BED IS FOR SLEEPING
Maggie H is a Global Explorer and Wellness Advocate from Hong Kong. Among many spiritual endeavors, Maggie practices and leads Qigong meditation to help people around the world find their inner balance. Find out more about this and other Eastern Philosophy & Meditation practices every month on the ICBRKR blog.
“Bed is for sleeping.”
I almost chuckled when I first heard it. My teacher a Buddhist nun and I were discussing sleeping problems and the solution from her seemed too simple.
When people come to my restorative meditation class for better sleep, the biggest complaint they have is the quality of sleep. They sleep for 6-7 hours a day which isn't quite enough to make people feel well rested but still manageable for five days a week. The worst part is that they have trouble falling asleep even when they feel tired and exhausted.
Why do they have trouble falling asleep? One thing they all have in common is that they take their inseparable companion – a mobile phone or tablet PC to bed. Of course, the idea is purely to assist them to fall asleep. Unlike reading a book, reading on an electronic device increases our alertness because of the blue light emitted from the screen. That's just for reading and how about watching video clips and movies? It's so much more fun that we forget how tired we were before we turned it on and easily miss our scheduled bedtime. Keeping a phone in bedroom has another major disadvantage. All night long, the phone never stops vibrating with notifications and messages to let you know what someone is eating for lunch on the other side of the world, in case you are wondering.
Before the portable entertainment devices were invented, when it's time to sleep, we turned the TV off and went to bed to sleep. Now, our entertainment centre was expanded from the living room couch to practically everywhere including the bedroom.
My teacher nun said that since she started her monastic lifestyle at the age of 10, she was trained to use bed just for sleeping and not even for reading. When we keep the bed just for sleeping, when we lie down at night, our body is automatically set for sleeping mode.
Personally, one of the nicest things about being in a retreat is that I feel a slight boredom at night, so sleeping becomes something to look forward to. At bedtime, I properly tuck myself in and close my eyes without any aids or reasons, simply because it's time to sleep.
Tonight, why don't you leave the whole world outside as you close the bedroom door?
Sweet dreams!