The Sleep Well Meditation

[The following is the full transcript of this meditation of “The BE ULTIMATE Podcast.”]

Welcome to The PRESENCE Meditation.

Hi. This is Travis Eliot and welcome to The Sleep Well Meditation.

The intention of this meditation is to shift you from a state of stress into a state of rest or what’s often referred to as the relaxation response. Using effective techniques based off of research and timeless wisdom, we will make an energetic shift within the nervous system to set you up for a deep sleep.

So go ahead and find a comfortable position where you feel relaxed and at ease. You might even rest one hand on the belly and the other hand over the heart.

Allow the eyes to close. And allow the events of the day to dissolve away.

From here, take a nice, big, deep inhale through the nose. And then out the mouth, exhale. Let it all go.

Two more just like that. Take another big inhale through the nose. And then out the mouth, exhale. Let it all go.

Good.

One more time. Big thorough inhale. And exhale. Just let it all go. As you allow your breath to just slip into a nice gentle effortless rhythm, feel yourself letting go and letting be.

Now, from here, just begin to reflect upon at least one thing that happened today that you feel incredibly grateful for. Doesn’t have to be anything overly dramatic. Could be something very, very simple — perhaps just a conversation with a friend or a family member — a simple moment with a child or seeing the sunset — having a good meal or reflecting upon something maybe very special that happened today.

And just allowing yourself several moments now, in whatever way feels right for you, to just express gratitude for this event, for this thing. You might even simply just repeat those words. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[silence]

Beautiful.

Then nice and easily, just allow the gratitude reflection to go as we prepare to do a little bit of breathing together. This breath pattern is proven to shift you into the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, helping to support you for a deep night’s sleep.

See if you can breathe with me. We’ll start off by taking another deep inhale through the nose. And then out the mouth, exhale. Just let it all go. And then we’ll begin.

Inhale for one, two, three, four.

Hold the breath for one, two, three, four.

Out the nose, exhale. Six, five, four, three, two, one.

And again, inhale. One, two, three, four.

Hold. One, two, three, four.

Exhale. Release for six, five, four, three, two, one.

And inhale. One, two, three, four.

Hold. One, two, three, four.

Exhale. Six, five, four, three, two, one.

Couple more rounds.

Inhale. One, two, three, four.

Hold. One, two, three, four.

Exhale. Six, five, four, three, two, one.

Last cycle.

Inhale. One, two, three, four.

Hold. One, two, three, four.

Exhale. Six, five, four, three, two, one.

Take a big inhale through the nose and out the mouth, exhale. Just let it all go. And again, allowing your breath to slip into its own natural effortless rhythm.

Let go. Let be.

[silence]

Beautiful.

From here, very, very gently bring your awareness to the area of your head. Feel your brain relaxing and softening. Feel the activities of the mind beginning to become more tranquil, more and more serene.

Feel all the microscopic muscles in the face releasing, relaxing.

[silence]

Bring your attention down to the area of your neck, in your throat. And allow this part of the body to release, to relax, to let go, to let be.

[silence]

Feel your shoulders release, relax, any tension in this area of the body just melting away.

Allow the upper arms, the biceps, the triceps, the elbows, and all the way down the forearms, the wrists, the hands, the fingers, the knuckles of the hands to be light, to be free as you let go and let be.

[silence]

Feel the area of your chest and your heart softening as well. You might even detect that very subtle gentle rhythm of your heart, the beautiful pulse of your existence.

[silence]

Feel those ribs gently swinging out, swinging in as that breath flows naturally and effortlessly in and out through the body.

[silence]

Allow the belly to soften as if to just simply receive the incoming breath and to also allow the breath to flow back out. So the navel that expands and then the navel that naturally, effortlessly floats back in.

[silence]

Feel your upper back released and relaxed, and gently moving your attention all the way down towards the back of the heart, between the shoulder blades, towards the middle of the back, and all the way down into the lower back. The kidneys, soft and relaxed and at ease.

[silence]

Allow the area and the region of the hips to just be totally, totally relaxed.

[silence]

Feel your thighs and your hamstring softening, just allowing the natural weight of your muscular-skeletal system to be supported, to be held. Nothing to do. To just be, to just allow.

[silence]

Your knees relaxed. Feel your calf muscles and your shin bones soft, all the way down to the ankles, the feet, the toes, as you let go and you let be.

[silence]

And then can you feel the space within the feet and feel your feet just floating within spaciousness?

[silence]

Can you feel the space within your knees, feeling your knees just floating in spaciousness?

[silence]

Can you feel the space within your hips, the space within the space, and the hips within spaciousness, in space?

[silence]

Can you feel the space within your belly, your stomach, and your belly in the vastness of spaciousness, feeling the space within the space?

[silence]

Can you feel the space within your chest and your heart, and your chest existing in spaciousness, the space within the space?

[silence]

Can you feel your arms and your hands, the space, the arms, and the hands just existing in spaciousness, the space within the space?

[silence]

Feel the space within your throat and your throat existing in spaciousness as you feel the space within the space.

[silence]

Feel the space within your head and your head existing in the spaciousness of space within the space.

[silence]

And can you feel the spaciousness throughout your whole entire body and your body existing in the spaciousness of space, being held in space?

[silence]

Feel the space around the body expanding and expanding all the way to the walls, feeling the room that you’re in, the spaciousness of the room, and this room and the spaciousness of space, being held in space.

[silence]

Allowing this spaciousness to expand throughout the whole entire building, feeling the spaciousness of the building, and this building existing in the spaciousness of space within space.

[silence]

Feel the space unlimited. No boundaries. Just pure, infinite, vast spaciousness within the space. And there you are, the spaciousness, relaxed, and at ease.

Keeping this, allow yourself to slide into a deep night’s sleep.

Good night.