8 Simple Tips to Sleep Better: Rest in Winter Creates More Energy in Spring

Are you being driven by the “compulsive doing activity through which we seek to establish our worthiness and identity?”

 

The winter months really are a time to rest and rebuild ourselves, getting healthy sleep is important. The Western idea of achievement by pushing oneself steadily for efficiency and output, is at odds with all of the Natural world around us.  Many of us are experiencing winter now, when we can see by example there is a pulling in of energy;  if we really listen there is an urge to take a bit more quiet time.  You may have noticed it over the holidays- a sense of disconnection and the frantic quality-because it is at odds with the energy of the winter season.  The ability to manifest and expand the rest of the year is dependent on the quality of our winter rest.  There are of course natural sleep remedies available, but honestly anything other than occasional insomnia means that lifestyle changes are in order.  That will be the only way to improve sleep quality, so no remedy, natural or otherwise gets to the root of the problem. This is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine which informs the meridian flows concepts;  these concepts are the basis of acupuncture and shiatsu as well as movement technologies like Tai Chi and Chi Kung.  Also Ayurvedic wisdom from India has a lot of correspondences with TCM.  And most importantly to me they developed over not hundreds but thousands of years.  That’s time tested.

Quick Tips for Sleep

1. Meditate & keep up your yoga practice 3x week or more (an upcoming post will give WINTER YOGA TIPS)
2. Eat a light dinner-most people depending on location, and body type will want a warming, nourishing primarily cooked meal
3. Try to get to bed by 10:30 pm to work with the natural sleep cycle
   
4. Take a warm bath with calming essential oils (that please you! sample them in the store)-lavender, ylang ylang, clary sage, lemon or grapefruit blends can be de-stressing (especially if liver issues of driven, high stress work)
5. Drink a cup of warm milk/almond milk (I can’t recommend soy milk at this point) with a little honey and cardamon/cinnamon, or have a cup of  calming herbal tea-chamomile, peppermint or other “nighttime or sleepytime” blends
6. Avoid watching news or doing stimulating activities, two hours or more before bed
7. Listen to soft music or read something inspirational before going to bed.
8. Finally my dear reader, listen to a free audio talk, to soothe the mind, often it’s the overactive mind that won’t shut off  and prevents us from getting healthy sleep:  To Trust In Being ( 56:01 min)  by Yanai Postelnik.  He has a wonderful voice. I’ve sat a retreat with Yanai, here is the description:
   

Discovering how to rest in being requires us to examine the compulsive doing activity through which we seek to establish our worthiness and identity. Trusting where we are, we can come to rest in the wide-open nature of aliveness.

So the best natural sleep remedy is overall lifestyle adjustment, follow these basic tips to achieve healthy sleep.  Let me know what you think and any simple tips that you use to encourage rest.

Namaste, Kala