Hey, welcome to this sleep meditation. In this session, we're going to practice getting very relaxed and calm. Especially relaxing and calming our bodies so that we can transition into a deep, restful night of sleep. So if you haven't already done so, you can find a position that you want to listen to this in, that will allow you to start to fall asleep. This could be in your bed cozy under your covers, or maybe you're taking a nap somewhere else.

So wherever it is that you want to fall asleep, just make sure you're there now. And if it feels okay to do so, you can let your eyes close. And you may notice that even just closing your eyes, you start to get a little sleepy. I know this is certainly true for me. But let's take a deep breath together just to help the body start to calm down.

So breathing in deeply through the nose. And slowly let it out through the mouth. Good job. Let's do that a couple more times. Breathing in through the nose.

Holding it. And let it out slowly through the mouth. One more. Breathing in. And let it out.

And you can let your body go back to breathing in its normal rhythm. You don't have to breathe deeply. But with each exhale, just see if you can feel your body relaxing a little bit more. Do you see how that can happen? When we let all the air out of our body? It's almost like our body just wants to relax. Let's see if you could try that out next time you exhale.

Just feel like your body is sinking deeply into the surface beneath you. So this is a secret tool you can use when you want to relax. Every time you take an exhale, just feel like your body is getting more relaxed. And as though you're releasing, you're breathing out any sort of tension, tightness, stress that you might be experiencing. You're just letting it all go on that exhale.

Just try that out. Breathing in. And then letting it all go on the exhale. As the body relaxes more deeply. Letting go of any thoughts about the day.

Not having to think about tomorrow yet. Allowing yourself to be totally present, at ease. And let's just check in with the body to see where we might be holding a little tension that maybe we don't realize. And then just invite some of that tension to melt away. Starting with the head.

Is there any area around the head where you feel kind of tight? Maybe the jaw is clenched. And if so you can invite the jaw to soften. Maybe the eyes can relax a little. The face doesn't have to be scrunched up. You know how sometimes we can do that throughout the day, scrunching our face or smiling a lot or frowning.

Here, the face can just let go. You don't have to look a certain way. You can just let the face be relaxed and easy. And may be checking in with the neck and the shoulders. Feel as though you're taking a deep breath into the shoulder area.

See if you could feel the breath go all the way up to the shoulders. Breathing in. And then on the exhale, just relaxing the neck and shoulders. Yeah. Good job.

Feeling into the arms and the hands. Is there any tension there? Letting those relax a little bit more, really relaxed arms, almost like spaghetti arms. Or maybe you feeling like your arms are like jello. How about we try that with the chest and the belly region. So this is where we might feel the breath coming into the body.

Expanding your belly, almost like a balloon that's inflating. And then deflating on an exhale. So letting the chest, the belly be extra soft. You can even think of the softest thing you can imagine, the most relaxed thing you can imagine. And you just feel like that's what your body feels like.

That's what the belly feels like right now. As we come down to the lower body, around the hips. Relaxing the area around the hips. Relaxing the thighs. The legs.

They can sometimes work really hard throughout the day. So just letting the legs know. Hey it's okay. It's okay to let go. It's okay to fall asleep.

And then feel the thighs, the knees, the shins, and the calves and the feet, all of them just getting sleepier, more relaxed. Letting go into the night. So as you lay here in your calm, cozy, safe, sleepy place, just feel yourself breathing. Breathing in to the body. And on every exhale, letting the body relax and melt into the soft surface beneath you.

Seeing just how calm you can be. Just how relaxed you can become. And knowing that you're doing this, you're able to relax yourself. And at any point in the night, if you find yourself feeling scared, you can just take these deep breaths. Let those thoughts and fears go.

Just come back to your relaxed, calm, sleepy place. I'm wishing you sweet dreams. Sleep well and take care.