Where are your shoulders? Let them drop
Where are your shoulders right now? Up near your ears? Breathe in, and as you breathe out, let them drop. You’ve carried a lot today.
Watch on YouTube · SleepBetter channel · Guided Meditations
Made with AI. Parts of this video are AI-generated (see “How this was made” below).
What it is
A quick shoulder release paired with the breath, set to warm tropical rain. It works with gravity: each exhale is a cue to let the shoulders fall a little further from the neck, and then to let the arms and hands go heavy.
How to use it for sleep
If your shoulders are very tight, try the opposite first: lift them up towards your ears on a breath in, hold for a second, then let them drop on the breath out. Repeat two or three times. Then follow the voice. Desk workers often find this one useful in the evening, before bed as well as in it.
Best for
Desk days, long drives, carrying a child or a heavy bag, and stress you feel in your upper back.
Sound design note
Under the voice is warm, heavy rain on jungle leaves from our tropical forest downpour, generated by SleepBetter’s sound engine with no samples, kept low so the voice stays soft. It plays fine on a speaker; keep the volume low.
Keep it going
If you like the warm, heavy rain under the voice, the full tropical downpour plays for eight hours with no narration. Our heavy rain guide covers when a thick, loud rain helps (busy streets, a snoring partner) and when a softer one is kinder, and the safe volume guide has the numbers.
Transcript
The full narration, as spoken. Pauses are left out.
Where are your shoulders right now? Up near your ears?
Breathe in… and as you breathe out, let them drop.
Again. Let them fall a little further, away from your neck.
Let your arms grow heavy. Let your hands go loose.
You’ve carried a lot today. You can set it down now.
Full sleep sessions… on Sleep Better.
How this was made
The narration is an AI-generated voice (ElevenLabs, voice “Solomon” from the ElevenLabs voice library), reading an original script written by SleepBetter. The background sound is generated by SleepBetter’s own sound engine. The footage is real stock video from our long version (Pexels or Mixkit), colour-graded.
Keep watching
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Sleep videos and guided relaxation are for general wellness, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.