I know what it's like to lie there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, watching the minutes tick past, and then the hours, your mind racing, your body tense, while everyone else in the world seems to be sleeping peacefully. And in that desperation, we often turn to the internet, looking for anything that might help. And you will find some genuinely good advice there, like keeping your room dark and cool, avoiding screens before bed, establishing a regular bedtime routine.These things matter. They help create the right conditions for sleep. But there are also other suggestions, the ones that seem a little questionable, like counting sheep, lavender oil on your pillow, warm milk.And then this is a real suggestion I found online, eating a boiled onion before bed. Most of these won't work, not because there's anything wrong with them necessarily, although maybe the boiled onion, there's something wrong with that. But because they're not addressing the real problem. Because the real problem is that there's a tug of war going on in your body right now. On one side, you have your sympathetic nervous system. And this is your body's alert system, your fight or flight response.And right now, as you lie here, unable to sleep, this system is winning. It's keeping your heart rate elevated. It's making your breathing shallow and quick.And this system thinks you need to stay alert. And on the other side, you have your parasympathetic nervous system. This is your body's rest and relaxation system. And the star player of this system is your vagus nerve. Your vagus nerve is a long wandering nerve. It starts at the base of your brain, and it travels down through your entire body. When your vagus nerve is activated, it sends powerful, calming signals throughout your body. But right now, your vagus nerve is losing the tug of war. Its calming signals are being drowned out by all that alert, anxious energy.So tonight, we're going to help your vagus nerve win. We're going to activate it deliberately and tip the balance back towards sleep. To do that, we rely on a very simple, tried and true method.Deep breathing. Such a simple, elegant solution to sleeplessness. So often, we go looking for magic cures. But deep breathing to calm ourselves is a technique that's as old as time. And it works. Not because of magic, but because of science.Because of your vagus nerve. When you breathe slowly and deeply, especially when you make your exhale longer than your inhale, you're directly stimulating your vagus nerve. So tonight, we're going to breathe together. And then I'm going to guide you through a beautiful visualization using hypnotherapy techniques. But first, please make sure you're somewhere safe to fall asleep. You want to be in your comfortable bed.And not anywhere you need to stay alert. And if these episodes are helping you sleep better, don't forget to follow the show. Or leave a review.It's what helps little independent podcasts like this one grow. And reach other people who are lying awake at night. Possibly googling whether they should really eat a boiled onion.You could literally save someone from that. So let's begin. I want you to think about comfort.Not just any comfort, but your specific comfort. What does your body need in this moment to feel completely at ease? Maybe it's adjusting the angle of your pillow, even just slightly. Maybe it's shifting your hips to one side.Or perhaps one leg wants to bend, while the other one stays straight. There's no right way to be comfortable. There's only your way.So take a moment now and make whatever small adjustments your body is asking for. And now I want you to notice something. Notice the parts of your body that are touching your bed.Like your head against your pillow, your shoulders pressing into the mattress. Feel the weight of your body being held, supported. And now imagine that with each exhale, you're becoming just a tiny bit heavier. The kind of heaviness that comes when you finally allow yourself to stop holding yourself up, to stop bracing yourself, to stop being ready for the next thing. And now let's work with your breath. We're just going to let your exhale become longer than your inhale.That's all. No counting. No complicated patterns.Just a natural inhale, followed by a longer, slower exhale. Breathe in naturally through your nose. And now let that breath flow out through your mouth. Slowly. Steadily. Like you're gently fogging a window.And let it keep flowing out until your lungs are empty. Do that again. Breathe in and then let it flow out.A long, slow exhale. One more time. In and then out.Even longer this time, if you can. And feel what's happening in your body. That's your vagus nerve responding.That long exhale just sent a wave of calm through your entire system. You just went around in that tug of war. Keep breathing like this now. Just a natural breath in, and a longer breath out. With each long, slow breath out, your vagus nerve is getting stronger. It's calming signals growing louder, clearer.Keep breathing in that gentle rhythm. And let your attention settle completely on the sound of my voice. My words are going to guide you somewhere peaceful.Somewhere that exists only in your imagination. But your body won't know the difference. Your vagus nerve will respond just the same. So let everything else fade into the background. Any sounds outside of your room. Or any thoughts trying to pull at your attention.Just follow my voice. Now. And let it carry you into deep, restorative rest.I want you to feel your bed beginning to change beneath you. The mattress that's been supporting you. It's gently fading, becoming lighter and less solid.Your pillows are softening into nothing. The blankets are dissolving like morning mist. And as your bed fades, you realize you're floating. You're being held, perfectly supported on the surface of a pool of warm, glowing light. This pool stretches endlessly in all directions around you. The light sparkles and shimmers beneath you.Tiny points of brightness, dancing across its surface. It's warm against your skin. And all around you is the softest darkness.Look at this pool you're floating on. The light sparkles with thousands of tiny bright points. Like stars reflected on still water. Soft, translucent shapes drift past you in the light. Ribbons of pale blue and lavender move slowly through the glow. This isn't water.This is pure, breathable light. Healing light. Nourishing light that will activate your vagus nerve.Just keep breathing naturally. And as you breathe in this light, be aware of where it goes. The moment it enters your lungs, it begins to glow even brighter.And then it starts to travel. It's flowing along a pathway inside your body. The pathway of your vagus nerve.Let the light flow into your body. With each gentle inhale, the light reaches the tiny