Meditation for Sleep, Anxiety & Healing

Meditation is a powerful exercise that takes many different forms and can have many different benefits. So often we are caught up in our busy lives and plethora of entertainment at our finger tips, that we do not stop or press pause. In this fast-paced world, we often forget how to slow down and focus in on our own thoughts. Meditation is all about doing just that, pressing pause on the outside world and choosing something to focus on. There are many different kinds of meditation, but just about all of them are beneficial to your sleep, anxiety, and health. Stick around to learn more about the positive benefits of meditation.

Ever wondered… Why Can’t I Sleep When I’m Stressed? Click the link to find out!

Meditation Benefits on Sleep, Anxiety, and Health:

Meditation & Relieving Anxiety:

Anxiety and stress can often make getting to sleep feel impossible. When you treat your anxiety and calm yourself down, it becomes far easier to get to sleep at night. Meditation can be a great help when treating your anxiety.

Many aspects of meditation are helpful for relieving anxiety. Controlling your breath is something commonly used in most meditation practices. Often times anxiety quickens your breathing patterns and heartrate. Simply by slowing down your breathing, this alone can be a great help with relieving anxiety.

Another aspect to a meditation practice that is helpful for those who suffer with anxiety is gaining more control over your thoughts. Anxiety often leads to speedy stressful thoughts that quickly overwhelm your mind. Meditation is all about regaining control of your thoughts. Which leads to you having more control over your stress and anxiety levels.

Click the link for our top tips on relieving anxiety and getting to sleep: How To Sleep Better With Anxiety

Meditation & Deep Sleep:

It is important to note that there are many different kinds of meditation, including different goals and outcomes. While some meditation revolves around focusing on opening up your mind or letting go of negative thought patterns. Other forms of meditation have the goal of relaxation and peaceful emptying the mind of stressful thinking.

One popular form of yoga that uses meditation for inducing a deep sleep is called Yoga Nidra. It is Nidra actually means sleep and this yoga starts in the position of laying on your back with your palms facing up. At which point you then focus taking in the sensations of the room around you. The soft sheets in your skin, the smell of linens, the sounds and sensation of your bedroom as you lay in your bed. All while keeping your breathing slow, deep, and controlled.

It is simple, yet very effective. A meditation or yoga practice does not need to be complicated or difficult in order to work very well.

Your day to day life could be negatively impacting your sleep. Click the link to learn more How A Daily Schedule Equates To Better Sleep

Meditation & Your Health:

Our mind, body, and soul are intertwined and have a profound affect on each other. When we are physically unwell it takes a toll on our mind and soul. While when we are sad or angry we are more likely to get sick. Stress, depression, anxiety, anger have profoundly negative affects on not only our mental health, but our physical health as well.

When you work on your mental health and wellbeing with activities like meditation, your physical health will follow. Consider the placebo effect, and how your mind can make very real changes in your health. Dr. Bruce Lipton, an American Developmental Biologist says, “Your mind controls your biology. That’s what the placebo effect is about; the mind believes the pill will work and so it does.”

Which is why treating your physical ailments alone will not be nearly as effective as treating your body along with your mind and soul. Our immune system is also greatly affected by stress and lack of sleep. Which means since meditation helps us to let go of stress, and sleep better, it is yet another way in which we are strengthening our body and our health.

Your sleep has a huge impact on your health. Learn more in our post: Sleep and Your Immune System

How To Start Meditating For Better Sleep:

Guided Meditations:

When you are first starting out, using guided meditations is a great way to go. There are countless different kinds of guided meditations all with different goals and focuses.

You can find just about any kind of guided meditation there is out there. Even when you become more experienced in your meditations, you can always come back to a guided meditation.

It can be very helpful to have a voice guiding and reminding you of what your focus is on at the moment. Instead of having to rely on your own mind to remain focused and think of what you are leading toward or away from. A guided meditation does a lot of the grunt work for you, allowing you to relax into the practice.

There are even in person classes where you can benefit from guided meditations. This is often a side benefit to taking yoga classes as well. Although the meditation is often not the focus of a yoga class.

Click the link to make your morning more relaxing: Stress Free Morning Routine

YouTube Meditations:

The video platform YouTube, is just such a great resource for all sorts of things. (We even have our very own YouTube Channel for our Mattress Reviews!)

You can learn just about anything through YouTube these days. There are many different guided meditations on YouTube as well as relaxing music and different sounds perfect for meditating to.

There are even meditation videos for children! You really can find the perfect guided meditations for you and it is all for free. Just be mindful of disruptive commercials if you are not paying for a YouTube subscription.

