Calm your mind

Manasanthi is peace of mind. Manas means mind and santhi means peace or tranquility. Just as the name suggest this form of Ayurvedic therapy is aimed at pacifying mind.

Mind, body and soul are equally important to Ayurveda. Manasanthi (also can be spelt manassanthi, manasanti, manashanti or 50 other variations) is a comprehensive mind-body-soul treatment.

Manasathy is a combination of Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, aromatherapy. The stress is on holistic approach towards better health for body as well as mind. There will be oil massage, sirovasti, dhara etc in the therapy. Rejuvenation massage, steam bath etc are other facets of this therapy.

Fully body massage on a daily basis, with sesame oil (or coconut oil) 30 minutes before bathing has several physical advantages as well as psychological advantages.

This is effective stress management therapy. A person practicing this regularly will have the benefits of better emotional control and relaxed mind.

People with excessive mental turbulences are also given vegetarian, calming food. Spicy, hot tasting and salty food items are not helpful in relaxation, while sweet tasting food items are helpful. Easy to digest food items, mostly in liquid or semi solid form ensures faster digestion, which is helpful in managing mental worries too.

Prompting the persons to read religious texts is also an effective way of pacifying human minds. Listening to soothing music with slow beats also pacifies mind.

Another important thing is to keep company of pleasant people, visit religious places and locations with a little sunshine, clean water and greenery.

Mind is the sum total of the personal life, personality and everything a person experiences in his or her life. To care for the mind, you need special attention.

New Relaxing Music Added To Site

I haven't written for awhile. You may have noticed there have been some additions to the site. Recently I've added two new nature tracks to the mp3 download section, the first is Evening Bonfire which has a bonfire and crickets in the background. The other is summer creek which has the sounds of a creek and birds singing.

I've also mixed all of the music tracks with these nature sounds, basically doubling the number of tracks on the site. I hope you enjoy these new additions.

Dealing With Stress

Sorry for the long absences, as I said the holiday season can be hectic and mine was crazed! When things get busy, or stressful, it’s so easy to get caught up in the frenzy and forget to take time out for yourself. That’s kind of what I have been doing and once I was on that free fall my sleep and therefore my productivity suffered.

For the past six weeks I have been the best example of what not to do when life gets difficult. I can’t stress enough how important routine is to my quality of life and how necessary it is to allow “personal down time” a frequent and regular place in that routine. I know that insomnia will probably be a challenge for me throughout my life, but still I need times like these to remind me why I allow myself “me time” and how “me time” improves the quality and efficiency of everything I must do throughout the day.

What constitutes “me time”? Well, the little breaks for a mental and physical check in are probably the most important for maintaining calm and relaxation, but when things get busy and stressful those check ins are usually the first thing to go. I think the trick is to try not to let life get too busy, too stressful. I wrote about my morning routine in my last blog (it’s been a while so you might need to review it). In order to maintain a state of relaxation or calm, your day must begin relaxed and calm. My morning routine is all “me time” and I’ve created an environment where all my senses or both soothed and stimulated. I sit in my most comfortable chair in front of a cozy heat register, I take time to sip and smell that first cup of coffee I so very much enjoy, and I listen to the sounds of nature and soft soothing music. All the other things I do to promote physical relaxation would be of little or perhaps no benefit without that 10 to 15 minute period set aside for me and me alone. That was what I lost track of over the past few weeks so my sleep and productivity diminished.

Take some time this week and consider your ideal morning scenario. What sights, sounds, smells, tastes calm, relax and stimulate you? Where in your home does your body feel most comfortable and relaxed?
Sleep Soundly

Holiday Stress 2

Hi guys,

More about how I deal with Holiday stress.

The most important tool for a calm, relaxed Christmas Season is retaining my routine. Each morning I get up at a set time, put on the coffee, turn on my computer and play nature sounds I discovered through Sound Sleeping. I do some easy body stretching, locate where tension might have built up over night, address these areas of tension through a series of contraction / relaxation. To most effectively relax tension in a muscle or muscle group one should breath in slowly while contracting said muscle, hold in contraction for a slow count to ten still inhaling, and then let the muscle suddenly relax with a nice energetic exhalation of breath. I eat breakfast, have a cup of coffee, write about three lighthearted pages in my journal, go for a 20 min. to 1 hr. walk through my local park or river bank trail, put on some relaxing music, shower, “prettify”, and leave for work. By the way, I’m an early riser.

Mornings are of major importance to me. If I can begin my day in a laid back and routine way, I am way more likely to achieve relaxation and calm throughout my day. Stress and tension breed further stress and tension so avoidance is the best remedy. It was a few years ago at around Christmas I started to regiment my mornings. I couldn’t believe how much it benefited my entire day and night. I then began to implement the regiment into my daily routine throughout the year. Last year, when I discovered Sound Sleeping, I found yet another tool to aid in creating a calm and relaxing environment to complement my routine. In the morning I listen to peaceful environmental sounds, and in the evening I play around with the Drum Sleep Aid, I can often loose myself in this “play” for an hour or more. The interesting reality is that it provides enjoyment without heightened stimulation. I find excess stimulation during the evening hours greatly reduces my chances of falling asleep later on. I then choose my mp3 selection for the next morning. I listen to a few each night to make my selection. This procedure again aids in my evening relaxation routine.

I suggested a couple of weeks ago, that you listen through some of the selections and play with the Drum Aid. If you have done so, why not try incorporating them into your daily routine. I would really appreciate some feedback on how these tools work, or have been working for you. Let’s make this a dialogue instead of a blog.

I wish you, if not a stress free week, at least a stress reduced week.

