Let this be the end of your day. There is nothing left to solve tonight, nothing to fix or finish. Wherever you are lying, let your body grow heavy and let the bed hold all of your weight. This is a slow, gentle drift down into the deep and easy quiet where sleep is already waiting.
Best for: anyone who has trouble falling asleep, who lies awake with a busy mind, who wants to wind down at bedtime and let the day's worries go.
Use it when: you can't switch your mind off at night; unfinished tasks keep circling as you try to rest; you want a soothing bedtime meditation to listen to as you fall asleep; the day followed you to bed and you need to set it down.
How it helps: it softens your body part by part, lets busy thoughts pass like distant cars without following them, and sends a slow warmth up through you that dissolves the last of the tension. Worries are set down at the edge of the room to wait until morning. By the end the voice fades as you intended, and the drifting carries you the rest of the way under.
A roughly ten-minute guided breathing meditation in a calm voice over gentle ambient sound, from The Silent Ember Sleep collection.