Do you ever have trouble falling asleep and or staying asleep? Do you find it difficult to turn your brain off from any stresses you might be experiencing? I know I do because my brain is on constant overdrive. I have discovered a few sleep practices; I wanted to share with y’all to try.

1. Progressive Breathing:

First, try counting each inhales in seconds, then each exhales by two counts. Simply by doing this exercise before bed, you can be provided with many benefits which include relief from insomnia and anxiety and peaceful easy feelings. Try the following steps tonight and see how much it will benefit you and your sleep.

• Begin by sitting in a comfortable position, keeping your spin straight.
• Close your eyes take a few deep inhales through your nose and exhale from your mouth.
• Inhale through your nose for a count of 3 seconds, and then exhale through your mouth for count of 5 seconds.
• Inhale counts 4 seconds, and then exhale count of 6 seconds.
• Inhale count of 5 seconds and then exhale count of 7 seconds.
• You can continue with this pattern increasing inhale count by 1 and exhale count by 2 each time for as long as you are comfortable. Do not increase more than you are comfortable with considering this will not work if you are not at ease. The important part of this exercise isn’t the length of your inhales, it’s the exhaling longer.

2. Visiting Your “Happy Place”:

The purpose of this exercise is to mentally put yourself in a setting where peace and relaxation are purely natural. We can prompt our brains to release serotonin, which makes us feel good and helps override panic by spending time in our “happy place”. This doesn’t mean we are avoiding any stress we might be feeling, but rather we are learning how to cope with the stress. We don’t want to allow stress to control our sleep; we want to be in control of the stress.

Let’s try creating the perfect place in our minds!

• Sit tall or lie down comfortably, supporting yourself with blankets and pillows. Create the most peaceful setting possible in your mind.
• Now close your eyes. Focus your attention on your breathing while gradually relaxing every muscle in your body.
• If you find it difficult to create a pleasant image, just focus on the journey you would take to get there. The journey might take a lot of effort, but the purpose is well worth it.
• Image there is a protective entry-way made of light. This entry-way keeps the outside world out and provides restfulness and peace.
• Picture a peaceful and beautiful scene, a place where everything is exactly where you picture it in your “happy place”.
• Submerge yourself in the sensory elements of the beautiful place. For instance, imagine the warmth of the sun heating your skin, the sounds of the waves crashing on the shores and the smell of saltwater filling your nose. The feeling of warm sand surrounding your feet.
• Linger in this comforting place as long as you can, even if for only a few minutes. It will help!
• If any thoughts from the day appear, gently guide your mind back to the peaceful place you had been in. In a tranquil state of mind, bring your focus back to your breathing

3. Emotional Landscape:

Direct your imagination to help overshadow the tormenting and agonizing thoughts keeping you awake at night. By gaining a different perspective on your emotional landscapes, you are giving yourself the liberation for relief. You are basically renewing your subconscious mind to distinguish emotions without allowing them to dictate your course of sleep. Sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it? Follow the steps below and see what this can do for you.

• Sit comfortably and use relaxed breathing.
• Choose an uncomfortable emotion you would like to change. It can be anything, regret, shame, self-doubt, bitterness, and the list carries on.
• Try to imagine yourself sitting barefoot in a place where you can feel the earth beneath you. For instance, this can be on top of a mountain or on a quiet hill or even on the beach with the whitest sand.
• Invite the discomfort to present itself to you as a landscape. Utilize your curious mind, notice what you can see, a dark forest, vast ocean, the choice is all yours.
• Observe any details on the landscape. Don’t force it because things will come together. Describe anything that grabs your attention, sights, sounds, colors, shapes, impressions, everything means something.
• Recognize the place showing itself as an internal state of being you recently inhabited.
• Try to heighten your exploration by calling in a winged creature that is big enough to climb on. You could even imagine being on a hot air balloon or sitting on your own cloud.
• When you feel ready, ask to be brought back to the mountain or hill you started on.
• Don’t forget to bring back the steady breathing.

I hope the information I have shared with you will be beneficial and you will have a much better night’s sleep. We have all heard how important sleep is, but unfortunately, some of us struggle with sleep for so many reasons. I will be honest and tell you, I am unable to turn my thoughts off at night and this does include all the stress I feel daily. If you do end up trying one of these habits, please let me know which one worked for you, if any.

Thank you for stopping by my site today. I hope you have enjoyed your weekend to the fullest. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love , comfort, and many positive vibes!

Always, Alyssa