When I was little and couldn’t sleep, my dad always told me to close my eyes and count sheep jumping over a fence – it never worked for me .. nothing more stressful than controlling a herd of wild sheep! In our days, we don’t have to resort to imaginary livestock farming anymore 😊. There are many, many lovely and amazing videos available online (face to face is unfortunately not really an option at the moment) that can help you to switch off for a moment and ‘restart ‘ your body before your mind runs hot.
Here is just a small mediation exercise, something that usually works for me, maybe you will like it.
Close your eyes and imagine a flower bud of your choice. It doesn’t matter how it looks like, but once you have decided on a colour and a shape, stick to that design. Now slowly visualize the opening of the first petal, similar to those beautiful nature documentaries, where a whole growth cycle of a plant is condensed into 5 minutes. Then, the second petal opens. Don’t allow your mind to speed up or change the colour or shape of the flower! This is your mind trying to avoid having to focus and letting go of all the other thoughts that are consuming your brain.
Slowly continue until the flower is in full bloom. Then close one petal after the other, until you end up with a closed flower bud again. If you get stuck, just keep breathing slowly until your mind regains focus. Don't allow other thoughts to invade!
The beauty of this exercise is that once you have done it a few times, your brain will associate the mental image with relaxation and your will reach this state of mindful peace much more easily.
