Meditation can be an effective way of dealing with insomnia. How can meditation help with insomnia?
If you have insomnia you might have tried different ways to fall asleep. You have probably tried avoiding drinks with caffeine in them or even taking sleeping pills. However, if you are unable to stop the chatter in your mind and relax it is difficult to sleep. One way to help with relaxation is meditation. If you can clear your mind of bothering thoughts and relax your body it is much easier to sleep. It works by relaxing you to the point that sleep becomes easier to achieve.
How then can we achieve sleep inducing relaxation with meditation? Here are four ways to achieve it.
1. Breathing
Take large breaths before going to sleep. This will better enable you to achieve levels of oxygen in your body that will help to fall asleep.
2. Dealing with inner chatter
Your mind may be focused on past or imaginary conversations. You may talk to yourself in your mind. This will prevent you from falling asleep. Therefore, try to stop the inner conversations. If you find it difficult, you can slow down this inner dialogue and make it so boring that you cannot help but fall asleep.
3. Dealing with inner imagery
If you primarily visualize your thoughts, try to make these images such that they do not provide too much stimulation. Thinking about a wheat field for example would provide little stimulation.
4. Relaxing the body
An important element, both in regard to sleep and meditation, is relaxing the body. Try to avoid physical exercise right before bedtime. Imagining the body as very heavy is a technique that might bring about relaxation and let your body calm down. Relaxing the muscles is important in this.
Hopefully these meditation techniques will get you on your way to better sleep.
