Slumber Drum
There are nights when I have trouble falling asleep. And I have cut on T.V., cell phones, email, late dinners and committed to a slumber meditation, but still, I toss in bed for hours. At some point my pulse starts throbbing in my throat, ticking like a clock. The more I force myself to relax, the more I hype up, and I end up totally wired. My body is exhausted, but the mind is anxious over tomorrow while brooding on what happened yesterday. Then, I have to get up and brew some valerian tea. I’ve given up on melatonin – it gives me the worst nightmares. And when valerian tea doesn’t work, I transfer into the fairy tales that grandma lulled me to bed with. I still remember, they were so vivid and exciting, that I dreaded falling asleep and missing the end. And when the story was over, and I was still awake, we would count sheep. I had no idea why this technique was so effective back then. Years, later when I co-hosted a lecture on Sufism with an acclaimed Derwish master, I found out why.
The whirling Derwish was supposed to give a presentation of the four Sufi orders, drawing a comparison between Sufism and Christianity. The lecture was held at the City University and attended by the “brains” of the Eastern Philosophy in the country. The auditorium was packed, and breathless. It was one of the first encounters with an authentic Sufi master, and everyone was excited to learn more about the mystical tradition. The master was clad in a Sufi robe and carrying a drum. He bowed reverently, took a chair and placed it on top the desk. To everyone’s amazement, he climbed on top of the desk that was prepped for the presentation, with an overhead projector and an erasable board. Then he sat and began to drum. People thought it’s a cool way to start the lecture, so they applauded him fervently. And he went on for 45 minutes. In ten minutes the initial awe was replaced by puzzled looks. Then there was anger, judgment and disappointment of not having met their expectations. People started to whisper in dismay. Some even left with a frown. But, after half an hour a total reversal took place. The even drumming made people sway their bodies naturally and close their eyes, relaxing into the meditative beat and releasing their judgments. More than 20 people fell asleep by the time the drumming was over, and the ones who were awake had no more questions. There was an unspoken unified resonance in the room and when the Sufi master struck the last beat, there was silence. Silence that no one wanted to break. It was so profound and nurturing. So everyone seeped in silence for another fifteen minutes or so. The master looked up and said: “Now we are all ready to start the lecture…”
What he did through the steady rhythmic beat of his drum, striking it evenly four and a half times per second, was that he evened out the frequency of everyone in the room and elicited the relaxation response, so the conversation could happen from a judgment-free place. He started by explaining that vibrations from rhythmic sounds have a profound effect on our brain activity. In shamanic traditions, drums have long been used to transport the shaman out of his or her body into other realms of reality through the use of constant rhythmic vibrations. It is no coincidence that 4.5 beats, or cycles per second corresponds to the trance-like state of theta brain wave activity – the activity of deep sleep. He also elaborated that similar effects were brought on by the constant and rhythmic drone of Tibetan Buddhist chants that transport the monks and even other listeners into realms of blissful meditation. And guess what, the same frequency pattern happens when you count sheep before going to bed. So grandma had a Sufi in her, I thought after the lecture. At the end everyone was content. We did get into the specifics of the Sufi orders, too, but all the information sunk directly into our hearts, unfiltered by the brain. Some people who attended contacted me after the workshop surprised that they were sleeping better.
If we were to apply the wisdom of Sufi and shamanic drumming to cure insomnia we would be encouraged to practice activities that recreate these gentle pulsating rhythms before curling in bed. Everyone has a very own signature brain wave activity, unique to you. It has a rhythm and pattern – and it incorporates Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta frequencies at varying levels over the course of a day as your brain modulates them to match your activities. Regular meditation amplifies a single frequency or a carefully balanced combination of frequencies that you can dial in throughout the day to achieve a specific purpose. What’s more, meditation sends signals to your sympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight” response telling it that it’s all right to relax and it increases the production of the hormone melatonin – the sleep inducing fairy. Luckily, the neurotransmitter, melatonin, is produced in the pineal gland from serotonin – our feel good chemical – which in turn is derived from tryptophan – an amino acid found in food.
The bottom line is we have to watch our diet, and adapt our lifestyle to reduce the effect of stress (including the anxiety about not being able to sleep), to avoid extreme temperature fluctuations, environmental noise, sleeping medications that disrupt the hormonal balance and ruin the regular sleep pattern. Lack of sleep increases the risk for high blood pressure, depression and weight gain, the latter as a result of adverse effects on hormones that regulate appetite. As it turns out, simple tweaks to our all-day routine can prep us for a much better night’s sleep. There is no real recipe what exactly to do from the second we wrestle ourselves from our warm bed in the morning to the moment we crawl back in after a long day. Besides eating healthily, giving up coffee and booze it is important to spend time outdoors and get enough exercise during the day. It is also helpful to try to go to bed at the same time every night, and get up at the same time each morning, although I must admit, I’ve never really succeeded in sticking to such a routine. Avoiding large meals at night, and limiting our exposure to electronic and electric devices by dimming the lighting at home feels so right. As we establish a consistent bed time routine that includes taking a hot bath, a natural oil rub, and a soothing yoga and meditation practice we can kiss our artificial sleep-inducers goodbye! And we are ready to count sheep, and beat the slumber drum…Da dum, da dum, da dum…
Yogea Insomnia Relieving Routine Slumber Drum
This slow-paced and easy-to-follow Yogea routine integrates gentle massage and tapping techniques into the asana and “mudra” practice to help you release all the tension of the day. It abounds with forward-bending and reclining poses to elicit the parasympathetic nervous system response. The choice of poses provides an even stretch through all the tendons, while relaxing the muscles and turning the mind off. Special “mudras” are incorporated into the forward bends to help turn the focus in. The transitioning between standing and sitting poses works seamlessly, as you follow the inherent logic of the body and submit to the flow. Gentle twists and backbends bring about a heartening and detoxifying effect, and accessible inversions flip you around to reverse your flow of gravity, and bathe the glands with Sleepy Time hormones. A reclining alternate nostril breathing modification technique calms you down and takes you into sweet slumber. This sequence is also ideal for releasing stress and anxiety.
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