I have taken up meditation to deal with my insomnia. I realise I cannot 'cure' insomnia by meditation alone, but at least I can deal a bit better with my panic attacks over " never being able to sleep EVER again oh what am I going to do" thoughts at night. Thing is I spend hours upon hours meditating in bed....usually try focusing on the breath. Then I spend about 2 x 20 min. meditating in the daytime, sitting with eyes closed, focusing on the breath. Amount of thoughts I get in my head are about the same, but daytime, usually after about 10 - 15 min. I get very sleepy. I could nod off. But if I'd lie down in bed, I am wide awake again. 'Meditating' (or just call it plain relaxing techniques) in bed doesnt' make me sleepy at all. Should I try two different meditation techniques, one for the daytime and one for the long dark hours of the night? Perhaps I am asking for the obvious and the answer lies within me. I don't know much these days, my thoughts are all confused from lack of sleep (boohoo :bigcry: ) Thanks
Maybe the insomnia has to do with the bed or location of the bed in the room. What direction is your head when you lay in bed? Have you tried sleeping on the couch or in a different room? What about sleeping sitting in a comfortable chair?
If you can't sleep.. don't lay in your bed and try to sleep.. Your mind will just subconsciously associate your bed with wakefulness and not allow you to sleep in it.. If you feel tired on your couch, then go sleep on your couch.. otherwise get up and do something else until you feel tired again.. Or just do what I do and take a handful of different downers and hope to wake up in the morning
The direction of my head is west. I have tried sleeping in the living room, with my head in different directions, and my body in/on different places. Nothing worked. I do get out of bed and try to meditate in the living room, then get back to bed. But like I said, I am more likely to get drowsy meditating like that, then once in bed, zero sleep. So I thought if I'm going to do calming breathing exercises anyway, and they make me drowsy, I might as well be in the best place to be drowsy in...bed. Maybe it's that invigorating 6 step walk from the living room to the bedroom that wakes me up after meditating in the living room
Where ever it is that you can meditate and get drowsy, just stay there and keep doing it.... see if you can sleep there. I know they say not to let yourself fall asleep while meditating, but this is a little different, wouldn't you say? Another thing comes to mind, have you ever tried Melatonin supplements or Valerian root tea? Could be a diet issue as well causing this, sugar/caffeine etc. etc.
Melatonin doesn't work for me - it actually makes me sleep even worse. My problem isn't falling asleep, but staying asleep. Same for Valerian and other herbs, for some reason they mess with my head, even in small doses I feel more uptight, yet woolly headed...hard to explain. I drink no caffeine, eat no sugar, in fact lately I've almost strictly been eating sleep inducing foods (bananas, oatmeal porridge, almonds etc) I exercise and live a healthy lifestyle
Sounds great.... but obviously it's not working for you. Not being mean or judgmental, just look at this logically. Something's not working.
Spend less time in front of your computer, TV, phone, iPod, ect. Read, go for a walk, paint, cook, ect. Spending too much time in front of the screens on those things is the #1 problem to insomnia. One of my very close friends has the problem you do and he tends to get a good night of rest if his day was full and productive. Also if he drinks he can pass out, and he loves his booze. Just don't become an alcoholic.
Look into 'Yoga Nidra.' They have yoga nidra in Buddhism and Hinduism yogic practices. Sometimes instead of laying flat, if you recline with the upper body slightly raised it can help respiration and sleep. So not 180 degrees but 150 if you catch my drift. You should not do same meditation technique for sleep and for development of awareness. You will obtain mixed signals. One technique for laying down, one for sitting.
There's meditation for insomnia and there's meditation instead of sleep. If YOU don't make huge problem from insomnia or not sleeping for a very long time it wont become problem to your body either and you can use extra time when you don't sleep for many things rather than for wanting sleep. And don't eat only sleep inducing foods man ! Spices, stimulating food and even stimulants are all or can be part of very healthy lifestyle. Rather than eating only sleep inducing food you should smoke sleep inducing indica when you feel like you could fall a sleep. And staring to your PC before going to sleep also doesn't help a lot.
This was the sort of advice I was looking for. Thank you very much, I have investigated Yoga Nidra and it seems perfect for my case. All other suggestions were helpful and welcome too - thanks
Using meditation to cure insomnia is such a natural and safe way to treat and heal your self and it is extremely worthy of your contemplation and consideration. Thanks.
An ayurvedic adjunct to sleeping is to massage the feet with ghee lightly, and then leave the ghee on the feet with a pair of thick socks on the feet. The ghee is an ayurvedic way of balancing the prakriti or nature. Best to use a pair of throw away socks and not wash them. Washing oily laundry gets really smelly. Buy a pack of socks and wear them a night each and do this a couple nights a week for a month. Throw the socks out or wash them by hand. Another similar technique is called nasya, and is snorting ghee (in each case the ghee should be warm, not hot). Snort a teaspoon of ghee in each nostril and then spit it out, and finish by snorting some warm tap water and spit it out. The ghee is, again, used to balance the prakriti. This should be done only for seven days, or nights, in every three months.
Taking your advice, and that of Deepak Chopra whose book on sleep I read, I have massaged my feet with sesame oil before going to bed for the past week now. It hasn't made much difference in sleep quantity (although my feet feel nice and warm with the extra socks) The nasya I still have to try, I'm a bit reluctant (sorry )
I have the same problem. Only my problem is falling asleep, AND staying asleep. Melatonin and other sleep inducing aids don't work for me either. Usually they make me grouchy, and sometimes lightheaded. But usually, they don't help my sleeping issues whatsoever. I haven't even thought about trying meditation to help though, but I think I may try it.
