Taking Off Our Masks: Exploring Authenticity
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Hi there, 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, for subscribing, for leaving reviews, or reaching out to me on social media, just spreading the word in general. I'm really grateful for that. And I've been hearing a lot lately from young women who are

college students or in their early 20s who have found comfort and deep sleep from listening to sleep magic. And it's funny, you know, I got into hypnosis when I was 20 and I must say it was a game changer that set me up for an entirely different life than the one I might have had. It showed me like the secret back door to my own mind and that I had depths I had never accessed before.

So thanks for letting me know that this is helping, and I'm honored to be passing on this tool to others so you can see what you are actually made of. Cool? Before we get started, let's hear a quick word from our sponsors who make this free content possible. So tonight, taking off our masks, exploring authenticity while you sleep.

We've all had the experience of wearing masks, actual masks, over the last little while, and it's been an interesting collective experience. Masks themselves are fascinating things, and they go way back, showing up in every ancient culture. Masks were used in sacred ceremonies, to identify tribes, to perform deception, and to aid in seduction.

Masks have also been used in theater for thousands of years, amplifying character and expression, permitting gender bending and mistaken identity. Masks release us from our normal identities, and there's real freedom in that. But what masks do we wear in our daily lives? And I don't mean physical masks. I mean emotional and psychological patterns.

that we conjure for the situation at hand. Maybe you wear a good mom mask or the mask of a perfect friend. Maybe you have a job that makes you don the costume or mask of a hero or a warrior at work. Just think for a second about the masks we put on for social media. Whoa. We all wear masks. But the great thing about sleep is that we get to take them off and just be ourselves.

And when I say ourselves, I kind of just mean energy, human consciousness, the stuff of existence. Even the mask of self gets loose while we sleep, as we slip back into a very primal, unconscious state, and nature gets its hands on us again and heals us, bringing us back to balance. It's a lovely time, so let's enjoy it.

Get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently and bring your awareness to your breathing. Just monitoring this wave of your breath, this gentle rise and fall happening all the time. What a beautiful little pattern, your own little metronome. Always here, always here for you to come back to. Good.

Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids and imagine that your eyelids are feeling sleepy and heavy, relaxed. And as you allow this sleepiness, this heaviness to take over your eyelids, I'd like you to imagine that your eyelids are so heavy that they won't open. What you say? They won't open? Yeah, we're going to pretend that they won't open.

So now I'd like you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open by wiggling your eyebrows. Just give them a tug while your eyes remain closed. Seems a little weird but we're like faking out your brain. Good. Now this lovely heaviness you have in your eyelids is the same quality of relaxation you will soon experience throughout your entire body. You may even be taking yourself there right now. But let's just imagine that heaviness in the eyelids now

falling back into your brain, that heaviness taking over every single cell of your brain. Your head feeling so heavy, like a bowling ball on the bed. And it feels so nice to let your head release and sink. Allow the muscles of your face to soften and let go. As you imagine warm

waves of relaxation lapping up against the beach of your mind. Just feel those warm waves of relaxation lapping up against the beach of your mind as all mental tension disappears, disappears. As that nice warm relaxation that you had up in your eyelids moves down into your neck and throat, softening the muscles of your neck

giving them permission to let go. As the relaxation moves down into your shoulders, the muscles of your shoulders sort of melting like butter to the bed. And as your shoulders are relaxing, you're going deeper and deeper and even deeper. And that warm, relaxing heaviness is moving down your arms. And your arms are becoming loose and limp, like the arms of a rag doll.

It feels so nice to let go and you don't even need to keep listening to me because my voice is simply taking you deeper and deeper and the sounds going on around you are taking you deeper and deeper. Just relax and notice the sound going on around you and let them take you deeper. So amazing. Good.

As the warm relaxation moves down now into your chest, just allow this warm relaxation to open and soften you from the inside. Like this warm relaxation in your ribcage is spiraling around your heart. Just imagine that you're holding your own. Just be gentle with your heart. Accept it completely. Thank it.

for doing its job and for sending out energy. But it can rest now and just be with you, good, as that warm relaxation moves down deeper into your torso, relaxing and softening internal organs, moving down even deeper into your belly so your pelvis is feeling so heavy on the bed.

and any muscles you may hold unconsciously during the day in your lower back or your belly are letting go. Good. As the relaxation moves down your legs now, this lovely, delicious, heavy, warm feeling moving all the way down your legs, into your feet, into the soles of your feet, and all the way down into your toes.

every single toe feeling heavy and completely relaxed. Good. As you imagine that you're standing at the top of your own personal staircase of relaxation, there are 10 steps on the staircase. And with every step you take down the staircase, you will go deeper and even deeper

into relaxation as you stand at the top and step down to step number nine, going deeper and even deeper, seven, six, going deep and even deeper, four, three, two, and one. You are standing in front of a door and on the door are the words, safe room. Enter your safe room.