muscles around your eyes. Feel them responding. Softening. Releasing all the tension they've been holding. The light flows across your forehead. And those small muscles relax. The light is traveling along the vagus nerve to your jaw. Those powerful muscles that can hold so much tension.Feel them letting go as the light touches them. Your jaw releases. Each inhale draws more sparkling light from the pool into your body.Each gentle exhale sends that light traveling further along your vagus nerve. The light flows down to your throat and neck. The vagus nerve pathway glows as the light moves through it, reaching all the muscles in your throat and neck.Feel them releasing. Softening. The light is traveling exactly where it needs to go, following the pathway of your vagus nerve through your entire body.Just breathe naturally. The light is flowing towards your heart and then wrapping around your heart. Each beat becoming more steady, more peaceful.The rhythm of your heart is slowing down. Your heart doesn't need to rush anymore. Just this gentle, steady rhythm.Each one slower than the last. The light from the pool traveling along your vagus nerve is telling your heart it's safe to slow down. It's time to rest.The light flows along the vagus nerve to your blood vessels now. You can almost see it happening inside you. The warm glow traveling through your circulatory system and wherever this light touches, your blood vessels respond.They relax. They open slightly. Your blood pressure begins to lower and the light is reaching your arms and legs now too.Feel it traveling along the vagus nerve pathways to your limbs. As the light touches your arms, they grow heavy, so pleasantly heavy. The tension in your shoulders, your forearms, your hands, all of it is melting away.Blood flow increases to your fingers, bringing warmth, bringing relaxation. Your legs receive the light as well. Those legs that have carried you all day, feel them growing heavy, so heavy as the light from your vagus nerve reaches your thighs, your calves, your feet.All the tension is draining away and now the light is traveling upward along the vagus nerve toward your brain. Imagine it as it flows up through your neck, through the base of your skull and reaches your mind. Your thoughts are slowing down. That constant mental chatter that's been with you all day, it's growing quieter. The worries, the plans, the endless commentary, all of it is fading. The light from the pool traveling along your vagus nerve carries a very simple message to your brain.Rest now. Your brainwaves are changing. Those quick alert patterns of waking consciousness are lengthening, slowing, becoming the long rolling waves of deep relaxation.The waves that come just before sleep. As the light flows through your vagus nerve and reaches your brain, it brings a subtle cooling with it. This is the perfect temperature for sleep.Your body temperature dropping that small crucial amount that tells your brain it's time. Sleep is approaching. Your entire body is filled with this light now.Every breath you take draws more sparkling light from the pool and it flows along your vagus nerve to every part of you, from the base of your brain to the tips of your toes. The pathway is glowing, illuminated, activated. And as you float here in this warm pool of sparkling light, breathing it in, feeling it flow through your body, you notice you're beginning to sink. And not suddenly, not frighteningly, just gently, naturally, beginning to descend into the pool. And it's wonderful because you can breathe this light. This warm light will fill your lungs just as easily as air.You're descending deeper into the pool now. The light is above you, below you, all around you. Beautiful things drift past in this light, a fragment of a peaceful moment from your day.The color of dreams swirling around you, becoming richer now. Deeper blues and purples. These are the colors of sleep approaching.You sink deeper still, so deep that the light around you becomes softer, dimmer. The velvety darkness beyond the pool's edge seems closer now, more embracing. And your body feels wonderful.Your heart beating slowly. You're breathing deep and effortless. Your mind quiet.And now you sink to the very deepest part of the pool, down here in the depths. Everything is still, perfectly, beautifully still. The light glows softly all around you, warm and gentle.The darkness beyond is complete. And comforting. This is where sleep lives, in this deep, quiet place, in this velvety comfort. This is sleep approaching. This is your vagus nerve doing exactly what it was designed to do. This is the natural, beautiful process of letting go.And as you rest here in the deepest part of the pool, breathing slowly, perfectly relaxed, you begin to notice something. You can feel your bed beneath you again. It hasn't really gone anywhere.The mattress supports you perfectly. The pillow cradles your head. The blankets resting gently over you. The pool of light was a journey through your own body. A journey through your own healing system. And now you're back, but everything has changed. Your vagus nerve is fully activated. Your heart is still beating with that slow, peaceful rhythm. Each beat steady and calm. Your blood pressure has settled into its lowest, most peaceful pattern. Blood flowing easily through every part of your body, carrying oxygen, carrying healing to every cell. Your breathing continues on its own, deep and effortless. You don't have to think about it at all. Your diaphragm knows what to do. Your lungs know what to do. Each breath flowing in and out like a gentle tide. This is the state between wakefulness and sleep. This soft, hazy, dreamlike place where everything feels distant and quiet. You're hovering right at the edge of sleep. Right at the threshold. And it would take so little, just the smallest letting go, to cross over completely. You can trust this process. You can trust your body. Everything is working in perfect harmony. Every system in your body cooperating, coordinating, all of them working together to bring you the rest you need. Just let yourself drift now. Let yourself float in this peaceful space between waking and dreaming. The darkness is soft around you. The quiet is complete. And somewhere, not far away now, sleep is waiting for you. Let yourself sink into sleep the way you sank into that pool of light. Effortlessly. Naturally. Knowing you're completely safe. Your vagus nerve continues sending its peaceful signals. Your heart continues its slow, steady rhythm. Your breathing continues flowing in and out. You are exactly where you're meant to be. In your bed. In the darkness. Sleep is here now. Sleep is wrapping around you. Sleep is pulling you gently down into its warm, dark embrace. I'm Suzanne. This is your ticket to Snoozeville. Sleep now. Sleep deeply. Sleep well.