One strategy to learn to calm your system and control your thoughts involves learning to slow our "physiological" system down - starting with our breathing rate. The following Q&A refers to using relaxation or slow breathing with visualisation to help with falling asleep. Slow breathing can and should be applied to any situation where we start getting anxious, wired or "busy" in our minds and need to slow our system down.
Asked: Hey Sjana, about the sleeping question before, I meant falling asleep! And thank you for being such a breath of fresh air, it's exactly what a lot of us need! Xx
Response: Think about falling asleep as slowing down our body and mind processes to a relaxed state. Unfortunately turning our mind onto “standby” is so hard when all we can think about is how much we should go to sleep! Hahaha. So one thing that can work is using your thoughts to focus on slowing you body down, or rather your breathing (which in turn slows your heart rate down). There is a good App (Breathe2Relax) - a bit dry and scientific, but the graphics are really useful - which is an easy way to learn and practise slow breathing. You can add in some really cool visualisations and imagery (NOT counting sheep) once you can slow your breathing down and that can really help too. A quick example is imagining a sunset scene and each time you breathe out you imagine the sun setting just the tiniest bit. As you focus on your breathing and the image your mind and body processes slow down into a really relaxed rhythm conducive to sleep. I know this is just a start but give it a go…..and let me know how it goes xx PS it can take a bit of practice !