“Beditation” – Good Idea or Not?

I spend a lot of time teaching people not only have meditate but how to make meditation. And what are the questions it always comes is whether not meditating in bed or “beditation” is a good idea or not. Because of meditating in your bed helps and we should all be doing it right? Today we will examine this together and figure out how to make meditation something you do every single day without stress, procrastination, or excuses!
In this episode we will: ~Learn what “beditation” is and if it helps or hiders our meditation practice and keeping it habitual.~Do a visualization meditation and sushumna meditation together
Meditation Music by Sonic Yogi
Deep Sleep With Singing Bowls
Pythagorean Dream
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[00:00] Hey, beautiful people. What’s up? People ask me all the time what I think about meditation. Meditating in bed before bed as you fall asleep, when you wake up, meditating in bed. Just anytime. Anyway, we’re going to totally talk about all of that today, and I think I’m going to surprise you with my answer. So relax and settle in and listen up because your stress therapy session is about to begin right now.

[00:26] Now.

[00:41] Hey, beautiful people.

[00:42] It’s time for some stress therapy. A podcast about how to meditate and get better at stress for people living.

[00:48] In the real world.

[00:49] Finally, a place to park my 25 plus years of experience of working as a psychotherapist in the mental health field. And now, your host, me, the stress therapist, sherry flake.

[01:15] Hey, beautiful people. How’s your beautiful self? It’s good to be with you today. Okay, so I thought maybe over the next couple of weeks, we could answer some of the questions that I get all the time. And one of them that I get all the time is about meditating in bed. Okay? So there’s a lot of ways to think about this. Meditating in bed as soon as you wake up. Meditating in bed when you go to sleep, laying down to meditate in your bed, falling asleep to a guided meditation. All of that. All of that. Okay, so I do have an opinion on this. I’m sure. I’m sure that shocks you. Now, first, I need to say, okay, I am down with David G. Okay? I love David G. He’s wonderful. Okay, so David G. Always says, comfort is queen. And he has an excellent point. If you are uncomfortable during meditation, you.

[02:10] Are not going to sit there.

[02:11] You will not. And so I totally get where he’s coming from. And he wants you to sit up. He wants you to find the right cushions or blankets or whatever it is that makes yourself comfortable. And he even says to lie down. And here’s where him and I differ just a little bit. So I think, yes, you can lie down and do a guided meditation. You can lie down in bed before bed and listen to a guided meditation. Falling asleep. You can listen to guided meditations anywhere, anytime, wherever you’re comfortable. Certainly lying down on your side, whatever’s happening.

[02:45] However.

