Sleeping Meditation: Types of Guided Meditation for Sleep
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By Suzanne Glover
A sleeping meditation comes in different forms. Once you know the different types, you can make a choice on the best format for you.
GUIDED MEDITATION FOR SLEEP
Let’s start with a guided meditation for sleep. This is where you intentionally guide your mind to becoming quiet through the use of physical techniques such as focused breathing, relaxing your body into the mattress, visualization or focusing your thoughts on a single word or mantra. Using these types of manual relaxation techniques is a good way to start yourself drifting down that slumber path for a good night’s sleep, but a sleeping meditation can be much more than that.
MEDITATION AND SLEEP
It may come as a surprise to you that one of the most powerful, and efficient, ways to re-program your mind for success is to use a meditation audio when you’re sleeping. Why? Because when you’re asleep, your brain “should” be in something called the Delta frequency [which promotes better health and wellness.] When you can get your mind into a great Delta state, you are very open to suggestion.
While some people may argue that “you can’t hear anything while you’re sleeping,” the fact remains that your subconscious mind never sleeps. So, it stays up late every night eating popcorn and watching the rest of that movie you were watching before you fell asleep in front of the TV. And it not only remembers it, but also takes it as the truth.
So, if you want to input positive thoughts for a more positive mindset, record yourself saying good things about your life and play it at night. For example, once I wanted to get more done. So, I simply recorded that I was very caught up on all my work and got things done quickly. And guess what? It worked! Be sure to play the recording at a very low volume so you don’t disturb your sleep.
GUIDED SLEEP MEDITATION
Another type of sleeping meditation is an audio meditation that you listen to with stereo headphones while you’re falling asleep that is a combination of both of the above suggestions (lulls you into a calm rest, as well as gets you into the Delta state for a good night’s sleep.) I also put positive affirmations on my delta recordings, but even without the affirmations, using a brainwave meditation audio to get yourself into the Delta state gives you a great number of physical benefits like enhanced immune function and hormone production. The Delta state also promotes anti-aging. For more about the benefits of using a brainwave meditation audio, see the article, “Meditation Software: Why Choose Brainwave Meditation Music” in this issue.
Next, let’s get creative and see how we can encourage our kids to meditate…
