When sleep won’t come

It used to be that when I couldn’t sleep, I’d lie in bed and feel the anxiety building in my chest. I’d worry about not sleeping, I’d worry about how tired I’d be in the morning, I’d count backward or try to remember the names of everyone in my first-grade classroom, all in a desperate – and usually unsuccessful — attempt to fall asleep again.

Now, when I wake at 3 or 4 a.m. and can’t fall back asleep, I think, oh good, the perfect time to meditate.

Most people can’t find time to meditate during their busy days. Even 20 minutes seems elusive when you have work, family obligations, a home to care for, and so on. But at 4 a.m., there’s nothing on the calendar, no phones ringing, the laptop is sleeping even if you can’t. So why not meditate?

Monks and mystics intentionally wake up at these early morning hours because this pre-dawn period, when the rest of the world is slumbering, is ideal for achieving inner quiet and stillness.

You can sit up in bed and meditate or meditate lying down on your back (think savasana if you’ve ever taken a yoga class). There are lots of techniques to use. For example:

REPLAY YOUR DAY

1. Lying in bed in a comfortable position, take three slow, conscious breaths.
2. Now, reflect on the day that has just passed. Be sure to take a “witness” perspective. Don’t judge, question, or get lost in any particular scenario. Just watch.
3. Condense all of your activities from waking to going to bed into a 5-minute ‘film’ that you project onto your mind’s eye and watch as an objective observer.
4. For an extra challenge, reverse the film, going backwards from climbing into bed, to brushing your teeth and washing up, and the activity before that … and the one before that … and keep going.
5. Soon you should be drifting into dreams.

EXTRA CREDIT
Meditating in the middle of the night, during bouts of sleeplessness, will often lead to clear, and sometimes even lucid or luminous dreams. And surprisingly, you’ll wake refreshed even though you might not have logged a full 7-8 hours of sleep.

Next time you wake and can’t fall right back into sleep, thank your insomnia and start your new mediation practice!

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