Following are three different techniques that can help you sleep at night.
Different people may prefer different techniques. Find the technique or techniques that you find most effective and use them.
Recommendation
If you wish to go to sleep it is best if you are lying on your back with your hands to your sides.
Do not move. Just sitting still has a relaxing effect.
You should feel comfortable. You should not be either too cold or too hot.
Even if you are unable to fall asleep these exercises are relaxing and will have a healing impact on your body.
If you make it a goal to fall asleep it will create tension and you will decrease your chances of falling asleep.
Do the Soft Counting Breath for 2 to 5 minutes (5 to 10 times) to slow down your heart and decrease the blood pressure.
Do the Body Scan next. This focuses your mind on your bodily sensations and slows down the thinking mind and the anxieties accumulated through the day.
Do the counting backwards several times.
If you are not asleep after all 3 steps, repeat all 3 steps or go to the technique that you find most useful.
This is the exercise that is most effective for triggering your parasympathetic nerve system and slowing your heart rate and decreasing your blood pressure and stopping the adrenaline from flowing. This also draws your mind away from your thought patterns into your physical sensations.
How – Position
Comfortable relaxed position.
If on a Chair – feet flat on the floor – Back straight
If Lying down – arms at your side.
If you feel comfortable you may allow your eyes to close
Counting Backwards Long slow breath.
Allow yourself to breathe as long and slow and deep as you can.
Breathe in through your nose. Breathe out through your mouth.
Pause between the in breath and the out breath and between the out breath and the in breath
As you breathe in count.
Count to the same number for each in breath and out breath.
For me that number is 5 but do what is most comfortable for you.
Continue for a while and if you feel comfortable breathing try to increase the count by 1 and notice how you feel.
Breathe for a while at this number and if you feel comfortable increase
Body Scan
Body Scan
This exercise helps take your mind off of your thoughts. If you can focus on your body parts the thinking mind will eventually slow down and relax.
Posture
Comfortable relaxed position. Chair – feet flat on the floor and your back straight If Lying down – arms at your side. If you are comfortable allow your eyes to close
Body Scan
Slowly go through each part of your body in detail.
For each part. Focus on it. Be curious about it. What are the sensations in that part of the body? Is it hot or cold? Does it tingle?
Go in as much detail as you can in identifying the parts of the body.
One possible sequence:
Right Hand thumb,
second finger,
third finger,
fourth finger,
fifth finger,
palm of your right hand,
back of your right hand,
wrist,
forearm,
upper arm,
right shoulder,
right hip,
thigh,
hamstring,
knee,
calf,
ankle,
heel of the right foot,
bottom.
Repeat for the left side of your body.
Your neck,
your jaws,
your tongue,
your eyebrows,
your eyelids,
your forehead.
When you have completed going through your whole body try to feel the whole body all at once.
Feel your whole body relax.
Imagine that your body is so light that it will float.
Counting Backward
This exercise helps take your mind off of your thoughts. You will be counting backwards in a complex way that takes your full attention.
Start Counting back wards from 40. On the even count breathe in and on the out count breathe out:
40 in, 39 out, 38 in, 37 out etc. until 20
From 20 to 0 count backwards and there is a full breath for each count. 20 in and out, 19 in and out etc.
