You may have heard by now that meditation is excellent for many, many reasons. Even though it has been traditionally associated with spiritual practices, meditation is increasingly touted in the medical community as a way of helping with physical and emotional issues too, including stress management, cardiac and immune maintenance, problem solving, depression and more.
But did you know it can be a way to enhance your sleep? Absolutely! Meditation is a way to calm your mind. And a calm, clear mind is not prone to insomnia, fitful sleep or rough awakenings. Think more along the lines of peacefully drifting to sleep and waking up up restored in body, mind and spirit. Think also of enhanced dreams.
Sleep and dreaming are indeed restorative. But by throwing meditation into the mix you can amplify it exponentially. Did you know that anxiety, depression and pain stick with you while you sleep? They can be visible in the patterns of brainwaves, eye movements and muscle tone recorded in laboratories and sleep clinics. They disrupt our sleep architecture, or the cycles and rhythms of sleep.
Not surprisingly, when we carry extra stress, when we’re down in the dumps, or when we have aches and pains and feel horrible we have trouble getting to sleep, waking up, or staying asleep. Our REM (dream) density and deep sleep is lessened when we are anxious, sad or sedentary. All of this means we end up feeling even more mentally and physically “off”. We feed a negative cycle.
So how do we break it? How do we turn it around and feel truly rejuvenated? Well, one effective way is through meditation. During meditation you clear your mind. Sure, it takes a little practice but it quickly becomes second nature. It becomes easy to recognize when you need to take a minute to stop what you’re doing (physically or with your thoughts) and clear your head again.
A mind flooded with thoughts and stress is overwhelmed. But when you can clear it, you’re giving yourself the chance to acknowledge the signals coming in from the rest of you! You recognize when you need to calm your body and maybe lower your blood pressure…stop the thoughts and worries and just let go. In terms of sleep, that means let go and allow yourself to drift off unflooded, unstressed with a relaxed mind and body.
Sleep is our most potent, natural rejuvenator, without a doubt. Generally speaking, we restore ourselves physically during deep sleep and mentally during REM. A meditator with a peaceful body and mind can let go of the day at will and drift into blissful sleep at the drop of a hat. And a peaceful body and mind enter naturally into optimal sleep rhythms so your body can do its thing on a cellular and chemical level, and really feel that natural process during waking hours.
But it doesn’t stop there. We can leverage meditation even further at night. Once your mind is cleared of chatter, worries and stressors, you then have an excellent opportunity to hold your focus on an intention, ideal, or something you actually do want to fill your mind with (like new life patterns or behaviors). You are only limited by your imagination. When you wake up in the morning, take a few minutes to clearly intend a perfect day, a perfect presentation, or a heart full of lovingkindness. When going to sleep, take some time to hold the intention of blissful restoration and health, certain wonderful dreams, or even lucid dreams! It is simple, and very powerful.
Lucid dreams are those in which you are aware you are dreaming while you are dreaming. They are the next level of dreaming. This is easily a whole separate topic (explored in more detail in the video course and elsewhere in this app). But as it pertains to this one, fully lucid dreams can deliver absolute freedom, and a connection to something more. In lucid dreams, you can go anywhere with anyone anytime! Almost every single person who has tasted this un-boundried experience will tell you of their sense of exhilaration during their lucid state. Many report it as deeply spiritual, feeling wholly connected to higher aspects of themselves and the universe. Upon waking they cherish the experience and feel – yes – rejuvenated in every way!
Hopefully after reading this you will have a better sense of how powerful even simple meditation can be. When applied to the realms of sleep and dreams, you obtain an amazing inner resource for rejuvenation and enhanced dreaming. All you have to do is “tap in”! This app alone provides a tone of material to explore along your path.