Still Waters: Letting Go Sleep Hypnosis
This soothing self-hypnosis session gently guides your mind to let go of everything outside your control. By visualizing a safe, warm descent into still waters, you will allow your body to relax deeply and welcome a restorative sleep.
Series: Sleep Hypnosis
For the best experience, listen with headphones or earbuds.
- Listen
- In the evening, to let go of what you can't control.
- Technique
- Self-hypnosis: the dive: You sink slowly into calm water, deeper and deeper.
Who is this session for?
This session is for you if your mind is racing with the events of the day and you struggle to let go of things outside your control. It offers a comforting escape when you feel overwhelmed by busy thoughts and simply need a safe space to unwind.
How does it unfold?
- at the startPreparationYou are gently reminded that this state is entirely natural and that you can let go without making any effort.
- around 2 minInductionYour attention focuses on the comfortable heaviness of your eyelids, allowing passing sounds to guide you deeper into relaxation.
- around 5 minDeepeningA slow countdown from ten to one helps your analytical mind release its grip as the numbers blur and fade away.
- around 10 minThe CoreYou visualize sinking gracefully like a smooth stone into warm, quiet waters, leaving the ripples of daily worries far above.
- around 16 minAnchoringA simple breathing trigger is established, helping your body remember how to easily find this peaceful calm on future nights.
- around 18 minDriftingTime stretches out comfortably as the words become sparse, allowing you to slide naturally into a deep, quiet rest.
Why does it help you sleep?
By using the vivid metaphor of descending deep underwater, this self-hypnosis gently separates your awareness from the busy surface of your mind. Visualizing these quiet depths encourages your physical body to slow down and release tension. The technique of mental fractionation—briefly drifting up before plunging deeper—naturally tires out your conscious thoughts. This safely guides your attention away from daily stress, creating the perfect conditions to welcome sleep.
How to listen
Listen at a low volume while lying comfortably in bed, ready to end your day. You are entirely free to drift off into sleep well before the gentle countdown or the story comes to a close.
Session published on · a site run by Stéphane H., founder of Alcyonia
Did this session help you?
Add a few wordsMusic: Valley of Hope, Alan Frijns.
Listen somewhere calm, never while driving. This relaxation session does not replace the advice of a doctor or health professional.
Read the session script
Self-hypnosis is a natural, comforting state, much like being completely absorbed in a good book while the rest of the world fades away into the background, leaving you entirely undisturbed…
You remain entirely in control of this experience at every moment…
There is nothing you need to achieve tonight, no task to complete, and absolutely no effort to make…
You can follow this gentle story all the way to the end, or you might lose it along the way, or simply listen from a distance while thinking of something else entirely…
Sleep might arrive during these very words, or much later in the night, or perhaps not at all this evening…
In every single case, you are exactly where you need to be, and there is absolutely nothing to catch up on…
You are lying on your bed right now…
You can feel the familiar mattress supporting the weight of your body…
The air in the room is softly touching your skin…
And as you listen to the sound of my voice, your eyes are comfortably closed, your breathing continues its slow rhythm on its own, and you can simply let go…
Just take a moment to notice your eyelids…
They can become so heavy, so deeply and wonderfully relaxed, that they simply do not want to open anymore…
You can let this warm, comfortable wave of heaviness glide smoothly down over your entire body, traveling from your forehead all the way down to the very tips of your toes…
And if any sound passes by outside your window, it is just going somewhere else, while you have nowhere to go…
Every sound you hear simply helps you drift deeper into this cozy space…
Every passing thought is just a natural sign that your mind is settling down for the night, letting the day melt away…
In just a moment, we will count backward slowly from ten down to one…
And with every single number, you can drift twice as deep into this comforting relaxation…
Ten…
You can imagine stepping down a soft, carpeted stairway, letting the numbers begin to fade gently into the distance…
Nine…
Going deeper and deeper down…
And you can imagine drifting up just a tiny bit toward the surface, only to plunge immediately much deeper down into the quiet…
Eight…
The analytical mind can let these numbers slip away on their own, without trying to hold onto them…
Seven…
Letting them become blurry, soft, and distant in your mind…
Six…
Twice as deep now, and with every natural breath you take, you can drift a little further into the comfortable shadows of rest…
Five…
The numbers are fading more and more…
Four…
Letting go completely…
Three…
Almost gone now…
Two…
And One…
The numbers are entirely gone…
What was just a moment ago will soon be a long time past, and what is yet to come was already here, just a little further than what remains…
Here, it is calm.
You can imagine being a perfectly smooth, polished stone…
Gently slipping beneath the surface of a quiet, vast lake…
The water around you is perfectly warm, wonderfully safe, and deeply comforting to your skin, almost like a gentle embrace wrapping around your shoulders…
At the surface, the water might still be stirred by the evening wind…
Those little ripples and waves are the things outside your control, the busy thoughts of the day spinning around, the events you cannot change, the busy schedules that no longer matter right now…
But you are gently descending…
Moving slowly and gracefully toward the bottom…
Where the water is entirely still, silent, and wonderfully protective, guarding this precious time just for you…
The deeper you go, the quieter it becomes…
You might even picture a silver fish, moving without any effort, gliding through the comfortable layers of the deep, untouched by the weather above…
You can just leave the ripples and the wind far above you, at the surface, where they belong…
Sinking into a deep, peaceful rest…
Drifting effortlessly down into this warm liquid calmness…
The water holds you completely, supporting every part of you as you sink deeper and deeper into tranquility…
You can imagine watching your own body sleeping peacefully in the bed…
Looking so completely safe, so comfortable, wrapped in the soft blankets of your own quiet room…
While your mind floats freely in this profound, quiet depth…
Everything is taken care of down here…
You are safely held by the deep stillness of the water…
And it is so easy to let go completely, allowing the deep rest to wash over you…
Your body knows exactly how to rest…
It has always known how to restore itself, how to find the exact rhythm it needs to fully recharge and drift into a peaceful slumber…
Tomorrow, and every night after, whenever your head touches your favorite pillow and you exhale slowly three times, this deep, safe calm can return, at its own natural pace, wrapping around you like a soft blanket…
And whether you drift into dreams right now, or simply enjoy this quiet rest a little longer, you are doing perfectly well, and everything is unfolding exactly as it should…
Time stretches out so smoothly now…
Every single minute of this quiet rest feels like an hour of deep, restorative calm…
If you ever need to get up for any reason, you will naturally return to full awareness…
But for now, there is absolutely nothing to do…
Just the gentle, steady rhythm of your breathing as the air slowly enters and leaves your body all on its own, guiding you down…
Allowing the chest to rise naturally as you breathe in, and letting everything soften as you breathe out into the night…
Drifting further down into the quiet…
Leaving the day completely behind…
So warm and perfectly safe…
So wonderfully heavy…
A quiet, endless depth…
- Sleep hypnosis · 16 minFloating Leaf: Deep Sleep HypnosisRelease control and let your mind naturally drift into a deep slumber.
- Sleep hypnosis · 12 minCity Lights Fading: Deep Sleep HypnosisLet go of the digital noise and drift into a deep, restorative rest.
- Sleep hypnosis · 14 minSafe Shore: Hypnosis for HabitsTake a gentle step back from daily habits and find your calm.
Did this session help you sleep?
Tell us in a few words. Your feedback helps us improve the site, and we read every message.
Please don't include health data or personal information.
The Sunday letter
Every Sunday evening: the week's sessions, a new exercise and a bedtime-ritual idea. As a gift when you subscribe: the guide “How to fall back asleep: 7 things that help” (PDF) and the “7 evenings to unwind” program.
Just your email, never sold. No health data.
