Welcome to your sleep practice.
Find a comfortable position and let your body land wherever it wants to.
Allow it to be however it wants to be.
Close your eyes and I invite you to take a full breath in,
Slow,
Full through the nose.
Let the chest and the belly expand completely and then let it all go.
All the way out,
Nothing held back.
And one more,
Easy and full,
In and out completely.
Very good.
That's all the doing that's required of you tonight.
From here there's nowhere to go,
Nothing to do,
Just this.
This place being horizontal,
Eyes closed and the day behind you.
Let the surface beneath you do its job,
Grounding you.
Know it is natural if you do or do not hear all my words.
If your attention deviates from your practice,
Simply pull your attention back to the sound of my voice.
And before we move into the body,
I invite you to solicit a word,
Something simple to orient yourself in the practice,
Something you want to give yourself permission to receive tonight.
Perhaps it's grounded,
Rooted and solid or maybe present,
Fully here,
Not splitting between what was and what might be.
Perhaps it's whole,
Nothing missing,
Nothing fractured,
Completeness,
Maybe open,
Receptive,
Spacious.
Allow one to land on its own,
No forcing,
Just take a moment and let a word settle somewhere in your body.
Allow it to sit like it belongs here,
Present,
Now.
Hold it once,
Feel as though it's real right now,
Not just a concept but a physical truth beginning to take shape.
Repeat it one more time to yourself quietly and then set it down.
It's already working,
We will return to it at the end of our practice.
And now we move through the body slowly,
Alternating from the left and the right.
And remember there is nothing to change in this practice,
Nothing to assess,
Just welcoming each part of you briefly and completely before moving on.
And whatever you find here,
Tension,
Ease,
Numbness,
Warmth or nothing at all,
Welcome it,
Allow it,
Everything belongs here.
Attention turning to the left foot,
The right foot,
The left heel,
The right heel,
Left ankle,
Right ankle,
Left calf,
Right calf,
Left shin,
Right shin,
Left knee,
Right knee,
Back of the left knee,
Back of the right knee,
Left thigh,
Right thigh,
Left hip,
Right hip,
The left side of the low back,
Right side of the low back,
Left side of the belly,
Right side of the belly,
Left side of the chest and right side of the chest,
Left shoulder blade,
Right shoulder blade,
Left shoulder,
Right shoulder,
Left upper arm,
Right upper arm,
Left elbow,
Right elbow,
Left forearm,
Right forearm,
Left wrist,
Right wrist,
Left hand,
Right hand,
Attention moving to the lower body,
The left leg as a whole,
The right leg as a whole,
Both legs together at the same time,
And attention to the left arm as a whole,
The whole right arm,
And then the whole left and the right arm together at the same time.
Attention to the head,
Left temple,
Right temple,
Forehead,
Left ear,
Right ear,
Left ear,
Right ear,
Left eye,
Right eye,
Left cheek,
Right cheek,
Left side of the jaw,
Right side of the jaw,
Left side of the throat,
Right side of the throat,
The whole head together at the same time,
And now the entire lower body together,
The feet,
The legs,
Hips,
Pelvis,
And low back,
A continuous field of sensation,
Heavy and at rest,
Welcome all of it,
The upper body together,
The belly,
The chest,
The back,
Shoulders,
Throat,
Arms and face,
Rising and falling with the breath,
Welcomed completely.
The right side of the body as a whole,
Right foot to right shoulder,
The entire right side of the body is a continuous presence.
The left side of the body as a whole,
The left foot to the left shoulder,
The entire left side of the body present and welcomed.
And now the left foot and the right hand,
The left foot and the right hand together at the same time.
And then the right foot and the left hand,
The right foot and the left hand together at the same time.
And then the left leg and the right arm together,
Left leg and the right arm together at the same time.
Finally,
The right leg and the left arm,
The right leg and the left arm together.
And now the whole body at once,
Feeling into the entire body at once,
Every part accounted for,
Every part welcomed,
Complete,
Contained,
Whole,
Present here.
Stay with the body for a few.
There is warmth.
Not looking for warmth,
Not generating it.
Simply notice what is already there.
Perhaps the warmth is in the chest,
The belly,
The hands,
The space behind the sternum.
Welcome that warmth.
Don't chase it or expand it.
Just allow it to be exactly as present as it already is.
That warmth is here now,
Already yours.
And now notice the space around the body,
Not in the room,
The ceiling or anywhere specific,
Just a sense of open space.
The air that exists just beyond the skin,
A quietness that has no center,
No edge,
Something unhurried existing just outside the boundary that is you.
Welcome that coolness,
The spaciousness,
The way it asks nothing of you,
Holds no heat,
Carries no weight,
Just cool space.
And now both together,
The warmth inside,
The cool outside,
The body as a meeting point between the two,
Something interior and glowing,
Something exterior and open,
The skin as a permeable boundary,
The heat that radiates outward,
The space that presses gently inward.
Both are welcome.
Neither is more true over the other,
The body held in between them,
Not choosing,
Not moving,
Just resting exactly where the inside becomes outside.
Let that be for a moment here.
Just easy and resting,
Welcoming everything and resisting nothing.
Let all of that go now.
The imagery,
The pairs,
Set them down completely.
None of it needs to be carried from here.
For a moment,
Just notice that you're aware.
You're aware of being present.
This awareness you don't have to create.
You don't need to look for it.
It's simply here.
It's been here the entire time.
Underneath the rotation,
Beneath the imagery and the words,
The part of you that noticed all of it without being any of it.
Notice the awareness is and it always is.
Let that awareness rest.
And if thoughts arise,
Let them arise.
Notice that awareness is here and thinking as if weather is moving through an open sky.
You are the sky,
Not the weather.
Become aware of the weight of the body,
The slow breath,
The surface beneath you,
Solid and steady.
All of it is allowed.
All of it is welcome.
There is no task,
No next thing,
Nothing to get right.
Simply this.
Open,
Present and ease.
Let the body become heavier now,
More fully released,
Like the last bit of effort has finally received permission to let go and come back to the word you chose at the beginning.
Don't reach for it.
Just let it arise on its own,
Grounded,
Present,
Whole,
Open,
Whichever one was yours tonight.
Let it move through you one last time,
Not on the surface,
But underneath,
Like a current that was already there running,
Already real.
And then release it.
It's done its work.
Your system knows exactly what to do from here.
Recovery is not waiting for you to fall asleep.
It's already happening.
It has been since the moment you've closed your eyes.