Sleep well

Holiday Stress

Hi Folks,

Hope you’ve had a restful week, ya right! Here comes Xmas.

I don’t know about you, but for me, the Christmas holiday season is the most stressful time of the year. And the season seems to become longer and longer as the years role by. I’m a musician and music enthusiast. Concerts abound, Christmas parties become more and more frequent, and unfortunately, these social commitments come at my busiest time of year professionally. I’m constantly bombarded with choices and decisions, and each seems to come with a sense of guilt because I always feel I’m choosing him over her, these guys over those guys. So for the few weeks I’m going to travel off my former path and discuss how I deal with Holiday Stress.

I haven’t found any profound answers to the “choice” dilemma, that’s just the nature of the season. What I find I do have control over is my response to having to make these choices and the environment in which these choices are made. Personally, I need to stick to my routines even more strictly. Routine provides both my body and my mind with a structure from which to achieve relaxation and calm. If I keep my “cool” at work and due regular check-ins, it is much easier to deal with the choices I must make for my weekends and evenings. I’ve learned to list and prioritize my choices, balancing family, friends, and concerts. One the choice is made I write it in my day timer in ink. This is a visual reminder that once the decision is made, it should not be second-guessed. Key to the success of this strategy is to complete the task in one fell swoop. I choose an early evening, create as relaxed stress free environment as possible, Make my list, “check it twice”, delete the “naughty”, highlight the “nice”, and make my decisions. If new social opportunities come up I check with my day planner. If I’m free, I choose whether I want to attend or take the evening off. If the evening has been previously book I simply say, “I’m sorry, but I already have plans”. I sometimes miss a great event, but I retain my sanity.

I wish you a Merry Christmas Season and will check in again next week

Sound Sleeping,
Karen

Stress, Anxiety, and Tension Control

Hello Everyone,

All is well I hope, if not let us further discuss how to take back control of over our stress, anxiety, and tension…and again please remember what I put forward comes from my own experience. Each individual is an individual and may find that things that worked well for me do not work for them. I will try to remember to discuss calming and relaxation techniques I have tried but resulted in only minimal success. If you feel I am focusing too much on one thing, or would care to suggest some ideas / experiences of your own send in your comments I would love this to become “group therapy” where people with sleep problems can come for a wide prospective from their peers. Continuation from last week…

The first step in my journey, came with the recognition that self-awareness is key to having any degree of control over my life, and therefore sleep. Regular check-ins are of great benefit to me and really don’t take a great deal of time. Once I found a cause for stress, anxiety, or tension I had to find a solution.

Dealing with tension was quite easy and straightforward for me. Once I realized where in the body my tension was building up I mobilized the area. For me tension builds because I am keeping a muscle or muscle group contracted for an extended period of time so simply moving and stretching helps eliminate the tension. A few slow deep breathes and a yawn then relaxes the rest of my body.

Stress and anxiety are not so easy for me to address. This called more for external rather than internal change and this is where the resources found on the Sound Sleeping site really started to be of benefit. I had already begun to use the mp3 downloads at night to help me wind down. When I realized that the severity of my nightly stress and anxiety clearly reflected my day’s stress and anxiety I started to use the mp3 materials on my breaks a work. This tended to help momentarily but the job usually took over again after a break as did the stress. I decided I needed to bring this tool into my work environment but for practical reasons I could not use audio materials at my workstation. So I got this idea: Ya know how every once in a while a song gets caught in your head and drives you crazy until it decides to leave? Well I decided to try and reverse that process. I would listen to my mp3s and then try to recreate them in my head. My recreations were not exact, but the sounds I found calming and relaxing, have over time, become very vivid in my imagination. In this way, I can carry this helpful tool with me into any situation or environment. A few minutes at routine check-ins recalling these sound has helped me to continuously relieve stress throughout my day. Listen to the examples, identify sounds that enhance calm and just try to hear them in your head, once they’re in your head, you can take them anywhere. It takes a little time and practice, but I really think it’s worth a try.

That’s all for now,
Sound Sleeping!

Sleep and Relaxation

 Hi,

Hope all is well with everyone!

I wrote last week about: calm vs. anxiety and stress

relaxation vs. tension

mind vs. body

For the next few weeks I’d like to put these concepts into a more practical perspective. I hope everyone tried to take some time to examine how, when, where, and why their own bodies and minds are affected by anxiety, stress, and tension. Once you identify how, when, where, and why these symptoms build up, you can then begin to develop strategies to alleviate their presents. I was very surprised when I figured out that it wasn’t so much the workload, deadlines, obligations, etc… that caused stress and tension throughout my day and this is good because I don’t have much control over those things. Sure, they do affect me, but only to a point, it is how I respond to these stressors that inevitably gets me into trouble. For me, most of what builds up my anxiety, stress, and tension are habitual and/or environmental, things that in fact I can control. With regular check ins I began to notice that when a deadline loomed close, I would find myself clenching my teeth, curling my toes, and holding my breath. The deadline may have caused me some stress, but what I was doing in response to that stress was causing the build up of body tension, which of course in turn increased my feelings of anxiety and stress…and the cycle begins.

I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to discover nightly routines that would help me to sleep and those discoveries have been of great benefit. The turning point in my journey came with the realization that routine itself was my greatest alley. (I will talk a lot about routine in later blogs) I have found it very helpful to do my regular check-ins, identify how my body reacts to stress, and try to lessen or eliminate body tension throughout the day. After my check-in I spend a moment slowing my breathing and yawning, concentrating on relaxing areas of body tension. If I can catch it early and throughout the day I find it much easier to achieve a relaxed state before going to bed.

Well I think that’s enough for now.
I wish all of you Sound Sleeping.
Karen