Sleep Hypnosis for Stress Relief | Melt Away Tension & Sleep Deeply

0:06 If you have been carrying a lot lately, if your shoulders are tight and your jaw is clenched and your mind is still running at the speed of the day, then this is a place to put all of that down. This is a sleep hypnosis for stress and tension. It belongs at bedtime. Once you are lying somewhere safe and comfortable and never on the road or during any task that needs you alert, hypnosis is simply a calm, focused state of deep relaxation. You stay in control throughout and you can move, open your eyes or stop at any moment.

0:57 It is not a treatment for any condition. If stress is weighing on you every day, please also talk to a doctor or someone you trust. You deserve that support. For now, let the day be over. Let the bed hold the weight of your body. Let your head sink a little into the pillow. Wriggle your toes. Roll your shoulders once And then, let them be still. And when you feel ready, close your eyes. Draw a slow breath in through your nose and notice the coolness of the air.

2:09 And breathe out through your mouth slowly, like a long, quiet sigh. Again, breathing in, filling the chest and the belly. And sighing it out. your shoulders sinking with the out-breath. Once more, in slowly, and out all the way until there is nothing left to let go of. And rest there for a moment, in the stillness at the bottom of the breath. And now, let the breath return to its own natural rhythm. It knows what to do. Tonight, let your imagination take you somewhere far away, high in the mountains. It is late in the evening, in the middle of winter, and you are walking slowly up a narrow lane through a small mountain village in the snow.

4:25 You are wrapped up warm, a thick coat, a soft scarf, woolen gloves, and the snow is falling all around you. Large, slow, silent flakes, drifting down out of the dark sky, settling on your shoulders and on your sleeves and on the path in front of you. The lane is lined with old wooden houses, with deep, sloping roofs, heavy with snow.

5:03 Their windows glow a soft amber. Here and there, a paper lantern hangs beside a doorway, giving out a gentle, warm light that turns the falling snow to gold as it drifts past. Everything is very quiet. The snow muffles every sound. Your footsteps make only a soft crunch, crunch on the fresh white path. And all around the village, rising up into the darkness, are the mountains, dark with pine forests. Their high slopes pale with snow. As you walk, notice the cold on your cheeks and the tip of your nose, fresh and clean and sharp, and notice how warm you are inside your coat, cold outside, warm within.

6:36 Notice too the weight you are carrying. Perhaps you can feel it now, in your shoulders, in your neck, in your back, all the stress of recent days and weeks. You have been carrying it all the way here, up the mountain, without even noticing. You do not need to put it down yet, just notice it. Soon, there will be a place to let it go. At the top of the lane, where the village ends and the forest begins, There is an old inn. It is a long, low building of dark wood with a wide roof thick with snow and lanterns glowing along its front. Smoke is rising slowly from a chimney straight up into the still air and from somewhere behind the inn. Drifting up through the falling snow, you can see clouds of soft white steam.

8:23 The steam is rising from a hot spring. Deep beneath these mountains, water has been flowing for thousands of years, warmed by the earth itself, rising up through the rock, until here, behind the old inn, it comes to the surface. A natural pool of warm water, open to the sky, among the rocks and the pine trees and the snow.

9:12 You slide open the wooden door of the inn and step inside. It is warm, wonderfully warm. The air smells of cedar wood and wood smoke and something faintly sweet, like warm tea. The floor is polished wood, soft and smooth. A little iron stove is glowing against the far wall. There is no one here to greet you, but everything has been prepared. A soft cotton robe, folded neatly. A pair of slippers, a thick towel, a small lantern, already lit.

10:10 As though someone knew that you were coming tonight, and wanted you to have everything you need. You take off your coat and your scarf and your gloves and hang them on a wooden peg by the door and as you do, you might notice your shoulders lift a little and then settle down a little lower than before. You have arrived. There is nowhere else you need to be tonight.

11:16 You have arrived.

