SOUNDBATHS AND SLEEP
During summer I tend to be more restless during the night, with the warmth, the light and birdsong filtering through to my body and mind while I dry to sleep. I dream more, wake up at 4am to adjust my eye-mask and find it harder to get an early night. How about you?
There's a lot of fire energy coursing through everything during summer, which can be great when drawn upon to cultivate change, fun, joy, but not that handy when we really need to rest. Most people are drawn to Soundbaths in the cooler months, understandably, but in my experience, quite a few people really benefit from the practice during the summer. The last Soundbath I held quite a few people fell asleep, Which often signifies we aren't getting the rest we need.
So, on July 14th I'm running a special late Soundbath in Chichester. Designed especially so you can rest deeply, then float off home to get straight into bed and sleep well. So, why sleep and sound?
Engage the para sympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest, reduce the cortisol coursing through the body and that jumpy state of awareness when we are in fight or flight.
General sense of peace, sound brings us back to our ancestral roots, it has an emotional response of peace, calm and wonder.
Tuning into your spiritual practice, getting perspective through seeing lights, colours, visions. Feelings of deep gratitude, love, allowing emotions that have been buried to be safely held in the space so you can heal and feel lighter.
Synchronise brainwaves, when we slow down and rest into a meditative state our brainwaves drop to theta waves(3 TO 8 HZ) they are dominant in deep meditation. Theta is our gateway to learning, memory, and intuition. In theta, our senses are withdrawn, In theta we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our normal conscious awareness.
ASMR is often associated with You Tube videos of people whispering, but I myself and clients have reported the same response during a soundbath: the more you practice with sound, the deeper you will go into the experience and the body will respond. If you manage to quieten the mind and focus on the sound, you can get an ASMR response of tingles coursing through the head and scalp, even down the arms and hands and full body. Providing a deep rest like no other.
Giving the nervous system a break. When we truly let go of our racing thoughts and step out of fight or flight mode, the para sympathetic nervous system gets a chance to have its turn(rest & digest).
Release of tension, our body is always telling us a story, for some of us it might be carrying pain, tension, a heaviness. Some may refer to a soundbath as a deep tissue massage, but much more gentle. Letting the body feel held, healed and supported.
Protons and neutrons, the particles that form the nuclei of atoms, might seem to be really tiny. But scientists say that those subatomic particles themselves are made up of something even smaller — particles called quarks. Beyond the quark, quantum physicist believe there to be pure energy, when they studying it it reacts to the fact it's being studied, it carries a vibration. During a Soundbath, we access this energy, that bindes everything together, raising it's vibrations. When something has a higher vibration it's less likely to be sick, ill, depressed, anxious.
So, why is sleep so important:
What the researchers concluded is that sleep has links to several brain functions, including: concentration, productivity, cognition, less sleep less optimal use of these!
As you sleep, your brain begins to organise and process all the information you’ve taken on during the day. It converts your short-term memories into long-term memories. This helps you to learn and means that when you wake up, you can often see things more clearly.
A lack of sleep can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke. When you sleep, your heart rate and blood pressure naturally drop, to allow your heart time to rest and recover. But research has shown that if you’re not sleeping properly, your sympathetic nervous system remains stimulated at night. This is the system of your body responsible for the ‘fight-or-flight’ response – how your body reacts when it senses danger. This means your heart rate and blood pressure don’t go down at night if you’re awake, and your body releases stress hormones that keep you alert. And if your blood pressure remains up at night, you’re more likely to have high blood pressure during the day.
Sleep gives your body the time it needs to rest and repair while you’re sick. It supports the proteins and cells of your immune system to detect and destroy any foreign invaders your body might come into contact with, like the common cold. It also helps these cells to remember these invaders, so if you come across the same bugs and germs again, you’re prepared to fight them off.
If you’ve got a lot on your mind, are feeling upset, anxious or worried – you might find you lie awake at night going over things in your head. But then not being able to sleep only adds to your list of worries the following day. You might begin to see a change in your mood and find you’re feeling low. The good news is improving your sleep can also help to improve your mental health and wellbeing.
There are lots of things that can cause you to feel stressed, and how you personally deal with stress will be different from someone else. But feeling stressed, for example from work, relationships, financial or health concerns, is often a key factor if you’re struggling to sleep at night. When you’re feeling stressed, your body releases ‘stress hormones’, for example cortisol, which can keep you awake. On the other hand, a good night’s sleep can have an ‘anti-stress’ effect and relax the systems in your body that are responsible for this stress response.
It’s no secret that a bad night’s sleep can leave you feeling grumpy, while getting enough good sleep can help to put you in a positive headspace. And when you’re feeling good, it’s likely to be felt by the people around you. The amount of sleep you get can affect your language, reasoning and communication skills – all key factors when building relationships with others. A bad night’s sleep can make it more difficult to control your emotions and communicate with others, and can sometime lead to conflict. But getting enough sleep can help you to regulate your emotions, interact well with others and maintain good interpersonal relationships.
Sleep can be ignored, it can be left to one side, but is the foundation of so much of our existence. Plus, let's not beat around the bush. It's great! There is nothing quite like getting a really good nights rest!
If you struggle with sleep, try making sound part of your day to day life. Through recordings, soundbaths, even disco tracks as you do the washing up. Sound holds the key to so much!