Mindful Rest & Delicious Sleep

There is one practise, perhaps more than any other that results in us keeping ourselves awake. That practise is, trying to sleep. Sleeping is essentially an unconscious activity. When the conscious mind tries to take control of this function it gets in the way. The other thing that often keeps us awake is worrying about how tired we will be if we don''t sleep. The main thing is to get off the topic. We need to allow our body to do what it already knows how to do and one way we can do that this by managing our attention. So, as you listen to this recording just let the words and the sounds wash over you. If you find that some stray anxious thoughts about sleep intrude, just allow them to be there and they will disappear all by themselves. It is impossible to decide not to think about a particular topic! If I were to ask you to not think about a pink elephant you would find that the first thing you thought about was indeed a pink elephant. This is completely natural because in order to know what not to think about, your mind must represent that thing to itself.