Everyday Practices
Awake in the Night
For When You Wake and Can’t Get Back to Sleep
US$6 3 practices · 7 tracks · listen or download
Get the pack · US$6It’s the middle of the night and we’re awake again. Everything’s still, and the mind has decided it’s time for a deep life analysis.
Waking in the night is more common than we think. At night there are fewer distractions, so feelings can seem louder and thoughts heavier. Things that feel huge at three in the morning often look different by daylight.
So these practices don’t try to force sleep. They help you rest where you are, with a slower out-breath and a softer body. Even if sleep takes a while, rest is still rest.
There are three tracks: The Wide Awake Club, a tour of how people around the world think about night waking; Night-Time SOS, for when you wake up distressed; and Closing Off the Tabs, a longer practice for settling a busy mind. Each comes in more than one length.
What’s inside
The Wide Awake Club
3 versions
Full version · 21:13Shorter version · 17:27Shorter, different music · 16:46
For when you’re lying awake and the mind won’t settle. ‘Welcome to the Wide Awake Club’, a membership you probably didn’t sign up for. You’re invited to smile softly, listen to the rain and lengthen your out-breath. Then a tour of how people around the world think about night waking, from Rumi to the Romans’ first and second sleep. It ends with ‘Sleep is like a cat. It will come when you least expect it.’ The shorter two stop after the Romans, with the same words and different music.
Night-Time SOS
2 versions
Full version · 15 minShorter version · 8 min
For when you wake up distressed. At night ‘the nervous system is more sensitive’, so emotions feel louder and memories closer. With a hand on your chest, you start to lengthen the out-breath, then tense and release your hands, arms, legs and whole body. You feel the bed under you and the weight of the blanket, and say a few words to yourself, like ‘I can just breathe.’ The shorter version skips the opening and finishes at the blanket.
Closing Off the Tabs
2 versions
Full version · 31 minShorter version · 22 min
For when the mind has too many tabs open. You start by naming what’s still open from the day and closing each one: ‘I close you off.’ Then a soft gaze into the dark, blinking with each number from ten to one until your eyes are ready to close. Then the senses, another countdown and the pull of gravity. The full version carries on with the waves of the breath, heaviness and lightness, and the body as a whole. The shorter version ends after the last countdown.