Sleep Magic: "Giving Thanks This Thanksgiving" | Sleep Hypnosis with Gratitude Practice

Sleepiest: Hypnosis for Sleep Podcast
Host: Jessica Porter
Episode Date: November 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this soothing Thanksgiving-themed episode, host and hypnotherapist Jessica Porter welcomes listeners into a gentle, gratitude-focused sleep hypnosis. Jessica uses her signature calming tone to guide audiences into deep relaxation while exploring the nurturing power of gratitude. Journeying through her personal gratitude list, she blends hypnotic suggestion, mindfulness meditation, and poetic reflection, inviting listeners to cultivate their own gratitude for the season and for sleep itself.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Community Gratitude and Listener Shout-outs

[00:24–02:16]

• Jessica opens by expressing sincere appreciation for her global audience, offering personalized shout-outs to listeners from Canada, Australia, the UK, Iran, and South Africa.
  • Notably, she highlights the diversity and the age range of her listeners, including children.
  • Memorable moment: “It feels so good...to know that this relaxing energy is going in all directions, literally all over the world. That's the most satisfying feeling I’ve ever had, and without you guys, it wouldn't be happening.” (Jessica Porter, 01:54)

2. Gratitude as a Transformative Practice

[02:21–04:02]

• Jessica introduces the core theme: gratitude as a year-round practice.
  • She notes the importance and universal accessibility of gratitude, and its proven ability to uplift mood and well-being.
  • Shares her perspective: “I find reminding myself of what I’m grateful for, and saying it out loud, is one of the most powerful practices I have ever come across.”
  • Discusses how gratitude physically affects the brain—lighting up neural pathways and releasing “happy chemicals.”

3. Transition into Guided Sleep Hypnosis

[08:15–09:35]

• Jessica gently instructs listeners to prepare for restful sleep, initiating a body scan and relaxation exercise.
  • She encourages presence: “Your awareness is coming home to your breath, coming home to your body. Because this is your time.” (09:38)

4. Progressive Relaxation Induction

[09:38–18:19]

• Listeners are led through a detailed muscle relaxation exercise, using sensory imagery (“warm chocolate”) to promote deep calm.
  • “Pretend that your eyelids are so relaxed they will not open...This lovely relaxation you have around your eyes, this is the same quality of relaxation you will soon have throughout your entire body.” (Jessica Porter, 09:53–10:10)

5. Guided Gratitude List

[20:31–47:46]

• Jessica shares her own gratitude list, encouraging listeners to notice both the grand and subtle joys in life:
  • Nature & the Season – She reflects on the darkness of late fall and winter as an opportunity for introspection and contrasts: “This cloak of darkness forces me to go inside myself, to slow down, to perceive things differently. But perhaps my favorite thing about this time of darkness is that it makes me appreciate its opposite. It makes me appreciate the light.” (21:49–22:10)
  • Physical Senses – She moves through each sense, appreciating smells, tastes, sights, sounds, and the “sense of balance.”
  • Friendship – Joy in the variety and connection she shares with friends.
    • “It’s amazing that life gives us people who were strangers, but now they’re not. We’re connected to them.” (Jessica Porter, 26:40)
  • Quiet & Meditation – Affirms the nourishing effect of meditation and “quiet time.”
    • “I tune into that core world inside of me...it’s like I prune the garden inside of me, letting go of things, fertilizing things, creating things, planting seeds.” (Jessica Porter, 28:20–28:50)
  • Pets – Describes her cats in loving detail, observing their ability to teach relaxation.
  • Relaxation as Power – Emphasizes relaxation as a “secret key” to love, creativity, and intuition.
  • Nature & Nurture – Talks about nurturing her lemon and kumquat trees, appreciating growth and patience.
    • “Connecting to them is like connecting to everything. Connecting to life itself.” (Jessica Porter, 43:20)
  • Inner Being – Recognizes the energetic, creative aspect of self, beyond the physical body.
  • Sleep – Closes the gratitude list with an ode to the necessity and healing power of sleep.
    • “We all surrender to sleep...We let them go in sleep. And it feels so good. Sleep is a lovely, humbling reminder. The gentleness of life, Of our simple, basic needs.” (Jessica Porter, 46:40–47:46)

6. Final Induction and Affirmation

[48:06–End]

• Jessica gently reiterates her gratitude for sleep and encourages complete surrender to the rhythm of rest.
  • “As we surrender to the rhythm of sleep. Its perfect rhythm. As perfect as the tides, as perfect as the heartbeat, as perfect as the breath. I am grateful for sleep. As I drift and float and dream.” (Jessica Porter, 48:06–End)

Notable Quotes

• “Cultivate gratitude. Rarely is something so powerful free, available all the time, while also being a total pleasure to do.”
  — Jessica Porter, [02:34–03:00]

• “Pretend that your eyelids are so relaxed they will not open...We’re gonna pretend. So pretending that your eyelids are so relaxed they will not open, wiggle your eyebrows as your eyes remain shut, just for a moment. Good.”
  — Jessica Porter, [09:53–10:16]

• “This cloak of darkness forces me to go inside myself...But perhaps my favorite thing about this, this time of darkness is that it makes me appreciate its opposite. It makes me appreciate the light.”
  — Jessica Porter, [21:49–22:10]

• “Connecting to them is like connecting to everything. Connecting to life itself.”
  — Jessica Porter (on her citrus trees), [43:20]

• “We all surrender to sleep...We let them go in sleep. And it feels so good. Sleep is a lovely, humbling reminder. The gentleness of life, Of our simple, basic needs.”
  — Jessica Porter, [46:40–47:46]

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|------------------------------------------------| | 00:24–02:16 | Listener shout-outs & global gratitude | | 02:21–04:02 | Why gratitude matters and its impact | | 08:26–09:35 | Settling into relaxation | | 09:38–18:19 | Progressive muscle relaxation/hypnosis | | 20:31–47:46 | Jessica’s deep gratitude list (nature, senses, friends, meditation, pets, relaxation, plants, inner being, sleep) | | 48:06–End | Affirmation and closing gratitude to sleep |

Tone & Style

Jessica’s approach remains gentle, accessible, and nurturing throughout. Her use of rich imagery (“warm chocolate,” “pruning the garden inside me”) and a repetitive, hypnotic structure provides a calming rhythm that fosters genuine comfort and sleepiness.

In Summary

This Thanksgiving episode beautifully intertwines gratitude practice with guided sleep hypnosis. Jessica seamlessly moves from expressing thanks for her global community to enumerating the small and large wonders of daily life, all while leading listeners toward restorative rest. The episode not only offers strategies for gratitude, but becomes a soothing, experiential meditation in itself—helping listeners find calm, warmth, and perspective as they drift into sleep.