Meditation to calm the nervous system before bed

The practice of meditation calms the nervous system. Have you ever wondered why people who practice meditation and yoga look so calm and happy?

Many people suffer from nervous system overstrain and stress due to the fact that they have lost the ability to quickly switch the nervous system into recovery and rest mode. Meditation is the best practice for this. Falling asleep quickly, deep and pleasant sleep, fresh and good morning - these are the benefits that regular meditation before bed will give you.

At the end of this article you will find a bonus: audio meditation for self-practice before bed!

Don't forget to get your free online course on mindfulness meditation : get the course for free

There I show you the fastest and safest way to learn to meditate from scratch and bring a state of mindfulness into everyday life.

The main secret of the nervous system

The human nervous system consists of two parts. Each part performs its function. These are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The parasympathetic system regulates unconscious processes in the body. We cannot directly control parasympathetic processes. These processes, for example, include digestion, metabolism, blood flow, and the work of hormonal glands. All of this operates without our direct control. The parasympathetic system is responsible for the actions that occur when the body is at rest; it is a state of relaxation and recuperation.

The sympathetic nervous system refers to our conscious actions: physical and mental work. She is responsible for exerting effort and wasting energy to achieve goals in the outside world.

Feel the difference: we can consciously spend all our strength if we want. But we can’t do anything to restore our strength, just step aside and not interfere with the natural force to fill us with energy again.

If we simplify a person to the level of an animal, then the sympathetic system is activated in the process of achieving a goal. When we get food, fight with the enemy, run away or hide from danger. All these active actions serve us for survival.

The parasympathetic nervous system turns on when we have obtained food and eaten, won a battle, avoided danger and are lying down, resting.

In modern humans, the sympathetic system is active almost all the time we are awake. Nowadays, we rarely or even almost never encounter situations on the brink of life and death, as was the case in cave times. But nevertheless, the psyche goes into fight or flight mode when we have to talk with an angry boss, solve problems with money, tight deadlines and other everyday tasks.

We constantly strive internally for goals. Even during a break from work, we are accustomed to thinking about desires, being afraid of some imaginary events in the future, or experiencing events from the past. And although all this happens only in the imagination, the sympathetic system remains turned on.

Therefore, there is an imbalance between the two nervous systems. The sympathetic system is overheated by the constant activity of the brain, and the parasympathetic system does not receive enough energy for its work. This leads to chronic stress and mental burnout. After several years of such an imbalance in the nervous system, a person falls into chronic fatigue and feels constant nervous tension.

Practice for deep relaxation

The best meditation for deep relaxation, which gives super fast results, is performed according to this scheme:

• choose a clean room, protected from direct sunlight and noise, in which nothing will interfere with the exercise;
• lie down, sit down or take any other comfortable position so that the body is positioned as naturally as possible;
• take several deep breaths/exhalations, gradually plunging into yourself;
• close your eyelids, feel how they fill with heaviness;
• relax your face, open your jaws and lips;
• then feel how the neck muscles relax, warm up and become soft;
• feel how your legs become heavier, and your arms, initially relaxed, also begin to fill with heaviness from the bottom up;
• imagine how your arms and legs are filled with warmth, which then rises to your head;
• the whole body becomes soft, filled with pleasant warmth, in which the heart gently sinks and begins to beat very calmly.

Continuing to breathe deeply and evenly, mentally repeat:

• I'm relaxed and self-absorbed.
• Reality slips away, thoughts go away, only my inner world remains.
• I feel good and warm, my body is relaxed, my mind is open.
• I am absolutely at peace.

You should come out of meditation gradually, preferably in the reverse order - first feel the limbs, then the body, realize reality and slowly open your eyes. You also need to get up slowly, without jumping suddenly to your feet.

For beginners, it is recommended to first make an audio recording of the sequence of actions and spoken affirmations. Over time, with constant repetition of meditation, all stages of implementation will be remembered automatically and will emerge in the subconscious on their own. Then it will be much easier to meditate.

