Our quality of sleep and levels of vitality are inextricably interconnected. If we tending to the demands of life and our responsibilities throughout the day, the way we wind down to support the body to prepare for sleep is key.
To expect our body to suddenly stop after a full day and go to sleep is dismissing the sensitivity, simplicity and common sense from which our body operates.
Like a car coming to a stop sign, we need to consider shifting gears from 5 down to 4, 3, 2, 1 and neutral over a period of time in the evening. If we continue in the momentum and stimulation of our day right up to when we are ready to sleep, our body has no chance of truly reconstituting itself overnight. We actually end up taking the momentum of our day into our sleep and essentially living out our day twice – in the day and at night. This is exhausting for our body and hence we start our day with a deficit that often sees us reaching for stimulants such as caffeine, sugar and carbohydrates so we can function.
Our quality of sleep can be reflective of the quality in how we live and move in our day and also how we wind down from our day.
Our body’s intelligence
When we live functionally as opposed to moving in connection with our body, we can negate the constant communication and honesty that our body is sharing with us. Our body after all offers an innermost compass to navigate our way in life and, when given the space and listened to, offers pearls of wisdom to hold us steady amongst the chaos of modern day life.
Our body has its own intelligence and subscribes to a natural divine order as does nature.
It has rhythms and cycles that, when connected to and honoured, allow us to live more in tune with a greater aspect and order that we are intrinsically a part of. The quality of our sleep and vitality are determined by how well we are attuned to our body and how we adhere to this in our movements and choices.
Preparing for sleep to support vitality
The end of our day is a very sacred time. It offers us the space to ‘wind down’, to debrief, reflect and bring completion to our day through understanding, learning and letting go. It also offers space to bring focus to oneself to appreciate and confirm our day and, most importantly, ourselves. It is no longer about you being out there in the world but an inward, quiet and still period of the day.
Sleep is an essential part of our living medicine and when we honour the body and the wind down rhythm of our day, we not only support ourselves into the following day but we honour a return to a very natural way of being in life.
Living Medicine offers a self-paced 6 week Rejuvenate – Sleep & Vitality program. This program offers support to establish an evening rhythm with simple 20 minute Sitting Yoga sessions to improve the quality of your sleep and rejuvenate the body.
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