-Guided Meditation for Deep Relaxation & Healing Sleep.

Deep relaxation provides your body the opportunity to self-heal by accessing the body's natural relaxation response, the healing response. This sleep meditation will take you on a healing journey while you relax and fall asleep. Begin by settling into a comfortable position, sitting in a chair, or lying on your bed or sofa, or on the floor while using a yoga mat, or on a soft carpet. If you're using this time to fall asleep, then lying in your bed is the best choice for this meditation. Now allow your body to ease gently into the position you've chosen, and as your body begins to settle, allow your breath to slowly deepen, inhaling, filling your lungs to a comfortable fullness, holding briefly, and then exhaling, and letting the breath go. Allow your body to relax with each breath out, because the exhale is the breath of relaxation, of letting go. Take a slow, deep breath in, hold, and as you breathe out, allow your face to soften, loosen the jaw, creating a space between the upper and lower teeth. Allow the lips and the tongue to relax, smooth out the forehead. Soften the breath, these areas that we often unconsciously hold tension. Just let them smooth out. Relax the eyes. Allow the eyelids to softly close, soft in the temples, soft in the cheeks, and now at the nostrils. Notice the slight coolness of air as you breathe in, and the warm air as you breathe out. The muscles of the scalp and even the hair follicles can relax, and now the ears, letting them receive the sounds all around you, as the sounds come and as they go. Notice the ripple effect, as relaxation now begins to flow down, and all the muscles in the neck and throat begin to release, and let go, relaxing all the little muscles in your neck and throat, softening, releasing. And now the shoulders, softening as they gently ease down and back with each exhalation, and letting go. That's it. Take a slow, deep breath in as you exhale, feeling more and more relaxed as the relaxation flows down now into your upper arms. Into the elbows. Into the forearms. Into the wrists. Into the hands. And into the fingers, each breath out, letting go. And now into the chest, softening, opening, and relaxing down into your heart, allowing the heartbeat to slow down and relax, and the lungs, enveloping your heart, expanding with the in-breath, and contracting with the out-breath. And together, the heart and lungs create perfect rhythm, as the lungs embrace your heart on the inhale, and recede from the heart on the exhale. And allowing this balance, harmony, and relaxation to cascade down into the belly now, the entire abdomen, the muscles, the organs, softening, releasing, balancing, and restoring, flowing down the whole back, upper back, releasing, middle back, softening, lower back, letting go, even the spine relaxes, allowing the flow of relaxation to move freely down along the spine. Feeling at ease as this relaxation flows down into the pelvis, and into the hips, and into all of the organs and muscles there, softening, relaxing, and in complete harmonious balance, flowing down into the upper thighs now, relaxing all the way down into the knees, into the abs and shins, into the ankles, into the feet, and into the toes, each breath out, letting go, that's it, your whole body softening and relaxing. This deep relaxation is a profound healing state that elicits your own body's natural healing abilities, this self-healing power that's hardwired within you, all you have to do is relax, and the healing will happen all on its own. This healing relaxation is strengthening your immune system, unhealthy cells being carried away, and the more you relax, the more this healing response grows and expands, taking away all that is harmful from your body, recalibrating all of the body systems, and bringing them back to balance, the heart, the lungs, the digestive system, the circulation, the nervous system, the kidneys, hormones and glands, muscles and joints, your entire physiology, in complete harmonious balance. Your mind also heals in this deep state of relaxation and balance, softening the inner critic, the negative self-talk, helping release harmful thought patterns, healing the shame and coping strategies that no longer serve you, strengthening your inner wisdom, your intuition, making it easier for you to make changes you need to make that will help you create more joy and peace in your life. The mind is very powerful, and together with the body's natural healing mechanisms, it can help amplify the healing response, and if you want, you can focus on a situation that brings emotional suffering, or you can bring your awareness on a part of your body that is in need of healing right now, you can imagine this emotion or situation, body part, or your whole body fully healed, complete wellness, energy and vitality in every part of your body and mind as this healing flows through you, carrying away emotional and physical pain and discomfort, carrying away unhealthy cells, alleviating anxiety, depression, and any other emotional suffering you may be struggling with, and resting in this peaceful state of complete well-being, allowing your body and mind the time to heal itself, trusting in your ability to heal, this power that is within you and any medications you may be taking, treatments or procedures you may be going through, or have gone through, or will go through, all of these will be more effective as you rest here in this profound healing state, peaceful, completely at ease. Very soon, you will hear the sound of a gentle bell, and if you choose to awaken, the sound of the bell will bring you back to your usual state of wakefulness, feeling rested and filled with a deep sense of health and well-being, and if you're using this meditation to fall asleep, and if you haven't already, the sound of the bell will help you drift away, deeper and deeper, into a restful, peaceful sleep, while your body and mind will continue along on their healing journey together, feeling peaceful, safe, and at ease.