Soothing Yourself For Better Sleep
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Hi, I'm Jessica Porter, and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Thank you everybody for being here. I love doing these podcasts. They make me deeply, deeply happy. Now that I've cracked the Spotify code, I've heard from listeners in Amsterdam, New Zealand, and

an eight-year-old named Ava, a mom with two little kids, a paramedic, and someone named Melissa with PTSD. So that's just a few of the listeners who've reached out and told me what's going on with them and how this is helping and giving me suggestions about new episodes. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible. So tonight...

soothing yourself for better sleep. One of the most comforting and fascinating things I've learned as a hypnotherapist is that we're all designed to soothe ourselves. It's like the body in conjunction with the subconscious mind, together they're like a healing machine. And left to our own devices, we naturally love and support ourselves. It's just that things get in our way.

Like lousy belief systems we inherit from childhood, negative experiences we have, and just the craziness of the world at large, fight to keep us down and keep us separated from ourselves. But by relaxing really deeply, we actually get under that stuff. And we get to relate to ourselves positively again, giving ourselves permission to feel good.

And consider this, your brain contains dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, all feel-good chemicals, a veritable pharmacy of pleasure right inside our bodies, at our disposal if we focus on feeling good. And when we let that inner pharmacy work for us, and to even govern our experience, we can soothe ourselves at will.

Whether it's at night, as you listen to sleep magic, or when you meditate, or at any time during the day when you decide to simply dial up the joy. There are a few other ways to increase those happy chemicals, by the way. Some of which are getting exercise, sunlight, eating healthy food, hanging out with nice people, cultivating gratitude, being touched, and giving compliments to others. And of course, sleep.

So tonight, we soothe ourselves. Get yourself into a safe and comfortable position, and let's begin. Just allow your eyes to close easily and gently, and bring your awareness to your breathing, and just let your breath be normal and natural. I'm not big into directing people's breathing. I think it creates pressure sometimes. But if, as you're lying down tonight, you feel that you want to

to just gently deepen your breathing. Just bringing a little more oxygen into the cells of your body at the end of the day, then feel free to do that. But really, we bring our awareness to the breath in order to focus the awareness. Your awareness has been outside of you all day, out in the world doing things, thinking things, discovering things. And where your awareness goes, so goes your life.

So by pulling it back to the body, by disciplining the awareness and bringing your focus back to your breath and to your body, you're working the muscle of your awareness. You get to choose what you focus on and what you focus on matters. So bring your awareness now up into your eyelids and imagine that the little muscles of your eyelids are feeling loose and limp and relaxed. Imagine that they're getting heavy.

And as you focus on your eyelids and they're getting heavier and heavier, I'd like you to play the game with me that we play every night where you imagine that your eyelids are so relaxed that they won't open. Imagine that your eyes won't open. And of course they could if we wanted to be logical about it. But we're functioning from the imagination now. So as you imagine your eyelids are so heavy they will not open,

I'd like you to test your eyelid to make sure they won't open by wiggling your eyebrows while your eyes remain shut. Just give them a little wiggle, a little tug. Perfect. Now this relaxation that you have around your eyes is the same quality of relaxation that you will soon have throughout your entire body. And if you've been listening to Sleep Magic for a while, that relaxation is already cascading throughout your whole body.

as everything begins to feel nice and heavy and you're taking yourself deeper and deeper. So let's imagine that relaxation around your eyes sort of spilling back into your brain. Feel that relaxation taking over every single cell of your brain. As your head gets heavy on the pillow, as the muscles of your face soften and let go, as your jaw releases

and relaxes. Good. As all mental tension disappears, as the relaxation moves down now, down your neck, the muscles of your neck are softening and letting go, your throat is relaxing. And any tension that may have built up during the day around your throat, any tension or hesitation you had around expressing yourself, revealing your truth, or just letting yourself

speak has disappeared. Good. As the relaxation moves down into your shoulders now, allow the muscles of your shoulders to just melt like butter into the bed. Your shoulders, they carry so many things on them, literally and figuratively. And all of the responsibilities you carry on your shoulders that you feel consciously and unconsciously. Responsibilities you feel to your family,

your friends, your work, the world at large, responsibilities you feel to the future, and even responsibilities you feel to the past. Just imagine them all falling to the floor right now and let them sit on the floor while you sleep. They're there and you can pick any or all of them up in the morning, but for right now, your only responsibility is to yourself. It feels nice to let go.

As the relaxation moves down your arms now, allow your arms to feel nice and heavy, like they're made of marble. And as the relaxation moves down into your hands, down into your fingers, allow them to to feel heavy, heavy and relaxed. And while you're listening to this recording, you may be aware of other sounds going on around you, and that's okay.

Because from now on, no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on, any sound that you hear, whether it's someone else snoring, a television in another room, traffic on the streets, those sounds will actually cause you to go deeper and even deeper into relaxation. I know it's counterintuitive, but if you've been here for a while, you know

that by relaxing you can make those counterintuitive decisions and just open to the sound. Bring your awareness to those sounds now and just let them be. Let them enter you as vibrations and take you deeper and deeper and even deeper. Good, good. The only sound you need to pay any attention to is the sound of my voice and the sound of my voice is also taking you deeper and deeper

And as you relax tonight, even the sound of my voice will begin to feel far away or that you're not listening to it anymore. And that's fine, as we imagine the relaxation now moving down into your chest cavity. Just imagine that warm wave of relaxation moving down inside of you, softening, expanding, and relaxing your upper body.

