This post originally appeared in the Taj Yoga Newsletter - March 2020
At this unprecedented time in our lives, with our base level of stress hormones running much higher than usual, a good night’s sleep can be elusive.
It’s metabolic. Adrenaline, cortisol and other stress hormones are designed to jolt us into action to flee from prey or fight to defend ourselves. In the old days, we’d run or fight, expend the excess ‘rocket fuel’ and return to a state of equilibrium.
Modern life doesn’t always provide such a literal, physical outlet. Un-metabolized stress hormones stay in our system for hours. And yet, with a bit of intention, we can call to the sirens of sleep throughout the day by being a little more thoughtful about how we choose to spend our time.
Gardening helps, along with reading and reaching out to connect with friends in a safe way. Yoga, meditation, Feldenkrais® and other somatic movement practices can also be employed to re-set the spike of the stress response and return to a more restful, neutral state.
There are also fantastic super powers waiting to be discovered.
Pause...right where you are and consider what you did yesterday. Create a list and divide your activities into two columns: Activating or Calming. (Of course there are many activities that are neutral. Do your best to assign them to one of the two columns). If your list of activating activities is miles longer than your list of calming activities, this may partially explain your longing for deep, restorative sleep.
In this situation, when repetition or “practice makes permanent” we lay down deep, habitual grooves with a bias towards hyper-arousal. Conscious calming is the biological antidote.
Neuroscientists tell us that consciously pledging to add more calming activities into our day is medicinal. It slows us down and synchronizes our breathing, heart rate and brain activity. Not only do we feel better: but over time we literally change the size and functioning of the brain structures that mitigate our stress and relaxation responses.
Practice TIP: When involved in calming activities, slow down and let the sensations and feelings of well being that accompany that state sink into your bones. Relish the moments of unencumbered breathing and the softening of your chest. Linger there for as long as you like.
Ah! You have just moved a mountain by slowing down the frequency and firing patterns of specific neural pathways. You’ve also just ‘bookmarked’ the recuperative feeling state so that you can find your way back to it more easily and directly. Three, ten-minute sessions of conscious calming, spread throughout the day, is a great beginning.
The tools for restoration are many. If you’ve signed up for the ‘Aiming To Thrive Series’ we’ll do some myth busting about what constitutes a good night’s sleep and learn some simple, meditative movement practices designed to help us restore our innate capacity to rest, recover and heal.