How to Fall Asleep

Artwork by Home Base community member Candace Coakley

Hi, It’s Jeff.

This is a column called “Hey Jeff”, where I share a meditation in response to someone’s unique situation or curiosity.

Many many people tell me they struggle to fall asleep … lying in bed, eyes wide, thoughts churning with the day’s concerns. Then come the concerns about not falling asleep, followed by concerns about what needs to get done the next day, followed by concerns about the state of the world, followed by concerns about planet-pummeling asteroids (it happened to the dinos!), and so on through an ever-propagating wave of mental freak-out.

How do we work with this?

Different strategies work for different folks, from writing down to-do lists to progressive muscle relaxation to high dose herbal tranquilizers. Plus all the usual sleep hygiene tips.

The problem of course with trying to fall asleep is that the harder you try, the further away sleep gets. My trick for this is to divide and conquer – to first address the body, by pretending to already be asleep. And then to address the mind, by sending it on a trippy associative journey of surrender and melty-melty drooly goodness, to use a venerable category of meditation much esteemed by ancient yogis.

Today’s practice is for those hard-to-sleep moments. It can also work as part of a restorative midday snooze.

Warning: do not listen while operating heavy machinery! Find a quiet, relaxed spot, and let the river carry you.

Melty melty love love,

Jeff