Suffering from a lack of sleep? Or maybe you’re getting the recommended amount of sleep but you still don’t feel well rested. Well, in today’s episode, I’ll be guiding you through a 30-minute Rest & Revitalization Sleep Meditation, which is sure to help you recharge.
Find a safe and comfortable place to sit or lay down and tune in as I walk you step-by-step through this meditation, and be sure to keep an eye out for more meditations on future episodes.
Discover how working on the pits can impact (and improve) carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist and elbow issues . . . even knee issues!
Male Announcer: You’re listening to From Pain to Possibility with Susi Hately. You will hear Susi’s best ideas on how to reduce or even eradicate your pain and learn how to listen to your body when it whispers so you don’t have to hear it scream. And now here’s your host, Susi Hately.
Welcome and welcome back. I’m so glad that you’re here because we are moving into an R&R sleep meditation. And the beauty of this practice is that we are combining a number of different aspects around yoga Nidra and breathing connection, tuning in, relaxing, resting, really resting.
It can be a really amazing antidote to when you’ve had a rough sleep or a period of time with rough sleep and you have maybe gotten the hours of sleep, but you haven’t gotten a lot of restful sleep. Or maybe you haven’t even got the hours of sleep and you can feel it. Like your brain is just not as clear. So taking some time to do a practice like this can provide a reboot and a recharge that can bring about a whole new level of focus. So let’s explore.
So welcome. Welcome to this practice of sleep meditation. Remember that everything that’s offered throughout the practice is an invitation. So you can follow my invitation, my offering, or you can replace my words with your own words. If any of my words don’t work for you or replacing them doesn’t work for you, then simply just wait on for the next invitation.
So take a moment and settle into a relaxed position, whether it’s laying down or seated, and scan your body to see if there’s anything you can do to be just a little more comfortable. Your eyes can be open or closed. Now imagine you can make a wish for anything right now. What might it be?
What might your best intention or outcome be for this practice? This can be something that you want to be or have or do. And formulate this wish into a one sentence affirmation in present time as in I am, I live, I have. So it’s already happened. It’s already been experienced. If you like, you can also include the wish or intention to stay awake through this practice.
Once you have your wish established as a one sentence affirmation, affirm it silently to yourself now three times. And as you’re saying it to yourself, notice how your body feels as you say it. We’ll come back to this wish or intention towards the end of the practice. And for now, you can set it aside.
Take a moment and recall or imagine a place where you feel a sense of calm or ease or safety. It could be a room in your home, a place in nature, with your pet or a spiritual being. Anything that contributes to a sense of ease or well-being.
And as you imagine yourself here in this sanctuary, notice how you feel. Perhaps a sense of soothing or calm or healing. Take some time to feel the effects of this inner sanctuary. You can come back to this inner sanctuary at any time through the practice. You might like to bring this feeling into the practice now.
Now become aware of the sensations of your whole body. Feeling the contact points of your body on the surface underneath it. The contact points of your skin to the fabric or the caress of air to your exposed skin.
Bring your attention now to the sensations of your left foot. Feeling your left heel. The sole of your foot. The top of your foot. Your big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Baby toe. Now feel your whole foot at once. Now feel the sensations in your left ankle, calf, shin, knee, thigh.
Feel the sensations in your right foot now. Your right heel. Sole of your foot. Top of your foot. Big toe. Second toe. Third toe. Fourth toe. Baby toe. Now feel your whole right foot at once. Feeling the sensations in your right ankle, calf, shin, knee, and thigh.
Notice that with each invitation to feel the sensations in your body, that there’s a spontaneous relaxation without even trying to.
Feel your pelvis now. The whole pelvis as sensation. Now feel your abdomen. The lower rib cage. The upper rib cage. The back of your rib cage. Feeling all of you from your pelvis up through to the top of the rib cage.
As you continue to follow my invitations to feel sensations, you might be aware of a sense of inner calm and peace as your body relaxes deeper and deeper. Your mind is quiet, captivated in sensation.
Feel your left shoulder. Your left upper arm. Your left elbow, forearm, wrist, palm, back of your hand. Left thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, baby finger. Feeling the sensations in the whole of the left hand now.
Feel your way slowly back up your left arm across to your right shoulder. Feeling your right shoulder. The right upper arm. The right elbow. The right forearm, wrist, palm, back of the right hand. Right thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, baby finger. Feel the sensations in the whole of the right hand.
Feel your way slowly back up your right arm, feeling both shoulders at once. Feeling your neck. Front, back, sides. The back of your head. The top of your head. Forehead, eyebrows, eyes. Your left ear, right ear, both ears at once.
