Having learned about the felt sense in the two people exercise, we can now apply this to difficulty sleeping.
This exercise has two parts:
Felt Sense of Busy Thoughts
If our mind is racing, keeping us awake, while this is happening, ask ourselves, what is the felt-sense of these thoughts? What is the feeling of these thoughts in our body? Can we stay with these sensations? Is it okay to stay with them, as they are?
When we do this, it is as if we are listening to what the brain was trying to share with us all along, so they busy attention grabbing thoughts might not be as needed. If we find ourselves busy with thoughts again, just go back to the felt sense of these new thoughts. And just keep doing this as often as needed.
Felt Sense of Falling Asleep
During the day, do this:
- Close our eyes
- Imagine we are falling asleep.
- Check in our body how this feels. How does it feel to be about to fall asleep?
- Stay with this feeling for a few minutes.
Then, when struggling to sleep, repeat the exercise. Find the felt sense of falling asleep (likely pleasant), and just stay with it. Let it grow, and suffuse our experience.