Meditation one way to help deal with insomnia

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Joi

As I’ve aged, my sleep patterns have too. I used to go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. without any stirring. Now there are usually three trips to the bathroom and often during one of them I don’t go back to sleep easily. I know this happens to a lot of us baby boomers, so here’s what I’ve learned: meditate. Really.

As soon as I notice I’m not going back to sleep, I get up and sit in my meditation chair that I always have set up in my bedroom. Almost immediately I become aware of why I’m not sleeping. Sometimes it’s indigestion, sometimes there’s an issue spinning in my mind. Whatever it is, I’ve learned to just be with it, watch it, allow it to unfold without trying to control it.

Then when I go back to bed, I’m more relaxed and usually fall asleep immediately. There are two other tips, though, that can help if this isn’t the case.

This one is from a reader: “While I was trying to fall back to sleep early this morning I thought of a possible subject for your blog. I find that getting my eyes to drop out of focus (while shut) is the first thing to happen right before I fall asleep or enter into meditation ... call it a non-objective focus as the eyes stop searching for something to focus on and instead settle into a broad view of the back of the eyelid.”

The second tip is to simply focus your attention on the back of your head. See this blog entry.

Both of these take your mind out of the active mode, shift it into the theta wave state which precedes sleep.

As a mental health professional, an owner of a fitness studio, a writer and a wife, mother and grandmother, I have found meditation to be helpful in every aspect of my life. To find out about my meditation classes this fall, contact me at susanmmorales@yahoo.com or check out my websites: susanscottmorales.com and bodiesinbalancefitness.com