Can't Sleep - Guided Meditation

Okay,

So you can't sleep.

Rather than lay here going crazy thinking about everything.

Nothing that you can do about everything right now.

That we might as well do something nice for our body and our mind.

Close your eyes and see if you can just shut out your space around you.

Let go of all of the other noises in the house.

Pull all of your focus and attention inside.

Take your softening into your body when you're closing out the rest of the world.

I know in many meditations we always say focus on the breath.

What does focus on the breath really mean?

Why do we do it?

Focus on your breath means put all of your focus,

All of your conscious intention,

Every thought goes onto your breath.

To do that try and just feel your breath.

Rather than just think about breathing,

Feel breathing.

Notice all of the tiny little movements in your body.

All of the many different sensations that your breath causes when you breathe in and out.

So let go of the shopping list,

Let go of what you need to do tomorrow,

Let go of what you forgot to do today.

And pull all of your awareness onto feeling your breath.

Right now in this moment we're not trying to go to sleep,

We're just following our breath.

Notice how your chest expands when you breathe out,

It rises up,

Your shoulders pull back a little bit,

Just a minute bit.

Your tummy expands and fills up like a balloon,

But sometimes only a little bit,

Depending on how deeply you breathe into your abdomen.

And try and hold your tummy in right now.

The next breath when you breathe in,

Take a deeper breath in and notice how your tummy fills up and expands.

And then as you breathe out,

It naturally pulls back towards your spine and empties.

Your ribs and your chest soften and fall into your bed.

And your shoulders relax deeper.

So when we breathe in it feels like there's an action,

Like we're receiving,

We're doing.

And then when we breathe out we let go,

We surrender and relax.

The two very different energies just in our breath.

So when we breathe in and we're full of air,

Notice what it feels like in that fullness.

We expand and open,

As if we're opening up to receive the universe.

And then when you release and let go fully,

Notice the space,

The emptiness,

What it feels like to be empty,

Like a vessel just waiting to receive,

Surrendering to anything that is.

These are minute emotions that flood to the subconscious.

We don't even notice them.

We don't notice the action,

Feeling on our in-breath,

Because we're so busy thinking about all the other things that don't really matter right now in this moment.

But if you just watch and feel your breath,

Nothing else,

Your breath will bring you home.

It will bring you back to a place of balance and harmony.

You'll start to feel more of a peaceful mind,

Everything slows down with the breath.

Just breathing in and breathing out.

Notice if you're too aggressive with the breath and you try and breathe in too deep and you exhale for too long,

The body will feel just a little bit strained,

Slightly uncomfortable,

Like you're having to try too hard.

Try it right now and you'll notice it doesn't feel as relaxing when you over-exaggerate the breath.

It feels like you're having to work hard to breathe.

That's when you know you're breathing too deep,

Too much effort.

Pull it back a little bit and find that perfect rhythm,

The perfect pace.

And when you do,

You'll notice,

Or you may not notice until now,

That it falls into the rhythm of the earth.

It falls into that rhythm just like the waves of the ocean going back and forth,

Like the wind blowing through the trees.

Like your heartbeat beating in the center of your chest,

It's constant.

And anything that is constant and repetitive brings us to a place of relaxation.

The ticking of a clock on the wall.

It's a constant.

Even as simple as your breath breathing in and breathing out creates a feeling of safety.

Something that is constant makes us feel safe.

We can relax into it.

We don't have to worry about if it stops.

Not right now.

The waves of the ocean never stop.

Your breath is just like that.

Going on and on.

Creating this point of focus that gives your mind the peace it needs right now in this moment.

You can use your breath with the intention of helping your body to soften even more.

Realize your breath swirling around your face and your head as you breathe in.

Relaxing anything it flows into.

Face in the top of your head,

The back of your head,

Side to side.

Breathe down into your neck,

Your throat.

Down into your shoulders.

Relaxing the back of your neck and across your shoulders.

See your breath flowing down your arms.

All the way down to your elbows.

Your wrists.

Flowing down each one of your fingers to the tips of your fingers.

Watch your breath in your mind.

Falling down and moving into your lungs.

Swirling around your heart.

Relaxing everything it comes in touch with.

Watch it flowing around all of the organs,

Your intestines,

The muscles in your abdomen.

Allow your breath to relax your body.

Surrender into the peaceful energy that your breath is bringing into each and every cell.

Each bone.

Each muscle.

Imagine your breath swirling around your spine like a vortex coming down and down and down all the way to the base of your spine.

Flowing through and around your hips.

Relaxing them deep into your bed.

Watch your breath moving and swirling down your legs,

Over your thighs.

Down deep into your knees,

Your calves.

All the way down to your ankles.

Running over your feet and down each one of your toes,

One by one.

Your breath is your life force.

It's your power.

And your breath will always bring you home.

It's your anchor into this reality.

Your breath is more powerful than your mind.

So know that you can always use your breath to quieten the mind.

You can use your breath to relax your body.

To heal all the different parts of you right now.

In this moment.

And if sleep wants to come,

Then allow yourself to drift into sleep.

Allow your body to surrender.

Your mind to still.

Just keep breathing in and breathing out.

Namaste.