Settling in,
Finding your moment,
Letting go of it,
Finding the moment,
Letting go.
Letting the darkness descend and shadows extend and the quiet fill the room.
Letting go of what was and what doesn't need to be.
Just sinking into your resting place.
Letting gravity do the work.
Noticing all the small sounds of evening or whatever time you are resting.
Letting the earth seem near in its embrace of you but also far receding from your awareness.
Letting yourself drift.
Your mind will wander or grasp,
Get lost in a worry or disappear into fantasy.
As your neurons fire and your brain works in its most healthy way.
And from another vantage point,
You could be amused by all of its machinations and strivings.
Thank God it's working.
We just settle in.
Let the quiet illness wrap around us like a cloak.
If you get distracted,
When you get distracted,
You could listen to my voice or just take a good breath and return.
This embodied experience,
The heat or the cold,
The weariness or the excitement.
In every single day,
Someone's gonna do something wrong,
Hurt our feelings,
Misconstrue our intent,
Say something nasty,
Usually by accident,
Bump into us,
Take the chair we thought we were sitting in,
Indignities,
Small and large.
You can hold that resentment or just abandon it,
Provisionally let go and forgive whatever you're capable of to help you sleep.
Breathe out and let that,
Whatever you would hold onto not doing you any good right now.
And then with a little bit of humor,
You might realize that if someone's hurt you,
You've probably hurt them or someone.
You may not wanna carry that anxiety or guilt or embarrassment to bed.
Maybe tentatively or seriously,
Ask forgiveness.
You can't find the person,
You can at least put it out.
And then feel sleep coming in right from the edges,
The sides,
The light gets dimmer,
Your eyes,
Eye lights,
You might let out a yawn.
Breathing in deeply,
You could exhale on the ancient breath word of Salah.
Feel yourself shutting down for the night,
Getting ready for dreams,
Hopefully some delicious dreams.
As the light fades from your breathing,
You're taking it all in and then letting it all out,
Surrendering to the night and its mysteries.
And among the mysteries is the knowledge that it's all one,
That the great and radiant and gracious universe all came from a single spot,
Sharing a common origin and a connecting thread of creation.
It is glorious.
Perhaps when you take a moment to acknowledge that glory,
That oneness,
It fills you with awe,
Reverence and love,
A sensitivity and attunement,
The miraculous everyday,
A universe bound in threads of destiny and shared.
You can feel that now and at many moments,
Protected,
Sheltered,
Embraced,
A refuge and a fortress,
Guarded,
Shielded by eagle's wings,
Wrapped and guarded behind a great and awesome shield.
No nightmare or distemper or ill thought will plague you in your rest.
You are protected from ill will and misfortune,
Guarded by the powers of the universe that loves you.
If you should call out in the night,
You will be heard,
Known,
No enemy can pursue you.
And you can lie down in peace and wholeness,
Sheltered in wholeness.
And you will rise up in wholeness and peace and tranquility,
Going out,
Going forth from the consciousness into the lands of dream and rest,
Realms beyond the night to return safely at the appropriate moment,
Your spirit entrusted to the universe.
There are great and good forces who looked over those who preceded us and look over you now,
And they will look over those who come after.
You are guarded,
Watched over.
The universe blesses you,
The universe protects you.
Breathe that in and let it out.
The universe shines its face upon you with grace.
Breathe it in,
Metabolize that,
Internalize it.
And then the universe looks toward you expectantly to give you wholeness and carries all of your hopes.
And there are great and good forces carrying our burdens while we sleep,
Holding us up,
Watching over us,
Taking care of what we can't,
Taking care of what we can't and won't attend to.
In the day,
Questions upon questions,
Thoughts and mysteries.
We go ahead and lay those down at our right side with the great,
Good,
And mysterious force responsible for all questions.
To our left,
The great and good force who deals in strength.
And so all of the effort,
All of the fight we have in ourselves,
We can deposit that great,
Good force on our left.
Ahead of us,
A force of light and lightness urging us on as if holding out a nightlight to keep us comfortable.
And behind us a great and good force nurturing our healing,
Promoting our health as we sleep.
Only sky and the presence of glory and mystery,
Sublime awareness.
Let it go knowing that you supported,
Watched,
And cared for a sleep of great rest.
Maybe you need to make a few last adjustments,
Shiver or twitch or stretch or yawn.
You can breathe in and then exhale the word Salah.
And know that all things will continue and the universe will go on and on and you will float within it safely,
Caressed in the palm of a loving world with nothing.
