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Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.
~Emily Dickinson
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. ~Albert Schweitzer
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“Fall into Sleep” & “Still of the Night”
From Meditation 24/7 by Camille Maurine and Lorin Roche
“Fall into Sleep” is a 7-minute track that guides you through a brief review and letting-go of your day, encourages you to enjoy the comfort of your bed and breathing, and helps you feel a sense of being held in love as you fall into sleep. “Still of the Night” is a 7-minute track that helps you find comfort in the peace and quiet of the darkness and prepare to return to sleep. “Heartwarming” is nice in combination with either of these meditations to keep your emphasis on pleasant feelings, instead of worry, when you are awake at night. |
“ PM Yoga Meditations”
From AM & PM Yoga Meditations (2-CD set) by Gael Chiarella
All four 15-minute tracks on the PM Meditations CD prepare you for sleep. The first track, “Letting Go and Completing Your Day” helps you review both the hard and good parts of your day, forgive yourself and others, and let go of your experiences. The body scan track is described below. “Restful & Rejuvenating Sleep” contains guided imagery that helps you set your intention for your dreams, visualize crossing a bridge in a peaceful natural setting, and find a spiritual guide for your journey into sleep. The final track, “Lullaby with the Breath,” helps you create the breath pulse that promotes sleep: exhalations are twice as long as inhalations. Relax into Restful Sleep by Carolyn McManus
This CD includes two tracks: a progressive relaxation for restful sleep and a relaxing body scan for restful sleep. |
“Clearing the Field”
From Yoga for Emotional Flow (2-CD set) by Stephen Cope
This 30-minute track is designed for preparing the mind and body for sleep by helping you review your day and relax your body. This meditation can also help you develop new neuro-pathways in your brain that focus on the moments of happiness and gratitude in your life. |
Sound Sleep by Kelly Howell
This CD is composed of one track: an hour of music and frequencies with no words that is designed to promote delta brain waves, which are the brainwaves you have when you sleep. Another Howell CD, Healing Meditation, also targets the delta waves—it contains a half-hour guided meditation with frequencies followed by a half-hour of music and frequencies. Just because I find the frequencies pleasant, doesn’t mean you won’t find them grating, so before investing, listen first to a sample at http://www.brainsync.com/titles/soundsleep.asp and http://www.brainsync.com/titles/healingmed.asp. |
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There is
a vitality,
a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you
into action, and because there is only one
of you
in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it,
it will
never exist through
any other medium and will be lost. ~Martha Graham |
“Coming Home”: 7 minutes
From Meditation 24/7 by Camille Maurine and Lorin Roche
This brief body scan guides you step by step from head to feet and works nicely as the first step in a series of meditations.
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“Body Scan”: 10 minutes
From Innerlife: Ten Minutes to Relax (2 CDs) by Paul Overman
This body scan doesn’t systematically guide you from head to toe. Instead, it focuses on expanding the boundaries of your whole body, breathing into the hands up the arms to the head, from your feet up your legs, and then other areas of tension. |
“Opening the Energy Centers”: 10 minutes
From Creative Visualization Meditations by Shakti Gawain
This cleansing scan involves bathing your 6 energy centers with golden light in sequence from head to foot. Then you visualize circulating the golden light around your body from side to side, front to back, and up through your center and down along the outside of your body. The next track, “Affirmations,” can be a nice way to integrate the positive feelings generated in your body with your mind.
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“Guided Relaxation & Closing Meditation”: 15 minutes
From Breathe to Beat the Blues by Amy Weintraub
The first half of this track has you briefly chant the tones of ah, oh, and om and then guides you through a lying-down body scan that proceeds from foot to head while Amy repeatedly intones the word “relax.” The second half of the track is primarily relaxing music. At the end, Amy encourages loving-kindness toward yourself and a loved one and helps you sit back up and go back to your activities.
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“Relaxation Body Scan”: 15 minutes
From AM & PM Yoga Meditations (2-CD set) by Gael Chiarella
This body scan promotes relaxation by using the tense-and-relax technique with each body part from feet to head.
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“Short Shavasana/Guided Awareness &Ujjayi Pranayama”: 15 minutes
From Shavasana by Rama Berch
This body scan is in the Svaroopa yoga tradition. It explains how to lie down on your back with your legs supported in the shavasana position and then it guides a body scan from feet to head, followed by 6 minutes of ujjayi, a rejuvenating ocean-breathing exercise that can be useful as a sleep-replacement.
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“The Daily Body Scan”: 23 minutes
FromYoga for Emotional Flow (2-CD set) by Stephen Cope
This body scan doesn’t systematically guide you from head to toe; instead, it suggests you go to places in your body that are tense one after the other and release the unresolved issues and feelings that have become stuck in your body. |
“Body Scan”: 30 minutes
From Mindfulness Meditation and Body Scan by Carolyn McMannus
This body scan systematically guides you slowly from feet to head and has a self-nurturing mindfulness focus.
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"Body Scan Meditation": 45 minutes
From Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 1 (4-CD set) by Jon Kabat-Zinn (Available at Alternatives Library, Cornell Campus)
This systematic body scan provides an introduction to the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program that Jon spearheaded. |