It’s a question I get on a regular basis: How can I use Qigong to help me get to sleep at night?
It seems that many of us have difficulty with sleep, whether it’s being able to get to sleep in the first place, or the quality of our sleep. Either way, the result is waking in a morning feeling rougher than when we went to bed the night before.
Here are 3 tips you can use the next time you find yourself staring at the time on your alarm clock and thinking: I must get to sleep!
1. Enter a Qigong State of Mind (QSoM)
My oldest student so far was 83 when they began learning from me. As I always do, we started learning the skills of Qigong. The week after I had taught them how to enter a QSoM they couldn’t wait to tell me how this skill alone had improved their life.
By laying in bed and entering a QSoM this student was report having the best sleep of their life. And they woke in the morning feeling refreshed and energised. For the first time in decades!
Of course, you know what I’m going to say next: entering a QSoM is best learned from a teacher. And that’s true. But for instructions on what a QSoM is and an overview of how to do it read this post ‘PERFECT Qigong‘
2. Take a Trip Through Your Body
Done correctly, this tip will have you asleep before you finish the journey! Here are the instructions:
- Lie on your back body symmetrical;
- Arms by the sides of the body;
- Take 3 deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth;
- Bring your attention to the centre of your forehead and relax;
- Bring your mindfulness to your throat and relax;
Then follow this route, spending a second or two at each point to relax before moving on to the next:
- Right shoulder
- Right elbow
- Right wrist
- Right Thumb
- Right index finger
- Right middle finger
- Right ring finger
- Right little finger
- Right wrist
- Right elbow
- Right shoulder
- Back to the throat
- Repeat for the left arm.
- Back to the throat
- Down to the sternum
- Across to the right breast
- Back to the sternum
- Across to the left breast
- Back to the sternum
- Down to the dan tien (the point just below your belly button)
- Across to the right hip joint
- Right knee
- Right ankle
- Right big toe
- Each toe to the little toe
- Back to the ankle
- Back to the knee
- Back to the hip
- Back to the dan tien.
- Repeat for the left leg
- Back to the dan tien
- Up to the sternum
- Up to the throat
- Up to the centre of your forehead.
That’s the journey complete. It sounds far more complicated than it actually is. With the help of Meridian Man below (big thank you to Claire for him) you can follow the route visually.
The key is to stop at each point for a second or two and relax. Simple.
3. Lifting the Midnight Sky
Basically you just do lifting the sky, in bed. For those of you who know this form, then yes, there are ammendments that you are going to have to make based on where your bed is in relation to the walls of the room and whether you are sharing your bed. Being smacked in the face by your partner,at 3am, as they practice lifting the sky in bed, is not conducive to a harmonious relationship!
Just do your best. I’ve found this to be very powerful on the rare occasions I’ve needed to use it. I think it’s because I’m so used to doing my Qigong practice, and being relaxed during my practice, that doing this form in bed links my body directly to my practice and changes my whole mindset to one where sleep can come easily.
Hope you’ll find one of these tips useful the next time sleep seems hard to come by.
Marcus James Santer