Spiritual Sleep

Spiritual Sleep

Rest easy with these tips for a spiritual slumber

Every night you embark upon a magical journey, taking you deep inside your unconscious mind. This journey is called sleep and it's essential for healing and repairing your body, as well as processing your emotions. So, do you fall to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow? Or do you toss and turn, struggling to relax and drift away? While you might think that falling to sleep straight away is the better option, you'll only experience a truly rejuvenating sleep, in either instance, if you prepare properly. This means taking into account not only your physical and emotional needs for a restful night's sleep - but also your spiritual ones.

Sleep and spirituality are closely linked. There are spiritual techniques, such as meditation, which can help prepare you for a restful night's slumber. But sleep is also tied to your spiritual wellbeing. It's a time of transformation, when new ideas are sparked and old beliefs can be processed by the unconscious mind and discarded. Some spiritual philosophies, such as Kabbalah, teach that sleep is the time when your spirit is renewed. Your soul leaves your body for the time you are asleep and is cleansed so you can awaken spiritually refreshed.

Sleep tips

Here are some ideas for enhancing your spiritual wellbeing during sleep.

*Exercise

Exercise can help you fall to sleep faster and make you sleep more soundly - as long as you take it at the right time. So don't try a cardio work-out just before bed or you'll be too wired to rest! Instead try the spiritual exercise of yoga. Go for gentle yogic stretches - there are plenty of beginner's demonstrations for free online. You can even find bedtime yoga, specifically designed to relax you before sleep.

*Unplug yourself

Switch off the TV, mobile phones, laptops and any other electrical devices at least one hour before sleep. The flood of information from these devices stimulates your brain, when you want it to relax. Excessive amounts of information, especially drama-filled social media posts, pollute your emotions and mind when you should be calming yourself in preparation for sleep.

Also, the light from electrical devices disturbs your natural sleep-wake cycle. Too much light at bedtime prevents you from producing melatonin - an essential hormone for sending you off into a peaceful sleep. Use a dim lamp and read a book or read on a device that is not back-lit.

Relaxation

It's important to make time to relax every night before sleep. So turn the hour before you want to sleep into a relaxation hour. Don't allow your mind to linger on daytime worries. Make a list of any issues that are sticking in your brain, then put them away out of mind in a drawer - you can think about them in the morning. Have this one hour per day as your time to unwind. The process of shifting from day to night should be an active, conscious process for you. Falling to sleep in front of the TV is unhealthy for body and mind. So dim the house lights, have a warm bath, put on comfortable clothes, read a book, practice relaxation exercises or deep breathing.

Meditate

Anxiety can prevent you from sleeping peacefully. Meditation is a spiritual practice that helps you relax and can link your sleep to your spirituality. For ten or 15 minutes before bed try to calm your mind with meditation. One simple method is to sit comfortably, close your eyes and breathe inwards through your nose to the slow count of three. The breath outwards to the slow count of three through your mouth. Repeat this three times. The just allow your mind to be still. Clear your head of any thoughts or worries. Imagining a bright colour in your mind's eye might help you to do this more easily. So think of a spinning blue ball and focus on this.

Sleep haven

Colour can influence your mood. So turn your bedroom into a sleep-inducing environment by painting it in a shade that's associated with calming and relaxation. Blue is a good colour for relaxation, but also soft pink, neutral warm tones or green might work for you.

Soothing scents

Lavender essential oil will send you into sound slumber. It's a remedy which has been recommended for centuries by spiritual healers and is now proven by science. Lavender essential oil impacts your brain chemistry in just 20 minutes, dampening down stress hormones and helping you to relax into a deep sleep. Add a few drops to a cloth and breathe in deeply for 20 minutes before bed.