4 Things to Do for a Good Night’s Sleep
Sleep is crucial for your good health. Sleep brings self-care. It repairs and restores your body.
4 THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
Schedule a healing bodywork session weekly.
I prefer reflexology or Reiki. There are hundreds of different modalities to choose from. If a weekly session is beyond your budget, learn Reiki. Then, you can offer a session to yourself weekly OR you can do regular exchanges with another Reiki practitioner.
Explore and sample herbs and teas.
Cut back on coffee or caffeinated drinks in the afternoons. Substitute decaffeinated beverages. There are so many options that you’ll be able to spend several weeks sampling different teas and drinks. Enjoy!
Create a happy and peaceful place for sleep.
During the coming week, do everything you can to create a quiet and cozy atmosphere. Your goal is a minimal decor with dim lighting, subdued colors and a comfortable bed with soft sheets and blankets. Relocate anything which induces irritability. This includes computers, televisions, and anything that generates electromagnetic fields and positive ions.
Stretch Yourself to Sleep + a Snack
About 30 or so minutes before you go to sleep, focus on unwinding and relaxing tensions. Prepare yourself to sleep:
Breathe deeply and rotate your head gently from side to side.
Slowly raise your arms above your head and stretch them to the sky.
Rotate your spine in different directions while gently moving your head and arms in opposing directions.
Give yourself a few extra minutes to relax.
Have a cup of yogurt for a snooze snack.
You can discover more information on sleep in older posts of this blog.
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An Asphidity Bag is a Self-Care Health Boost we all Need
When I’m at the weekend Mower’s Meadow Flea Market in Woodstock, I always take a short walk around the grounds to see what treasures and goodies are available. Last weekend, I found several handmade asphidity bags in the back corner booth.
They were just sitting there on a table among the Western Boots, Turquoise jewelry, pre-owned furs, and pillbox hats.
WOW! – I haven’t seen one of these in years. No, I correct myself. It’s been decades. I immediately bought three. I’ll fill them with herbs and spices and give them to my daughters this coming December.
Actually, I shouldn’t wait until December. Summers are really hard on everyone. Maybe I should give these bags to them now. After all, today’s challenges are very real and December’s worries aren’t yet on the horizon.
When I was growing up – a long, long time ago – my grandmother had an asphidity bag. She filled it with herbs and spices which she changed to meet the needs of the season, or the situation. She kept her bag tied to her underclothes.
Fasting forward to today, my daughters are having trouble sleeping this year. An asphidity bag can be created just for this situation.
Do you have trouble sleeping? Well, make an asphidity bag just for yourself and your situation. Here’s how:
Begin by describing exactly what a perfect night’s sleep means to you. How long do you want to sleep? How deeply do you want your sleep night to be? What do you want to dream about? How do you want to feel when you wake up?
In Step 2, you select the herbs which smell fragrant and calming. For me, these herbs include lavender, chamomile, rose petals. I also include peppermint and lemon in this list. Your list may be different. (That’s the beauty of the asphidity bag).
Now, make a cloth square measuring about 5 inches.
When your square is cut, place your herbs in the center of the square. Using a ribbon, tie the herbs as well as your good intentions in this bag. Visualize all the good things you need for a successful night’s sleep. Draw these elements toward your sleep as you tie them in your asfidity bag along with your herbs.
Place your asfidity bag inside your pillowcase. Or keep it in a pocket in your clothes. Wherever you keep your bag, when you go to bed at night, close your eyes and visualize the details you’ve gathered for your best sleep. Focus on your breath and the scent of your asfidity bag to launch you into your intentional sleep.
Finally, embrace your sleep!
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P.S. Whenever I use an aspifidity bag, whether it’s for sleep or combating an infection or offering solace to my intestinal system, I schedule reflexology and reiki sessions.
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September Brings a New Season.
September is a time to honor your health – your wellbeing.
Have fun with this! Celebrate the season!
LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS offer a bounty of fresh and local fruits, vegetables, and artisanal products.
September’s markets bring my favorite foods.
Tomatoes, potatoes, squash, apples, melons, figs, and beets are in season this time of year adding color to your plate and your soul.
Stick with these new fresh produce options throughout your Autumn and into Winter. Two fruits which I make a point to buy and eat in September include pears and pumpkins. I love both these foods and they taste best during September.
