A shared practice
Relaxing Your Body for Sleep
S
Created bySean Fargo
Part 1 of Sean's sleep series — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice9 min
Read along — the full script
I'm Sean Fargo. I started practicing mindfulness in two thousand and five when I was living in Thailand and China. I noticed that just after practicing about ten or twenty minutes a day, three or four days a week, that I started to sleep much better.
I started noticing my dreams more, was able to sleep a little bit longer, about eight hours a night, and I just woke up more vibrant and fresh, more clear. You know, there's so many benefits to mindfulness practice, so many physical benefits and psychological benefits, and all of those really impact sleep a lot. Now, of course, there's gonna be some specific exercises in these paths that are really oriented specifically towards sleep.
So I look forward to sharing them with you. I hope that you are able to sleep much better than before and to be able to live with more energy and vibrance during the day. You know, it's amazing that about forty percent of all American adults are sleep-deprived.
Forty percent sleeping a lot less than the recommended seven hours of sleep. A lot of doctors say that sleep is the most underrated health habit out there. So I'd like to get started by developing a new health habit with you of using these exercises every night before you go to sleep.
First exercise I'd like to get started with is just learning how to relax the muscles of the body as you're laying down or even as you're sitting or standing. But for this first exercise, I recommend that you lie down, finding a place that's safe and secure, either on your bed or on the floor, where you're laying on your back with your feet outstretched and your hands by your side, where you're able to feel safe and relaxed and cool. Very comfortable.
And I invite you to take a deep breath with a long exhale, relaxing the belly as you breathe. Just relaxing the muscles of the face and the jaw, the areas around the eyes. Just relaxing. Letting go of any tension in the shoulders and the hands.
Softening the muscles in the legs and the pelvic region. Just softening the muscles in the body. Just releasing tension. Letting go of anything that we are holding on to. Noticing any areas in the body where there still might be tightness and simply letting go.
Softening the body. Allowing gravity to pull your body downward as you release. As you sink down into the bed or the ground, allowing yourself to soften, to loosen, to melt into the bed or the ground. Relaxing. How comfortable this is to soften.
How pleasurable this is to let go. To feel connected with the ground and the bed across your whole body. Continually practicing letting go. Building a habit of loosening the muscles in the body that seem to be holding on.
Practicing softening the body. Loosening any areas of tightness. Inviting a sense of ease. Letting go more and more as we relax and feel connected with the bed or the ground. As we feel the gravity pull us down into the bed.
As we relax
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