Micro-Course To Sleep Better

This is a micro-course to improve sleep, for you to fall asleep better when you go to bed and also for when you wake up in the middle of the night and you want to go back to sleep. I will talk to you about how we sleep from the point of view of neuroscience, then I will give you some practical recommendations when preparing the night rest, then some reflections on sleep according to the Tibetan tradition and finally you will enjoy one of the three sleep you will be able to find on my profile.

Transcript

This is a micro course to improve sleep.

For you to fall asleep better when you go to bed,

And also for when you wake up in the middle of night and you want to go back to sleep.

Hello,

My name is Oscar Carrera,

Meditation and mindfulness instructor.

First,

I will talk about how I sleep from the point of view of neuroscience.

Then,

I will give you some practical recommendations when preparing the night rest.

Then some reflections on sleep according to the Tibetan tradition that I hope you will find inspiring.

And finally,

You will enjoy one of the three sleep meditations that I have prepared and that you will be able to find on my profile.

Waking and sleep are the two basic states of the human consciousness.

Waking is the state in which we are awake.

In this state,

We move from states of great calm to states of great tension.

It's very changeable.

The state of sleep is also that variable.

It's not uniform.

In the RIM phase of sleep,

There's a lot of brain activity.

The frequency range of the brain waves is very similar to those in the waking state.

In our body,

In addition,

Another series of changes occur.

The breathing is more irregular,

Shallower and faster.

The eyes move in different directions.

Heart rate increases and so does blood pressure.

It's also time when memories and knowledge are consolidated.

On the other hand,

In the deep sleep phase,

The opposite occurs.

A slowdown in psychological activity occurs,

And the speed and amplitude of the brain waves also decrease.

The heart rate slows down and the blood pressure decreases.

There is a belief that being asleep or awake is like a switch.

You are sleeping or awake.

This is not exactly the case.

Falling asleep is gradual.

The brain falls asleep in blocks.

One block reduces its wave frequency,

That is,

It communicates more slowly,

And nearby blocks,

Out of sympathy,

Being too slow down.

When there are many blocks of the brain transmitting at a low speed,

Our level of consciousness also falls,

And the neurons in the sleeping areas begin not to pay attention to the information that comes from outside.

When we sleep,

We do not listen.

The senses send information to the thalamus,

Which is the center of sensory control,

And it's located in the limbic brain,

Which sends information to the cortex,

The rational part,

But it does not answer.

It has shield itself from the outside.

Imagine that you go to sleep with a lot of stress.

Different areas of the brain shut down,

But when you get to a very active part,

It does not fall asleep.

The zone does not act out of sympathy,

And does not spread slow waves,

And causes an opposite reaction to occur.

Then,

The zones that were already emitting calm waves are activated.

Does it bring any bells?

I fall asleep,

But I don't sleep deeply,

And that makes me not rest well.

Or maybe I fall asleep and awaken after a short while.

Falling asleep is like letting yourself be invaded by low-frequency waves that spread through the brain.

In the same way,

When you are awake,

You do not have all the brain areas active.

Some are,

And some are not,

Depending on your activity level.

There is for all of this that is very important to prepare yourself for sleep.

Carefully design the steps prior to bedtime,

And then,

At bedtime,

Set the intention to release thoughts and focus to an anchor to go to sleep.

As you know,

To prepare,

It's advisable not to take stimulants such as caffeine or chocolate,

But to take something hot,

Such as an infusion of valerian,

Passion flower,

Poppy or lemon balm.

The visual level is also important,

That the environment is dimly lit at least one time before bedtime.

Avoid screens of all kinds,

And if you have to use them,

Use a blue light protector or glasses that filter it.

This will help the necessary generation of melatonin that you require to fall asleep.

From the age of 50s onwards,

There's a deficit in the generation of melatonin,

So perhaps you can ask your doctor whether or not to take any supplement or do something specific in that regard.

Oh,

And the volume,

Lower and lower.

On the other hand,

Pay full attention when you brush your teeth,

When putting on your pyjama,

And also to position of your pillow,

The mattress,

The sheets and blankets.

Adapt everything to your physiognomy,

Making sure you are comfortable.

Take your time when doing it,

And pay attention to your body,

Stretching your back,

And especially making sure that your neck is in a good posture.

Of all the things I would highlight is that it's important to go to sleep more or less at the same time,

Not too late.

And the most important thing is to say goodbye to the day.

Say goodbye to appliances,

Lights,

Plugs,

Radios,

Televisions,

Computers,

Mobiles.

Say goodbye to them until the next day,

Because the day is over.

