The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life in Ten Minutes a Day

by Andy Puddicombe

Remember that it’s not an exercise to make you go to sleep, but rather an exercise to increase your awareness and understanding of your mind at night. So, if you’re still awake, there are two ways to go. The first is to allow the mind to drift off, in the usual way, freely associating as it wants, without any sense of control or coercion on your behalf. This can feel very nice, but the only problem is that for some it feels a little vague or even disconcerting. If that’s the case for you, then this final part of the exercise will be a more helpful way to conclude. Begin by counting backward from one thousand to zero. This may sound like an impossible task, and a bit too much like hard work. But done in the right way it takes no effort at all. And it’s a great way to keep the mind focused as you make the transition to sleep. As before, it’s quite normal for the mind to wander, so when you realize you’ve become distracted, just gently return to whichever number you left off and pick it up from there. As a final note, it’s important that you do this exercise with the genuine wish to reach zero. Do not think of it as a way of getting to sleep, but as an exercise to keep you occupied and focused until your body and mind are ready to switch off for the night.