At night the mind often gets louder exactly when you want it quiet, and pressing it to stop tends to add alertness and frustration to what is already there. This exercise takes the demand off. It is mindfulness lying down, noticing a thought without fighting it and without following it, coming back to the body, and letting rest be the task that is actually available. Thoughts will keep arriving; noticing one again is the practice working rather than the practice failing. Nothing here makes sleep happen on command.

In this exercise you will feel the support of the bed beneath you and let it carry as much of your weight as it can. You will follow your natural breathing, particularly the out-breath, without controlling its length. You will scan for muscles that have nothing to do right now, the jaw, the shoulders, the hands, the abdomen, the legs, and release them as far as is comfortable. You will notice the thought that has your attention and name it briefly as planning, remembering, worrying, rehearsing, or another kind of thought. You will ask whether anything useful has to be done now, and if not, tell yourself it can be considered tomorrow. If one written reminder would save the same thought coming round again, you will write down only the task or the question and come back to bed. Then you will return your attention to one physical anchor, the out-breath, the support beneath you, the heaviness of a resting limb, and each time another thought appears, notice it and return to that same anchor. You will let go of the demand to sleep now, and let the body rest while thoughts come and go.