Sleep Meditation - Gratitude

Welcome.

Now let's begin by finding a comfortable place to relax and unwind.

If you need to sit,

Find a comfortable seat to sit on and making sure you're comfortable first.

If you need to lay down,

Or if you're falling asleep or just getting more comfortable,

Please do so now.

Good.

Now first begin by taking in some refreshing deep breaths,

Breathing in and breathing out naturally.

When we begin the meditation process,

We sometimes focus on our breathing a little too much,

Where it feels manufactured or not natural.

So just let go of that now and know that breathing is natural and automatic for all of us.

Just let it find its correct rhythm.

Good.

Now let your senses begin to feel out the room or space that you're in.

Just begin to hear all the sounds in the room and feel the temperature in the room.

Is it hot?

Is it cold?

And if you need to still get comfortable,

Now's the time.

Just understand that none of those sounds or temperatures in the room will deter you from your session today.

In fact,

Those sounds will only work to take you deeper into your practice.

So begin to notice your thoughts and your feelings.

And what do they feel like?

Are your thoughts rapid or slow?

Either way,

Just notice them.

Just notice your physical feelings and your emotional ones.

Understand that they don't control you and they do not rule you.

You are the master and they are the slave.

Just notice them and when you do,

Return your focus to the breath.

The simple breath of air coming in and out of the nose.

Notice the cool sensation around the nostrils when you breathe in and the warm sensation around the nostrils when you breathe out.

Good.

Just allow yourself for a few more deep breaths.

Breathing in all that calm and exhaling all that tension and all the stress in the body.

Breathing in calm and exhaling any stress or any tension in the body.

Good.

Now,

In your mind's eye or your imagination,

I'd like you to imagine yourself in an old cinema or movie theater.

You walk into the theater room and notice the large red curtain on the front and a series of empty red velvet seats for your comfort.

No one is in the seats and the theater is completely empty but feels oh so inviting.

So find a seat that looks comfortable to you.

Maybe somewhere in the middle or the front or even a nook off to the side.

Whatever is comfortable for you.

Feel yourself sink into the plush seats and allow the sensation of the velvet seats to soothe you and allow yourself to go even deeper into this meditation.

So take a deep breath in through the nose and let it out nice and slow and smooth and as you do so notice that you go even deeper.

So one more big breath and allow the exhale to take you even deeper.

Good.

And as you look up towards the screen you notice the curtains begin to open revealing a large white screen and as the screen is revealed the lights dim even more providing you with more comfort and more ease.

Good.

The unseen projector in the back of the cinema begins to light up producing in large black letters on the screen.

The number 10.

The number 10.

See the 1 and the 0.

The number 10.

In a moment the number is going to count down from 10 to 1 and when it does you will notice something amazing begin to happen.

As the numbers count down you'll notice that you go even deeper deeper down into this meditation.

Even deeper than you were before.

Each time the number counts down you'll go 10 times deeper than before.

So let's begin.

10.

Feeling sleepy and tired now.

9.

Letting your muscles relax and unwind.

8.

Letting your jaw relax and hang open if you need to.

Going even deeper.

7.

Relaxing your shoulders and letting them droop by your sides.

Deeper down now.

6.

Relaxing 10 times deeper than before.

5 and 4 and 3.

Feeling even more tired and even more relaxed.

And 2.

Listening to only the sound of my voice now.

And 1.

All the way relaxed now.

Falling even further asleep.

Fully relaxed and fully calm.

Good.

Now notice the large white screen of the cinema.

It's perfect color of white that seems to soothe you even more.

On the screen you see the word sleep.

The word sleep.

See the S and the L and the two E's and the P.

The word sleep on the screen.

And when you see the word sleep and only when you see the word sleep you find yourself becoming even more sleepy and even more drowsy than you were before.

Sinking deeper and deeper now into that warm comfortable feeling.

That natural way of falling asleep.

Good.

Allow yourself to keep looking at the screen from your mind's eye and notice the number 10.

