Gratitude meditation for insomnia (20 min), in the mid-afternoon

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for insomnia. A gratitude session you can do in the mid-afternoon. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: insomnia

Insomnia is often maintained by the fear of not sleeping. Anticipating a bad night raises arousal at bedtime, which produces the bad night.

It tends to show up as:

• Dreading bedtime
• Hours awake with a busy mind
• Sleeping worse as the week goes on

Removing the pressure to sleep is the active ingredient. This gives you something to do that is not trying.

Doing this in the mid-afternoon

• Sit upright and open a window if you can
• Expect heaviness rather than fighting it
• A short session here beats a longer one that never happens

The dip is a normal circadian low. You are riding it out, not correcting a fault.

How gratitude works

Gratitude here is an attention practice, not a demand for a positive mood. Attention defaults to threats because they are urgent, so pleasant and ordinary things get skipped simply for being safe.

• Pick one ordinary thing rather than something impressive
• Stay with it for two breaths — depth beats length of list
• Do not aim at feeling grateful; aim at noticing

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let your belly be soft. Not sucked in. Just soft.
2. 0:12Stay with it for two breaths. Gratitude deepens by staying, not by listing.
3. 0:25Everything that happens in the next few minutes is allowed to happen.
4. 0:38For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
5. 0:52Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
6. 1:05Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:19Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
8. 1:32Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
9. 1:44Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
10. 1:57Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
11. 2:10Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
12. 2:22Think of the frustration of not sleeping as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
13. 2:40Notice how the wide-awake mind at 2am changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
14. 2:57Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
15. 3:10If you catch yourself fighting the counting of hours until morning, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
16. 3:28Notice the space around the frustration of not sleeping. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
17. 3:46If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
18. 4:00Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
19. 4:12If nothing comes, notice that something did not go wrong. That also counts.
20. 4:25Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
21. 4:37Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
22. 4:48There is no need to feel grateful. Just look, and see what is actually there.
23. 5:02I'll step back. You stay here.
24. 5:12Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
25. 5:24Let it be unimpressive. Small good things are the most reliable ones.
26. 5:37Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
27. 5:48If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
28. 6:01Pick one ordinary thing from today — a warm drink, a dry walk, a message — and let it count.
29. 6:18A short silence. Let it be empty.
30. 6:28Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
31. 6:39Remain here for a few more breaths.
32. 6:49Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
33. 7:03Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
34. 7:17No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
35. 7:28Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
36. 7:42Stay with it.
37. 7:50Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
38. 8:03Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
39. 8:15Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
40. 8:27If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
41. 8:40Keep following the air.
42. 8:49Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
43. 9:03Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
44. 9:16Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
45. 9:27Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
46. 9:40Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
47. 9:53No need to open your eyes yet.
48. 10:03If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
49. 10:16A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
50. 10:27Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
51. 10:40Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
52. 10:53Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
53. 11:03If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
54. 11:15A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
55. 11:26Notice your breathing, without changing it.
56. 11:36Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
57. 11:47Let the pause stretch out.
58. 11:56If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
59. 12:11Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
60. 12:22Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
61. 12:34Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
62. 12:48Just the breath, still.
63. 12:57Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
64. 13:09Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
65. 13:20No rush to move on.
66. 13:29Feel the tops of your thighs.
67. 13:39Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
68. 13:54Stay here a little longer.
69. 14:03Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
70. 14:15Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
71. 14:28Let your body keep settling.
72. 14:37Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
73. 14:49You have been carrying the wide-awake mind at 2am for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
74. 15:09I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
75. 15:21Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the counting of hours until morning is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
76. 15:40Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
77. 15:51Whatever the frustration of not sleeping is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
78. 16:06If the wide-awake mind at 2am is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
79. 16:23Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
80. 16:38You do not have to win against the counting of hours until morning. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
81. 16:56If the frustration of not sleeping has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
82. 17:14Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
83. 17:28If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
84. 17:42Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
85. 17:53If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
86. 18:08Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
87. 18:19We are not forcing positivity. We are just noticing what went right, however small.
88. 18:33Let it be this simple.
89. 18:42Take one last look at whatever your attention settled on.
90. 18:54Stand up when you're ready. The list hasn't grown while you were here.
91. 19:07Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.