Welcome to this meditation practice to relax the body for sleep.
To begin,
Find yourself in a comfortable laying position,
Placing a pillow underneath of your head and covering yourself with a warm blanket.
Invite the eyes to close down as your awareness turns inward.
Invite the body into the feeling of rest,
Allowing your head to fall heavy into the pillow.
As the back body opens,
Widens to receive the support of the bed beneath you.
Become aware now of the sensation of settling within every cell of the body,
As if to become a million particles of sand cascading down an hourglass.
As the grains of sand fall heavy into the earth,
Allow the body to fall heavy into a state of relaxation.
Every particle of sand falling down the hourglass as the body becomes heavier and heavier,
The whole body resting and at ease.
Come to notice now the natural rhythm of your breath.
No need to change it or judge it.
Just following with awareness the natural wave of your breath within your body.
Noticing your natural inhale,
Your natural exhale.
The breath like a soothing,
Relieving wave,
Rocking you into a calm state of regulation.
We will now invite relaxation throughout the body,
Part by part.
Sense and breathe into each area as it is named,
Bringing your full light of awareness into the space.
Become aware of the crown of your head.
Feel the inside of the skull.
Invite the brain to relax.
Feel the cheekbones get heavy.
As the back teeth separate and the tongue falls to the low palate of the mouth,
Invite the jaw to release and to relax.
Notice as the throat softens,
The shoulders dissolve,
The center of the chest is open and relaxed.
Come to notice the breath as it moves through the tissues of the lungs,
The lungs open to receive the breath.
On your next exhale,
Allow any pattern of holding to be released as all residual tension in the chest melts away,
Allowing all of the tissues of the lungs to relax.
Allow the feeling to spread down into the space of the belly.
Feel the muscles of the abdomen on grip as the belly smooths and releases.
Waves of warm,
Relaxing energy wash into the pelvis and the legs.
The body warm and relaxed like stepping into a warm bath,
All residual stress melting away.
Come to notice a sense of heaviness within the legs,
Connecting to the feeling of heaviness and relaxation in both legs.
Any residual effort or wakefulness radiates down both of the legs,
Down the thighs,
Calves,
Ankles,
As it is relieved and dissolves away from the soles of the feet.
Soften your awareness to land in the soles of both feet.
Feeling now into the backside of the body.
Feel the back of the heels,
Heavy and weighted,
Back of the calves,
Hamstrings,
Glutes.
Surrender the entire spine into the earth.
Let the shoulders dissolve.
Feel the back of the neck,
The back of the head,
Crown of the head.
Relax all the muscles of the face.
As the energy of ease and deep comfort pour into the body,
With each exhale the body falls into a soothing release,
Breath pouring waves of relaxation throughout the whole body.
Awareness drifts as the front body rests.
The back body falls heavy to the space beneath you,
Resting deeper and deeper.
Rest easy in sweet dreams.
