8 Sleep Meditations for a Good Night’s Rest

We’ve all heard of counting sheep to help us drift off to sleep. Counting breath is similar, but keeps us connected to our bodies by placing our attention on a process that’s familiar and well known. 

The simplicity of breath awareness allows the mind to relax. The focus on the physical process of breathing keeps us present and holds distractions at bay. The ease and repetition of counting to 10 lulls us into a softening that’s experienced by both body and mind.

Meditation helps us fall asleep by teaching us to let go of the thoughts that keep us awake. Without mindfulness, we often identify with our thoughts. We become attached to our thoughts and it’s difficult not to chase them. If our thoughts are negative, we become increasingly self-critical, believing our thoughts are an indication of failure or lack of self control. The more we fight against our thoughts, the stronger they become. 

Mindfulness teaches us to recognize our thoughts as merely energy. This energy arises and dissipates, similar to clouds in the sky. We are not our thoughts, we are the sky itself, the basis of awareness from which thoughts arise. By identifying as the sky, we give our thoughts space to float on by. 

Body scan meditations are excellent for sleep because they are grounding and deeply relaxing. As awareness shifts from the crown of your head toward your toes, consciousness drops too, inducing sleep. 

Using body awareness as an anchor for the mind also keeps the mind present. Tasking the mind with observing the physical form keeps it from ruminating or worrying. Each time you notice you’ve run off with a thought or emotion, ground your awareness and hold it present by returning to the body itself.

Visualizations help us fall asleep by carrying us to a place in which we feel spacious and comfortable. Nature is one such place. Because the mind takes the shape of that which is in front of it, open skies, expansive landscapes, and the infinite horizon of the ocean each remind us that we too are spacious and infinite. 

The ocean is also a place we associate with vacation, enjoyment and getting away. By recreating the details of such an environment in our mind, we recreate the feel-good feelings associated with being in a natural place. Awareness of this connection helps us return to our natural state, one of peace, calm and contentment. 

When we’re new to mindfulness we practice meditation by working with an anchor to which we tether the wandering mind. When we notice the mind has wandered, we return to our anchor. With the practice of spacious awareness, even distractions themselves can become the object of meditation. We notice everything that arises in our awareness with an open curiosity. 

This challenging practice asks us to notice and allow everything, without attaching or chasing. As part of the process of falling asleep, spacious awareness can help us work with thoughts, sounds or sensations that may be keeping us awake by asking us not to push them away, but to witness our relationship and reaction to them. 

When we’re lying in bed and trying to fall asleep, reviewing the day or looking ahead to tomorrow can keep us awake, especially if we let our thoughts about what happened or what might happen pull us off center. Equanimity is the ability to remain balanced, in spite of great success or failure, stress or joy, or any other opposites which can pull us toward attachment or aversion. The quality of equanimity brings inner balance and inner peace. 

Equanimity is not a state of dullness, but rather one of loving acceptance. We apply the same open curiosity, or even gratitude, to each of the day’s events. By remaining stable in this way, we give ourselves the gift of calm, making it far easier to fall asleep.

Lying in bed with thoughts of self-criticism, worry or doubt can keep us up at night. A compassion practice helps us let go of these negative feelings by opening our hearts and guiding us to a place of peace and ease. When we recognize that our pain and suffering is human and we’re not the only ones who feel the way we do, we’re better able to give ourselves grace. 

While self-compassion is a meaningful practice, sending compassion to others not only offers the same heart-opening benefits, but eases our focus on self. All of our problems stem from worrying about ourselves too much, while all our joy comes from thinking about others. A regular compassion practice puts our troubles in perspective and makes it easier to sleep.

Tonglen, or taking and sending, is a Tibetan Buddhist compassion practice that combines a visualization with breath awareness. This soothing meditation teaches us to recognize our role in relieving the pain and suffering of others, and the power we have to energetically help all beings with the limitless source of love and kindness that lives within our hearts. 

Tonglen meditation is a wonderful way to drift off to sleep because it combines awareness of the rhythm of breath with a peaceful and loving state of mind.