A sleep story. Voice for about 13 minutes, then it fades out. No bell, no count back. Music underneath, and it keeps going after the voice stops
An evening beach with nobody on it, the sand still warm, and a dune to lie down in.
About 13 minutes, tense and release first. Only listen where it is safe to sleep.
Tense and release through the body first, because that is the part that does the work and the body usually goes under before the mind. Then the walk. The sea does not try to be anything other than the sea. It comes in, it goes out. Your breath is doing exactly the same thing and you are not running either of them.
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Thank you for sitting with me.
Steven
Who this is for
You get into bed and start trying to fall asleep, which is the one approach that reliably does not work.
Falling asleep is not something you do. It is something you allow. The body usually goes under before the mind, and there is a way of telling the body it is time.
Only listen where it is safe to fall asleep. Not driving, not doing anything that needs you.
What happens in this meditation
Tense and release through the whole body first. Feet, legs, torso, arms, then the shoulders and face, then everything at once. That is the part that does the work.
Then an evening beach with nobody on it. The sand still warm from the day, the sun going down one side and the moon coming up the other. You walk, you find a dune that is exactly right, and you lie down in it.
The sea does not try to be anything other than the sea. It comes in and it goes out. Your breath is doing the same and you are not running either of them.
How to get the most from it
The file runs about fifty minutes but I stop talking around thirteen minutes in, and it fades away to nothing after that. There is no ending to reach and nothing to wake you at the end of the track.
Do not skip the tense and release to get to the beach. That first part is the bit with the evidence behind it.
Phone face down, nothing queued to play after it.
Questions people ask
Why does it say fifty minutes when the notes say thirteen?
Both are right. Thirteen minutes of me talking, then a long quiet fade rather than a hard stop, so nothing jolts you at the end.
What if I am still awake when the talking stops?
Then you have a good while of quiet left and a body that is a long way further along than it was. Stay where you are.
Is there a bell at the end?
No, and there never is on the sleep ones. It does not bring you back, deliberately.
Read along
The transcript
It follows the audio. Press any line to jump there.
sleep-story · sleep · sea
Read the transcript
Welcome to Falling Asleep By The Sea. I'm Steven Webb and before we begin just make sure you're
safe, warm and you're able to fall asleep. Do not listen to this while driving or doing anything that
needs your attention.
And you can either use headphones or just have this on your phone or whatever you play it on. It
really doesn't matter.
Whatever you're most comfortable with. This
is your time to sink into comfort and let your whole system slow down.
Let's settle down and start to fall asleep.
So take a breath that just feels natural, nothing forced, just a gentle
arrival in this moment.
And just let your body settle.
If you're not quite in a comfortable place just wiggle your body a little bit until you're in the place
where you know you like to fall asleep. No one knows your body like you do.
And we're going to go through the body and do a tense and release. And this is a way of
telling the body and the muscles just it's time to relax and go sleep. And very often the body will
fall asleep before the mind. So
we do this by just tense up your feet and your toes, tense them and hold them and just let
them go and let them relax. Let them become really heavy. And
now we'll do it in both the legs. Just tense up both legs really really tight.
And just let them both relax into the bed now, just become really heavy.
And now we'll do the torso and your bum and all that area, just really tense it up in your
belly.
Just let it go and you start feeling that rush of relaxation go through your body.
Now just do your arms and your fingers and your thumb, just tense them all up really tight,
hold it and just let them go. And
now we're going to do the shoulders and the neck and the head and the face and just all of
it in together now just tense it all up, it doesn't matter what you look like and just let it
all go.
And we're just going to do that exercise one more time but we're going to do the whole body. So
just a moment you're going to tense up everything. So
one two three tense everything from your eyes to your toes to your fingers everything and
now just let it all go. And now feel it go deeper down into the bed feeling really healthy
And now your body will just start going sleep by itself.
Your body knows how to fall asleep, it's just allowing it to happen
allowing the breath to settle.
There's nothing you need to do right now,
There's nothing you need to fix. The
body knows how to fall asleep.
It's only when we try to fall asleep or we get involved,
one of the real key things about falling asleep is allowing it to happen.
Have you ever noticed when you give up trying to go to sleep, you're suddenly asleep.
So we're not going to try to go sleep tonight, we're just gonna enjoy the walk along the beach.
Your body's already started drifting off.
And as your mind's just going on this story, just become aware of any little last tense areas of your
body, maybe in your shoulders or legs, just give them permission to relax. Just
invite them to fall asleep.
And then thank you, thank your body for fall asleep
It's just your mind left now.
And if you do notice a slight discomfort, just move it very gently as not to disturb it.
And just imagine walking along the beach.
It could be one of your favourite beaches or just a beach that you've completely made up.
And you can hear the sea. At the moment the sea is quite close.
You can feel the sound beneath your feet.
You can feel the warmth left over from the day.
You can see the sun just out over the horizon, just about to dip down over.
And just as the sun's going down, the moon comes up the other side.
As we continue walking, we're just really appreciative of the sound of the sea.
And the way the sea doesn't try to be anything other than the sea. It
just comes in with the tides and it goes back out again.
Each wave doing what it does.
Just like your breath.
Each breath doing what it does.
You don't have to tell your body how to breathe.
Your body knows how to breathe. Your
body knows how to fall asleep.
And the air is still warm. The
sky fades into the deep colours of the evening. There's
no one else around. Just you and this quiet shoreline.
Just you and the waves. You and the sand.
And you notice just ahead there's a nice little sand dune.
You walk over to it and you notice it's perfect for sitting down and watching the tide go out
And you notice this light coolness in the air.
Just the perfect temperature for falling asleep.
Because you know this place is safe. You know no one's around. You
decide to lie down
here in the waves.
The sand is perfectly holding you.
And you know the sea is going to go out and uncover a lovely open beach.
All that open space and a gentle breeze.
And then it's going to come back in for the morning. And
you know you've got a good night's sleep ahead
here in the sea in the background.
Feeling completely safe.
The air wraps around you.
There's nothing to worry about. There's
nothing to think about.
Your body is already asleep
It's just your mind
slowly drifting off.
Just allow it to happen.
As the tide drifts out further and further
gentler and gentler
Until the waves become almost distant. Almost a memory
