Grounding for sleep: 12 minutes, as sleep prep

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 12 minutes of grounding for sleep, as sleep prep. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sleep

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting a second wind at bedtime
• Mind starting up as soon as the light goes off
• Sleep arriving much later than you intended

The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

Doing this before sleep

• Dim the lights and put the phone out of reach
• Do it in bed if that helps you stay there
• Let yourself fall asleep rather than finishing it

Checking anything afterwards undoes most of it. Let this be the last thing.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop.
2. 0:12Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
3. 0:25Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
4. 0:38Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:54Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
6. 1:08Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
7. 1:21Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
8. 1:35Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
9. 1:47Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
10. 1:59Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
11. 2:12You do not have to like the heaviness your body already knows to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
12. 2:29If the day folding itself up shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
13. 2:49Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
14. 3:00If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
15. 3:15The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
16. 3:29Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
17. 3:41If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
18. 3:55If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
19. 4:10A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
20. 4:21If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
21. 4:36Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
22. 4:50I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
23. 5:03Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
24. 5:16Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
25. 5:30No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
26. 5:41Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
27. 5:52Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
28. 6:05Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
29. 6:15Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
30. 6:27Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
31. 6:40Stay here a little longer.
32. 6:49Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
33. 7:01Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
34. 7:16Stay with it.
35. 7:24Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
36. 7:36Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
37. 7:51Let this one be unhurried.
38. 8:00Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
39. 8:12Let the quiet your mind keeps postponing be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
40. 8:32Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
41. 8:43Imagine the heaviness your body already knows as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
42. 9:02Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
43. 9:15Notice the space around the day folding itself up. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
44. 9:33There is no correct amount of the quiet your mind keeps postponing to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
45. 9:52Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
46. 10:05Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
47. 10:17If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
48. 10:30Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
49. 10:40Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
50. 10:56Remain here for a few more breaths.
51. 11:06Let your breathing be completely ordinary again.
52. 11:16Come back to the room through your senses, one at a time.

Questions people ask

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