Guided Night Meditation For Sleep

A gentle guided night meditation for the end of the day. Lie back in a small cedar canoe on a still lake at night. The moon is nearly full, the frogs are calling along the shore, and the rope that ties you to the jetty quietly slips free. As you drift out onto the dark, silver water, we let the day go, one piece at a time. Inside this meditation: • three slow breaths, then simple breath counting from one to five, and the moonlight path to lengthen the out-breath; • the day reviewed backwards, from tonight to this morning, each moment set on the water like a leaf; • "May you rest": a short, gentle wish of rest for the people you met today, for everyone asleep along the shore, and for yourself; • listening to the stillness, the heron in the shallows, a beaver going home, the five senses settling one by one; • a slow drift into mist and sleep. Nothing to fix. Nothing to remember. Only still water, holding you. CHAPTERS 0:00 Pushing Off 8:52 Leaving the Day on the Shore 11:30 Counting the Breath 20:45 Ripples 24:26 The Moonlight Path 27:52 The Day, Backwards 34:58 A Small Good Thing 38:39 Leaves on the Water 40:57 May You Rest 50:26 Still Water 54:21 The Heron 59:22 The Five Senses 1:06:50 Drifting into Sleep 1:10:57 Mist on the Lake