Ten minutes, four segments. Everything that isn't sleep-inducing has been cut — including the introduction.
Straight in
1 min[begin already quiet — no warm-up, no welcome]
Get comfortable. Do the last of the moving about now. [pause for 20 seconds]
Let your eyes close. Nothing to follow tonight, nothing you can miss. [pause for 20 seconds]
Weight
3 min[short sentences, long gaps — the silences are doing the work from here on]
Let the bed take your weight. All of it. You don't have to hold yourself up. [pause for 30 seconds]
The head, heavy on the pillow. The shoulders, dropping back. [pause for 35 seconds]
The arms, heavy. The hands, still. [pause for 40 seconds]
Down to the feet
3 min 30[downward only — moving toward the feet takes attention away from the thinking]
The chest, rising and falling without your help. The belly, soft. [pause for 40 seconds]
The hips, heavy. The legs, heavy all the way down. [pause for 45 seconds]
And the feet. Warm. Still. Finished for the day. [long pause — 60 seconds]
Thinning out
2 min 30[lines get shorter and further apart until you stop; no goodnight by name]
If a thought about tomorrow arrives, let it go past. It will still be there in the morning and it will be easier then. [pause for 45 seconds]
Nothing left to do now. [pause for 45 seconds]
Heavy. Warm. Still. [stop speaking; let the recording run 30 more seconds, then fade]