BEDTIME MEDITATION TECHNIQUES TO HELP YOU SLEEP

Bedtime meditation is vital to your health, sleep, and the overall well-being of your body. How many of you look forward to the end of the day? How many of you, after a long stressful day, look forward to bedtime? Just to get into your bed, cover yourself, put your head on the softest pillow you own, and drift away into a long blissful sleep. So the question is: why bedtime meditation is so important to our health and and our body?

Unfortunately, this rarely happens. You get in bed, the time passes, 15 minutes become 30 minutes, then an hour, and you are still awake, adding more stress to an already stressful day.  Even more than that, now, after 60 minutes of wasting time in bed, you think of all the chores you need to do the next day. After eight hours of work, after spending eight hours with the boss who never appreciates you and eight hours with all co-workers who abuse your goodwill and give you extra stuff to do, you try to sleep. To your dismay, after all the day’s drudgery, you find you can’t sleep. Thankfully, some bedtime meditation practices will help you fall asleep at the right time and give you the rest you need to feel refreshed the next morning. So, what are the secrets of a good night’s sleep?

BREATHING MEDITATION

The first meditation technique focuses on breathing. You don’t need to breathe harder or softer; notice your breath and your breathing’s natural rhythm. Focus on the pause after you exhale. Put one hand on your chest, the other on your stomach, and feel how they rise and fall with each breath you take. Follow your breath through your nose, through your throat and lungs, and back again. Be attentive to each breath, and every time your mind wanders off, focus on your breathing once again.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BODY BEFORE BEDTIME

Another method to relax before bedtime is looking and paying attention to your body in a non-judgmental way. As you pay attention to each part of your body individually, your toes, foot arches, heals, and so forth, try to relax and eliminate tension from each area of the body with your mind, especially where you feel the most stress. If your mind wanders off, focus on your breathing.

LISTEN TO RELAXING MUSIC AS BEDTIME MEDITATION

One of the most common forms of bedtime meditation is listening to relaxing music. There are various apps both on the android and the Apple platform that have calming music. Specific frequencies calm the mind and relax the body. YouTube features an extensive collection of music at the frequency of 432 Hz or 528 Hz.

432 Hz relaxes the mind, balances the body, eliminates fear and anxiety, slows down blood pressure and heart rate, and even helps digestion. 432 Hz is the frequency of the earth, mother nature, and the universe. It is softer, brighter, and easier to the ear than traditional music, which has a frequency of 440 Hz. 432 Hz induces calmness to the body and the mind, and it’s more harmonious and pleasant.

Scientists believe that modern-day music 440 Hz stimulates depression, sickness, fear, and anxiety.  432 Hz promotes spiritual enlightenment and gives the listener inner peace and clarity, while 440 Hz blocks energy. Like its 432 Hz counterpart, 528 Hz music promotes love, repairs the DNA and relaxes the mind. Many new-age bands are focusing their music towards evoking a calm and gentle state of mind. Music bands and solo singers such as Enya, Vangelis, Giovanni Marradi, Kenny G, and Esteban fluctuate towards a more mellow, relaxing, and harmonious tone that relaxes the mind and the body, getting rid of stress, worries, and negative thought, and promoting restful sleep. Music calms the nervous system and lets you sleep. It is also important that you turn the volume up or down—not too quiet, but not too loud either. You need to hear the music but make sure the volume doesn’t keep you awake. So, when you get into bed, put some calming music on, at the lowest volume possible, close your eyes and drift away. You will fall asleep in no time.

LOVING KINDNESS BEDTIME MEDITATION

Another form of meditation called Loving-Kindness meditation focuses the mind on all the people that bring you joy and happiness rather than fear, anger, and frustration. If someone upset you during the day, think of all the people who love you and care about you. You can even call those people. Instead of rambling on about an upsetting event that bothered you, talk and reminisce about happier times when you speak to them.

3-3-3 TECHNIQUE

An excellent breathing technique that people with anxiety use is the 3-3-3 technique. You inhale for three counts, hold your breath for three counts and exhale for three counts. Yogis and yoga practitioners discovered many patterns like this throughout history. The concept is you inhale for several seconds, you hold your breath for a few seconds, and you exhale.

VISUALIZATION FOR BEDTIME MEDITATION

Visualization is another way to relax the body before you fall asleep. Just visualize yourself in a very relaxing place, on a beach, in a forest, or on a picnic. But don’t just picture yourself on the beach; focus on every detail, how the ocean sounds, how the seagulls cry, how the beach smell; concentrate on every detail you would see if you were actually on a beach. Close your eyes and pay attention to every element, sound, smell, taste, what you see, what you feel, every color that surrounds you—the color of the sun, the color of the sea, the color of the flowers around you, every detail.

SELF-COMPASSION

Self-compassion meditation lets you focus on what you feel, frustration, anxiety, fear, worry, and guilt; this method is unique. Instead of focusing on happy thoughts, it focuses on your problems. If you focus on your issues, you learn to live with them instead of fighting them all the time. Sometimes when we resist what we feel, it can create more anxiety and depression. Just close your eyes and relax. All these methods are used to help you get a night of better sleep. Try them, and you will see how relaxed and rested you wake up in the morning. Because when it comes to the secrets of a good night’s sleep, rest is vital to the well being of each and every one of us.

Bedtime meditation is one of the most wonderful things you can do to your body. After a long day full of excitement, and activities bedtime meditation will help your body relax, take your mind of all the worries that bothered you throughout the day and help you get a good night’s rest.