onto it.
I was tensing it.
So I observed it,
Accepted it,
And just gently asked my belly to release.
And it did.
And it felt great.
And it's this approach that we can apply through our whole body at night as a sleep aid.
Just remember,
Usually we're not using our mindfulness to fall asleep.
We're using it to observe reality as it is for what it is.
But those skills are applicable across the board.
You might do some exercise for one goal,
But your body is getting stronger for everything.
So the other way we can use these same skills and this same approach at night in bed is to start with slow deep breaths once again.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
And simply ask your body,
Or draw your attention to,
Any tension.
Almost say internally,
Huh,
Does my body have any tension?
Or is there anything that I'm holding in my body that I would like to release?
And simply wait,
And look,
And observe,
And be ready for your body to throw something back at you.
You might notice a niggle in your shoulder,
Or some tension in the left side of your neck.
You might notice that your fingers are cramped.
Who knows?
But what it's doing is,
It's sort of giving your body space to show you that it's safe.
To say,
Hey,
This is something I've been holding onto.
Consider this.
And you say,
Okay,
Thank you.
And that little back and forth,
The mindful observation,
The calm breaths,
Are once again quite relaxing.
Once again,
It primes you to fall into a deep,
Calm sleep.
So in this way,
We practice our mindfulness meditation in the day,
Formally.
Focusing on the breath,
Observing the thoughts,
Returning our focus back to the breath.
All of that good stuff.
But we can also take those skills off the meditation mat and apply them in our everyday life.
So tonight,
When you're in bed,
Give it a try.
Either do the body scan,
Or simply ask your body,
Say,
Hey,
What do you have to show me?
What's going on here?
Is there any pain,
Tension,
Pressure?
I accept it.
And then from there,
You'll progressively fall into a deeper,
Calmer sleep.
This talk was taken from the book,
Mindfulness,
A guidebook to the present moment.
