How to Fall Asleep: Mantra

Sleeping Like a Teenager

There are 2 things my main things my students ask, no beg, for help with. I'm going to talk about the first one today--sleep. In our busy, electronic age, it's getting harder and harder for people to unwind and sleep deeply for the required amount of time their bodies need. 

I've listed tips in a previous post, Trouble sleeping--look no further. Here I'd like to offer you another useful tool, mantra. Besides not using electronics before sleep, mantra with focused breathing has been the most effective tool for myself and many of my students.

I have used mantra for many years in my yoga, chanting and meditation practice. Traditionally, a mantra is a sound or phrase given to you by your teacher. You repeat it and feel the qualities of the sounds in your body; your mind is also able to focus on the sound alone. I like using Sanskrit mantras, but you can use any sound or word as long as it doesn't contain any negative connotation for you.

Mantra is also a useful tool for falling asleep or going back to sleep if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night.  When choosing a mantra for sleep, it's important that the sound not raise your energy, trigger emotion or cause you to think. I like using single syllables like, ॐ Om or short phrases such as सोहुं so hum--inhaling so exhaling hum; it's similar to saying, "I am." You might also choose a word in your native language that means Peace, Calm, or Tranquil. 

Repeat the word silently as you exhale over and over again. Don't give up too soon. Remember that it takes time for your body and mind to get used to a new practice.

For more on meditation, join me for, "28 days to Inner Peace-Develop a Home Practice: an online mediation course."

Happy ZZZZ...Let me know if it works for you!

Procrastination--10 Foolproof tips

I love making lists and even more than writing the list, I love, love, love crossing things off. I have even been known to write things on the list I already completed just so I could cross something off. Scary I know.

Because I like to get things done, I am productive most of the time. It's those prickly, uncomfortable things that I don't want to do--the dreaded phone call, selling myself, the book I don't want to read, but have to--that seem to be repeatedly on the list until finally I just do it. 

I was talking to a friend about this and she said, "That's the first thing I do so that it's not hanging over my head." I thought that was an amazingly simple and effective solution. I went home after that talk determined to get some of those not so pleasing things done; I made the call. What a relief! 

I am learning new skills and becoming a business person with some help. 

The book still rests in the to be read pile, which keeps growing because there are so many books I want to read and not enough time to read then.

I came across this article and thought it might help those of you who have my same procrastination gene.

10 Foolproof Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

…and the very best tip is the easiest (hint: it’s the first one).

Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students. Read more

Happy reading!  I'd love to hear some of your solutions.