No Sleep? Counting Meditation
Picture this: you’re sleeping soundly in your warm bed on a chilly night, maybe even dreaming of something pleasant and all of a sudden in the dream you feel the need to go to the bathroom. In the dream you rush to find a bathroom and for some reason your legs can’t move fast enough to get to one, you gotta go now! You wake up and realize you really have to go, the clock says 3:39 as usual. You do your business and snuggle back into bed. And nothing. Where did the sleep go? It’s gone and you’re wide awake and the alarm goes off in two hours.
This frustrating situation happens to me all the time and I’ve learned to deal with it by using it as time to meditate. Here’s an exercise you can do:
- Stay lying down in bed in a comfortable position and listen to your breath.
- Begin counting in your head slowly from 100 back down to 1. If your mind wanders and you forget the number, go back to 100 and start over again.
Chances are you’ll be asleep before you get to 1 and the act of counting the numbers brings you into the present moment keeping your mind from obsessing.
Sweet dreams.