Meditation to relieve stress, neurosis and anxiety, to calm and relax will be more effective if the text is written against the background of “white noise” - the splashing of waves, the chirping of birds or light music. In this case, the background should be barely audible, so as not to drown out the words, but only to help create the appropriate mood. The entire recording should be calming and help you relax.

How to restore inner harmony

To calm the nervous system, you need to restore balance and create harmony between the two nerve centers. To do this, you need to learn to turn off brain activity and give the reins to the parasympathetic nervous system. It can be difficult. Because, in essence, it means letting go of control and deliberately going with the flow for some time, not striving for anything. This process is called meditation.

There are several ways to calm the nervous system, most of which involve focusing on one thing for a period of time. As I wrote above, it is the activity of the mind that does not allow the nervous system to rest, even when we are just lying on the couch. The mind will never calm down on its own. This is his nature, he must be constantly busy with something. Stopping internal dialogue for the mind is death. Therefore, he constantly jumps from one thought to another, and this chaos creates chronic nervous tension.

In fact, it only seems that if we stop constantly thinking about something, we will cease to exist in consciousness. This is wrong. On the contrary, by reducing the activity of your mind, you will feel lightness and inner freedom. After meditation, you feel a surge of strength, fresh ideas and new feelings come.

Meditation for falling asleep quickly and deep sleep

The process of falling asleep against the background of stress or nervous tension is significantly more difficult, therefore, along with meditative practices to eliminate it, it is necessary to take similar measures to relax before bed.

The best meditation for sleep, stress and anxiety is progressive muscle relaxation. This is an easy-to-perform technique that helps relieve mental stress and set you up for healthy, restful sleep with the correct transition between phases.

Meditation (relaxation) before bed for deep relaxation is easy even for beginners. To perform this practice you need:

• lie down in bed on your back, close your eyelids and begin to tense individual muscle groups one by one;
• ensure that your breathing remains even and calm at all times, breathe only with the help of your diaphragm;
• inhale through the nose, imagining how the positive energy of goodness and calm is drawn in along with the air;
• exhale through your mouth, feeling how all the negativity accumulated during the day is exhaled along with your thoughts.

After working out the whole body, you should feel a feeling of complete relaxation of the muscles and clearing of the mind.

Meditation before bed is useful not only for deep sleep or insomnia, but also for falling asleep quickly. Thanks to this technique, you can immediately fall asleep and sleep without waking up until the morning.

The main condition for effective work with the subconscious and consciousness is complete relaxation. If the body remains “squeezed”, then it will not be possible to “reach out” to the mind. Meditation for deep sleep and relaxation of the soul and body is very effective in this regard. After performing the described exercise, the body becomes light, physical pain is relieved, thoughts go away, and the mental and physiological state improves significantly.

Meditation for deep sleep and healing always gives individual results, because each person relaxes in his own way. For some, a few hours are enough for this, especially when they already have experience in meditation or yoga, while for others it takes weeks and months if the muscles are stiff and prevent them from opening up to consciousness.

conclusions

There are a lot of different meditation techniques. But they all lead to the same goal. It is important to choose the appropriate meditation method to calm the nervous system. Because all people are different and there is no one universal recipe. What helps one person relax may be like a red rag to a bull for another. If you sit for 15 minutes in meditation and this makes you even more psychotic, do not force yourself and find a more suitable way to relax.

Don't forget to get your free online course on mindfulness meditation : get the course for free

There I show you the fastest and safest way to learn to meditate from scratch and bring a state of mindfulness into everyday life.

Categories:Meditation
Tags: meditation

Meditation for stress

Meditation to relieve stress, neurosis and anxiety is not only an alternative to sedatives, but also, unlike them, has a number of positive effects on health:

• improves body functions;
• increases tone, adds energy;
• normalizes blood pressure and heart rate;
• relieves nervous tension and improves mood.