Make your evenings less stressful, click the link for our top tips: Stress Free Nightly Routine

Podcast Meditations:

Other ways to find guided meditations is through podcasts. Also a great way to get a lot of fabulous content for little to no money.

There are not only guided meditation podcasts but also music and informative podcasts for meditation.

So you can learn more about the different kinds of mediation and their benefits. As well as using their guided meditations and music for your own practice.

Checkout more Podcasts that are great for helping you sleep in our post: Top Podcasts For Sleep

Music & Sounds for Meditating:

If you prefer to not follow a guided meditation with a voice informing you of what to do next, music and/or calming sounds can be a great addition to your meditating. Having calming music or sounds playing in the background while you meditate helps to block out distractions.

Even if it is something as undisruptive as the sound of the AC turning on, you would be surprised how the mind can trail off. By having constant sounds and music playing to encourage relaxation, it can be much easier to remain focused.

If you’re interested in falling asleep to music or other sounds. Check out our article on good music to sleep, Music For Sleep.

Learning How To Relax:

When it comes to meditation, one of the main benefits is that is helps to train your mind and body how to relax. Anyone who has struggled with stress or anxiety will know that being told “Just Relax!” is an incredibly frustrating statement. For many people relaxation is something that isn’t easy to do. It is not as simple as just choosing to feel relaxed.

Meditation gives structure and control over your body and mind. When you practice meditation you become stronger when it comes to being able to control your emotions, thoughts, and even your body. While anxiety often needs treatment beyond simple meditation, it can really help you with learning how to control your mind and body. Which is incredibly helpful with lowering anxiety and learning how to relax.

Looking for more ways to relax? Check out our post: Bedtime Relaxation Exercises

Benefits of Meditation for Kids:

Helps Children Learn To Self Soothe:

As people we are all on a quest to learn more about ourselves and tackle new challenges. Learning how to remain calm, or how to calm yourself down and relax can be challenging for many of us as adults. For children, learning how to rely on themselves in order to calm down can be even more difficult. However, if you start teachings your kids how to meditate and learn other relaxation exercises from a young age, it will become easier for them to continue doing so into adulthood.

You can always start very simple when teaching your children how to meditate. First you can start with breathing exercises that you do together. Then you can move onto guided meditations created for kids, and so on.

Like to read before bed? Reading To Your Kids Before Bed: Benefits & Top 10 Stories

Sleep Meditation for Kids

Meditation practice can be a great activity to do before nap time and bed time. This way your little ones are practicing how to be calm and relaxed right before they go to sleep. This is no different than why we recommend meditation for adults right before you go to sleep. It is a great way to slow your mind and prepare for sleep. Even if for kids meditation looks more like breathing exercises and trying to become still and relaxed than grown up meditation.

Another great way to introduce your kids to the idea of meditation is to do it around them. Even if they do not fully understand what your mind is doing, kids love to emulate what they see. You may find that your kids try and copy you just because they see you doing it.

Click the link to view the Best Mattress for Kids At Every Stage

Guided Sleep Meditation for Kids

Meditations for kids can be so much fun! There are a lot of guided meditation videos specifically tailored to entertaining and teaching children. Which can be such a great tool to learning how you can teach your kids about meditation and how to use it. Yoga for kids is a great place to start when introducing these kinds of topics.

Yoga is more active which is easier for children to follow than some of the meditation practices which are more cerebral. A YouTube cannel we really like is called Cosmic Kids. They have great videos for meditation and yoga with themes like Trolls and Frozen. Making it both fun and educational.

You may also enjoy: Create a Bedtime Routine for Kids

Meditation for Sleep, Anxiety & Healing – Final Thoughts:

Our overall health and wellbeing is made up of a large number of different factors. From what we eat, whether or not we work out, and how well we sleep, to how stressed we are. All of these factors tend to be interconnected, when we don’t sleep well it affects our appetite and mood. While eating poorly can have a negative impact on how well we sleep and so on.

When you start taking care of your mind, body, and soul you will find that it has a great impact on the rest of your health and wellbeing also. Meditation can not only help relieve anxiety and stress. It can also help you to get deep and restful sleep, as well as help your body to stay healthy and strong. With so many different kinds of meditation we suggest that you search until you find one that you really enjoy doing. Also the more consistent you are with your meditation, the more benefits you will experience.

Is your bedroom set up to help you have your best sleep? Check out our guide to creating a Feng Shui Bedroom.

If you have any questions for us, or simply want to reach out, feel free to contact us. We would love to answer any questions you may have.