Routines are personally a challenge for me. They have been for my whole life. I joke around that sleep is my best routine, which is true. I’m usually headed to bed at 8:30 and then wake before 6AM. This was not always the case. I suffered from severe lack of sleep for over a decade. For many years following I suffered with insomnia. That all changed when I started practicing yoga. Now that I have been on a regular routine of sleep for at least 5 years, I can truly feel the difference it has made in my own health.
Ayurveda teaches us that sleep/wake routines are a key component to great health. Western medicine agrees with the science of sleep and its importance. When children sleep, they are growing. When adults sleep, they are healing. It is also a time for our mind to rest from a day of untamed thoughts.
Ayurveda recommends for optimal healing we retire to bed before or by 10pm every night and wake before the sun, 6 or 7AM. From 10pm-2am, our bodies have a boosted energy that you may have experienced before as your “second wind” of the day. Some of us use this energy to complete more tasks before hitting the hay, but it should be reserved for sleep. This energy is intended for healing the body and mind from a long busy day. Your body systems work hard throughout the day and need rest to function properly.
Waking before the sun will bring you greater energy to start your day. If you sleep in, you are bound to feel slow and sluggish in the morning.
Start small. If you are rolling into to bed at 12AM, try to retire a half hour early for a week and then scale back again until you hit the 10PM time. Do the same with you wake time. You mind and body will be happy you made this change.
If you are need of more guidance with sleeping challenges, I would be delighted to work with you. Book a health consultation with me today!
Love, light and Namaste,
Jennifer
