Wrapped In Rest-An 8 Hour Sleep Meditation

Welcome to this extended meditation for sleep.

I'm here to guide you into a deep and restorative rest and we'll take our time together.

Let your eyes close if you haven't yet.

And turn your attention inward to the body resting here.

Feel free to make any adjustments so that you're just 5% more comfortable.

Take your time.

I'm going to be here with you to support you into rest tonight.

You might start off with connecting to the support beneath you,

The bed,

The couch or the floor.

And sense that your body has already landed here.

Notice the sensation of soft or firm beneath your back body.

Take your time to sense the back body and what parts of the body make contact.

Notice the differences in pressure from where the back of your head makes contact,

All along the back,

Buttocks,

Back of the legs and heels.

As we gather in our bodies,

Start to notice whatever you may have come in with from the day.

As we gather ourselves in here,

Notice if there's a train of thought or a particular situation that you've been occupied with in the mind,

That your mind keeps going over.

There's something that the mind is still trying to figure out.

Just noticing that,

Acknowledging that that's here if it is,

And let that be included too.

And if the mind is calm right now,

Just notice that and be with the absence of thought.

Whatever is showing up for you,

Give it lots of room.

No need to push it away.

We welcome whatever is here,

Allow it to be here.

Can you bring a kindness,

A friendliness to any thoughts that may be arising and let them move through on their own time?

What if this doesn't need a resolution right now?

Allow whatever's showing up,

Acknowledging that maybe there are parts that want to be noticed.

So just notice them.

Be soft and still and quiet.

We can trust the deeper welcoming presence to have actions to solve any problems later in our waking life.

The invitation is to soften,

Relax,

And take this deep restorative rest.

Allow attention to open wider into the spaciousness,

The presence that's always already here.

You can turn inward now and make a light contact with the breath moving in and moving out.

Let's be a little closer with our breathing.

Bring attention to the crown of your head and take a deep inhalation and pause at the top of the inhale.

And then with the exhale,

Sweep attention all the way down the body.

Exhale all the way down to the soles of the feet.

And with the inhale,

Sweep your attention back up through the body to the crown of the head.

Pause and then take a long,

Slow exhale through the whole body to the soles of the feet.

Do that on your own time a couple of times,

Following the rhythm of your own breath.

You can be breathing through the nose or the mouth,

Whatever feels right,

Right now.

Take one more of these long sweeps in and out and then return to simply noticing your breath,

The natural rhythm as the breath comes in and goes out.

Now widen your attention to the soundscape.

Let the ears hear sound.

There may be sounds that you can hear in your room.

And you may notice sounds coming from outside that are farther away.

Allow your attention to move from sound to sound.

Some close.

Some distant.

Some short.

Some are louder.

And some are softer.

You can hear my voice and you can choose to pay close attention to my voice or you can choose to put my voice in the background a little bit.

There's no wrong way to be here.

You might hear your own breath breathing.

And see if you can listen as if the whole body is listening.

And behind your eyelids,

Notice what it's like to see shadows,

Flickers of light with closed eyes.

Let the eyelids be soft on the eyeballs.

Notice shapes or colors or pixels.

And see as if the whole body can see.

Now move your attention slowly to the sense of touch.

And notice the weight of your body as it rests into the surface that you're on.

Notice whether your skin can feel the air upon it.

And if it can,

Is it warm or cool?

You might sense clothing or a blanket on your body.

Notice the texture or the weight of the fabric.

Feel the whole sense experience on the body and around the body.

And can you sense any taste in the mouth?

Can you notice any smells in the air around you?

We can open up to all the senses here with no need to search for them.

Feel the naturalness of letting your body rest and opening all the senses.

Release and relax.

And let's return to the breath.

And starting at the crown of the head again.

And gently exhale all the way down the body to the soles of the feet.

Ride the wave of the breath in and out whatever way feels right to you.

There's no correct way to do this.

Become aware of the space around you and your body resting within it.

As you breathe through the body from the crown of the head down to the feet.

And then back up again through the body to the crown of the head.

Nice and easy.

Welcoming whatever it is that you find here.

Be with the breath coming and going.

Sensing your body.

Noticing thoughts that come and go.

And a reminder that there's no problem if there are thoughts here.

That's just part of the mind powering down for the night.

The invitation is to rest into a deep long restorative sleep.

I'm going to guide you in a body scan.

And we'll be rotating attention through the body so that we come into full balance.

When I name a body part,

Simply notice whatever it is that you come upon.

If you slip into sleep,

Beautiful.

If not,

No problem.

We're simply going moment by moment.

Deeply resting more and more.

And I'll stay with you for a long,

Long rest.

Begin by bringing attention to your jaw.

And let the jaw open.

Let there be space between the upper teeth and bottom teeth.

Let the tongue relax.

Let the face and the jaw and the cheeks release.

Open and relax.

Allow the face to melt a little bit.

And now notice your left ear.

You might first picture your left ear.

And then let go of the image.

And feel any sensation in the left ear.

And now move attention to the right ear.

And you may have an image in your mind and no access to the feeling.

Or there might be sensation there.

Feel anything at all that's present.

Now let's sense both ears at the same time.

Both ears simultaneously.

And you might still be gently following the in-breath and the out-breath.

