Can’t sleep? Try yoga nidra

Can’t sleep? Try yoga nidra. We promise it’s not a quick-fix. It’s what Kristie Mercer, full-time insomniac, has been doing to enjoy full nights’ sleeps.

It’s time to try something new. For as long as I can remember I’ve had an overactive mind. Not in a ‘I’m a genius’ way, more in a ‘I can never get to sleep’ kind of way, which is as disappointing as it is annoying.

But alas, I’m not alone, 1 in 3 people globally admit they have difficulty both getting and staying asleep. Which isn’t exactly comforting when you’re running on a broken four hours’ shut-eye from the night before.  I’m a busy person and because I’m constantly on the go right up until bedtime, my brain idles long past my body and I find myself rolling around for hours on end before reaching the ‘land of nod.’

It’s a problem that seems to get worse as I get older, too. Whether that’s because I have more to think about now than I used to? Or the fact that I know a restless night is coming so I almost jinx myself into sleeplessness I’m not sure, but what I do know is – something’s gotta give.

I’m sick of spending half my weekend’s in bed trying to catch up on sleep I’ve missed during the week, and I’m tired (pardon the pun) of feeling hazy and exhausted at work functioning on limited amounts of R&R.

So naturally, I started trawling through the internet’s suggestions to increase one’s beauty sleep, and stumbled across Yoga Nidra. For those of you playing at home, Yoga Nidra is a meditative form of deep relaxation with a 45-minute practice equal to 3-4 hours’ sleep that can help relieve stress, anxiety, high blood pressure and chronic fatigue to name a few. JACKPOT!

 

This is what I was after. Here I was wishing for extra hours in the day, but there’s no need with an extra 4 hours’ nap time on offer! So within minutes I’d downloaded multiple guided meditation tracks and for the first time in a long time I found myself excited to get to sleep.

Every night for an entire week, I listened to a different style of guided Yoga Nidra either in the afternoon or shortly before bed time. At first I found it weird listening to someone else’s voice in my head interrupting my own thoughts, but I’m slowly learning to listen less and less to my own distractions. The practice usually begins with focusing on your own breath – much the same as the few guided meditation tracks I’ve listened to –  but Yoga Nidra seems to use more imagery.

One of my favourites tracks so far talks about The Golden Egg that you find yourself held safe in, and as weird as it sounded at first, the idea of being supported and encapsulated within something actually made it easier for me to relax and let go of my own body and hence begin the relaxation process.

 

I’ve found the Yoga Nidra Network has the best tracks, download here for free. Granted, I’m still very new to it and only slowly coming to realise that I do have the power to quiet and soothe my own rampant thoughts, but wow what a feeling to know that you’re drifting away and getting closer to sleep. There was even one track I don’t remember the end of because I must have nodded off before it had finished and I can now officially say that the past week has probably been the most consistent solid sleep I’ve had in a really long time.

 

It’s not a quick fix, but as I’m learning, a gradual process that I can only get better at – but I’ve got to hand it to Yoga Nidra, I think we’re going to get along just fine.  Kristie is an Australian radio presenter and half of The Thinkergirls whose highly successful podcast captures the thoughts usually confined to the mind’s of twenty-something chicks – listen here. She is a full-time cappuccino froth lover, part-time stationary addict and all-time terrible driver. Read more of her procrastination at kristiemercer.com or on

Twitter @kristielmercer