Sleep Inducing Body Scan

After the beach walk you lie down in a hammock under a palm tree. You are told it will sway three times and that each sway triples your relaxation. You count down three, two, one, sinking deeper into the hammock, and at one your relaxation has tripled. A quiet minute follows with the waves and breeze.

You find a first place of tension, observe it and sit with it. Then you clench it for a count of five and let it go, feeling the muscles loosen and lengthen. You repeat this for a second and third place. You can scan from head to toe or go straight to the three key areas.

You imagine a soft spotlight above your head, in a colour you like. It moves slowly from your head to your toes and flickers where it senses tension. When it flickers, you stop it, hold that tension for five seconds, release it, and let the light move on.

No. The session teaches you the technique so you can use it each time you want to fall asleep. You lie comfortably in loose clothing, take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, then scan for tension. The breath is your signal to begin.

You breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, and breathe out for six. You do it twice before the beach imagery begins. The longer out-breath is a gentle way to settle in.

No. The closing says that if you want to keep sleeping, you can ignore the awakening count and sleep until a time you set yourself. If you do want to wake, it counts from one to five, with your eyes flickering at four and opening at five.