5 Minute Guided Sleep Meditation to Calm the Mind
Dim the thinking floor by floor. This five-minute sleep guide lets thoughts pass without a meeting. Night does not require a finished agenda.
Before you begin
Horizontal if you can. Thoughts may continue. You do not have to chair the meeting.
Read the transcript24 spoken passages
To begin this night, let yourself lie down, fully supported.
Whatever that looks like for you tonight.
When you are ready, softly close your eyes.
With your eyes closed, let the day be finished.
First, simply noticing the weight of the body on the bed.
The mattress taking you. You need not hold yourself up.
What else do you notice in this dim room?
What is it like not to finish every thought?
Place each thought on a slow river. Watch it leave.
Night is not another shift. It is a permission.
Return to the body's weight. The mind calms when the body is believed.
And letting the mind go dark, room by room.
Continue now with your breath, as well as this heaviness.
If you have not already, breathe out the bright edges of thinking.
What do you notice as a thought leaves on the water?
Just observe. Accept. Another thought may come. Do not follow it.
Allow the dark of the room. Ordinary night, already here.
As if the house could go dark while you stay lying down.
There is nothing to do. There is nowhere else to be.
If the mind wanders, escort it back to the river.
Stay with the bed, the breath, and this stretch of night.
You let the mind rest on the water. Including yourself.
Stay with the body. If you drift before the music ends, that is welcome.
Keep the eyes closed. If sleep comes, go with it. If not, rest still happens.