11:35 Carrying the little lantern, you walk along a narrow wooden passage towards the back of the inn. At the end of the passage there is a door and beyond it the night and the snow and the steam. you step out onto a small wooden deck beneath the overhang of the roof, and there in front of you, among the rocks and the snow, is the hot spring. It is a wide, round pool. edged with smooth, dark stones. The water is perfectly clear and very still, and from its surface, soft clouds of steam are rising, curling slowly up into the cold air and drifting away between the pine trees.

13:06 All around the pool, The snow lies deep and white and untouched. On the far side, the pines rise up into the dark, their branches bending under the weight of the snow. And above, the sky is full of slowly falling flakes, drifting down and down and vanishing into the steam before they ever touch the water. A few stone lanterns stand among the rocks, each with a small flame inside, glowing softly. Their light shimmers on the surface of the water and catches in the rising steam, so that the whole pool seems to glow. It is so beautiful and so quiet that for a moment you just stand and look.

14:37 Then you set down your lantern and step to the edge of the pool and slowly, carefully, You begin to lower yourself into the water. First, your feet. Feel the warmth wrap around them. Gentle, deep, steady warmth. The kind of warmth that seems to reach right into the bones. Your toes uncurl, the soles of your feet soften, the whole of each foot, from the heel to the tips of the toes, relaxing and opening and letting go. Then your ankles and your calves sinking into the warm water.

15:59 Feel the muscles there loosening as the warmth flows into them. All the standing and the walking and the rushing of recent days simply melting out of the legs into the water. your knees, your thighs, lowering yourself a little deeper. Warmth flowing up through the long, strong muscles of the legs, heavy and soft and loose. Now you sit down on a smooth, flat stone under the water, worn smooth by the spring over hundreds of years, and the warm water rises up around your hips and your belly. Let your belly soften. So often, we hold the stomach tight without knowing it. Let it go now. Let it soften completely in the warmth around it. And the water rises around your lower back. Feel the warmth easing into the muscles

18:03 on either side of the spine. All the tightness there, from sitting, from lifting, from bracing yourself against the day, dissolving slowly in the warm water. Lean back now against the smooth rock behind you and let yourself sink a little lower until the water comes right up to your chest and around your shoulders. And here, at the shoulders, you might feel the biggest release of all. This is where so much stress is held. Shoulders lifted towards the ears, neck stiff, upper back braced and hard. As the warm water rises around them, let them drop, let them sink.

19:27 Let the warmth soak into every knot and every tight place, softening them, loosening them, until the shoulders feel wide and heavy and free. Let your arms float. Let them drift up a little in the water, weightless, and then settle by your sides, your hands open, palms soft, Fingers loose, feel the gentle warmth between the fingers. Rest your head back against the rock. A folded towel cushions it and lets your neck relax completely. Let the jaw hang loose, the lips barely touching, the tongue lying soft. Let your forehead be smooth and wide. And now, there you are.

21:13 held in the warm water up to your shoulders with the cold, fresh mountain air on your face and the snow falling softly all around you. Warm below, cool above, the water holding you up so that you hardly feel your own weight at all. Breathe in the clean, cold air. And breathe out and watch your breath mix with the steam and drift away into the night. With every breath out, a little more tension leaves you and drifts away with the steam. Breathing in, cool and clean. Breathing out, warm and slow, letting go. There is a deep, pleasant heaviness spreading through your body now. The warmth has reached everywhere, into your feet and your legs, into your back and your belly, into your shoulders and your arms and your hands,

23:49 into your neck and your face. Every muscle soft, every muscle warm, every muscle resting. The water is holding you up now. That job is no longer yours. You do not need to hold anything together. The mountain is holding everything. All you need to do is rest here and let the warmth do its work. Look up now. into the falling snow. The flakes are coming down very slowly, drifting and turning in the lantern light. Some of them fall into the steam above the pool and vanish, but every now and then, one of them drifts all the way down and lands on the surface of the warm water right in front of you. And when it touches the water, it melts, instantly, without a sound. It is there, a tiny white star, resting on the surface for a single moment.

