Unless, of course, you can’t sleep. Which happens to about, say, 100% of us, from time to time. (This is just a guess, but I bet we could find a scientific source to back it up.) Which is caused, say, 100% of the time, by an overactive mind. (Yet another guess, but I bet it’s true.)
Laying awake, with a racing mind, knowing that we need to sleep to function properly and feel healthy and happy, is awful.
Here’s a take-away yoga tip on how to calm your mind:
KapalaBhati breathing – sit cross-legged on the floor, or just sit in a chair; definitely get out of bed – lift the crown of your head to the sky, let your sit bones sink to the floor – through your nose, inhale deeply all the way up to your chest, exhale deeply all the way down to your belly, three times – inhale again all the way up to your chest, and begin rapidly pumping your belly right below your rib cage, exhaling through your nose on each contraction – the inhales, if you can let your mind stay out of it, will take care of themselves, naturally drawing breath in, as you relax your belly after an exhale – do this for five minutes, taking a break to breathe normally if you feel you need to – at the end, take a deep breath in and slowly exhale
Sure, it sounds a little silly.
But my guess is that laying in bed wishing you could sleep is, well, just wishful thinking.
(Contraindications: lung problems, heart problems, high blood pressure, pregnancy, first few days of your menstrual cycle.)
