Mindfulness and Sleep
Five Benefits of Mindfulness
Formal meditation practices (body scan, yoga, sitting meditation) have been shown to…
5. Lower levels of anxiety, depression, anger, and worry.
4. Reduce ruminative thinking (slow down racing thoughts).
3. Increase feelings of joyfulness, gratitude, and satisfaction with life.
2. Improve sense of sense of well being by virtue of greater emotional awareness.
1. Improve Sleep!
Some may be initially put off by the word “meditation”. When racing thoughts and emotions are swirling, the thought of sitting completely still with no thoughts may seem unbearable. Personally my meditative practice is done more in motion then sitting still. And seldom have I seen a child sit completely still through meditation of any type (including my 4 year old son), yet I commonly see them benefit.
“There is no right way to meditate.”
– Said by just about everyone who meditates.
I would like to discuss an observation that I made:
I have had the opportunity to travel and experience other cultures. I did medical missions in places where the right of passage into manhood is that a young man must serve time in the military. I remember getting currency exchange around armed guards with sawed-off shotguns for protection. — Several years ago I went to Laos. This was before I even knew of the word Mindfulness. The right of passage into manhood in the area we traveled requires apprenticeship with Buddhist monks. It was one of the most peaceful place I have ever been in my life.
Note: Mindfulness is a way of life.
Other observations as I was incorporating Mindfulness into my sleep practice:
– On several webinars of Mindfulness they would ask participants in the audience how they felt, a common response was “sleepy”.
– When I started practicing Mindfulness with others, I commonly noticed yawning.
– There are several techniques for certain forms of Mindfulness to stay alert. Why do they need to practice such mechanisms to stay awake? Because for some Mindfulness can be sleep inducing!
– Commonly when I practice Mindfulness with people, even after less than 5 minutes when I ask people how they feel, most responded “good”. And commonly people with anxiety respond by saying “different” or “I don’t know”. It takes them a moment to realize they forgot what relaxed felt like.
– Kids love it!
Want to learn more about Mindfulness? I would like to refer you to Deb The Brain Lady. I call her “The Mindfulness teacher of teachers”.
