Meditation is an Eastern technique that, during recent decades, has become an instrument of relaxation and reconnection with the inner being and life in Western societies. One of its many applications is to meditate in bed before going to sleep to promote a restful and calm sleep, as well as to recover the strength necessary to maintain an optimal state of physical and emotional health.
Meditating in bed before sleeping is a simple and accessible tool for everyone with many benefits. Taking advantage of the moment of going to sleep to meditate is much simpler and more accessible to everyone than going to classes or practicing it outside the home. If you want to put it into practice, in this Psychology-Online article, we explain how to meditate in bed before sleeping Step by Step.
Benefits of meditating lying in bed
The benefits of meditating in bed are many and have a positive impact on both physical health and emotional state and psychological balance. Among the many benefits of meditating, we highlight the following:
- Reduces stress levels associated with life in Western societies.
- Promotes an optimal and peaceful night’s rest: the body rests for the necessary time and activates once recovered. This period of time varies from one person to another depending on factors such as age, daily routine or diet, among many others.
- Allows you to recover vital forcemotivation and joy
- Contribute to restore physical health.
- Rebalance psychological and emotional states.
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Prepare everything before starting
How to meditate in my bed? Before getting into bed and starting meditation, it is important that you keep the following aspects in mind:
- Leave all your affairs in order of the next day.
- Go to the bathroom and drink water before you start, if you usually do it before bed.
- Prepare a piece of classical music of a half hour or more that accompanies you during the meditation. We recommend some by Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Tchaikovsky, etc.
- Wear comfortable clothes and cover yourself so you don’t get cold or hot. When you enter a state of relaxation, your body temperature drops and you may feel a little cold.
- Prevent any possible interruption: Try to previously address any issue that may interrupt meditation and, with it, its positive effects.
Lie down and adopt good posture
When you start, turn on your chosen piece of music at a soft volume and get into bed. Find a position in which you feel comfortable, not to sleep but to start meditation. The most recommended postures for meditating lying down are:
- Lean on the cushionwith the entire body stretched and the hands on the abdomen, or the arms stretched along the body.
- Lower your head off the cushion, or place a small cushion on the back of your neck and bend your knees. The arms should be stretched along the body or with the hands on the abdomen.
- Sitting on the bed: Sit with your back straight on the bed and with your legs crossed. If you are starting out, we recommend using the wall and a cushion as support for your back, so that you can support your spine and get used to the position.
Breathe consciously
Conscious breathing is essential for meditating in bed. The objective of this step is for you to become aware of your breathing and do it deeply and slowly. A good way to put it into practice is inhale through the nose for a count of 4 and exhale through the mouth for 8 counts.
If you want to meditate before going to sleep, you should take ten or fifteen deep breaths, becoming aware of how to do them correctly. After these initial breaths, continue meditating without abandoning this type of breathing.
This step is important because we are not usually aware of how we breathe, so it is likely that, in the first days of meditation, you will lose the conscious rhythm of your breathing. If this happens to you, you should resume conscious breathing and, little by little with daily practice, achieve incorporate it as a basis for meditation nocturnal
Meditating lying down without respecting conscious breathing does not provide the same benefits, so it is important that you incorporate this habit when you meditate.
Do a little visualization or verbalization
When you breathe consciously, you can add some small visualization to the process that helps you get closer to those internal spiritual states that you want to achieve, whether joy, vital force, union with others, cleansing internal impurities, etc.
On the one hand, the display consists in internally create a mental image that helps you achieve the internal state you want. For example, bright images of natural landscapes provide peace, calm and inner joy. So, viewing these images
Visualizing these images provides a state of balance and inner well-being. Repeated use of visualization during meditation will allow you to resort to it in your daily life when you need to regain lost peace or strength.
On the other hand, the verbalization refers to the use of certain words or phrases which, in the same way as visualization, will help you reach or get closer to the desired states. In this case, we recommend using words like peace, tranquility, calm, joy, cordial union, love, purity, kindness, etc. In turn, the following phrases will also bring you closer to states of calm and bliss:
- I remain calm.
- I am a child of the light…
- I am one with my neighbors.
- I’m not alone.
- My soul is light, strength and joy.
Take a final breath
After practicing visualization or verbalization, you should resume conscious breathing and, after 10 or 15 breaths, surrender to good, calm rest.
Another possible option would be, instead of performing a visualization or verbalization, do progressive relaxation and mentally go through your entire body, observing how, with your breath, each part of your body relaxes. After this progressive relaxation, do the same 10 or 15 conscious breaths and finish the meditation lying down with the intention of starting sleep.
First of all, it is recommended that you try finish meditation in bed before falling asleep completely. If you find it difficult, you can shorten the practice and finish it before resting completely. You can leave the music on to accompany you while you sleep. Discover the music in this article.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Andre, Ch. (2018). Meditate in 3 minutes. Kairos Editorial.