This is the place where you feel most secure, entirely safe, and completely yourself. Maybe it's a place from your present life, or perhaps it's a place from your past. It could be a place in your imagination. No matter, you are here now. In your safe room, you can be yourself. There's a large, comfortable recliner in this space.

A place where you can relax and take yourself deeper and even deeper. You sit down in this chair, recline, and get very comfortable. Across from this chair is a screen. And for right now, it is dark. As you relax in this chair, I'd like you to imagine how you feel when you're at work. Allow the work feelings to come over you.

How does your energy change when you're at work? Is there tension? Urgency? Are you playing a role at work that requires a certain identity? Just for a moment, let yourself slip into work mode. And now the screen lights up and you see yourself on the screen in work mode. Notice the energy you are emitting when you're in work mode. Honor it.

Thank it. You probably need a version of this work mask during the day. Look down from the screen and you notice there's a button on the arm of your comfortable reclining chair. It is a big blue button and underneath it is the word soften. Push the button now and watch as the version of yourself on the screen

softens and releases from the patterns of work mode. And now the image of you on the screen is more relaxed and happy. You're still you, but you've released the patterns of your work self. If you need them, you can pick them up again. But for now, you are free. Feel yourself expand. I am unique. I am whole.

I am free. Well done. Now I'd like you to imagine the feeling you have with your family. You may not feel you need to wear a mask with your family, but perhaps sometimes you feel the need to play a role. Perfect parent, good child, superior or subordinate sibling. Let's begin by imagining one of your family members.

Choose the first person comes to mind. How does your energy shift with this member of your family? Just feel it in your body. Is there a sense of obligation? A desire to control? A desire to change? Do you play a role with this person that has created a certain identity or mask? Allow your body to slip into this mode

just for a moment. Now look up on the screen and see yourself in this mode around this person. Notice the energy that you're emitting when you're interacting with this family member. Honor it. Thank it. You may need this mode during the day, but you don't need it now. Push the blue button on the arm of your chair. Soften.

As you watch this version of yourself on the screen, softening, releasing from this pattern with this family member. And now the image of you on the screen looks happy and relaxed, just being you. You can pick these patterns up at any time if you need them. But for now, you are free. Feel yourself expand. I am unique.

I am whole. I am free. And now we imagine a different family member. Choose the next person who comes to mind. How does your energy change with this member of your family? Just feel it in your body. Is there a need to take care of this person? To rescue this person? Or a different set of feelings altogether?

What is the pattern at play? Do you have a role with this person that's created a certain identity or mask? Allow yourself to slip into this mode just for a moment. Now look up to the screen and see yourself in this mode. Notice the energy you're emitting when you're interacting with this particular family member.

Honor it. Thank it. You may need this mode during the day sometimes, but you don't need it now. Push the blue button on the arm of your chair. Soften as yourself on the screen softens and releases from this pattern. And now the version of you on the screen is relaxed and happy just being you.

Feel yourself expand. I am unique. I am whole. I am free. Now we address any mask you may wear for the world. Imagine how you feel inside when you think about interacting with the world. Is there tension? Urgency? Any other number of feelings? Are you a defender or a hero?

a critic or a victim? When you imagine the world, how does it make you feel? What mask are you wearing for the world? As you look up on the screen and see yourself wearing your mask for the world, notice the energy that you are emitting when you relate to the world and honor it, thank it,

You may choose to pick up this mask during the day, but you don't need it right now. Push the blue button on the arm of your chair, soften, and watch as yourself on the screen softens, and you release from this pattern with the world. And now the image of you on the screen is relaxed and happy just being you.

as you expand. I am unique. I am whole. I am free. You are more than your masks. As you relax into the chair, going deeper and deeper, energy from the center of the earth is moving up through your body, filling you and healing you, and the ceiling of your safe room opens.

As the stars shine down on you, filling you, healing you, you are an essential, beautiful, and unique part of nature. Feel your energy expanding. I am unique. I am whole. I am free.