PAUSE to simply BE…
Exercise- Meditation for Falling Asleep
by meditative - July 19th, 2010.Filed under: Attending Meditation Exercises.
[audio:MM-Falling-Asleep-Audio.mp3]
Transitional states of falling asleep or waking up deepen our capacity for healing. Adapted from “Boundless Healing”~ Tulku Thondup
Introduction: There are two pivotal periods of the day when meditation can be especially fruitful- when you are falling asleep and when you are waking up. It is at these times that the mind is in a transition state- freer and more open to the power of healing. With this state of greater open awareness, you leave more room or space for healing energies to root more deeply and firmly in the mind.
In general, this meditation should be kept very simple and just focus on the feelings of warmth and openness in your whole body.
Practice: Devote 5 or 10 minutes before falling asleep- using your mind’s eye to see your body in its entirety- as a body of light. Breathing naturally and normally, feel that you are seeing the billions of cells of your body in the form of cells of light- from your head to the soles of your feet.
Feel that every boundless cell of your body is filled with healing energy and blissful warmth. Immerse yourself in the boundless healing energy of your body.
As best you can, open to the feeling of relaxation, radiance, warmth, and peace. Allow your open awareness to become one with this experience, like water flowing and merging into water. Gently allowing this process to be without reaching, forcing, or grasping. With that feeling, allow yourself to go to sleep.
If you wake in the middle of the night, try to immerse yourself again in the awareness of the boundless healing energy of your body- breathing into this space and “light” of body- and gently go back to sleep.