Many people experience bouts of insomnia and they can certainly be challenging. Do I get out of bed and clean the house? Does counting sheep really work (not really)?
You might even have considered getting up during a sleepless night to do yoga. Do I want to get out of bed, find my mat, just so that I can still my mind?
But yoga is so much more than movement. It’s a mindful practice. It’s breathwork. It’s movement, but it’s also meditational. Did you know that you can actually experience yoga in just one position? You don’t have to move, as long as you fully commit to one pose and the breathwork and mindfulness to sustain it.
That pose is corpse pose, or savasana. By lying on your back, feet hip-width apart and open, your arms at your side, palms up, you can be in savasana without needing to move into that pose or out of it. And yet, while you are in it, you can be meditating.
Meditating is a way to pray. Of listening to the universe, finding the answers you seek without asking questions.
Meditating is also a way to focus, to find clarity.
Meditating is an excellent way to calm your thoughts. Thoughts will come, but the deeper into meditation you get, the less you’ll care about those thoughts. Go deeper still, and you’re almost dreaming.
Once in position upon your bed, start by noticing your breath. Simply listen. Don’t try to control it. If your breath feels constricted, open your throat a little more. Spend a couple minutes just feeling your breath – feel your lungs, your throat, your nostrils, feel the breath as it leaves your body and as you expand to fill your lungs again.
Then notice the body. Start at the crown of your head. If you have a fan on in your room, feel the air move gently through your hair. Feel your eyes sink further into their sockets, and feel your ears relax back. Move slowly through the body, feeling each space – your neck, chest, belly, hips, thighs, legs, feet, arms and fingers. As you move from your upper body to your lower body, notice your spine sinking deeper into the bed.
As you focus on your feet, create an intention. It can be as simple as “I’d like to sleep peacefully.” Create your intention and feel that intention move back up through the body, as though your feet, legs, hips and belly were partnering with that intention.
When thoughts come that distract you from your intention, smile and let them float by you.
And as the intention move back up into your upper body, notice how very heavy you feel upon the bed. This meditation might take two or three minutes, or it might take as much as fifteen, but rest assured that by the time you have moved back up to your chest, you’ll notice your breathing is much deeper than when you began. And by the time the intention comes back to your crown, you are probably halfway to sleep – or already there!
May you have peaceful, happy dreams.