5 Minute Meditation for Restless Nights
A 5 minute guided meditation for restless nights when you will not fight the wakefulness. Rest is still available. Give restlessness the breath as a place to go. Stop measuring. Feel the heaviness you do have.
Before you begin
Make the body as comfortable as this night allows. Then stillness. No scoreboard.
Read the transcript24 spoken passages
To begin, if the night is restless, do not fight it. Lie down.
Whatever that looks like for you tonight.
When you are ready, softly close your eyes.
With your eyes closed, make the body as comfortable as this night allows.
First, small adjustments, then stillness. Rest remains available.
The weight you do have. Feel it. Stop measuring the rest.
What else do you notice besides the sleep scoreboard?
What is it like not to fight this night?
You are not behind. You are in a night. Nights are uneven.
Restlessness is extra movement. Give it the breath as a place to go.
Let the eyes rest even if the mind is lit. Darken the inner gaze.
And letting this still be a night of care.
Continue now with breath, as well as this uneven night.
Drop the scoreboard. Kindness is the only tally.
What do you notice when you stop grading the dark?
Just observe. Accept. Rest without a perfect night still counts.
Allow the room. You can still be kind inside this one.
As if heaviness were enough, even when sleep stays away.
There is no scoreboard. There is the next soft breath.
If the mind keeps score, escort it back to the body's weight.
Stay with the bed, the breath, and a night you are not fighting.
You rest anyway. Including yourself.
Stay. No scoreboard. Only the next breath.
Keep the eyes closed. Drift if you can. Stay if you must. Both count.