Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Meditation for Deep Rest

Starting point is 00:00:00 Before tonight's episode, I want to let you know about our supporters' feed Get Sleepy Premium, the best way to experience the show and get a good night's sleep. With Get Sleepy Premium, everything is ad-free. You'll receive a bonus episode every week, and have full access to our entire back catalogue. Your support really helps, and means so much to us. Simply tap the link in the show notes to learn more. Now, a quick word from our sponsors who make it possible for us to bring you two three episodes each week. Do you have a baby that won't fall asleep? A noisy neighbor you need to block out?

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Starting point is 00:01:33 Or just follow the link in the show notes for a 30 day free trial of the Deep Sleep Sounds app. Good evening and welcome to Get Sleepy. The podcast where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host Thomas. Thanks for joining me here. Tonight I'll be leading you through a guided meditation designed to help your body and mind relax as you drift off to sleep. Many of us lead busy lives and

Starting point is 00:02:17 even when we feel tired at the end of the day, it can still be hard to turn off our minds. This meditation will help you shift from the more active doing mode to the passive non-doing mode so you can ease into rest. Begin by finding a comfortable position and closing your eyes. Relax the muscles in your face. Release any tension of your pillow. You might even use your fingertips to trace the outline of your forehead, the temples, jaw and neck, massaging any areas where you notice tension. And now allow your entire body to settle into comfort as you turn your awareness to your breath. Observe the flow of your breath as it moves in and out. Fill your lungs with each inhale and then sigh deeply to release the and empty the breath go.

Starting point is 00:04:49 Slowing the breath and lengthening our exhales, soothes our nervous system and puts our body into a state of rest. Continue breathing this way throughout the rest of the meditation if it feels helpful for you. Or simply return to a natural rhythm of breathing. Now, let's begin to explore the importance of rest. We live in a busy world and it's easy to get caught up in how much we have to do. With advances in technology, the pace of life keeps speeding up and we feel pressure to keep up. It's common to see productivity and busyness,

Starting point is 00:06:28 warners, badgers of honor, and to feel like everything is happening on autopilot. We're expected to rush around and are rewarded for our efficiency and ability to get things done. However, this speed of daily life can actually get stuck in our bodies, making it difficult for us to wind down or shift gears. This might appear as a racing mind at bedtime, feelings of anxiety or trouble focusing and being present. Many of us receive messages that it's not okay to slow down or to do nothing. We might feel guilty or self-critical if we press the pause button or take a day off or have a nap. It's common to find ourselves in a cycle of feeling exhausted but not being able to rest. Even while we're laying in bed, our brains might still be in work mode.

Starting point is 00:08:07 For others, rest is simply an afterthought, something to think about only after the to-do list gets taken care of. However, rest is important. It not only functions as the primary antidote to burnout, but is also essential for maintaining physical and mental health. Sleep enhances our ability to learn and make decisions, consolidates our memories, regulates Emotions and hormones boosts our immune system, heals injuries and sustains creativity. It's a powerful tool, so offer yourself full permission to rest as you bring your awareness back to your breath. Perhaps take a moment to envision yourself in a state of deep relaxation and comfort, embodying this state as you return to the breath. With each inhale, invite a feeling of rest and peace. And with each exhale, let go of any tension or business from your body and mind.

Starting point is 00:10:12 Each inhale invites in and receives rest, relaxation, ease and peace. Each exhale surrenders and releases. Trust in your body's rhythms and it's innate wisdom to soothe and rebalance. Even very brief mindfulness practices have been proven to help relieve stress, to lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep and increase our ability to think clearly and to problem solve. Given these many benefits, how might we save the time we have for resting in our busy lives? What if we celebrated rest as a healing self that nourishes us and allows us to thrive. Since we live in an age of speed, we must also learn how to rest. We can start small and build the practice over time. Slowing down a little bit here, pausing a little bit there, finding one intentional breath,

Starting point is 00:12:13 and then another. Eventually our bodies will remember the rhythms they know, and we will feel a sense of being able to settle down. As our nervous system shifts more into its rest and digest state, our breathing and heart rate slow down. Our stress hormones decrease while our happy hormones increase. We feel safe. No longer spinning on the hamster wheel or running from the tiger, but instead able to notice the feeling of sunshine on our skin, or the flavour of a fresh picked strawberry, or the weight of our blankets as we lie in bed.

Starting point is 00:13:29 So now let's put some of this into practice. Make sure you're in a comfortable position where you can be still for the next few minutes as we move into a guided relaxation. We'll travel slowly through the length of your body and I'll invite you to pause and bring awareness to each part. The intention of this practice is to bathe your entire body in a wave of deep relaxation and ease. Simply return to the breath anytime you notice your attention getting pulled away. Let's begin at the top of your head. Observe any tension, tightness or resistance in the top of your head and forehead. Invite a sense of rest and ease and soften any tension or stress. How busy is your mind, if it has a lot to keep track of now, thank it for all its hard

Starting point is 00:15:12 work, and say that it's okay to rest for now. Offer gratitude and permission. Pause here for a few breaths if that would be helpful. Moving down to the eyes, is there any tension in the eyes behind the eyes or in the temples? Release, relax and use the tongue, the back of the Observing, softening any tension you find. Continue down through the throat and the neck. Notice the breath, move in and back go. Move down to the shoulders, through the arms, the elbows, the wrists, the hands, not doing any work. Return your attention to the base of your neck now so we can continue down the call. Let's move to your collarbone. heart beat and the rise and form of your chest as you breathe. Notice the expansion and contraction of your ribs with the breath as well as the back of your body, your spine and lower back. Travel through the abdomen, observing the breath, moving in and out. If there is any tension in this part of your body, observe how your entire upper body is relaxed, heavy, held, peaceful and surrendering into a deepest state of rest. Continuing on, let's move to the pelvis and the hips. Down each leg, pausing at the knees, and then at the ankles.

Starting point is 00:21:13 and then at the ankles. The sores of the feet and each and every toe. Bring a feeling of total relaxation into the lower body, noticing how heavy your legs feel as they relax even more. Now, your entire body is your head to your toes. You feel completely at peace and at ease. Observe how you feel after this brief practice of cultivating rest. and moving out, everything sowing down. As you begin to fall asleep, take a moment to acknowledge yourself for practicing rest, for intentionally slowing down, soothing your body and your mind and creating space for something that is deeply nourishing and essential for your wellbeing. Know that you can come back to this practice anytime you'd like to rest again. Remember that your body has wisdom and knows exactly what to do when given the space it needs. Relax into that space that you just cultivated. There is nothing else to do, nowhere else to be. Deeper and deeper asleep. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Meditation for Deep Rest

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