Thank you.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

It's time to rest.

You say it to them,

Or you say it to yourself,

However you prefer.

But the thing is that you are saying good night,

And at the same time,

Saying goodbye to the day.

In the Tibetan tradition,

The monks usually empty the cups before going to sleep.

They leave them face down next to the bed at bedtime.

They are never sure if they will wake up in the morning and need them ever again.

They even put out the fire at night without bothering to keep some leaf calls burning for the next day.

Moment by moment,

They live with the possibility of imminent death.

They pose going to sleep as a little death.

Yes,

Every time they go to sleep,

They say goodbye,

As if preparing,

Rehearsing every day for the day,

When it's really the last time they will ever go to bed.

The wise Milarepa sang,

When you are vigorous and healthy,

You do not think about the arrival of the disease,

But it falls with a sudden force like lightning.

When you are absorbed in the worldly things,

You do not think about the coming of death.

Quickly comes like lightning that hits your head.

We have to shake ourselves up from time to time and seriously ask ourselves,

What if I died tonight?

So what?

We don't know if we will wake up tomorrow or where.

If after excelling the air we cannot breathe again,

We die.

As simple as that.

And one more thing about the Tibetan tradition.

Normally,

When we fall asleep,

We are not aware of the phases our mind goes through or the experience of those states.

For them,

That is a missed opportunity,

Because the way we fall asleep is exactly the way we die.

By letting go.

Letting go of life.

If we can learn to trap this moment,

To recognize it,

Then we can navigate the experience of letting go.

Day they go of life,

We can settle for letting go of the day.

There is nothing to change about the day.

Just be thankful for having breath one more day.

And there is also nothing to do in the day that is yet come,

Because it belongs to the future.

Let go of the day.

Do not worry about tomorrow.

Let the dream invade you and tomorrow you will pick up the day as a new present,

As a new gift.

Keep this in mind if you wake up in the middle of the night.

Perhaps an opportunity is coming for you to experience all of this.

Well,

Getting back to the point.

I have prepared three meditations designed to fall asleep.

Sleeping with your breath,

Sleeping with your sensations,

And the last one,

Sleeping with the earth,

Water,

Fire and air.

I suggest you listen to them in bed.

First,

Lying on your back and when you feel like it,

Lie on your side.

The body on its side is when it rests the most,

When it cleans the most.

In all three,

I will ask you to direct your attention to your breath or body in different ways.

And regarding thought,

Let it pass,

Let it dissolve without blocking it and without going into evaluating it.

Until the moment you sing into your dream,

You will have some thoughts,

Of course,

But it is really the last of the thoughts.

But as it gradually dissolves,

The consciousness linked to the conceptual mind also dissolves and then only the pure consciousness that gives way to the connection with the dream.

Below,

You will hear a summary of the meditation of the four elements,

Earth,

Water,

Fire and air.

If you want to hear it in full or want to experience the sleeping with your breath meditation or the sleeping with your sensations meditation,

You have three 15-minute audios of a label that you can easily find on my profile.

When we fall asleep,

The earth element dissolves first,

The energy of the earth element dissolves and the part of consciousness that is based on earth dissolves as well.

Next,

The energy and consciousness of water dissolves,

Then the energy and consciousness of the fire element dissolves and then the consciousness of the air element also dissolves.

Earth,

Fire,

Water and air in physical space as objects in the different levels of attention.

Feel the weight,

The heavy parts,

The bones,

The teeth,

The feelings of heaviness,

Of contact,

Of fusion,

Of natural relaxation.

And feeling the cohesion,

Fluidity,

Small movements,

The heartbeat,

The pulsation,

The body throwing waves traveling through your body,

Melting your body,

Being dissolved,

Feeling the temperature,

A part where there is heat,

An area of coolness,

Energy,

Feeling it,

Internally,

Externally,

Feeling the lightness as it being dissipated,

Letting yourself go,

Being lifted and floating in weightlessness,

Letting yourself go,

Subtle,

Ethereal,

Reviews

Thank you. This took me into deep and refreshing sleep.

Interesting I learnt new things about sleep. Thank you will listen to your other meditations

I woke for the second time way too early. Happens all the time since I hit the menopause. So unfair as I love sleep. Anyway... second waking I was expecting that was it because it was 4.am but thank you... I drifted back into the land of nod and it’s now a respectable 6.00am. 🙏🙏

Excellent. Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Here is a fresh approach. His accent makes it a little hard to catch some words. But I will listen again, and to the meditations he references. Thank you, Òscar!

Thank You! This was very interesting and helpful!!

This was very good. I learned new information. Thank you~