Before Going to Sleep…

Do you practice a nighttime ritual? I do. It involves some of the same things which I suspect yours does, if you have one. I wash my face, brush my teeth, lather night cream on my face and read a book for about 45 minutes to an hour. I’m currently reading this. Recently, I’ve added one other thing, I started to use a 5 minute meditation app. It’s great, it gets me in a total state of relaxation. While I am very fortunate in that it  has never taken me very long to fall (and stay) asleep, this app has made my sleep even more deep and I love it! I suspect it’s how babies sleep before waking up crying off the top of their lungs to be fed or changed.

Before I discovered this app, I would close my eyes and think  of places where I feel happy and relaxed at (see the photo above) then I would begin to drift off to sleep after a few minutes. Now, I simply start knocking out even before the 5 minute meditation is  over! You should try it, especially if you have trouble falling asleep. I also recommend this one. Sweet dreams tonight.

(Photo by me)

Sleep

I worked all weekend-long and had yesterday off which gave me the chance to sleep longer on our new bed which was delivered on Friday. I’ve always loved to sleep and virtually nothing ever keeps me up.  I also drift into dreamland quite easily. Even the earthquake we had yesterday didn’t manage to get me out of bed! If the truth be known, I was so tired and in such a slumber that I wasn’t sure it was even an earthquake at first. When I realized it was, I felt it slowing down and didn’t bother getting up and fell right back to sleep.

That’s the reason I like this graph so much, it shows you everything that our body goes through while we sleep. It’s a surprise that most of us actually feel well rested after we wake up, our bodies work hard! How many hours of sleep do you get each night? On weeknights I always get between 7.5 and 8 hours. On weekends, between 8 and10! I told you, I love to sleep!

(Image via Huffington Post)

Relaxation

How do you unwind and relax? I do so by going on long walks by myself, listening to music with the lights off or by reading. Yoga also helps me a lot. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit  out of  sorts, as though I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to take care of , yet bored at the same time! I can’t quite explain it. I have felt the need for more “me” time. Granted, I am pretty good about taking time for myself but it seems sometimes we need to tend to ourselves even more and really ask what is at the root of how we are feeling. Often times, the answer to feeling better appears when you sit still, quiet and simply listen to what your mind and body are telling you. So, I was glad to learn about Mindful Magazine as well as the website  share tips on ways to relax and become more in tune with ourselves and our surroundings.

I know I’m sounding a bit like a hippy, but sometimes  we need  to put relaxation techniques into action in order to regain whatever we are at a loss for at the moment.  Maybe I am just embarking on a pre-mid-life crisis, who knows! So, check out the site and their Mindful Interruptions, which you can also follow on Twitter. Even though the Mindful Interruptions  are a bit corny and silly they are pretty nice reminders on ways we can stop and smell the roses. So, tell me, how do you relax and unwind?

(Image via Pinterest)