I’ve had a strange relationship with sleep for years. I love sleep, I look forward to long lie ins, epic 12 hour sleepathons, at the weekends and I’ve yet to find that I’ve grown into early mornings! However long ,deep sleeps are, on the whole, a thing of the past for me.
It hasn’t always been thus. As a child I slept the sleep of the dead. Nothing would wake me. On one famous occassion, I had a dream I was being eaten by a lion. I was thrashing around in bed fighting for my life, but nothing could wake me, not even my parents! Oh to be able to sleep so deeply now.
It’s a bitter irony that people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Fibromyalgia, despite being almost always tired, do not sleep well. Some of us (like me) sleep poorly, and not for very long at a stretch and some of us can sleep for long periods of time but just don’t feel rested. It’s a bit of a Catch 22 really because this lack of sleep can cause the extreme muscle pains of Fibromyalgia, those same muscle pains that can keep me awake at night!
But it is not just people with CFS/Fibro who suffer. Millions of us aren’t getting enough sleep, whether it is because of sleep related disorders, stress and worry or simply not having enough time on top of all the other things we feel are expected of us. Once chronic insomnia starts we have to ask ourselves whether to drug or not to drug.
Personally I decided against the pill option. One of the huge advantages of being a yoga teacher is I have many a wide ranging toolbox of aids for relaxing and so I thought I would share one with you today that I feel has helped me more than anything else when it comes to falling asleep.
The Square Breath
Just begin by focusing on the breath and try to establish a gentle even rhythm, e.g. inhaling for the count of four, exhaling for the count of 4 (I’m using 4 as the count here but use what is comfortable for you).
1. Take four even breaths (inhale 4, exhale 4)
2. Begin to add a retention to the inhale (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4) – repeat 4 times
3. Begin to add a reention to the exhale (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4) – repeat 4 times
4. Let go of the inhale retention (inhale 4, exhale 4, hold 4) – repeat 4 times
5. Let go of the exhale retention (inhale 4, exhale 4) – repeat 4 times
It does look a bit complicated written down like that but you only have to practice it a few times adn you will soon know it.
Lying with your legs up the wall (Viparita Karani – see picture) is very beneficial for sleeplessness – try the square breath in this postion!
How do you sleep at night dear readers?
