Sleeping Beauties

Sleep, the period when our bodies rest, the active conscious mind retreats to recharge and the subconscious mind comes up to make peace with our past is an important part for all living things from the flowers that fold in for rest and the child that runs all day active and nimble finally falling asleep to refresh and grow and be ready for the next day. Everything sleeps, from the bees and flowers to the Sun and Moon shall we say. There is morning, fresh and vivid, and then there is night -- dark and deep bringing sleep, rest, repose. This rhythm of life, this up time and then down time is a beautiful flow of energy. We love to sleep, and we wake up from our sleep ready to love and live life with all of its myriad challenges.

According to Ayurveda, when Vata and Pitta energies which are airy and fiery in nature are overly increased in our bodies, this is when we, with over-stimulated minds and bodies, choked full personal and professional calendars, constant fast pace of life, always rushing around, first begin to experience sleep disturbance. So now even sleep, that once took us in like an all forgiving mother, is annoyed with us, will not comfort us, will not forgive us for all our artificially imposed life style choices. So we take a pill hoping it is invitation enough. She comes, unwilling, now, but barely there, sleep like a mother who we took for granted, now unavailable, difficult to please.

Ayurveda will help you reunite with mother energy. Ayurveda offers no quick solutions. Question your choices, take a second look on your life, where exactly are you rushing to? What is this canned food, dead and long lost of it's vitality that you are gobbling up in un appreciative, non cognizant tastelessness as you watch murder and after gory murder on the Television? Where are you heading with all this super planning? Ayurveda will gently guide you towards simplifying and harmonizing your life, eating foods that are alive today, full of cosmic prana (energy), delighting your senses and your mind and body without having to be overly spicey or addictive.

Even the Ayurvedic body rituals that I will mention later are treatments which will force you to rest and surrender. Ayurveda offers no quick pill. You have lost the sleep, you will have to gather it back. Sleep is sometimes disturbed for patients who are suffering from chronic pain and other serious health conditions. Even for such cases Ayurveda advocates working to improve the quality of sleep so that recovery and healing is faster.

Insomnia in Ayurveda is a typical sign of nervous distress. Frequent insomnia is a typical high Vata condition involving nervousness, anxiety, un-groundedness, hypersensitivity and excess thought and worry. Sleep patterns include: difficulty to fall asleep, sleep easily disturbed, and difficulty in returning to sleep once awakened. Dreams may be frightening, filled with flying, falling, nightmares, encounters with ghosts etc.

Causes of insomnia include stress, anxiety, excessive thinking, too much travel, over work and other vata increasing factors. According to Ayurveda, insomnia is produced due to vitiation of vata and pitta. Excessively pungent foods, exercising immediately after consuming food, exposure to cold climates may also lead to this malady.

Coffee, Tea or other stimulants including Ginseng should be avoided. That is, anything that is a stimulant, especially after 3 p m. Avoid mental activity in the evening including reading, watching stimulating movies, etc. Retire early and arise early. Warm milk with a little ghee can be taken 1 hour before bed time. Warm sesame oil can be applied to the feet , the top of the head or forehead, or to the whole body, followed by a warm shower. Preferably boil this oil with the powders of Brahmi, Vacha and Amalaki, and then strain and bottle. These powders can be consumed orally also in the dose of 30 grams with warm buffalo (preferable) or whole cow's milk, at least twice a day, the last dose at bed time. Two spoons of til (sesame) oil can also be administered at bedtime along with milk. The root of the herb Brahmi applied to the head, in the form of a paste will also produce sleep.

Calming Yoga Asanas are preferred over stimulating Aerobic exercises. Your jog at midnight may exhaust you but sleep may still be elusive. A brisk walk in morning and evening will be useful. A calming meditation before sleep, consciously releasing all the worries and tensions of the day, can work wonders. The bedroom should be a place of cleanliness and comfort. Peace inducing Mantras such as Ram or Sham can be repeated. Concentrate your mind on breath or the center of the heart. Ashwagandha is another herb that is a mind body Rasayana and improves the quality of sleep. One popular classic preparation that contains Ashawagandha is Saraswatarishtam, a tonic for the mind and all it's disturbances including insomnia.

Some of the special procedures employed in Ayurveda for combating this condition are Shorovasti and Shirodhara. These are classic body treatments which have been employed by Ayurveda for overt 5000 years with excellent results. I recall a client who had walked into my Ayurvedic Center with bulging, blood shot eyes, a distrought manic look and an unmistakable tragic air. His opening words were, "I have not been able to sleep in 6 days and I think I am going insane". Without further ado and dispensing with the need of a lengthy consultation or analysis of his condition, I rushed him into our treatment room and asked my therapist to perform a Shirodhara on the client. The jittery shakey client slept like a baby on the treatment table itself, and about 3 hours later or so awoke refreshed, rejuvenated, ready to begin treatment in a systematic manner at last, having slept after almost 144 hours of Jagran (staying awake). It is at times like this that one feels the power of Ayurveda which has developed and refined, not 20 years of control study on mice, but over 5000 years of systematic observation, inference and recording of condition, symptoms, and solutions.

In Shirodhara you lie down relaxed on the massage table while a mixture of warm oils (most common is Ksheerbala tail) that is soothing to the deranged vata and Pitta , is allowed to pour onto your forehead, in the spot between your eye brows, the third eye, the location of your sixth Chakra, in a steady stream followed by a gentle scalp massage. Shirodhara is a deep relaxation technique that helps insomnia, scattered or compulsive thought process, the treatment of choice in Schizophrenia, Depression, excessive mental or emotional stress and induces a meditative bliss. Shirodhara is an ancient therapy used for centuries for restoring the inner calm and balance of the emotions. This treatment is followed with a gentle head, neck and shoulder massage.

Shirobasti: This is a method of keeping oil on your head for about an hour in a leather cap specially made for this purpose. You will sit up in a comfortable chair, cozy in blankets and pillows. A traditional leather cap will be placed over your head. The cap is sealed off along the rim with a flour paste. Oil cooked with herbs is poured into the cap to cover your hair/scalp. The oil is allowed to sit for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This treatment is then followed with a gentle head, neck and shoulder massage. Shirobasti is an exotic and ancient process traditionally used to address several conditions, some of which include insomnia, chronic head aches, anxiety, hair loss, premature hair graying, skin complexion, dryness of mouth and nose, etc.

If you suffer from even mild insomnia, wake up frequently, can't fall asleep in the first place or wake up earlier and earlier, then do not nurse this condition. Sleep, sex and food are the three pillars of Life. If you are chronically sleep deprived the most enticing foods and even the most enticing of sexual invitation will seem like a burden as you hold your heavy head in hand, body exhausted and chronically fatigued, eyes blurred and dizzy and a mind that is crying stop, stop, put me to sleep or I will burn out with exhaustion.

With this note, I wish my readers happy and abundant snoozes and snores!!!