Posted by Selini on March 18, 2009 at 07:53:52:In Reply to: how do you while away the hours? posted by F43 on March 15, 2009 at 13:31:32:
I can't seem to get myself to get out of bed when I am not sleeping - not unless my heart is starting to race and my adrenaline is going. In that case, I go to the couch and read.
Most nights I simply say "relax" as I breathe in, and count "one" as I breathe out. I do this until I get to "four", and then start all over again (this part requires that I pay enough attention to help stop my mind from going to more arousing thoughts). When I wander off, I just start all over again. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I try to be gentle in telling myself "no problem, I will just lie here and do this breathing and counting". Oh - and I do slow diaphragmatic breathing (tummy breathing).