26:16 And then it is gone, dissolved into the warmth as if it had never been. Soon I will count ten snowflakes for you as they fall into the water in front of you. And as each one melts, you can let something melt in you too. A little more tension, a little more of the day, a little more of whatever you have been holding on to. And with each flake, you can drift a little deeper into this warm, heavy, peaceful state, until by the tenth, you are resting very deeply indeed, There is nothing to try to do. Just watch them fall. One. A single flake, drifting down through the steam. It touches the water and melts, and something in your shoulders melts with it. 2. turning slowly as it falls, landing softly, gone, sinking deeper into the warmth. 3.

29:00 melting into the water, and a thought that was bothering you melts away too, before you can even remember what it was. 4. Falling so slowly, dissolving. Your breathing, slow and deep and easy. Five. Halfway. The flake touches the water and is gone, and you are halfway down into deep, comfortable calm. Your arms heavy in the water, your legs heavy, melting. Seven.

31:04 drifting down through the lantern light, gone, the whole body soft and warm and still. The world beyond the mountains so very far away now, melting into nothing. 9. Almost there, so deeply relaxed, letting go of everything.

32:12 And ten.

32:37 The last flake lands on the water right in front of you, shining for a moment in the lantern light, and then it melts and you sink all the way down into a deep, warm, peaceful rest. Just rest here now. In the warm water, in the falling snow, in the deep, soft silence of the mountain. You may notice that your body feels very heavy now, or perhaps very light, as though it were floating, or perhaps you can hardly feel it at all. Whatever you notice is just right. Perhaps your mind has grown quieter as well, the thoughts coming more slowly and further apart, like the snowflakes, each one drifting down and touching the surface of your mind and melting away without leaving a trace. If a thought does come,

35:05 you can simply watch it fall, like a snowflake, and let it melt into the warmth. Nothing has to be held on to. Everything can melt.

35:42 As you rest here in the warm.

35:45 Water, So deeply relaxed, your mind is open and calm and ready to let go of what it no longer needs. So let us do something simple and gentle with the stress you have been carrying. Imagine that each of the worries and pressures of recent days is a stone, a smooth grey river stone. Some are small, like pebbles. Some are larger and heavy. And for a long time now, you have been carrying them all, in your pockets, in your arms, on your back, everywhere you go. No wonder you have been so tired. But here, in the warm water, you can begin to put them down. Around the edge of the pool, all along the rim, there are flat, smooth rocks, warmed by the spring and dusted with snow.

37:56 There's plenty of room on them. Room for every stone you have. Reach out now, slowly, and pick up the first stone. Perhaps it is something about work, a deadline, a task to that never seems to end. Feel its weight in your hand. And set it down on the rock at the edge of the pool. There, your hand can let it go. It will still be there tomorrow if you need it. But tonight, it can rest on the rock, in the snow, while you rest in the warm water. Notice how your hand feels. now that it is empty, lighter, freer. And pick up another stone. Perhaps this one is about money, or a decision you have not made yet, or something someone said to you, or something you said. You do not need to look at it closely, just feel its weight, and set it down

40:12 on the rock beside the first one. And another. Perhaps this one is the pressure you put on yourself. The feeling that you should be doing more, or doing better, or doing it faster. That one is often the heaviest of all. Set it down too, gently, on the rock. And if there are more, go on, one by one, in your own time, picking each one up, feeling its weight and setting it down at the edge of the pool.

41:53 Look at them now, lying there on the rocks, in a little row, with the snow beginning to settle on them. They look so much smaller out there than they felt when you were carrying them. Just stones, smooth and grey and quiet, under a soft white blanket of snow. The mountain will look after them tonight. Mountains are very good at holding things. They have been holding stones for millions of years. And you without them. are so much lighter.

43:04 You can feel it now, your body floating higher in the warm water, your shoulders soft, your chest open, your breath slow and free. And as you rest here, lighter now, let some calm and steady thoughts settle into you as gently as the snow settles on the rocks. Not everything has to be carried today.

44:07 I can set things down and rest.

44:35 I am allowed to take care of myself.

44:40 One thing at a time is enough.

45:09 My body knows how to relax and it is relaxing now. I am safe and warm and calm. and this calm will stay within reach for you, long after tonight. When you feel the stress rising, halfway through a hectic afternoon, you might simply notice the warmth of your own hands. Rub them together for a moment, or wrap them around a warm cup. And let that warmth remind you of this place, the warm water, the falling snow, the stones resting on the rocks. And take one long, slow breath out, and let your shoulders drop, just as they did here tonight.

