There are so many reasons why we might be struggling to get to sleep and stay asleep. Work or relationship stress, health concerns, hormonal changes, the state of the world—there's plenty to keep us awake at night.

This week, Mark Bertin offers a soothing sleep practice to help settle our restlessness, using the breath as a calming anchor to gently coax our busy minds and tense bodies into rest.

Because this is a sleep meditation, there won't be the usual recorded outro, so you can just drift off in silence.

Mark Bertin, MD, is a pediatrician, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodevelopmental behavioral pediatrics. He's a regular contributor to Mindful.org and Psychology Today. He is the author of How Children Thrive: The Practical Science of Raising Independent, Resilient, and Happy Kids (Sounds True, 2018). Dr. Bertin resides in Pleasantville, New York. For more, visit developmentaldoctor.com.

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

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Show Notes

Find more from Dr. Mark Bertin here.

Go Deeper

For help understanding how mindfulness can make sleep better and more restorative, check out these resources from Mindful.org:

• The Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness for Sleep

• Why We Wake Up At Night and How Mindfulness Helps Us Sleep Again

• The Science of Deep Sleep

• 8 Tips for Better Sleep at Night

Mindful has a wonderful collection of sleep meditations. If you want to try another version of a body scan, A 12-Minute Body Scan Meditation for Letting Go of Stress and Falling Asleep is a great place to start.

And more from Mindful here:

More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation

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