Let the inhale come naturally.

And then gently extend the exhale ever so slightly.

As you let muscles in your face relax.

And soften a little bit more.

Bring attention to your left eye.

Just notice if there's any kind of holding or grasping.

Let go of any holding behind the left eye.

Relax it slowly as you shift attention to your right eye.

Relax.

Let go of any tension behind or around the right eye.

And now both eyes at the same time.

Allow your whole face to relax and release.

From the crown of your head,

The back of your head.

And again,

No problem if your mind gets distracted.

Just gently come back to your body and the physical sensations here.

Follow the inhale and the lengthening of the exhale.

There's nothing to do.

Nothing to figure out.

Now let's combine body sensing and breath.

Gather your attention on your left shoulder.

And take an in-breath.

And then exhale all the way down your left arm to the palm of your left hand and the fingertips.

And then inhale back up the left arm to the left shoulder.

And then exhale back down the left arm to the fingertips.

Just follow your breath in and out as you sense your entire left arm and hand.

Feel the entire left side of your body.

The left side of your face.

Left side of your torso.

Left side of your chest.

Back.

Belly.

Left arm and hand.

And your left leg and foot.

As you breathe in and out.

Sense only the left side of your body as if you don't have a right side.

You're only focused on sensation and breath in the left side.

It's as if you're allowing the whole left side of the body to rest.

To be held by the cozy surface that's supporting you.

Relax.

Breathe.

Sense the whole left side of the body.

Welcome whatever else is here.

Thoughts.

Emotions.

And let the whole left side of the body rest.

Now gently draw your attention across the midline of your body.

To the whole right side of the body.

Bring your attention to the right shoulder.

Take an inhale.

And then with the exhale.

Sense all the way down the right arm to the right hand.

And the right fingertips.

With the inhale.

Allow attention to draw back up the right shoulder.

And exhale back down the right arm to the right fingertips.

Breathe in and out.

And sense only the right arm.

The right hand.

Allow yourself to be with a felt sense of the right arm.

Right hand.

And the breath coming and going.

There's nothing to do.

There's nothing to figure out.

Simply sense and breathe.

Just be here now with the entire right side of the body.

The right side of the face.

Right side of the torso.

Chest and belly.

The back.

And your whole right leg and foot.

Ride the wave of your breath in and out.

Allow all of your attention to be only on the right side of the body.

It's as if you don't have a left side.

Allow the whole right side to fall into restfulness.

Breathe.

And now we'll go back and forth through the body.

So on your next inhale,

Pause at the top.

And then shift attention to the left side.

And exhale.

As your breath comes back up,

Pause and shift attention to the right side.

And exhale.

On each exhalation we shift attention from one side to the other side of the body.

Just continue and trust whatever feels right.

Shift attention from one side to the next as you breathe in and out.

You might find that your eyes shift back and forth from one side to the other as you sense the body on each side.

And imagine each side left and right falling deeper and deeper into ease with each out breath.

On your next inhale,

Ride the wave of the breath in and then pause.

And on your exhale,

Notice the whole body at the same time.

Both sides at once.

In and out.

Whole body falling into sleep.

Being supported.

Right here.

Just as it is.

Letting go in the body.

Release and relax the hips and the belly,

Chest,

Throat,

Forehead,

Crown of the head.

Be with the sensations of the body being breathed and surrendering into sleep.

Feel the body resting here.

Sinking into the surface below.

Feeling like a cloud on the front of your body.

Light and heavy all at once.

You might feel a sense of loosening.

Dissolving.

Releasing.

Now gently gather your attention to rest in the heart,

The middle of the chest area.

Perhaps there is a sense of space and openness that might be found here.

A little calmer.

A little more open.

Quiet and soft.

Feel the heart and the body breathing gently.

Let the breath be like a massage around the heart space.

Moving freely.

Gently.

Going where it needs to go.

You might inhale toward the heart and exhale gently out through the heart.

Ever so subtle.

Breathing into the heart.

And out into the space around you.

And then breathing back into the heart.

Notice this natural state of well-being that is always already here for you.

And we slip into a deeper state of rest.

Into sleep.

Breathing into the heart.

And exhaling out into the whole body.

Into the space around you.

Notice the spaciousness inside your body.

The spaciousness outside your body.

Be in the sense of borderlessness.

Dissolve and soften.

Re-relax the weight of your body and sink a little deeper.

Drift into a deeper state of consciousness.

Allow that to wrap around you like a warm blanket and a warm tender hug of love.

Dissolve into the wide open infinite space of sleep.

Surrender into the wisdom of rest.

Sense that your body is open.

Mind settled.

There is nowhere else you need to be.

Thoughts can drift like clouds.

You are safe here.

You are worthy of rest.

Your legs are heavy and loose.

Your arms are soft and heavy.

The muscles in your face are relaxed.

Sinking down.

Deeper down.

Wrapped in comfort.

Nothing to do.

Nowhere to go.

No one to be.

Just the weight of the body.

Still.

Every breath is a wave of ease.

Washing over you.

From crown to toes.

Let go of the day.

Drift down into sleep.

Safe in this moment.

Peaceful.

Wrapped in loving presence.

Sweet,

Sweet dreams to you.