46:56 Each time you do it, it will become a little easier, a little more natural, until your body remembers by itself how to let go. After a long while, when you are ready, you rise slowly from the warm water. The cold air touches your skin, but you are so warm all the way through that it feels only fresh and pleasant.

47:59 You wrap yourself in the soft cotton robe and slip your feet into the slippers and pick up your little lantern. Before you go in, you look back one last time at the pool, the steam rising, the snow falling, the lanterns glowing among the rocks, and on the rocks at the edge, under their soft white blankets, The stones you set down, resting quietly exactly where you left them. Then you walk slowly back along the wooden passage, into the warmth of the inn, At the end of the passage, there is a small room prepared just for you. It is a simple, peaceful room. The walls are pale wood.

49:31 The floor is covered in soft woven mats which smell faintly of summer grass. There is one low window with a paper screen glowing faintly with the light of the snow outside. And in the middle of the floor, a thick, soft bed has been laid out for you with a deep, heavy quilt and a round pillow. A small lamp glows low in the corner. Beside the bed, someone has left a cup of warm tea, still steaming. You kneel beside the bed and hold the warm cup in your hands and take a few small sips. It tastes gentle and slightly sweet and its warmth spreads slowly down through your chest.

51:03 Then you set the cup down and lie back and draw the heavy quilt up over you. Oh, the weight of it. Soft and heavy and warm, settling over your whole body from your shoulders to your toes, pressing you gently down into the soft bed beneath, like being held. Your body is still glowing with the warmth of the spring.

52:07 Your muscles are still soft and loose. And now, under the heavy quilt, that warmth is held in, all around you, like the warmth of the earth beneath the mountains. Let your body sink, let it grow heavy, heavier with every breath. Your legs heavy and warm. Your arms heavy and warm. Your back sinking into the soft bed. Your head sinking into the round pillow. Your eyelids so heavy now, so comfortable closed. Listen. The inn is completely silent. Somewhere far away, very faintly, the stove ticks as it cools, and outside, beyond the paper screen, the snow is still falling. You cannot hear it, but you can feel it, that deep, soft, special silence that only falling snow can make. Snow falling on the roof of the inn. Snow falling on the

55:11 pine trees. Snow falling on the steam of the hot springs. and on the stones resting at its edge. Snow falling on the sleeping village, and on the mountains, and on the whole quiet world. Nothing is asked of you now.

55:58 Nowhere you need to go.

56:32 No one you need to be.

56:34 The stones are resting. The mountain is holding them.

56:54 And you can rest too. Let yourself drift now. Down into the soft, warm, heavy quiet. you may find your mind wandering back to the warm water, the steam rising, the snowflakes falling and melting. Let it wander there if it likes. Or you may find it drifting somewhere else entirely, into shapes and colors and half-remembered places, the beginning of dreams.

58:36 Let it drift wherever it wants to go.

58:42 There is nothing to hold on to.

59:00 Nothing to hold on to.

59:01 Every part of you is warm.

59:28 Every part of you is heavy.

59:30 Every part of you is resting. Like a snowflake landing softly on warm water.

1:00:02 Melting.

1:00:28 Into stillness.

1:01:02 The lamp in the corner is glowing lower now.

1:01:05 Softer. And softer. Softer.

1:01:44 Until there is only the faint, pale light of the snow through the paper screen. The whole inn is sleeping. The whole village is sleeping. The mountains are sleeping under their deep white blankets. And you are free to sleep as well. Long and deep, until the snow light turns to dawn. So warm and comfortable. Heavy. And in the morning, you will open your eyes when you are ready, rested and lighter, with the stones still resting on the rocks, and the whole day open in front of you, clean and fresh, like new snow. Morning is still far away.

1:05:34 Tonight belongs to the snow. The warmth.

1:05:54 The snow on the roof.

1:06:29 And sleep.

1:07:12 Thank you. Thank you. you