I’m so sorry for those of you out there who have difficulty resting or sleeping. The experience is meant to be one of fulfillment, joy and peace. Yet so many of you out there struggle with this basic right of human life. Can I wave my magic wand and bestow upon you tragic sleepers a deep and restful sleep like you’ve never had? Perhaps not yet, for now let us be content to learn a few tips to aid your sleep cycle to be a healthy one.
Why I’m Passionate About Rest and Sleep
If you haven’t noticed already, Lemurian Girl, that is – me, is passionate about living life in abundance. I believe that as humans we are meant to live in perfect health, wealth, love and self-expression. This blog is in fact a study in this notion. There is nothing like a good, long, deep sleep to heal the body, mind and spirit. Stressed? In Pain? Sick? Tired? You need rest! Recuperation! Rejuvination!
The road to recovery begins when you change your lifestyle for the better, and that includes creating sacred sleeping space.
Reasons a.k.a. Excuses for Not Sleeping/Resting Well
Sometimes, when people are not well or are all tired out, they find they cannot sleep well at night. Sometimes the culprit is worrying – maybe subconscious worrying, i.e. you're not aware of the reason you feel anxious or worried because you've pushed it so deeply into your subconscious mind. Did your boyfriend not call you? Are you worried about someone else?
Top 10 Ways to Encourage Restful Sleep
1. Create Sacred Sleeping Space. Make sure your bed is in a clean, quiet area of the house where you can darken the room or sleeping area from glaring lights. Put on good sheets (fitted and flat) with a high thread count that fit your mattress snugly. Have a clean and warm comforter or blanket over the top sheet. If you like pillows, make sure it is also clean and smells good, and is covered by a clean pillowcase. If you like flat pillows get a flat pillow. If you like poofy pillows, get a poofy one. You should make every attempt to have your body in good alignment when you lie down – so you don’t want your neck jammed up or feeling unsupported. Find the happy medium and this may take some experimentation.
2. Create & follow your bedtime ritual. Put on some jammies. Brush your teeth. Have a small glass of water. Bedtime is a special time of the day. You’ve given a lot of yourself to the day, and so now you deserve to lie down and rest. Put on something comfortable and loose fitting that won’t entangle you or slip off of you. Or maybe you like to sleep naked. In that case, bathe before you go to bed (use some warm water too). The goal here is to allow our body and senses to relax and feel safe. You’ll have to be the final judge of whether you are doing this or not.
3. Learn How to Breathe Properly – Yogic Breath (you can read more about this in the Yoga section of my site – or do some research in Google). One Breathing method described here in detail is as follows: One good plan is to close the left nostril by pressing on it with the finger, then take four deep breaths through the right nostril. Then close the right nostril and take four deep breaths through the left one. Repeat this about four times. Then breathe slowly through both nostrils, but count your breaths. You seldom will count very many.
4. A warm bath before retiring, followed by a gentle massage, especially along the spine, often will, by relaxing the nerves and muscles, produce very good results.
5. A hot foot bath, which draws the blood away from the brain, frequently will be found beneficial.
6. If the sleeplessness is a result of indigestion, clean up your diet – get on a macrobiotic diet – that will relieve you.
7. Sleeping upon a hard bed without any pillow sometimes produces the desired effect.
8. Always have plenty of fresh air in the room.
9. Keep the mind free from the cares of the day. If they intrude, be reasonable for a moment and count your blessings. List them out to yourself. Do you have a roof over your head? Are you dry? Are you warm? Is your belly full? Do you have all your limbs? Are your children and/or pets safely tucked in bed? Are you alive? That is all you really need to think about before you retire for the evening. If you can say “Yes” to any of those questions then you have hope in tomorrow. So put everything of this world down (tell all those voices in your head that it is closing time and they need to leave and they can come back tomorrow morning) there crowd them out by repeating something else some soothing sentence or bit of poetry.
10. Never take any sleeping powders or tablets except upon the advice of a physician, for they usually contain drugs that will injure the heart.
Thanks for looking after yourself – after all – if you don’t do it, who will? Love and accept yourself, and know you are doing the best you can. Now, it’s time for me to go off to bed. My favorite time of the day. So delicious to give this gift to myself. G’nite y’all.