The number 10.

See the 1 and the 0.

The number 10.

In a moment the number is going to count down from 10 to 1 and when it does you'll notice something amazing begin to happen.

As the numbers count down you'll notice that you go even deeper into meditation.

Even deeper than you were before.

Each time the number counts down you'll go 10 times deeper than before.

So let's do this again.

10.

Feeling sleepy and tired now.

9.

Letting your muscles relax and unwind.

8.

Letting your jaw relax and hang open if you need to.

Going even deeper.

7.

Relaxing your shoulders and letting them droop by your sides deeper down now.

6.

Relaxing even more even deeper than before.

5.

Feeling even more tired and even more relaxed.

2.

Listening to only the sound of my voice now.

1.

All the way relaxed now.

Falling even further asleep.

Fully relaxed and fully comfortable.

Good.

Now clearly see in your mind's eye whatever you're grateful for.

Now notice where in your body is the feeling of gratitude expressed.

Do you feel it rise in your heart?

Perhaps your abdomen?

Wherever you feel these sensations observe the quality.

What does gratitude feel like physically?

Think now of someone,

Person or animal that brightens your life.

They can be here or they can be gone.

Just see them in your mind.

As clear as if they're right beside you.

Hear them.

Maybe even have a familiar scent for you.

Bring alive this person with your imagination and carry with it all the sensations of gratitude.

Let these sensations grow and expand in your body as you imagine perhaps hugging this person you love.

Say to them now,

Thank you from the bottom of your heart.

Bring into your mind material objects you're grateful for such as your house or your bed.

Perhaps you love art materials or an instrument.

Breathe deeply into your thoughts as you imagine these things and as you exhale whisper to yourself,

Thank you.

Express gratitude to other people in the world that you respect.

They can be people you know personally and even people who inspire you.

They can be alive or not.

Allow these individuals to rise in your mind.

See them clearly.

Breathe deeply into your imagination.

Perhaps you can allow them to grace you with good sensations and positive thoughts.

And as you breathe out whisper to yourself,

Thank you.

Notice how there are so many things to be thankful for.

Maybe you didn't realize how much you were grateful for until now.

Now become grateful for yourself,

Your health,

Your wisdom and your kindness.

Be grateful for those times you stood up for someone.

Proud of moments you stood up for yourself.

You know you can make good choices.

You can choose to be appreciative of positive thoughts so you nurture them.

Be grateful for your ability to love others.

Breathing in deeply,

Imagining that you can give yourself a big hug and say to yourself,

Thank you.

Now let's express gratitude even for the smallest things.

Things we don't think about often.

Things we typically take for granted.

Clean water,

Protective shelter,

Healthy food,

Clean air,

Reliable transportation,

Beautiful artwork,

Good music and entertainment.

Whatever small things pop into your mind now,

Be grateful for each one of them.

Breathe in again,

Feeling the importance of even the little things and exhale,

Whispering to yourself,

Thank you.

Take a nice deep breath in and be grateful for your breath.

It brings you life.

Letting your breath go,

Your body sinks deeper into gratitude for this relaxation.

Practice the art of gratitude little by little every day and see your life become something to be grateful for.

You're a blessing to this world.

I am grateful for you.

Back in the theater now,

We've made some great steps to finding ourselves in a better place than we started and sleep surely beckons us to recharge on what we've just learned.

So look up at the beautiful relaxing white movie screen again and allow yourself to follow the black numbers counting down to sleep.

Ten,

Feeling sleepy and tired.

Nine,

Letting your muscles relax and unwind.

Eight,

Letting your jaw relax and hang open,

Going even deeper now.

Seven,

Relaxing your shoulders and letting them droop by your sides.

Deeper down now.

Six,

Relaxing ten times deeper than before.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Feeling even more tired and even more relaxed.

Two,

Listening to only the sound of my voice now.

And one,

All the way relaxed now,

Falling even further asleep and fully relaxed,

Sleeping soundly.

Good night and namaste.