How To Sleep With Pain

Following on from our last episode which was for those who are struggling  to sleep due to pain and discomfort. This week we give the opportunity to feel warm and comfortable as you drift of to sleep suing techniques that the Therapy Guy uses with his clients: hypnotherapy and mindfulness techniques.

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Transcript

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Thanks for listening.

Hello.

Welcome back to the therapy guy.

I hope you're keeping well and looking after

yourselves during this period in our lives.

Today I want to talk to you about pain and sleep.

This is part two to the Pain and Sleep

Sort series, following on from the last podcast, where

I help people obviously get some sleep and ease

their pain through, obviously making things cooler and number

and obviously disassociating away from the pain.

Today we're going to do something slightly different,

although it's going to have the same effect.

So today we're going to talk about warmth,

heat, that sort of feeling, and sensation, warming

the pain, easing it, allowing you to relax

and drift off and enjoy some quality sleep.

So I know there's a little bit

to do before anything like this.

What we'd like you to do is obviously make

yourself comfortable, get yourself in the position where you

may not be disturbed for a while.

And this could be just before you go to

bed, this could be obviously in the afternoon or

whenever you have some time to yourself.

You're just going to be able to relax and enjoy a period

time just for you, just to enable yourself to let go.

So I just want you to make yourself comfortable.

Now, if you want, you can close your eyes.

It's a good idea because it cuts out any

visual stimulus, but if you don't want to, that's

fine, it's whatever's comfortable and right for you.

Now, you can just listen quietly

to the sound of my voice.

And of course, you'll be aware

of all those other sounds too.

Sounds that are around you, maybe traffic

passing by, or noises from the room

that you're resting in at this moment.

Sounds inside the building and sounds from outside.

But these won't disturb you.

In fact, they're going to help you to relax.

Because the only sound you need to think

about is the sound of my voice.

While you're listening to the sound of my voice, you can

just simply allow yourself to be as relaxed as you could

ever want to be at this moment in time.

Just imagine yourself feeling so relaxed while you're relaxing

there, wherever you are, you can simply be aware

of your body, aware of your hands and resting.

Perhaps notice the elbow, maybe sense the weight of

your head against the pillow with a chair.

And you know that you can allow that weight,

those sensations just to gently increase as you allow

yourself to relax more and more as you listen

more and more to the sound of my voice,

just lessening back, making yourself comfortable.

Just take a moment to

get into that comfortable position.

Just adjust your head and body to the

most comfortable position you can be in.

Now we're going to concentrate on your breathing.

Now take a deep breath, that's right.

And you should continue to breathe calmly.

Just begin to concentrate on the outbreaths.

For every outbreath you feel,

your relaxation can just deepen.

You can allow your mind to drift off your eyelids

and everything can just become heavier and more relaxed.

You allow yourself to breathe

easily, naturally, breathing calmly, gently.

And on that outbreath, you can just imagine letting go

of that tension in your body, allowing yourself to relax

gently wherever it is you're resting at the moment.

As you notice, your breathing can become slower and

steadier as you relax more, as you give yourself

more and more permission to just rest.

It's almost as if you're pretending

to be asleep at this moment.

Can you imagine breathing so evenly, so

steadily, that nothing would disturb you?

You've got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do now except

relax, allow yourself to just drift off with every

single outbreath, allowing yourself to listen quietly to the

sound of my voice, while you're listening quietly to

the sound of my voice, can be aware of

that breathing, the sensations, how easy it is on

outbreath to just relax and allow things to happen.

You let go of all your cares

and worries at this morning time.

Nothing matters apart from the sound of my voice.

You can switch off your thoughts, so you

can allow this time just for you.

It doesn't matter if your mind begins to wander, it

doesn't matter where you go and where you drift.

My voice is going to drift with you.

You can allow those sorts of stuff to drift

in, to drift back out again, easily, naturally, just

as easily and naturally as you breathe gently, unless

you take those deeper, easier breaths, slowly filling your

lungs with that fresh, calming air.

As you exhale, you can just relax more and

more, allowing every outreath to gently slow things down.

You can begin to feel more and more

relaxed, more and more comfortable, as you feel

your whole body just sinking down.

