Meditation: Calm, Sleep Meditation: Deep Sleep Length: 20 minutes Where: In my bed, Los Angeles How It Felt: Lovely, but loud
I decided to try a sleep meditation again last night as a sort of experiment. I wanted to see if my great sleep the night before was a random outlier or if meditation really helps my sleep that much.
Plus, to be totally honest, it was just so satisfying to open the beautiful Calm app and select a sleep meditation. I wanted to do it again!
I learned two things from this experiment:
- I do sleep better when I meditate first! I think it even helped my restless legs to relax, which is, as anyone who suffers from RLS knows, an unbelievable gift.
- There is no need to crank my volume up too high!
On one hand, it was incredible to feel my body get incredibly heavy as I was guided through a meditation that relaxed each part, piece by piece. I’m sure if you’ve ever done a similar exercise you know the feeling I mean! How does just our mind make our bodies feel so different so immediately?
This is actually a question worth exploring. I am realizing part of this journey should include educating myself more on the science, history, and culture around meditation. There is a whole universe of knowledge here I would like to understand!
On other hand, I made a rookie mistake. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to hear the voice guide over my sound machine and air conditioning, I turned the volume up way too high. About half way through, I sunk into the deepest sleep…. only to be shocked awake when I heard her speaking again! The crazy thing is my body was so relaxed I didn’t want to move to change it! I just kept falling asleep and snapping back awake, both a testament to how relaxing the experience really was and to how stubborn I can be when I’m very, very comfortable.
I did, in fact, find myself in a “Deep Sleep,” I will tell you. It works. This stuff works.
I’m sure it works even better when no one is shouting at you.
Noted, future self.
(Oh, and shout out to my fellow Office fans who get my title reference!)
My Year of Meditation 