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Calm Down, Relax, Sleep – A Guided Sleep Meditation · STOPTIME: Live in the Moment.

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey there.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: So this meditation is for you, to help you let go of any thoughts that might be keeping you from falling asleep, or any thoughts that might be waking you in the middle of the night.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: It's perfectly natural to have raising thoughts and it's so very important to sleep.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: So what we're going to do is just create an opportunity for you to release these thoughts, and then I'll guide you into a body scan to help you relax your body so that you can fall asleep.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Take the time you need to prepare your space.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Pay certain attention to everything around you, even if it's familiar.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Take a moment to focus on, maybe, your pillow and what it feels like, maybe turning it over or smoothing it out.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: We're going to get a little bit tactile and elevate our sense of touch so that we can connect a little more deeply to our surroundings.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: As you continue to prepare your space, start to notice the temperature of your sheets or your pillow and, again, even if it's a familiar space, try to find something new, something that you haven't noticed before about your sleeping environment and, as you start to notice it, go a little deeper and explore.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's the texture of the fabric, maybe it's a pattern on your duvet you've never noticed before, whatever it might be.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: We're just drawing your attention here to noticing what is.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: When you're ready, go ahead and lie down.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Turn out the light if you like, and I just want you to gently take your first finger and your thumb on both hands.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Start to gently rub them against each other, maybe in a circular way or maybe across the nail.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Start to focus so deeply on your fingertips that you might even feel the ridges Again.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Keep the movement going as you explore this very tiny region of your fingertips.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Now take a moment to press them against each other as tightly as you can.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe notice how the blood shifts and you can feel closer to the bone of your finger or thumb.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And then, without losing the connection of your finger or thumb, release the tension, but keep on touching your finger and your thumb.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Take a deep breath in your nose and out through your mouth, fingers still touching, and start to notice the pulse in your fingertips, your rhythm, your natural rhythm.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Continue to breathe and as thoughts come in, as they inevitably will invite them in, press your fingers together tightly as you can breathe in through the nose and as you exhale and release the pressure, you also release the thought, just letting it go and bringing your attention back to your natural rhythm, your pulse, your life force.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Once again, start to explore the region of your fingertips, feeling any irregularities or, where it's smooth, where it's rough, paying very close attention to the ridges of your fingertips.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: We all have unique fingertips, our fingerprints, our hours, and only hours.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: How cool is that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Let's take another deep breath in together, allowing any thoughts to come in that want to come in, as they inevitably do, pressing your fingertips against each other and then releasing when you're ready and letting your thought also simply rush away, floating away, and bring your attention back to the pulse in your fingertips.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: What we're doing here is developing our focus and we're developing a physical cue that will allow your brain to map eventually, so that when you have these thoughts that are racing, especially when you're trying to go to sleep, you can do this exercise Feeling your fingertips and ridges breathing in deeply, pressing as hard as you can against each other, feeling the bone as the blood displaces your fingertips, then releasing the thought, the breath and the pressure of your fingertips as your blood starts to naturally flow back in and you feel your pulse, your rhythm, your unique rhythm.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Feel free to repeat this as often as you like, but now I'm going to start guiding you into sleep.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Take a nice deep breath in on four, three, two, one and release three, two and one, breathing in.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: I am breathing in and exhaling, I am breathing out.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I am cleansing my palate for sleep, inviting it in.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I want you to start focusing on your toes, starting with your baby toes on each foot.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Feel them together, not one by one.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Notice how they are connected through you, see if you can feel the blood and the flow, the tiny pads of your toes.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Let that energy flow down through and between your next toe, end up and over, moving inwards on each side of your body as you move in closer together with this energy, eventually arriving at the top of both big toes.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Remain there for a moment and imagine that you are making circles with your fingers, like you did on your fingertips, but on your toes.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Now you are going to let go and you are going to let that energy brush down your shins from the top of your toes up towards your knees, almost like a wave.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And as this sensation moves up your shins, you feel yourself relaxing.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Let it swirl around your kneecaps, both kneecaps at the same time, let the energy circle inward, toward each other and also outward, massaging and stimulating your energy and your flow.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Take a moment to tighten your kneecaps, pull them up tightly and hold Three, two, one and then just release.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Feel the energy just relaxing.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Beautiful, warm energy is now coming up the sides of your legs, on both sides, and then circles right back down the middle through that strong thigh muscle and then back up again, stopping at the hip, and I want you just to squeeze your glutes as tightly as you can here, as you take a deep breath, in Holding at the top, still squeezing your glutes, and as you exhale, release your glutes, release your legs, your feet.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Each time you release, you can release any thoughts that are coming in.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to try one more tightening exercise.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: As we breathe in on four, I want you to slowly tighten everything from your toes all the way up to your glutes, your thighs, your knees.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Here we go, ready and tighten Two, three, four.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And let go Two, three, four and notice how tingly your lower half of your body might be feeling right now, and if not, that's okay.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: You might also notice something different.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: The important thing is to be feeling and noticing.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Take a few more deep breaths and I'm going to slow it down a little bit here so that you can start to drift.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Tell me if you like, tightening your stomach muscles as you breathe in Two, three, four and releasing Two, three, four.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: We're going to let that energy swoop up the sides of your torso, on your ribs, brushing up right underneath your underarms, just like a wave coming back down the inside of your arms through your fingertips.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have you tighten your shoulders, your elbows, your arms, your fingers and your fists and breathing in four, three, two and one and release it all three, two and one.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Breathe in it feels amazing, feel that natural pulse in your body, the spaciousness that you've just created, allowing for sleep.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: We're going to bring the wave of energy up one more time.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It's going to come up like a wave up the back of your neck, up the back of your skull, and whoosh out from the top of your forehead, allowing you to relax your head and your neck, your shoulders and your spine, your hips and your belly and your thighs and your knees and your shins and your calves and your feet and your beautiful little toes.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I feel very heavy now.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: My mind is clear and I'm ready to sleep, wishing you peace, tranquility and rest.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Sleep well, my friends.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Namaste.