You begin to notice how relaxed parts of your body

you've become, all the way from the top of your

head down to the tips of your toes, your eyelids

becoming heavier as you let go of that tension that's

in your body now, all your muscles just easing gently.

You can begin to allow yourself to

drift deeper and deeper, feeling more and

more relaxed with the words I speak.

So that wave of relaxation

just continues to spread through.

You can ease your shoulders, can feel them

just relaxing and loosening, your arms growing heavier

as you're aware of that growing peaceful feeling

inside, as every muscle just eases, relaxes with

every outbreath, all that tension is draining away.

An outside world can just fade away.

Nearly.

Sounds that I'm at tube is the sound of

my voice will allow you just to go deeper

and deeper, allowing yourself to relax more and more.

As those sounds around you just

drift off into the distance.

All of that tension just drains away.

You become more relaxed, more comfortable.

Just feel yourself sinking down, your head

sinking deeper into the chair or the

pillow becoming even more comfortable.

She just continue to drift, really enjoying

this wonderful feeling of complete relaxation.

And there may be times when you're not aware of your

body and you won't be aware of your body at all

as you continue to go deeper and deeper relaxed.

Deeper and deeper relaxed.

Allowing the suggestions I give from this point

to become your instant and complete reality.

You will just see what I say see, feel

what I say feel, believe what I say.

You will believe because you

got that strong, determined imagination.

And you can allow yourself just to drift away

because you don't have to do anything else.

Just simply pay attention to your

breathing as you release that breath.

You don't have to do anything at all.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do as you drift off

now, because all you need to do is allow certain

things to happen in response to these words.

As all of your muscles becoming softer, letting go.

Now, if you notice any sounds you hear, any

words that I say, anything and everything allows your

good feelings to increase, allows you to drift off,

feeling safe, insecure, free to wander and wonder.

Knowing the sound of my voice is going to drift

with you, wondering what will shift and change first now.

And you can easily use your powers of imagination,

your intelligence and inner focus to ensure you will

achieve all that you need to in this session

without even knowing how you did it.

Consciously wondering now how much further into trance,

how much more relaxed can you really become?

And you can notice words and noticing words.

And the deeper you go, the more wonderful you feel.

The more wonderful you feel, the

deeper you can go now, easily.

That's right.

As we continue, you can hear the sound of my voice,

and other times it may seem distant or quiet, and other

times it doesn't matter if you can hear it at all.

You can allow that deeper part of you to hear.

All you need to hear here, here and now, is you

know that you're the one who's in control as we make

all the changes that you want here and now.

In a moment, they're going to ask

you to see and imagine different things.

Doesn't matter if you can't see

everything I ask you to see.

Doesn't matter if you don't hear every word that

I ask or every word that I say.

You'll see and you'll hear everything you need to.

So at the moment, I want to imagine you're

standing at the top of a flight of stairs.

You can see ten steps down.

At the bottom of those stairs, you can see a doorway.

And in a moment, we're going to

walk down those stairs slowly and easily.

I'm going to count you down for each

step, allowing yourself to become more relaxed the

closer you get to that door.

So here we are.

We're going to take this first step

down from ten down to nine.

Now, easily, naturally, your body moving

gently, moving down to eight.

Breathing steadily and slowly, it's on the outbreath.

We move down to seven.

Feeling calmer, more relaxed.

On outbreaths, going down to six.

Easily, naturally, looking forward to moving

down, going deeper and deeper relaxed.

We step down to five now,

knowing you're safe and secure.

One tint to get to the bottom.

She moved to four, knowing that when you

get all the way down, you'll be as

relaxed as you could ever want to be.

At this morning time, she moved down to three.

Now, our breathing so slow,

so easily, nothing bothering us.

We drift down to two.

Looking forward to taking the final steps down.

If you take another step to one, the door

is so close now, one more step to go.

So we just breathe and relax.

And that tension drains away as

we float and drift off.

Take the last step down,

completely calm, completely relaxed.

Standing in front of the door.

Now, I really want you to see

and imagine every detail of this door.

See its colour.

Look at the handle.

Taking every detail.

You put your hand on that handle, turn it.

Knowing what lies behind is the most

relaxing bedroom you've ever been in.

We just open the door, we take a step into this room.

