Meditation for falling asleep: 15-minute gratitude session, on the train

About this practice

For the times on the train when falling asleep takes up more room than you would like — 15 minutes, gratitude. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: falling asleep

Falling asleep is a passive process. The harder you aim at it, the further it moves, because the effort itself is arousal.

It tends to show up as:

• Watching the clock
• Getting frustrated at being awake
• Sleep only arriving after giving up

Attention on something boring and continuous is the oldest trick there is. That is all a sleep story is doing.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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 the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second.
2. 0:15Let this be easy, if easy is available.
3. 0:26Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
4. 0:41Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
5. 0:57Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
6. 1:10Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
7. 1:24Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
8. 1:35Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
9. 1:45Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
10. 1:57Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
11. 2:08Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
12. 2:20This is not the last time the surrender at the end of the day will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
13. 2:40Picture the slow drift toward sleep as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
14. 2:59Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
15. 3:10There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
16. 3:28Notice where the surrender at the end of the day lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
17. 3:47Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
18. 4:01Keep following the air.
19. 4:10Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
20. 4:22Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
21. 4:34Let the quiet do its work.
22. 4:44Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
23. 4:56Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
24. 5:09No rush to move on.
25. 5:18Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
26. 5:31Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
27. 5:42Let it be this simple.
28. 5:51Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
29. 6:04Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
30. 6:15Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:24Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
32. 6:38Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
33. 6:50Let the pause stretch out.
34. 6:59Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
35. 7:10Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
36. 7:20Small efforts are the whole method.
37. 7:30Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
38. 7:43No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
39. 7:54We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
40. 8:04If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
41. 8:18Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
42. 8:30You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
43. 8:43If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
44. 8:56A short silence. Let it be empty.
45. 9:06We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
46. 9:20If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
47. 9:34A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
48. 9:45If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
49. 9:58If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
50. 10:09I'll step back. You stay here.
51. 10:19Nothing here needs to be efficient.
52. 10:29Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
53. 10:40Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
54. 10:54I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
55. 11:06You are allowed to be unimpressed by the slow drift toward sleep. Indifference is a legitimate response.
56. 11:21When the thoughts that keep the light on presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
57. 11:41Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
58. 11:55If the surrender at the end of the day has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
59. 12:14If the slow drift toward sleep starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
60. 12:31Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
61. 12:44Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
62. 12:56Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
63. 13:07Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
64. 13:20A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
65. 13:31There's no need to try harder than this.
66. 13:42Nothing changes for a moment.
67. 13:51Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
68. 14:04Start to notice the edges of your body again, and the surface you're on.
69. 14:18No need to open your eyes yet.

Questions people ask

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