as it moves down deep into your belly now, softening and relaxing your belly, your pelvis. Your pelvis is feeling heavy on the bed. Your whole torso relaxing, releasing, letting go as the relaxation moves down into your legs and your legs are feeling nice and heavy like they're made of marble. As the relaxation moves down now into your feet,

the soles of your feet and your toes feeling heavy, heavy, beautiful. Imagine now that you're standing at a door. It's a red door and on it are the words control room. This is the control room of your subconscious mind. This is the control room of your body, of your life. Before you open the door, I'd like you to understand

That you're leaving the outside world now, where we all have a tendency to react. We react to people and ideas and media. In the outside world we often value ourselves according to the values of others. We compare ourselves. But as you cross the threshold into your control room, you will make the journey to your inner world, where you are in the center.

and where you determine your experience. Because the most important and powerful relationship you have in your life is with yourself. So push the door open as you enter this beautiful, comfortable room. It feels so good to be in here. It is perfectly designed and furnished just for you. This is where you control your life.

Some functions in your body and mind occur on an autonomic level and seem to be working all by themselves, but you do have some influence even over them. You notice on one of the walls is a set of dials, levers, and buttons all representing different functions in your mind and body, like relaxation, your immune system response, your emotional reactions,

These are among the many responses and systems you influence. As you stand at the control panel, you notice the large relaxation lever and see that it is pushed down because you are deeply. Now place your hand on this lever and as you lift it just a millimeter, you become slightly more alert. And now as you push it down again, you're going deeper.

As you've been practicing with sleep magic every night, you've trained your muscles and your nervous system to take you to this safe, calm, peaceful place inside of you. And every time you practice this, you get better and better at it. Every time you practice it, you go deeper and deeper. Now that relaxation occurs whenever you want it to.

or whenever you hear my voice. Good, you're doing great. Next to the control panel is a full-length mirror. So I'd like you to imagine that you're looking in the mirror and what you see is yourself from today. Notice how you appear. Are you peaceful, calm, tired, stressed out? It doesn't matter. There's no right or wrong.

Just allow your subconscious mind to present the image you have of yourself from today. And now this version of you is stepping out of the mirror and the two of you embrace. Just take your time. Notice how it feels to embrace yourself. Now whisper in their ear, which is really your ear, I know you did your best today. Thank you for showing up.

It's okay to let go now. It's safe to relax now. I celebrate all the successes you achieved and all the things you did to take care of me and others. I forgive you for any mistake you made today. I accept your strengths. I accept your weaknesses. I accept your humanity. It's okay to relax. I give you permission to go deeper.

than you've ever gone before. I give you permission to enjoy this delicious release into relaxation. Notice how this version of yourself is relaxing into your arms. Notice any tension from the day, or resistance, or stress dissolving. And as you allow this part of yourself to release and relax,

Your own system is flooding itself with dopamine and oxytocin and endorphin. And you feel good. It's okay to feel good. It's okay. And as you relax, going deeper and deeper, the person from the mirror is becoming your adolescent self. This is you as a teenager. Still developing. Still growing. Still figuring yourself out.

Take a good look at this version of yourself. What do you see? Now embrace this inner teenager. Notice how it feels as you whisper in their ear, "I love your passion and enthusiasm. I love your boldness. I love your naivete. It's okay that you don't know everything. I embrace your mistakes. You have to make mistakes in order to grow.

I embrace your insecurity and awkwardness. I embrace your teenage arrogance. And it's okay. It's okay to be yourself. I know better than anyone that you're going to make it through whatever you're going through. And I love you just the way you are. Notice how this teenage part of you responds. You're doing great.

Now this teenager is becoming a child. The little kid that lives inside of you. Take a look at this version of yourself. What do you see? Now give this kid a hug. Take your time as you whisper in their ear. I love your innocence. I love your openness. I love your playfulness and your imagination. I love your heart. I'm sorry if you got hurt.

at any point. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you completely, but I will protect you now. And it's okay to relax. It's okay to be yourself. It's okay to have your feelings. You're safe now. And I know better than anyone that you make it through whatever you had to go through. And it's over. And I'm proud of you. You can relax now.

I love you just the way you are. Notice how this child version of you is responding. You're doing great. Now the child is becoming an infant in your arms and you just hold this baby. Soothe this baby. It's okay to relax. I'm protecting you. You're safe now. Notice how this tiny version of you responds. Now the baby is becoming even smaller.

And moving into your heart. Because this is where you live. Feel the connection to your inner self. Enjoy this connection. You notice there's a big, comfortable, reclining chair in the middle of the room. Sit down in it and allow yourself to relax. There's a dial on one of the arms of the chair. It says joy. Turn the dial up.

just a little bit as a lovely warm wave of positive energy is moving through your brain and body. The perfect amount for you tonight. I choose. I choose joy. I allow. I surrender to joy. I accept joy. I claim joy. I'm open to joy.

As you go deeper and deeper, you have the power to relax yourself and to soothe yourself and to choose your inner experience and celebrate being alive. It's like a little secret you have with yourself. No matter what anyone else says, you can choose to feel good.

No matter what anyone else believes, you can choose to feel good. No matter what anyone else feel, you can choose to feel good. Just as you feel good right now. And every time you imagine turning up the joy dial, you feel better and better. Now you bring the dial to a comfortable place for you to sleep.

You feel good but very relaxed and now the recliner is becoming a bed and the lights and screens of your control room are going dark. Everything is still working but it's peaceful and quiet. As you close your eyes connect with that inside. As you drift and float and dream.