Find a farmers’ market and plan your meals around the seasonal produce you discover. A bonus on this food is that you’ll boost your antioxidents when you eat fresh seasonal produce.
Cook up a soup or stew.
I think of my breakfast as a September food. Every morning I have a serving of muesli topped with yogurt and blueberries or other seasonal fruit.
Visit your LOCAL HEALTH FOOD STORE for what you can’t find at the farmers’ market.
While you’re there, stock up on immune-boosting supplements. Go for a multi-vitamin, calcium, D3, a protein, and probiotics.
Commit to staying hydrated with lots of water.
It’s sweater time! Is your wardrobe ready for that extra layer you’re going to need? Consider LOCAL THRIFT SHOPS AND YARD SALES. Make eco-friendly options a priority.
Is someone in your house returning to school? Check the backpacks and lunch boxes. Are they in good condition?
SLEEP BETTER in this cooler weather. When September rolls around, I enjoy renewing tranquility with soothing colors in my bedroom.
I look around the room and remove any and all electronic gadgets that have somehow sneaked in during the year.
September is the time of the year when I ban TVs, computers, phones, and anything else with an electromagnetic field which can produce irritating attitudes and challenge my sleep.
My goal is to refresh my bedroom so that it’s a retreat where I escape from the noise of everyday life. This sanctuary reminds me that meditation, rest, and contemplation are important for a renewed state of mind.
Nourish your mind and rejuvenate yourself for the coming winter months.
Go a step further and schedule a regular reflexology or reiki session. Better yet, get one of each!
ENRICH YOUR LIFE a bit. September is a good time to learn to play a musical instrument, visit a museum, investigate your family history, take a walk, or just daydream.
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A Crisis Toolkit for Your Mind, Body, and Spirit.
For years and years, I’ve carried around a crisis toolkit to use whenever a friend, family member, client, coworker, or complete stranger entered my life in a crisis situation. Do you have a healing tool kit?
I’m betting you do. After all, we’re all healers. We all carry one around, even if we don’t call it that. So my question is this: What’s in it?
My toolkit has things to help with fear as well as death and with the dreaded coronavirus. But it also has to help with all the other diseases and aches and pains we encounter in addition: colds, fever, rashes, asthma attacks, arthritis, heart attacks, cancer…
Maybe you feel your toolkit is not ready for today’s situation. It’s probably filled with all sorts of things you can use.
Here are some things I’m sharing with you. Maybe you have things in your toolkit you can share with me.
When it comes to supporting your mind, body, and spirit during these challenging times, I TURN FIRST TO YOGA. I recommend restorative yoga.
When you are stressed, a weekly session is important. I don’t know how it is in your area, but I’m in Upstate New York which is a new hot spot for Coronavirus. I take a restorative yoga class via Zoom every week with Carolyn Abedor.
Carolyn is a physical therapist/yoga instructor. I come away from her class restored, renewed, and recharged for the coming week. I would take her class twice a week but I work on the other day she teaches it.
Do you have a yoga teacher? If not, make finding one a priority. Today’s challenges call for restorative yoga. But, if you find a different yoga that you prefer…go for it. Use what works for you.
REIKI CANNOT BE OVERESTIMATED. Do you practice Reiki therapy? If so, don’t forget to use this tool every chance you get.
Use your Reiki when you walk into a building. Use it when you walk down the street. Use Reiki when you encounter other people. Everyone is stressed out. We can all use Reiki’s healing, calming energy.
If not, now is the best time I know of to learn Reiki. Reiki is essential in stressful times. And, frankly, no time can be more stressful than now.
If you don’t practice Reiki and you can’t find a teacher, book some sessions with a practitioner. Begin with 5 sessions.
Whether or not you practice Reiki, or visit a Reiki practitioner regularly, now is a good time to organize a Reiki circle or Reiki share. Gather several friends together and let the Reiki practitioners offer healing to everyone in the room. Reiki is not one bit intimidated by the requirements of social distancing.
DON’T FORGET REFLEXOLOGY. Reflexology sessions are extremely grounding. If you are stressed out or if you have health issues, Reflexology sessions can help. Gloves and face masks will not negatively impose on Reflexology.