The choice of meditation practice to solve these problems depends on the stress a person is under. If this is a chronic condition, then deep relaxation meditation is more suitable. In an acute stressful situation, you need a quick technique that allows you to cope with surging emotions.

Quick meditation for severe stress is performed as follows:

• take the most comfortable position that will not need to be changed during the session due to the discomfort experienced;
• keep your spine straight, tilt your head slightly forward, lower your shoulders and pull them back;
• close your eyelids, concentrate on breathing, which should be measured and deep;
• inhale through your nose for 8 counts, then exhale powerfully through your nose.

Breathe in this manner for 11 minutes. To finish, work on holding your breath:

• take a deep breath, hold for 7–10 seconds, exhale;
• take a deep breath, hold for 15–20 seconds, exhale while rotating your shoulders;
• take a deep breath, hold for 15–20 seconds, quickly rotating your shoulders at this time, then stop and exhale;
• relax, sit for a few more minutes, feel calm and purity of consciousness.

To increase efficiency, simultaneously with breathing practice, you need to listen to or pronounce anti-stress mantras that will help you concentrate and relax.

Reiki Techniques

Healing meditation in the Reiki system is considered a fundamental practice at any level. The effect of Reiki energy on the body contributes to the achievement of absolute integrity, since during the session a deep contact is created with every level of human nature. The most popular of these techniques are considered to be classical exercises and the Satya Yeo Than technique.

Classic exercises

Reiki meditation for healing includes several basic exercises:

1. Diamond Reiki. Imagine a diamond in the Sahasrara chakra (at the crown). Energy rays from each energy center pass to this diamond, are saturated with diamond energy and disperse throughout the body, healing every cell.
2. Crystal Reiki. Over the course of a person’s life, deposits in the form of crystals form on the human body, which appear in places where physical and psychological traumas occur. These areas become painful and tense. You need to place both palms on them and imagine how the crystals are cleansing for 15 minutes.
3. Genetic Reiki. To treat hereditary diseases, join your palms and mentally repeat the phrase “DNA Reiki” for 10 minutes. At the same time, they imagine how DNA begins to glow and change structure.

Meditations for healing autoimmune diseases usually include crystal and genetic Reiki exercises. One of the causes of autoimmune disease is loss of energy and, as a result, decreased immunity. Regular meditative practices restore energy and thereby increase the body's defenses.

By Satya Yeo Than

Satya Yeo Than is an enlightened Teacher and creator of Reiki Yoga, successor of Satya Nanyokari. He argues that all healing techniques must work at the cellular level.

Meditation “Healing the Spine” with Satya Yeo Than is carried out according to the following scheme:

• sit comfortably;
• direct the energy flow from the crown to the groin and back;
• feel the movement of energy inside this double reiki channel;
• direct the third flow - the energy of the Earth - into the diaphragm, feel like a part of it;
• mentally form an energy ball in the solar plexus;
• direct energy from it up and down the spine so that it penetrates all its cells;
• create an installation by ordering the cells to return to the state of health and energy that was originally inherent in them.

After this, you need to sit quietly for another 10 minutes and then end the session. You need to meditate every day for 2-3 weeks without breaks so that the cell healing does not stop.

How relaxation techniques work

The central nervous system controls the functioning of all organs and systems. When it is disturbed, involuntary contraction of the muscles of the musculoskeletal system occurs, sleep deteriorates, hormonal levels change and sweating increases. Meditation to relieve stress, according to scientists, is the only tool that can effectively restore the functioning of the central nervous system without the use of additional techniques and drug treatment.

The goal of meditation is to take complete control over your emotional and physical state. Relaxation for deep relaxation and stress relief activates the parasympathetic part of the brain, which promotes:

• reduction in heart rate;
• regulation of breathing processes;
• normalizing blood pressure levels;
• decreased activity of brain centers that regulate protective function.

Most relaxation techniques are based on breathing control, which allows you to provide the body with the necessary amount of oxygen. Saturating the brain helps improve reactions, reduces irritability, and increases performance.