Meditate To Improve Your Sleep: Practical Health Tips
Meditation is a established technique to encourage and promote relaxation. The more relaxed you are as you prepare for bedtime the better your chances of falling into a deep, restful sleep cycle.
It is essential that you learn to put your stress, tensions, and worries to the side before you fall asleep. Meditation can assist you achieve this relaxed state and focus on peace and harmony.
There are many different types of meditations available for you to use, each with many adaptations and versions. To get you started, here is a technique that is easy to do and very effective at promoting relaxation:
Find a focus point for your meditation. This may be a mantra, a candle, a stone, or something as simple as the sound of your own breathing. A mantra is a phrase, usually a Hindu phrase, which you repeat over and over in your mind to establish harmony and to focus on your meditation. No matter what you are using for your focus point the goal is to continuously and firmly bring your mind back to what you are focusing on. All other thoughts and distractions that drift through your mind must be pushed out. If you are beginning to include meditation in your bedtime routine you should remember that this type of meditation requires a great deal of discipline. Your mind will easily be distracted and you will lose focus. As you continue to practice your meditation each night you will find that the process becomes easier and easier. You may find that meditating 10 to 15 minutes before bed will help to fall asleep naturally.
Here is another simple technique for meditation:
• Find a quiet room.
• Sit in a comfortable position on the floor (use a cushion if needed).
• Sit with your hands resting lightly in your lap.
• Close your eyes and relax.
• Take deep breaths in and out through your nose.
• Try to focus on your breathing. Count each breath as you exhale. Count to ten. Repeat several times until relaxation sets in.
• Clear your mind of everything and think only of counting each breath as you exhale.
• Acknowledge any other thoughts that enter your mind, and then gently let them go and concentrate once again on your breathing.
At the end of the meditation stretch gently and become aware of your body before standing up.
Another form of meditation is guided imagery. Guided imagery is a mix of relaxation, meditation, and hypnosis. Using this method you will follow a guided meditation to visualize a state of relaxation.
It is best practiced in a quiet room where you won’t be disturbed. You will need a tape or CD player. The lighting in the room should be soft and dim. Normally the visualization will begin with some simple relaxation exercises that include deep breathing. When your body and mind are relaxed your imagination will come into play. Some common imagery include walking along the beach, being the mountains, or walking through the forest. The guided imagery uses your imagination to induce peacefulness and relaxation. You will be guided through the meditation from beginning to end, at which time you should feel calm and serene.
There are many imagery tapes on the market for you to pick from.
The above techniques for meditation will help your mind and body to relax. Your goal is to be as rested as possible as you prepare to sleep. There are many other methods of meditation available. You may have to research and experiment and find what works best for you.
These techniques are also great if you are having to cope with stress in your life such as preparing to act as emcee at a friend’s wedding reception. The thought of speaking in public makes most people anxious.
Wedding mc
Wedding mc tips
Wedding master of ceremonies
These articles are packed with practical tips and advice. Being properly prepared for your role helps keep stress under control too.
Posted on: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 7:14 pm 
Self Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.