In order to fall asleep,
mindful breathing can be very helpful.
Mindful breathing is just
being aware of your breath.
Counting to the count of four
on the in breath and six
on the out breath.
This slows your breathing
from an average of 14 to an
average of eight per minute.
Mindful breathing immediately
restores self-regulation,
calms the mind, stimulates
the vagus nerve, which is the
healing nerve in the body.
A breathing exercise to do
when you can't fall asleep is
just to observe your breath.
And if you want, you can use
a mantra.
"So" on the in breath and
"hum" on the out breath.
This is the vibration of
breath and put you to
sleep very fast.
There is a practice you can do
right before you go to sleep.
You can close your eyes and
recapitulate the whole day.
That means on the screen of
your consciousness, you see
yourself as if you were on a
video screen.
Observe the day without
judging it and then let it
go. When you do that, you
actually let go of all the
stresses that happened during that day.
And you go to bed with a
fresh start for the next day.
Try going to sleep before 10 p.m. at night.
If you go to sleep after 10
o'clock, then that will
disrupt your circadian
rhythms. So in the past,
people would go to sleep with
sunset and wake up with
sunrise.
Ever since the invention of
the light bulb, we are able
to violate the laws of nature
and our own biological
rhythms get disrupted.
Any technology in the bedroom
is disruptive to sleep.
So it's best not to
watch TV or use a computer
or even have your phone on in the same room.