Your eyes are wide open, you feel alert but it’s still dark with not a peak of light entering the room, so why are you waking up in the middle of the night, often 3am?
Are you familiar with this frustrating feeling? I and many of the women I have worked with have experienced this when we’re waking in the middle of the night.
Let me explain to you what could be happening here.
I say ‘could’ not to frustrate you but to be real with you that there are many sleep hygiene practices that can be incorporated for a truly healthy lifestyle and many sleep ailments eg sleep apnea that’s worth working with a functional doctor & sleep specialist on. What I’m about to share will support you with all ailments and get you working on the root cause.
So you remember that yoga position that’s one of the favourites right? Commonly referred to as Corpse Pose or Shavasana, during which we lie and do nothing. Well, this position is as close to as you can get to deep surrender. The type of surrender where you hand over your problems, ‘to do’ list, and chitter-chatter for as long as the teacher provides time.
The problem is, sleep is our most natural form of surrender. When our head hits the pillow we literally get to feel what we haven’t dealt with.
When we are waking in the middle of the night, often 3am, our conscious mind is resting. Our subconscious mind is getting a chance to be heard. When we no longer have the distractions of ‘busy’ through the day. The elements of our lives that we really push down deep inside of us, get exposed as we hit the pillow!
It’s like redecorating your home. You have this bright idea of just doing that one room, that really needs an upgrade. The moment it’s done, all you see is the other work that now needs to be addressed. We work through our ‘to do’ list by starting with what we believe is the priority, but as we try to sleep some unaddressed aspect of our life becomes more apparent.
I deal with some of the ways we can really take action on changes to lifestyle in my previous blog on sleep and in this case I also find journaling just before bedtime is a great way to immediately clear some thoughts that may wake you up.
We have to address the thought that is the one that’s often circling your mind at 3 am. It could even require big change but its really where you are going to see the results long term.
Check out my Instagram page for my short video also on this topic!