Feel the sensations in and around your nose. The caress of air on the outside of your nose. The movement of breath within the nostrils. Feel the sensations in and around your mouth, your tongue, the roof of your mouth, the floor of your mouth, the left side wall, the right side wall. Feeling your whole mouth.
Feeling your head. Your neck. Shoulder girdle. Arms. Hands. Fingers. Rib cage. Abdomen. Pelvis. Legs. Feet. Toes.
Feel your whole body now. All the sensations in your whole body at once. Notice how relaxed your body and mind are simply from feeling sensations.
Bring your attention to your breath. Feeling the inhale coming in and the exhale going out. Gradually slow your breath down. Counting backwards from five. Inhaling five. Exhaling five. Inhaling four. Exhaling four. Inhaling three. Exhaling three.
You may notice yourself even more relaxed as a result of this breathing practice. Before proceeding further into the practice, take a moment to notice the felt sense of your sanctuary of peace. Still present as a background feeling. Picture and feel yourself in this sanctuary. Feeling yourself being nourished.
Now become aware of sensations of warmth in your body. Feeling warm. Notice where you’re feeling warm. Now feel sensations of cool in your body. Feeling cool. Notice where you’re feeling cool in your body.
Now feel warm again. Feeling warm in your body. Your body as warm. Now feel cool again. Feeling your body as cool. Now feel both warm and cool at once. Your mind can’t do both at once. You can’t think your way into both at once. It’s a feeling, sensory inquiry. Widening this aperture of your awareness to feel both warm and cool at once.
Now choose two opposites of emotion that you would like to explore. Perhaps content or discontent. You choose the emotions you would like to work with. When we work with opposites of emotion, we create an integration and a wholeness and build inner resilience.
So feel the first emotion. And maybe you feel it now. Or recall a time when you felt it and picture it and feel the emotion, noticing where you feel it and what it feels like. When you’re ready to feel the opposite of this emotion, picture and feel this opposite emotion. Noticing where you feel it and what it feels like.
Then go back to the original emotion. What do you feel when you identify with that emotion? And then come into the opposite of this emotion. Feel this. Notice what you feel when you identify with this opposite emotion. Coming back to the original. What do you feel? Where do you feel it?
And the opposite. Picture and feel this. Notice where you feel it. And what it feels like. Go back and forth a few times between one and then the other. Notice what you feel when you identify with one and what you feel when you identify with the opposite.
When you’re ready, begin to feel both at once. Feeling your way in, knowing you can’t think your way here. Feel your way into both opposites. Widening the aperture of your awareness to feeling both of these at once. And notice what occurs.
Sometimes there’s this new change of sensation that just arises. A new awareness. Something that didn’t exist before. Notice what you’re feeling with both at once.
Feeling your breath again. And feeling your body. You might be aware of a deepening sense of inner peace or calm. A sense of openness or expansion. Let your attention rest here for a while, experiencing yourself as peaceful, open, expansive. Deeply soothing and nourishing for your body, mind, and soul.
You might also notice the inner peace that may have been in the background of this practice since the beginning. Relaxed, peaceful, calm. Allow for your wish or your intention for this practice to bubble back up into your awareness again from this place of physical and mental relaxation. From this state that now exists in your body and your mind.
And imagine and feel it as true now. Imagining your wish or your intention is true now. And take a moment to imagine your life with it as true now. How does it change the way you live your life? What behavior changes do you notice? How does it affect the way you relate to yourself and others?
What else do you notice as you imagine your life with this intention as already true? And even more importantly, how do you feel with your wish come true?
As we move toward completion, feeling your body resting here in this space. Still aware of your wish come true as a feeling through your body. As a feeling in your heart along with the feeling of inner peace that has pervaded this practice.
Gradually begin to deepen your breath. Bringing gentle movement into your fingers and toes. Slowly opening your eyes. Perhaps bringing a stretch into your whole body. And when you’re ready, taking another five breaths before moving on into the rest of your life.
If this practice has been interesting for you and you would like to access more of these practices, if you go to the show notes on the website of this episode we have listed out the other podcasts that I have done here. The episodes that have these types of sleep meditations as well as body scans so that you can easily access more of these practices to bring into your day to day life.
These can be simple practices to do in moments of time. Five minutes, ten minutes. Those times where you need a little bit of boost. And you can feel that rest and relaxation will be nurturing and nourishing and fill your tanks. Have a great practice. See you next time.
If this episode has resonated and you’re looking to deepen this idea of getting your body back on board, of listening deeply to your symptoms, of listening to the whispers so you don’t have to hear the screams, and you’re looking for one to one support or professional training, then reach out to us at [email protected] where we can customize your learning path. That’s [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing from you.
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Discover how working on the pits can impact (and improve) carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist and elbow issues . . . even knee issues!
