- [Kelly Boys, Mindfulness Trainer] - Hi, I'm Kelly Boys. Welcome to the Heart Space Breathing Practice For Sleep. This meditation is designed to allow you to get in touch with your heart, with your connection to the divine and the compassion and gratitude that you have. It's also a powerful remedy for insomnia or overthinking. Okay, let's begin. Let your body get as comfortable as you can, supported by the surface you're resting upon, allowing your eyes to gently close. Arms and hands can be at your side where you can rest one palm on your heart, one palm on your belly. Whatever's comfortable. We'll begin simply by noticing the breath, the flow of the breath, in and out. Perhaps your belly or chest rises and falls with the breath coming and going. And can you allow any thoughts, anything that came before this to begin to fade into the background. A nonjudgmental sense of attention and kindness, simply noticing your breath. Now, bring attention to your heart area as you breathe in and out. Noticing anything that you feel, just breathing in and out, sensing your heart. Perhaps getting in touch with that part of you that welcomes yourself just as you are. Doesn't judge. Is loving and kind. And if that part of you feels small or nonexistent then we're gonna give that some loving attention in this practice, cultivating a sense of care toward yourself. So breathing in and out, attention on your heart, the sense of non-judgment towards your entire experience. As you breathe in and out, you can also take this moment to connect to the divine, to spirit, allowing yourself to feel encouraged supported by the divine. Thoughts still fading into the background as you breathe in and out, heart center. Now let's begin the heart space breathing practice, taking an inhale, sensing your heart and then can you exhale out into your entire body. Inhaling back to the heart, and then exhale all the way out. Tips of fingers, soles of feet, crown of head. With your in breath though, your attention draws back in toward your heart. The exhale goes out into your whole body. Begin to get the sense of a rhythm for this practice as you go at your own pace, following the flow of breath in and out. If you notice your attention wandering to a thought about something that happened today or to tomorrow, gently and kindly allow your attention to be redirected with an inhalation to your heart, exhalation whole body. You may feel as you exhale your cells are filling up with the qualities from your heart, like care or nonjudgmentalness. A feeling of welcoming yourself just as you are. No need to be different in this moment. Just breathing in, breathing out. Being here. You may feel a sense of gratitude or compassion that flows from your heart. If so, with an exhale, can you allow that to be carried into each cell of your body, letting your body catch up with what your heart knows. Now we'll extend the exhalation even further into the space around your body. So breathing into the heart and exhaling out into the space around your body. So begin to welcome the space around your body with the exhale and the inhale draws attention all the way back into the heart, lengthening the exhale to the space around the body. And go at your own pace, following your own breath in and out. As you do this practice, get in touch with the gratitude, any compassion and equality of welcoming, not judging. You may find the stems from your own heart towards yourself. You may find it comes from your connection with spirit. Wherever it comes from, can you feel the naturalness of it? This feeling of being okay just as you are. Getting in touch with the part of you that also knows this to be true. As you breathe in, breathe out, heart space breathing. If it feels right to you, as you exhale, can you allow your attention to flow out into the room and to the building and to your town and beyond? But as you exhale, you're exhaling a sense of compassion, of gratitude. And as you inhale, you're drawing attention back to connection with your heart, with spirit. Exhaling the fruits, the gifts of the practice and inhaling connection with your own qualities of welcoming presence. Let yourself be creative with the practice, breathing in and breathing out, allowing any distractions to truly fade into the background, giving yourself this moment for a sacred meditation, heart space breathing. So continue at your own pace with any part of the practice that feels comfortable for you. As you do so, perhaps feeling a sense of gratitude toward yourself for the practice and setting an intention to allow your body to drift off into a deep state of sleep, having cleared your mind, connected with your heart, and allowed yourself to do this heart space breathing practice. Thank you.