You are not trying to fall asleep by force tonight. You are only going to do one gentle thing, over and over: return to the breath. Each time the mind drifts off into the dark, you come back, softly, without frustration. This meditation makes that quiet returning the whole path down into sleep, where each gentle return loosens you a little further from the day.
Best for: anyone whose mind wanders and races at bedtime, who gets frustrated trying to quiet their thoughts, or who wants a simple anchor to drift off by.
Use it when: your thoughts keep wandering as you try to sleep, when frustration at being awake keeps you awake, when you can't settle a busy mind at night, or when you need an easy rhythm to follow into rest.
How it helps: as you let go of the goal of sleeping and simply drift, notice, and return, the body grows heavier with each return and the breath slowly takes over. Somewhere along the way the returns grow slower, until coming back becomes letting go entirely and the dark stops being something you are awake inside of.
A roughly ten-minute guided breathing meditation in a calm voice over gentle ambient sound, from The Silent Ember Sleep collection.