Namaste.
Begin by finding a comfortable position,
Perhaps in your bed,
Laying down,
Adjusting your pillows,
Blankets,
Finding a comfortable position within the body so that you can begin to relax fully into the support of your mattress.
Taking a moment now to make sure that the shoulders,
The neck,
The whole body is comfortable and at ease,
Making any adjustments in the spine,
The hips,
The legs.
Notice if you could get your body 5% more comfortable.
Noticing the breath within the body,
Begin to encourage the breath,
A gentle encouragement,
Inhaling deep into the belly,
Exhaling,
Sort of relaxing down into the support beneath your body,
Inhaling deeply,
Exhaling to feel the support beneath your body,
Releasing into the pull of gravity,
And again,
Deep breath in,
Releasing,
Letting go,
Relaxing into the support,
Inhaling through the belly,
The ribs,
The upper chest,
Exhaling,
Sort of relaxing outward,
Just observing the exhalation,
Effortless.
And then letting the breath come back to a natural unaltered rhythm,
Bringing into awareness the sensations of the body,
Relaxing into the jaw,
Feeling sensations inside the mouth.
You might draw the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth,
Sensing the root of the tongue,
The gums and the teeth,
The inside of the right cheek,
The inside of the left cheek,
Feeling the flow of air inside the nostril,
All of the sensations inside the nose as the nostrils filter air moving in,
Moving out,
Noticing any coolness on the inhalation,
Quality of air inside the nose,
Perhaps warmth,
Humidity on the exhale,
And eyes relaxing back into their sockets,
Sensing all of the little muscles behind the eyes softening,
Allowing thinking to dissolve,
Opening to the world of sensing,
Feeling,
Listening,
Sensing the darkness of the room around you,
Allowing yourself to soften and settle into the healing darkness,
Feeling the safety and support of the bed,
Relaxing into the quietude of nighttime,
Welcoming your own inner refuge,
Feel the warmth of your blankets,
Feeling the sensations and allowing yourself to be cozy,
Continuing to sense the natural rhythm of breath,
Bringing all awareness back to this moment,
This breath,
Allowing the whole body to soften,
And just a sense of the whole body now,
Feeling the breath and attuning to the rhythm of your breath,
Welcoming a continuous breath,
Noticing if there's a pause in between the inhale and the exhale,
And could you instead invite the breath to be continuous,
Smoothing out the breath,
Breathing in through the nose,
Out through the nose,
With no pause,
Continuous breath,
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
So there's no pause between the in-breath and the out-breath,
Nor between the out-breath and the in-breath,
A continuous rhythm,
And as you begin to slowly welcome this continuous rhythm of breath,
Allowing it to be relaxed,
Sensing that there's no pause at the top of the inhalation or the bottom of the exhalation,
Just a relaxed,
Continuous breath,
Much like waves upon a shore,
As waves roll in and right back out,
At the moment where you reach the top of the inhalation,
Completely letting go of the exhalation,
Allowing the exhalation to be slightly longer than the inhalation,
Continuous breath,
Exhaling without holding onto the breath at all,
Just letting it go,
Going right back into the inhalation,
Exhaling completely freely,
A gentle encouragement of the inhalation,
And a complete letting go of the exhalation,
Letting the inhale be fairly deep,
Steady,
Relaxed,
Completely letting go of the exhale,
Each exhalation allowing the body to go,
Becoming even heavier into the support of your mattress,
Feeling fully supported,
Letting gods and images flow freely,
Staying with the rhythmic,
Wave-like rhythm of the inhale and the exhale,
Continuous breath,
Like waves rolling in and waves rolling out,
No pause between the inhale and the exhale,
Continuing to relax the body,
Inviting the intelligence of sleep to arise spontaneously,
There's nothing else you need to do,
Let go of thinking,
Allow thoughts to flow freely,
Allow yourself to drop into feeling,
Sensing,
Sensing space all around you,
Space beneath you,
Space above you,
Space to the right of your body,
Space to the left of your body,
Noticing sounds arising in space and dissolving in space,
Noticing the sound of your own breathing,
A continuous breath,
Like waves,
No pause,
Continuous wave-like rhythm,
Imagine the skin becoming porous,
Expanding on the inhale,
Condensing on the exhale,
Whole body breathing,
Trillions of sounds,
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
Decompressing,
The whole body full of ease,
Continuing to sense the breath,
The nostrils,
The air filters,
Warming and cleaning the air as it flows into your lungs,
Feeling the weight of the skull,
Effortlessness,
Welcoming peace,
Heavy eyes,
Heavy eyelids,
Feel the breath soak into the belly,
Sensing the continuous breath,
As you feel the support beneath the body,
Allowing the thoughts to arise and dissolve through the mind,
One after the next,
No need to notice what the thoughts are about,
No attachment towards the thoughts being meaningful or random,
A steady flow of thoughts and sensations along with the breath,
Just like clouds pass through the sky,
Thoughts passing through the mind,
And relaxing from the world of analyzing the thoughts,
Relaxing into sensations,
Feeling,
Listening,
Allowing the stream of consciousness to be effortless,
Allowing the body to continue to relax,
Allowing the breath,
The sensations in the body,
And thoughts all to flow freely now,
Just as they would if you were already asleep.
Perhaps images or visions are arising,
Just as they would if you were drifting off into dreams.
Imagining what it would feel like to drift off into sleep.
Perhaps images or visions are arising,
Just as they would if you were already asleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Drifting off into sleep.
Thank you for practicing with me this evening.
If you would like continued support with sleep throughout the night,
Please visit my playlist middle of the night for continued support.
Namaste.