Curing Insomnia With Meditation
Author: David Rodgers
One of the key benefits of meditation is that it helps you get a better night's rest. After a stressful day, there's nothing quite like a meditation session to escape from the rat race and wind down in your free time, and what's more, you also get a whole host of medical benefits thrown in at the same time! One of those benefits comes in the form of help for insomnia sufferers, who can find that elusive full night's rest through practicing meditation and achieving inner peace. As a route to enlightenment and physiological well being, meditation really is a fantastic tool in any self-help medical toolbox, and it's one you should be using now to help cure insomnia, or whatever else you're suffering from.
Getting enough sleep is critical to your success in life generally, not to mention how cranky we can get if we don't get enough shut-eye! For concentration at work or in school it is important that we're able to relax at night and enjoy a full, healthy sleep without disturbance and unrest. Unfortunately, the vicious cycle of insomnia can creep up on anyone at any time - whether it's stress related, or you've become anxious about some troubles at work or in your personal life, there are a number of practical, safe ways you can cure your problem without having to resort to sleeping pills or prescription medicines.
So what can be done about insomnia? Well, meditation has been proven to have a dramatic impact when it comes to getting a better night's sleep. The process of meditation puts your mind and body into a state of calm, relaxing against the backdrop of your undoubtedly stressful life. By focusing on a particular rhythm or object and learning to control your mind, you can relive stress and anxieties and become a happier and healthier individual - fact. What's more, in the short term it can be a great way to allow you to get a better night's sleep, which is great news for insomniacs out there.
There is a mountain of evidence from satisfied former insomniacs saying that their meditation was the reason they've now broken that cycle. What's more, there's now more and more research coming out as to the benefits of meditation for insomnia, and a whole host of other medical conditions, suggesting it has even more healing power than anyone could have anticipated. Why not try out the benefits of insomnia for yourself today, and see what relaxing your spirit can do for you!
There's no need to suffer in silence with insomnia, particularly with the easy accessibility of meditation as a remedy. Whatever walk of life you're from or whatever your spiritual background, you too can benefit from meditating as a means of curing insomnia and getting a better night's sleep. Simply learn how to meditate in your own time, and use it as a way to both relax and enjoy a lifetime of inner peace and better sleep, benefiting all areas of your life and leaving you feeling great.
How have you overcome your insomnia?
I have had insomnia for over a month now, and find it almost impossible to sleep. I am miserable. I have tried xanax, ambien and lunesta and those only work for a night or two and then stop working for me. I really would like to do this without taking anything but am finding it very hard. I exercise and take baths at night but it doesnt seem to work for me. I used to sleep for 7 hrs just fine, then i missed a night or two and have been stuck in this cycle of fearing my bed. Has anyone used specific meditation or relaxing techniques that they have found works? If so please let me know.. and i would like to try this without using sleeping pills, etc.
Don’t stress over this! Accept the fact that you have had problems sleeping and just let it go, mentally. Don’t expect anything..If you think like this-that you’re in a cycle, afraid of the bed- you stress yourself. You’re not perfect, nobody is..we all experience sleeplesness and various degrees of insomnia. Just relax, pamper yourself mentally, take a day off work, shop for something nice, eat some cake! Really, don’t think about sleep;)
But I wonder why you can’t sleep, aside from the thinking you can’t b/c you missed a couple of nights. Is it something else? It’s usually a worry, a problem that causes us to be so restless and not sleep.
You really have to identify and recognize your reason for staying up at night and try to solve it or come to some peace with it. What happens when you go to bed? What thoughts come to your mind? Is it something worrying?
Whatever it is, you have to find some peace of mind. The way I do this is through prayer. I pray to God to protect me, shelter me from the specific pain, take away the problems. Kind of like placing yourself in the hands of God, knowing that God could trully help in such a small matter (compared to the trully HUGE issues and pain of the entire world).
There are some teas that work also for me -”Sleepytime extra” and a “throat-coat” tea, from some Organic tea company (available at Kroger, probably at any store).
I started meditation around 3 months ago but I developed insomnia after I started it. What should I do?
Mantra meditation.
I used to do it twice a day each session
extending up to 30 mins.
But after I started meditating, I developed
middle/terminal insomnia. I usually go to bed at 10 pm and sleep in 10-15 mins, but I wake up around 3 – 4 AM. After that I get a very light/disturbed sleep.
I discussed this with few meditation experts and they said that because meditation results in
de-stressing, the process should be very gradual and should be done in moderation.
They advised me to do meditation only in the morning for 20 mins and continue at that level for next 6 months to 1 year
But the problem is I am not able to unwind myself in the evening from the day’s activities.
I go to bed with all the stress.
So doing meditation in the evening is causing one problem, and not doing it is causing the same effect.
What do you advise me to do?
You could try stopping the meditation. It doesn’t seem to be having any beneficial effects for you.
Where can I buy a good meditation CD?
I have found that meditation helps with insomnia, but it is difficult to get into a meditative state. This is why I need a CD – preferably one without background music.
Maybe at a book store like Borders, they have different CD’s than at a regular CD store (i.e. tower records). Hope this helps
Why do some Buddhists use sleeping pills for insomnia when they can easily perform Breathing meditation ?
Sleeping pills may cause adverse effects including tolerance, dependence, accidents and death.
Breathing Meditation (Anapanasati)
http://www.geocities.com/vuthigan/Breathing.html
There are millions of Buddhists in the world. I am sure that Anapanasati would be effective for some (probably the majority of) Buddhists. However, there are no absolutes. This form of meditation is unlikely to work for everyone.
What causes insomnia after inner fire tummo meditation?
The first time I did tummo meditation… I went 48 hours without any sleep….
Tonight I practiced it for 3:00 hours… and now it is 3:00 a.m. and I still can’t sleep…. usually I sleep around 10:00 or 11:00 o’clock…. right now I’m not even tired…
Isn’t this what happens to your body when you are smoking marijuana?
Your insomnia probably has nothing to do with tummo meditation.