You can imagine this bedroom, this bed in the middle

of the room there, so inviting, looking so comfortable.

You begin to look around the room,

taking in all the details, the colours,

textures, smell, the warmth in the room.

You can maybe feel the warmth radiating comfortable.

That bed looking so inviting, allowing you just

to drift off, inviting you to lay there.

You find yourself moving easily

and actually towards it.

As you climb on and you lay your head down, you

just find this amazing feeling just washing over your body, your

whole body just relax, feeling so safe, so secure.

It's almost like you're floating.

Never have you felt such comfort.

All those aches, all those pains, just drifting away.

Now you find yourself just becoming so comfortable,

more comfortable than you could ever imagine.

Your head resting on that

pillow, your body feeling supported.

We can allow this bed to just comfort

us, to allow our breathing just to ease.

Everything slowing down, becoming more

and more easier, relaxed, comfortable.

Everything's as it should be.

And you really enjoy this comfortable feeling

that we're creating, this comfortable feeling that

you're having of your body, just resting

those aches draining away, those pains forgotten.

As you breathe gently and naturally you feel

the warmth from the blankets and the duvet.

Everything's as it should be.

So comfortable, warming your body, relaxing you, that

relaxation to just become part of you.

You can just drift off now, allowing this warmth to

comfort your body even more, feeling it's spread down through

your body, easing those aches, easing those pains.

Everything is supported, not feeling aches or pains

in your body now, just this warming sensation.

It's relaxing, feeling it's warmth spreading through

every joint, every part of you.

So comfortable, so easily.

We can allow ourselves just to drift off wherever is

we want to drift to, to dream about whatever it

is we want to dream as we're resting there in

this pleasant way, allowing our breathing just to ease, allowing

that warmth just to spread through us.

Knowing that you're in control of you now.

Starting to realise that you can control how you think

and feel just by allowing yourself to feel that comfort,

to slow your breathing down less and less.

Worried about the future now, problems

or dangers of the future.

You can enjoy yourself right now.

You can let yourself go as you enjoy yourself, as

all of those aches and pains just drift away.

Comforting to know that you can give yourself permission

to feel safe, to feel relaxed, to allow that

tension to drift off as you go deeper.

Now, just listening to the sound of my voice,

you can be aware of that comfortable, heavy feeling

of legs, of arms, your entire body that seems

just to float in this comfortable, relaxed state.

Knowing that these hypnotic sensations have allowed

you to travel from one place to

another in a calm and confident way.

And I wonder now if you can allow those

feelings to continue, those comfortable, relaxed sensations of mind

and body as you drift and my voice just

drift with you, allowing you to feel this warmth,

this pleasurable feeling just spreading throughout your body.

Knowing that you can just drift off and

rest for as long as you want to.

Knowing that your mind can be distracted away from you.

Those feelings you no longer want now, no

longer dwelling upon yourself, all those aches or

pains now because you're much less conscious of

yourself now, much less preoccupied with yourself now.

You're able to be that relaxed, comfortable you that

wants warming every part, relaxing every part of you.

You see things in a true

perspective, no longer amplifying your difficulties.

Focusing on these new pleasant sensations.

You allow yourself to drift off and rest for as

long as you want to, drifting off and sleeping for

as long as you want to, knowing that you'll wake

up feeling refreshed, feeling calm and in control just by

breathing and allowing this warmth, these comfortable feelings of you

just feeling safe, in control as you listen to the

sound of my voice.

Just imagine yourself now, waking tomorrow,

waking later on, feeling relaxed.

Knowing that warmth is come from inside of you.

Those comfortable warming sensations you've allowed to

spread through your body as yours.

Now, whenever you go to bed, as soon

as your head touches that pillow, you're going

to find that you're ready to sleep.

You're ready to drift off and feel comfortable to

allow that warming sensation to spread through your body.

Knowing you can just breathe easily and naturally.

Every time you're low, you're fine to do this.

Every time you listen to the sound of

my voice, you'll find that it becomes easier

and the better it'll make you feel.

Just by breathing, just by allowing yourself to drift

easy now, breathing, knowing that you'll be ready to

wake up whenever it is you want to.

Feeling refreshed, drifting, breathing so easily.

Take care.