4 Simple Mindfulness Meditations to Ease You Into a Deep Sleep
I’m a naturally early riser. No matter how late I go to sleep, even if it’s 3am, I wake up around 5 or 6am. And if I haven’t had more than 5 hours sleep, I start to get headaches. So I’ve been making a conscious effort in the last few months to ensure I go to bed early. Certainly before midnight.
With this routine, I find I’m a much nicer person the next day! I’m more efficient and get my work done earlier. And I’m better able to support those around me. It’s a classic example of how when we look after ourselves, we are better able to serve others.
Some people really struggle to fall asleep. If that’s you, here’s some ways you could try using mindfulness meditation to drift off into dreamland. The research agrees that it works, as explained in this Harvard article.
1. Very easy - deep breathing
In this strategy, you simply take long, mindful breaths. Ideally you breathe in for a count of 3 and breathe out for a count of 5. Just keep doing that and you’ll engage your relaxation response. Your mind will start to calm down and hopefully you’ll find yourself drifting off into sleep.
Alternatively, you can try some belly breathing. Here’s a guided audio you can try from one of my online courses:
I’ve chosen Belly Breathing here — slow, low belly breaths gently switch on your body’s relaxation response, which is just what helps you drift off.
2. Easy - counting your breaths
Count your breath. Each time you breathe out, count 1. Then 2, 3 all the way up to 10. When you get to 10, count down back to 1. If you lose count, either start again or just keep going from where you left off - whatever feels most comfortable to you.
For this stage I’ve picked Mindful Breathing — it builds the same gentle, returning attention to each breath that counting trains, without the numbers.
3. Medium - short body scan
Easy body scan - Feel the sensations in your feel for a few breaths. Then feel the sensations in your lower legs for a few breaths. Then your thighs, your pelvis, belly, chest, arms, neck, face and head. Then just feel your breathing. My friend does this to help him drift off to sleep every night. He often does get much further than his legs.
Here’s a guided meditation with some ‘kindfulness’ too, taken from my online course, Daily Mindfulness Club.
Here I’ve added the Body Scan (Mini) — a shorter, kind sweep through the body that releases the day’s tension without keeping you up.
4. Long - full body scan
Full body scan meditation - Listen to a 30 minute guided body scan. Or longer. There’s lots online. Here’s my own below:
And here’s the full Body Scan — the deep, unhurried 30-minute version to help you melt right into sleep.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these 4 different mindfulness meditations to help you sleep. If you have any other favourite ones you’d like to share, let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much for sharing!
Want to make mindfulness part of your everyday life? Come and practise with me in the Daily Mindfulness Club — a fresh guided meditation every day, live or on demand. Your first 7 days are free.
20 guided Kindful Meditations,
50 High- Definition Videos
200 students have completed the program
5 stars is the average rating!
Want to make mindfulness part of your everyday life? Come and practise with me in the Daily Mindfulness Club — a fresh guided meditation every day, live or on demand. Your first 7 days are free.