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Hey, guys. It's Bex here. Welcome to another video in my series of "You Have Four Minutes
for Meditation." Today, we're working on getting you to sleep.
I asked you for your requests and so many of you wrote in and asked for meditations
for sleep. You're having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or you're just feeling tense in general.
You can do this meditation right before bed, or at any time during the day when you're
feeling a little tense. I like to do this meditation at the end of yoga class in shavasana.
So go ahead and find your easy seat. You can even do this lying down. Find a spot on the
floor, in bed, on a pillow --wherever is comfortable for you.
Place your hands down-turned on your thighs or next to you, lying down, and start to pay
attention to your breath with your eyes closed. I want you to follow a natural pattern of
breathing. You don't have to inhale deeply here. Just nice and easy in your natural rhythm.
This is a visualization meditation. I want you to picture yourself completely covered
by a sheet. As we move through this meditation, the sheet will be removed slowly, revealing
your comfortable, relaxed body. As we begin, the sheet is being pulled down
over your forehead. Maybe you're scrunching your forehead. You might picture little wrinkles
being in it right now. Go ahead and release that muscle.
Next, the sheet passes your eyes. Are you squinting, holding them tight? Is it a struggle
for you to keep them closed? Go ahead and relax your eyes.
Is your jaw clenching right now? As the sheet uncovers your jaw and your mouth and your
chin, part your lips just slightly, allowing your tongue to rest on the roof of your mouth,
and the bottom of your jaw to release and hang easy and heavy.
As the sheet passes down and uncovers your shoulders, are they scrunched up towards your
ears? Take a nice big inhale and release your shoulders down and away towards your waist.
Even your belly can be tight. As the sheet uncovers your belly, go ahead and let it be
soft, allowing the air to fill your belly and expand. Normally we hold it in so tight
when we're in this seated posture, but let it be easy now and loose.
The same goes for all the other parts of your body. Picture the sheet passing over the fronts
of your thighs, allowing them to release, your knees, your calves, and your ankles.
Allow your feet to just flop open, if you're lying down. Allow your toes to relax, if you're
sitting cross-legged. Everything is easy. Allow yourself to inhale
with purpose -- a long, deep inhale filling your whole body -- and exhale at the same
pace. One more inhale to open your eyes. Now you're
waking up with me, but normally I would let you just continue your breath cycle of long
inhales and equally long exhales until you fall fast asleep. This is to just focus your
attention on one thing and not have you worry about all the other stuff that's going on.
That's why counting sheep is so effective. You're just focusing on the act of picturing
those little sheep jumping over the gate. It's the same with this. It could be a sheet.
It could be a flicker of a flame on a candle. Whatever works for you.
If you enjoyed this meditation -- and I hope you're feeling a little bit more relaxed -- keep
those requests coming, and I will see you for the next one next week. Love you guys!
Thank you for joining me for another four-minute meditation. I hope that you're nice and relaxed.
But if you happen to still be awake, go ahead and check me out at Bexlife.com, or click
on one of the thumbnails below for a four-minute meditation or an exclusive BexLife workout.
See you around.