Fall asleep easily using this Body Scan Guided Meditation
A key component of self-care is sufficient quantity and quality sleep. It allows your body to recharge. It helps your mind process the events of the previous day. And it allows you to wake feeling rested and restored ready for a new day.
But knowing good sleep is important and actually achieving good sleep are two different things!
When we moved to Missouri, Lada, our cat, developed a new habit – she started climbing into bed at night and curling up on top of me to sleep. At first this was wonderful and charming. I’d always hoped she would take to sleeping with us, and having a warm kitty purring herself to sleep on my chest was awesome.
And then I realized that I can’t fall asleep on my back. Also, Lada it turns out is a pretty sound sleeper, once she settles in, she’s there for hours before waking up to go and find a snack around 3 am.
I love that Lada wants to snuggle, so I don’t want to discourage her new habit. But I had to find a way to fall asleep on my back, pinned in place, and unable to move more than a little bit. While I have several guided meditation apps I can listen to to help me fall asleep, I try to banish my phone (and all electronics) from the bedroom at night (you can read more about my sleep hygiene practice here). That meant that I was left to my own imagination to guide myself to sleep.
Guiding yourself to sleep
Sometimes counting my breaths, focusing on slow, deep inhales, and long, full exhales works. I start at 47 and count down from there. (Forty-seven is a random number I chose because it keeps my brain from going onto autopilot in the countdown.)
I mostly use this countdown technique when I wake up in the middle of the night. If I make it to one and I’m still awake, I give myself permission to get out of bed and read. That means it wasn’t ideal for falling asleep with Lada because if I didn’t fall asleep before reaching one, it meant my body was even more eager to move despite being pinned down.
I needed something else – so I started using a body scan, working from feet to head with a weightless feeling and then from feet to head again with a heavy sensation. Adding the additional sensation of weight (or weightlessness) to the body scan helps trick my body into thinking that it’s getting the restless wiggles out while I’m still remaining motionless with a 13 pound cat cuddled on top of me.
Light to Heavy Body Scan meditation
The other night, Lada decided to change things up, she climbed onto Adam instead of me to fall asleep.
He also found it charming at first, but when he realized that he was trapped for the next several hours, all he wanted to do was wiggle and move!
I guided him through this meditation and was surprised when I finished that he noted it had helped him relax.
So I figured if this helps both of us settle down and fall asleep it might help you as well.
This is designed to help you fall asleep, so I wouldn’t suggest using this meditation in the middle of your day.
I usually fall asleep before I get through the entire heavy body scan. (In fact I struggled to come up with descriptors on the spot when guiding Adam through the heavy body scan as I so rarely get past the legs!)
There’s nothing at the end of this recording to indicate it’s complete as I hope that you will have fallen asleep before it’s finished and I don’t want to pull you out of your nascent slumber.
In the event that you don’t fall asleep before the end of the recording but you found it very relaxing, you might want to try a few long deep breaths (maybe a few audible exhales – instructions here) and then listen to this body scan meditation again, or perhaps another guided meditation that works for you.
Make it your own
If you’re like me and you banish your phone from the bedroom at night, listen to this guided meditation a few times in the evening when you’re relaxing and winding down to get the flow of the meditation.
After a few times through, you should be able to guide yourself through this body scan without the audio.
You don’t need to use the exact same words I do, just work from one end of the body to the other, invoking a feeling of lightness in each body part and then repeat bringing in the feeling of heaviness.
The only important thing to remember is to do the light body scan first and then the heavy one.
Why it works
As you fall asleep, your muscles relax and your body naturally starts to feel heavier. Think about the deadweight of a sleeping child (or 13 pound cat).
By visualizing heavy sensations during the body scan, we’re recreating this natural effect of falling asleep. Moving through a light scan first gives your body a dramatic contrast (like stepping into an air conditioned building on a hot day) which I’ve found helps to deepen the impact of the heavy scan that follows.
Hopefully this meditation will help your body find the relaxation you’re seeking to fall into a peaceful slumber. Wishing you sweet dreams and a full night’s sleep!
