Hi, I'm Jessica Porter and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Hi everyone, thank you so much for being here. Here we are again. we've gotten a lot of feedback lately i just want to give some shout outs first of all claudia says goodbye melatonin thank you claudia i'm glad you're sleeping better i really appreciate that ham mission forever says they were searching for help falling asleep one night at 4 a.m came across sleep magic and was asleep within 20 minutes. They say that they felt like they were floating in air. Great. Someone named Grape Jamming says, I know your secret, Ms. Porter. You're not a hypnotist. You're a wizard. Maybe. Alyssa782 says she really likes the intros as they offer helpful insights. great thank you Alyssa thank you for listening Brittany says she and her husband have been listening for a year now and says the relaxation makes her feel like she melts into the bed I love that that's exactly what we want to hear and KK hearts GG says stop just stop you found it this is the sleep podcast you've been wishing for everybody thank you so much for all that feedback whether you left it on Sleepiest or the podcast players or my website happy Valentine's Day, you are my Valentine's this year thank you everybody for listening, I'm extremely grateful to you so pivoting to tonight's episode Valentine's love begins with self-love. We recently talked about love for the Wuthering Heights episode. So tonight we're going to look at the topic through a different lens for Valentine's Day. It's almost a cliche at this point, the idea that healthy love requires self-love. But it does. I mean, think about it. If you're going to be part of a healthy and sustainable container of energy with another person. Your own container can't be dark and self-hating, at least not over the long haul. And sure, being in love with another person helps to heal some of that deep stuff, and that's great, but it's not a workaround for avoiding your relationship to yourself. Your well-being should never be in another person's hands. That said, I want to make something really clear. To me, self-love isn't generated by the ego. It's not some, oh, I'm so great, like vanity, or some exaggerated self-esteem. to me self-love is entirely natural organic like we as living beings are meant to naturally align with ourselves to accept ourselves and support our own journey through life our energy is meant to circulate within us relatively unfettered some call this coherence because we are, let's remember, just made of natural elements, just a bunch of carbon and some gases and some minerals, the same stuff as the earth and the stars. And although our minds can make our lives pretty complex, our inner beings are actually really simple. Inner beings just want to be and grow. I mean, think about most animals. They simply do themselves, get their needs met. They're not, I mean, unless they've been abused, all complicated and neurotic. They support their own life force. They're on their own team. And although we are not our only source of support by any stretch of the imagination, we are sort of the spinal cord of our own experience so to me self love is not this mirror gazing and self absorption it's the freedom from conflict deep within ourselves it's the letting go of negative belief systems trauma and inner holding that we have been trained to do well Jessica that sounds easy enough but we can become strangely attached to limiting thoughts and feelings they can feel stuck inside of us so I found that one of the best ways to give ourselves permission to dump all that stuff is to realize that the people who passed on those belief systems or taught us how to tense up that they too are simply humans carrying their own baggage and they too yearn to let it all go on the deepest, deepest levels of their beings. They're just organisms seeking peace and freedom too. So tonight we'll be getting in touch with some of that inner baggage and then let it go so you can return to your core natural self and just let it be let it breathe and then this essence can grow the way it's supposed to and you can unfold like the organic being you are and it's way more fun and fruitful to unfold as yourself accepting yourself fully yay just a heads up for anyone who doesn't feel like doing this kind of deep work tonight you may want to choose another episode and come back when you feel ready to get in touch with this stuff that's okay you may even want to listen to it when you're not sleeping check it out and then use it when you're nice and relaxed but I think for most people this will be a great episode. Before we begin our only ad break which makes this magic possible. To listen ad free follow the link in the show notes. Hey there sleep magic listeners. I want to share a unique bedtime podcast with you that can be a perfect partner to what we do here. It's called I Can't Sleep hosted by Benjamin Boaster. In this podcast, Benjamin reads Wikipedia articles in his incredibly calming voice, designed to gently lull you into a peaceful slumber. He covers a whole range of subjects you just might enjoy, like comets, cicadas, and my personal favorite, Canada. These topics are just engaging enough to distract your mind from the stresses of the day, but boring enough to send you to sleep, making it a great option for when you want to mix up your bedtime listening. So if you enjoy what we do here at Sleep Magic and are looking for another soothing option to help you unwind, I highly recommend checking out I Can't Sleep. Follow the I Can't Sleep podcast now and get ready to wind down and relax with Benjamin. Find I Can't Sleep wherever you listen to podcasts. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position. And let's begin. Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. good bring your awareness now to your breath and all you're doing at this point is just pulling your awareness back to your body bringing your awareness back home to your breath focusing just for a moment and a lovely place to focus something that's always with you is on the breath this lovely metronome you carry inside. Good. Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up into your eyelids. imagine for a moment that your eyelids are feeling sleepy maybe they actually are but i'd like you to really imagine that they're heavy and sleepy and relaxed and now i'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are so relaxed that you simply cannot open them. And now I'd like you to test your eyelids to make sure you cannot open them by wiggling your eyebrows. Now this is just a game, we're just pretending. So pretend you cannot open your eyes by wiggling your eyebrows. Good. You can stop wiggling now. Perfect. So now this lovely relaxed feeling you have around your eyes is the same quality of relaxation you will soon have throughout your entire body. So allow yourself to feel that lovely heavy feeling around your eyes and imagine it melting back, back into your head. just imagine a warm, heavy energy moving back inside your skull surrounding and supporting your brain so your whole brain is just soaking in relaxation and your head is feeling very, very heavy and the muscles of your face have become soft and relaxed and that feels so good as all mental tension disappears. And you feel that lovely heavy feeling around your eyes moving down now into your shoulders, down your arms, down into your hands, and you simply allow it to move down both arms all the way down into your fingers. And your arms are nice and heavy now. Ah, heavy. heavy and relaxed because the day is done and now you allow that wonderful relaxation to move into your chest it's soft comforting almost sweet to allow this lovely warm feeling to move inside of you Holding your heart Relaxing your back. As it softens. Soothes you. from inside. And as that lovely, warm relaxation moves down deeper, deeper into your belly, and it softens your belly. softens the muscles of your lower back, your buttocks relaxing, your breath moving deeper, and your whole inner world is letting go. As you go deeper and deeper, and the relaxation is moving down your legs now your legs becoming heavy so heavy and that feels really nice any tension you may have been carrying today is moving down through your legs and out your feet dissolving into the atmosphere and as you go deeper and even deeper any sounds that you may be hearing around you are taking you deeper and even deeper as you drift and float and dream. Imagine you're standing at the edge of a beautiful forest. You see the tall trees in front of you. their elegant trunks rising upward. And the late afternoon light is filtering down through layers of leaves, creating patterns on the forest floor. The air feels cool and alive. And as you inhale, you take in the scent of soil and bark and leaves. you step forward, sensing the ground beneath your feet as it holds you effortlessly. The forest is receiving you because you belong here. And as you walk through this forest, your body is recognizing everything. As you breathe, you are exchanging gases with the forest. You are taking in the oxygen released by the leaves above your head. And they are taking in the carbon dioxide that you exhale. A beautiful exchange. A perfect balance. Happening beneath thought or intention. you belong and as you walk you feel the soil and rocks beneath your feet they contain the very same elements in you, in your bones, in your blood, in your tissue. You are made from this earth. You slow down and hear a stream in the distance. the burbling water is the same water moving in your cells you are part of this system you are part of this whole you belong you sit down on a rock and relax as you go deeper and deeper you're sensing a subtle invisible current moving through the forest energy is traveling beneath the ground through the root systems and rising up through the trunks and branches the same energy is moving through the leaves into the air reaching for the light and the same life force is moving from the sun down feeding the leaves moving down through the twigs the branches and the trunks down into the earth and this very same current is moving through you. Down your spine and up your spine. Down your arms and out your hands. Just as you receive energy from your hands, up your arms, to your central nervous system. Energy moving down your legs into the earth. Receiving energy through your feet, up into your body. You belong. You are an essential thread in this tapestry of life. You lie down now on a soft bed of pine needles and fallen leaves. The sun is coming through the trees at a beautiful angle. As it approaches the horizon. And as you breathe, enjoying this connection to nature, you're going deeper and deeper. This is your home. It is feeding you as you are feeding it. You close your eyes as your attention moves inward. now allow your mind to scan your body for any extra baggage you may be carrying any emotional weight you may be holding anything on top of this natural connection you've been experiencing. Perhaps there were judgments placed upon you. Old beliefs passed on by others that no longer worked for you or never worked for you. maybe you're noticing patterns that helped you adapt but are no longer necessary no longer fit into this natural connection and belonging feel where these live in your body maybe you feel pressure or tightness or darkness or holding simply notice them and feel them now imagine that your awareness is rising up above your body like a floating camera and you're seeing yourself lying on the forest floor And as your consciousness rises up up and even higher above the forest you have a much wider perspective. And you see that there are others at safe distances away, lying down on the earth. as well. Friends, family members, other individuals who may have passed along their flawed beliefs or caused you tension. You see them now all lying on the forest floor too. all far away from you. But they too belong in nature. And they too are noticing the heaviness or tightness or guilt or shame that they've carried. They too have baggage that was passed along to them that they never asked for. And you see them now as human bodies lying on the same earth connected to the soil and the air and the water and as you see them from above you realize that they learned their patterns from someone or somewhere else that they adapted just as you have and now you find your consciousness coming back down down down to your original body lying on the earth but instead of moving back into your body I'd like you to imagine that you lie down next to this original self And give yourself a hug. Just hold yourself. As you say, it's okay. You're safe now with me. You've always done your best. I know that. So you can let go now. You can let go now. And relax. And you notice that your original self is letting go in your arms. The baggage dropping. Tightness is disappearing. Their face is softening. As they relax into your arms. Letting go completely. and the others in the forest if and when they want to love themselves they too can release and let go of their tightness and holding and shame when they're ready. As you embrace your original self, it feels so good. And now you merge together into one. And you're lying on the forest floor now. Feeling calm. And clear. and peaceful. is opening up inside of you, and you feel soft and free. is self-love. And you notice you are filling with that essential energy coming up from the earth and down from the sun. filling all the space inside of you. And it feels so good as your inner being expands and expands effortlessly, connecting with the trees and the earth and the stars you belong and anyone and everyone in the forest who wants this freedom can feel it too everyone can find this freedom if they want it it's here inside waiting to be discovered. And now you're a little piece of the forest. becomes your bedroom. And you're lying on your bed, sinking even deeper into your mattress. and you feel soft and peaceful. I love myself. I love myself. I love myself. Thank you. As I drift, and float, The The The The The The The And dream Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
