Day-Vacuum Cleaner: A Guided Visualization for Relaxing

As I was putting my daughter to bed the other night, she was experiencing some fear from a dream she’d had the night before.  We completed the following guided visualization activity in order to facilitate the sleep process.

1. Close your eyes and take a deep breath.
2. Imagine that you have a vacuum cleaner of your very own.  You can design it in your imagination.  It can be pink with purple spots or it can be in the shape of rocket or garbage truck, you get to choose. 
3. We are going to use that vacuum cleaner to suck up any unwanted fears or places that don’t feel good in your body.  It’s just like vacuuming the floor.  You find some lint, (aka a scary or unwanted thought or feeling), and you vacuum it up.  If you find a place in your body that feels tense or tight, you can vacuum that place up too.  Keep going until you think and feel that you have gotten it all. 
4. After all of the unwanted fears and tight spots are vacuumed, imagine that you are emptying the vacuum cleaner bag into the stars and letting all that unwanted stuff simply float away out into space. 
5. Now check in with your body and mind.  Take some deep breaths and know that you are clean and that your body is now ready for sleeping.  Remember that you can get your vacuum cleaner out at any moment to suck up thoughts and feelings that aren’t working for you or feeling good in the moment.