HEALING MUSIC HAS BEEN AN IMPORTANT PART IN MY TOOL BOX FOR YEARS. I use it during healing sessions, classes, or whenever I feel the need.
Through the years, I’ve learned that healing music can be all sorts of sounds. Beauty is in the ears of the beholder. I tend to favor Deuter, Halpern, Ken Davis, Anugama. Your favorites may be totally different. Because of my experiences, I prefer the older musicians. But, there are many kinds of healing music available today. Explore them until you know what works best for you.
GUIDED MEDITATIONS are essential. I began reading those written by others and now create my own. I suggest that you go with someone else’s until the time is right for you. The goal of a guided meditation is to awaken, transform, or heal. For years, I relied on the meditations compiled in books by Larry Moen.
BEDSIDE TABLE BOOKS are essential. They are the books I read when my tanks need refilling. These books vary with the need. Sometimes escape is the only route. Other times, I need to know what other people have to say about the situation I’m dealing with.
I’m often hungry for the wisdom others offer. To prevent empty tanks, I try to read about an hour a day.
When I fed hungry and homeless people in a food pantry, I found solace in the statistics of hunger. At any given moment I could tell you what percentage of children in our country went to bed hungry. I knew the difference between resource poor and generational poor and struggling poor. I knew all about dumpster diving.
Now, I’m attracted to memoirs. It’s not the problems that attract me. It’s how the writer tackled the problem that counts.
Fear, and forgiveness are big on my list.
Finally, when I need to veg out, I go for whatever catalogue is in my mailbox.
The important thing is to know when to fill your own tanks. Your toolbox won’t be worth much if you’re stretched too thin.
Your toolkit may be totally different. It probably is different. After all, we are scattered all over the planet. I hope to hear about some things in your toolkit. Please email me.
Meanwhile, please forward this article to your preferred social media network.
In honor of this most stressful time, I’m offering you a free copy of a book I wrote entitled “Miracles”. Email your mailing address to thurmangreco@gmail.com before April 12th, and I’ll send it along – absolutely free with no strings attached.
Thank you for being here.
Thurman Greco
Poor Sleep Can Wreck Your Quality of Life
If you let it, POOR SLEEP will leave you feeling tired, confused, and depressed.
Sleep can have many causes. And, that’s one of the reasons we struggle with it. In past blog posts, I’ve written many articles about sleep and here is yet another one. And, there will probably be many more.
However, this article is different from all the rest. In this article, you will learn POOR SLEEP HAS MANY CAUSES. Investigate every one that applies to your situation.
Poor sleep causes fall in several categories.
To begin with, COFFEE, CIGARETTES, AND DIET PILLS are in their own little but potent category.
Is caffeine part of your poor sleep problem? Remember, it is found in many things beyond just the cup of coffee you have in the morning. Try to find them all and banish them from your daily life.
Are your days spent in rooms with DIM LIGHTING? Poor sleep can be the result of this environment. What can you do to remedy this situation? Getting just twenty to thirty minutes of sunlight each day can make a difference.
Do you get enough exercise? MOVING YOUR MUSCLES IS ESSENTIAL to overcoming poor sleep. It comes down to this: You have to move enough to get to sleep at the end of your day. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.
Do you have one or more HEALTH ISSUES that promote poor sleep patterns? Some diseases make it hard to get to sleep. Others make consistent sleep throughout the night difficult. If sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and sinus problems interfere with a good night’s sleep, get treatment for them. The message here is this: Don’t let a medical condition cause your poor sleep.
Finally, we come to SLEEPING PILLS. For me, they are an absolute last resort. Sleeping pills come after you have done everything you possibly can to overcome poor sleep.
Why? Some of these pills create their own problems.
Several herbal remedies and supplements are on the market to combat your poor sleep. Two that come to mind are Melatonin and Valerian.
We don’t really know whether either one of them works because the studies have been sparse and contradictory. The preparations and dosages are varied so that it’s complicated to know how much and when to take either Melatonin or Valerian.
It’s best to take any sleeping preparations under the direction of a professional who knows about the products you are taking. That way, you won’t be wasting your money and you won’t be overdosing.
The BOTTOM LINE here is to encourage you to chase down each and every cause of poor sleep that you can. Deal with each and every cause in your search for blessed sleep.
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Thurman Greco
