Meditation Techniques for Falling Asleep
Do These in Bed

There is a specific frustration in being exhausted and awake. You have done everything right - early night, no screens, curtains closed - and your brain has chosen this moment to review the year.

Meditation for sleep works by giving attention something dull and gentle to hold, which is a much kinder brief at midnight than emptying your mind. Our meditation for sleep sessions are guided live.

Why a Boring Focus Works

A mind that is spinning is looking for something to do, and it will keep finding things - tomorrow, an old conversation, a noise downstairs. Handing it something simple and slightly monotonous, like counting breaths or moving attention down through the body, gives it an occupation without giving it stimulation. If you lose track, you start again. Losing track is expected; noticing that you lost track is the practice.

Four to Try Tonight

Pick one and stay with it for a week or so before trying another. Chopping and changing every night gives the mind something new to think about, which is the opposite of the goal.

• Body scan - attention moving slowly from the top of your head down to your feet. Long, dull and effective.
• Counting the exhale - count each out-breath up to ten, then start at one again. If you lose count, begin at one without comment.
• Longer out-breath - in for four, out for six. Works lying flat and needs nothing else.
• Naming five sounds - notice five sounds in the room without following any of them. Useful when the mind is very busy.

Build the Half Hour Before

What happens before bed matters as much as the technique. Dim the lights properly rather than half-heartedly. Put the phone somewhere that requires standing up. Keep the last stretch of the evening slow - a couple of supported poses, a shower, a few pages of something undemanding. You are making the runway long enough that sleep can land on its own.

If You Are Still Awake

Lying there getting cross about being awake is its own kind of exhausting. If twenty minutes or so has passed and nothing is happening, get up, keep the lights low, and do something quiet until you feel drowsy, then head back. Rest counts for something in its own right, and one difficult night is much easier to absorb than a habit of lying in bed frustrated. Results vary. A slow evening yoga practice pairs well with any of this.