Practical Meditation:

Techniques to help you sleep

You’ve pulled down the shades and turned off the lights. Your head hits the pillow and you sigh. Minutes pass and you realize you are still awake. Your mind is racing over the details of a meeting you’ve anxious about; or, you’re ruminating over the interaction you had with a friend that left you feeling unsettled. The frontal lobe of our brain is where we think, where our daily activities are planned and sorted out. It’s the part that gets over-stimulated and keeps us awake.

Just before sleep our brains shift into theta wave, the state also created by meditation. This is a slower wavelength than when we’re awake editing, assessing and analyzing non-stop. From the theta wave we easily shift into sleep. And the beauty is our brain does that for us. All we have to do is prepare for sleep, that is, create the environment for it to happen. That’s where meditation comes in handy. Sometimes brushing our teeth and putting on pajamas isn’t enough.

If you are new to meditation the following exercises might take a little practice, although you may find benefits on your first attempt. Practicing the techniques when you’re not sleepy will help increase your awareness of your brain and also the sensations of thinking, making it easier to access when you want to sleep.

• Our brain waves will naturally begin to slow down if we focus on the sensations instead of what is causing the sensations. So, for this first exercise, become aware of the front of your brain. It can help to put your fingers on your forehead. As you focus on the area behind your forehead, notice what it feels like. Is it tight? Do you have a spinning sensation? Is there pressure? Some people experience energy that feels like a Mexican jumping bean. Take a deep breath and stay focused on the feeling you have in that area of your head. Now stay with that feeling. Your mind will want to return to all those entertaining thoughts, (that’s its job), but keep bringing it back to the physical sensations. Stay with this for a minute or so.

Take a deep breath. Notice whether it is deeper than before the exercise. You can’t be tense and breathe deeply at the same time.

• When we focus on the back of the body, we are in the “witness” mode, like seeing ourselves from outside or from a distance. It might be hard to keep reading, because putting attention there actually disengages the frontal lobe of the brain. Now put your focus on the lower back of your brain (the opposite position of the forehead.)

Take a few breaths imagining the breath is gently soothing that section. To enhance this further, imagine a humming sound there.

Now, notice if you are more relaxed. You might sense it mostly in your body. That’s fine. As our body relaxes, our mind relaxes and vice versa.

Repeat the exercises if needed. They don’t have to be done in any order. On any given night, you might find that one works better than the other. Sweet dreams!

As seen at Natural Awakenings