We're just going to sink into our body.
Slowing down with that enjoyment of self.
If it's bedtime for you,
Your body has done a lot.
Busy day,
Every day.
You might notice your muscles,
Lactic acid built up,
Sore,
Stiff,
Tired,
Ready for sleep,
Not ready for sleep.
Mind,
Active,
Dreamy,
Whatever you might have.
Might be your first chance in the day to really take stock.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
How am I doing?
And that's just a big piece of meditation,
Is just acknowledging self and enjoying self and embracing what is at this moment.
Yawning is always good,
As many times as you can during this meditation.
Yawning is like this biological gift that brings on sleepiness or participates in sleep.
Ah.
And just feel the quiet descend,
The darkness perhaps surrounding you,
Body getting heavy,
Spirit getting vaporous,
Light,
Distant.
Wandering.
Distractible,
Right?
You're not fixed on anything.
You're not trying to do anything right now.
You're not even trying to make yourself sleep because you can't make yourself sleep.
You can only move out of the way of sleep.
So maximize your comfort.
Maximize your relaxation so that you can get out of the way to sleep.
And take your breath from where it is naturally at this moment to a deeper place.
Inhaling deeply,
Exhaling slowly,
Just using your breath to slow yourself down,
To orient the mind,
To come back from anxiety,
Distraction,
Fantasy,
Regret.
These thoughts of things that aren't here in bed with you now.
You have nothing,
Just emptiness at night in the best possible way.
Nothing calling you,
There's nothing to do,
Nowhere to be,
Just time to yourself.
Even if you don't sleep,
If you can't sleep,
You still get to spend time with yourself in bed.
That can be really sweet.
Even a nightmare,
God forbid,
Could be something very fascinating.
There's nothing to worry about right now.
You're just giving yourself bedtime.
Literally time in bed.
And if you want to sleep,
Let's do a few things that might help that,
So you might start by forgiving.
Maybe someone elbowed you.
On purpose,
By accident,
It doesn't matter.
Rude to you,
Grocery line.
Hurt by a spouse or a family member.
We all just do so much nastiness.
Because we're bad people,
Just because we're fragile and weary and defensive.
That's okay,
Maybe you can forgive them.
And if you're not ready to forgive,
That's fine,
But you might want to temporarily forgive,
Just so you sleep.
I might be able to forgive them tomorrow,
So I'm going to go to sleep tonight.
You're breathing,
You're heavy in your bed or whatever resting place you have.
Your eyes are getting heavy,
Your body's slowing down.
And you can be honest with yourself that if you can forgive,
You probably could use some forgiveness.
That you've made mistakes that were all made of clay.
Made of clay and capable of injuring each other intentionally,
Accidentally.
May we all be forgiven,
May that be acceptable.
And we drift closer to the darkness,
Into the dreaminess.
Dreams start to creep their way in.
Weariness takes over,
Our eyes get heavy,
Our face and our skin starts to sag and relax.
We lie down,
We let the eyes go dim.
And take a moment to let our thoughts wander across the wide universe of all that is different to appearance but similar in origin.
All connected through atomic structures and through history.
It's all in a way one thing.
And we listen for that oneness,
Listen to experience it.
Take that sense of the unity of all created things and extend it out in love to every experience ahead.
Going to bed,
Getting up,
Walking,
Lying down,
Speaking,
Loving others.
It all starts with that awareness of the unity of creation.
May it be so.
Breathing,
Going slow.
Feeling heavy in your body,
Maybe you start to drift as though you're in a rowboat on a lake with a breeze and sloshing around in your mind.
And you're protected in refuge,
Under wings,
Shielded,
Healed,
All of it.
Everything you need can come to you in your sleep.
All this love and affection.
Waiting to be yours.
You can be sated,
You can be full,
You can have enough and go to sleep.
You might want to try breathing on the ancient breath word,
Sela.
Sela,
Like a yawn,
Like a song.
You lie down in peace and wholeness,
Totally complete.
Sheltered with peace and wholeness.
You wake up again in peace and wholeness when the time comes.
That sense of harmony,
That sense of having what you need,
Having enough,
That what you have and who you are is sufficient.
Breathe into that.
Attend to that possibility.
And you are guarded when you go out of the day and when you will come back into a new day.
Lying down,
Rising up again.
But embraced with the bonds of sleep to heal you and to strengthen you for whatever might come,
Which you can never truly know.
There are great and good forces around you that blessed those who came before us,
Great and good forces that blessed those who come next,
Causing us to grow,
Mature,
Expand.
You are protected,
Held tight.
Breathe into it,
Just take it all in.
The heaviness of your body and the weariness of your mind.
Let your muscles go,
Let gravity draw you in.
And the universe blesses you and guards you.
A few breaths with that idea.
The universe looks towards you to offer you grace.
Breathe into that idea,
Just take it all in.
The grace,
The protection,
The blessing.
And the universe is always looking for you to give you peace and wholeness.
You just have to slow down to receive it.
Breathing,
Attending to the sleepiness,
The quietness,
The pleasure of relaxing,
Having time in bed to rest and maybe to sleep.
You're surrounded by great and good forces to attend to your every need.
You have questions?
On your right side is a great and good force to answer your questions while you sleep.
You have strength and effort,
Sore muscles.
On your left side is a great and good force to attend to your strength,
To your vigor,
To hold that for you.
Before you,
A great and good force holds a light,
A nightlight through dreams.
And behind you,
A great and good force offers you healing,
Massaging it into you as you sleep with the power of sleeping.
As you feel all that support,
Notice glorious sensation above and around you,
Wonderment that you might know in dreams,
And the amazement of the body and its capacity for self-renewal each night.
You might want to take a few more moments to shift and adjust,
Scratch,
Twist,
Fidget.
Let all the energy out.
Maybe you squeeze your toes,
Squeeze your fingers,
And then feel tight and then let them go.
You can breathe and exhale on Sela.
Sela,
Maybe another yawn.
And you're in this great and good universe,
So vast and comprehensibly wide and powerful,
And you are just resting in it,
Cared for,
Known,
Loved,
And attended to by all of the good things that are here.
And it goes on and on,
No beginning,
No end,
Nothing else but a great and loving universe and you with an important role to play even when you sleep.
And you rest in the palm of the hand of this glorious universe,
Nothing to fear.