[02:47] However, I think that that’s extra meditation. Okay? So you definitely already need, or need to be working towards a sitting, a formal sit, a formal sitting meditation where you are not leaning back on something. Like on my retreats, I always bring back jacks because I think they’re really comfortable for when you are listening to a lesson or having a dharma talk or whatever. And it’s important to be able to be comfortable sitting on the floor, sitting in a chair. I don’t care. But sitting up in a formal sit is where your meditation practice needs to be in order to have all of those juicy benefits. I think if you are meditating and I’m making quote marks before you go to bed, before you go to bed, you are often falling asleep during that guided meditation, and that’s great. And that is going to bring you some calm and some peace and some wonderful benefits. However, if you want those juicy long term meditation benefits, you need to, a, have a meditation practice that’s on your own. That’s why I always guide you in and leave you alone for a few minutes so you can do it on your own and then guide you out. And b, you need to be sitting up to allow your spine its most beautiful expression of alertness, of allowing that Kundalini that’s down, down, down, down in our first chakra way at the bottom of your spine and sacrum, awakening that Kundalini, that prana, that power, that energy all the way up your spine. And in order to move towards that, which I think I can do a couple of podcasts about awakening that snake like Kundalini feature in your body and at least working towards that or on that, you can’t do that if you’re laying down. You can’t do that if you’re listening to someone else talk to you. And so I want you to think of guided meditation or laying down to meditate or any of that. You know, just a different kind of meditation. Have that be your second meditation of the day. So what does that mean? That means that you have to already have a first meditation of the day going right in order for that to be your second one. Okay. And really meditating twice a day is absolutely lovely and wonderful, and it’s going to be amazing for you. And that’s why that second one can kind of be a free for all. My second one tends to be with my kids. It tends to be when I am going to bed. It is often near or around my bed. Sometimes it just kind of depends. It’s sort of a free for all. But I have that solid habit of meditation in the morning, moving away from my bed. Okay. Because when you are in bed, your mind is going to associate your bed with sleep and sex, hopefully. Okay. Sleeping and sex. Okay. Those are the things that you want to associate your bed with. So I don’t suggest watching tv in bed. Keep even reading to a minimum the goal in general is to always have your brain associate your bed with sleep, because then you’re going to be a better sleeper. What happens when you meditate? If you’re having some success with calming down and changing your brain waves, if you tend to move into a low beta state or an alpha state, like we talked about before with your brainwaves, your brain is going to automatically think, oh, I know this. I do this every night when I go to sleep. And you’re likely to fall asleep and not meditate. Meditate is very focused concentration. That is where we start in creating this habit. Meditation starts with a laser focus on one thing, okay? And so sometimes when someone’s talking to us and guiding us through it, it does help us. It’s kind of like, I always use this as an example, but it’s kind of like going to Colorado and having someone, you know, help you get suited up, take you to the top of the mountain, show you how to use the lift, go down the mountain with you, show you what might come up, what you can do, different methods, different skills, and then. And then eventually you’re going to want to go down the mountain by yourself. And I. I mean, now I can enjoy a guided meditation, but when I didn’t have that solid first one, I would find it quite distracting to have somebody talk to me while I’m trying to concentrate. I hope that makes sense because I really want to drive home that meditation is not a terrible idea. Guided meditation is not a terrible idea. Those things are wonderful. But really try to focus first on having that solid habitual rpm that David G. Talks about so brilliantly. Rise, p meditate. Make sure that is on the agenda first and foremost. And anything else is flowers and bonuses and extra cash and prizes. Does that make sense? I hope so. Okay, let’s take a quick break and then we’ll come back and we’ll meditate. Okay, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. I published this episode and I got a couple questies about meditation. And you know what? These people are right, right. I’ve said things before about meditation that I didn’t mention here, and I absolutely, I hate to shoot on myself, but I definitely should mention them here. One of them is, you know, if you want to meditate in bed, that’s great. However, okay. However, it’s going to be difficult if you’re a beginner. That’s really what I’m trying to message here. If you are not a seasoned meditator, you are going to fall asleep, have thoughts about sleep, you know, think about curling up in your bed. I remember when I first tried to do it, I was. I would just have fantasies the whole time, just sitting there about curling up and going back to sleep. And I’m a pretty energizing, happy awake person. So it doesn’t matter who you are, it just happens that way because that’s what your brain associates your bed with, sleeping, okay? So when you try to move into different brain waves, what you want to be able to do is move into low beta or alpha or hopefully one day theta and you can stay awake. That’s the money shot, okay? That’s the deal, okay? That’s what you want. You want to be able to sit there and move into different states of consciousness without falling asleep. And we are not good at that as regular humans. We have not been brought up like that here in the west, okay? That’s just not a part of our upbringing. And so as soon as we move into a different brain state, into those, you know, different brain waves, we fall asleep. Right. And so unless you are in Sherry Flake graduate school, it’s going to be tough for you to stay awake in those in a meditation, okay? And so just move off your bed. That’s all I’m saying. Just move off of your bed. And if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you have limited mobility and being in bed is where you are right now, then definitely, absolutely every single day, meditate in bed, do what you have to do, see what you can do in order to trick your brain into thinking you’re not in bed, right? Like maybe changing the way that you’re sitting or sitting up, change the arrangement of your pillows, change the bedding, you know, do whatever you can to convince your brain that you are not in bed, that this is awake time, okay? Because even if you have limited mobility or you’re bedridden or you’re in pain in some way, your brain still knows when it’s daytime, right? And so you want to be able to send that message without having it be through your eyeballs, right? Brightness and things like that, because that’s going to keep you from meditating, right? If you want to keep your eyes open, that’s something like forest bathing or, you know, having a drishti, you can definitely do that. But again, that’s sort of an advanced move, right? So absolutely, meditation is good. It’s great. It works. It’s very difficult for beginners. Okay, so that’s my message there. I just wanted to quickly come in, make a little update to this podcast because I love you so much. Okay, so now we’re going to take a break and come back and meditate together. Muah.

[11:26] Take a moment to find a very comfortable sitting position on a chair on a floor. Wherever your limbs may lie, make sure that they’re very, very comfortable. Comfort is queen with your chin level to the ground and as if there is a string attached to the top of your head and a balloon holding it up. Not leaning back, not leaning forward. Allow your spine to have its beautiful.

[12:02] Natural curve.

[12:07] And with your belly just the littlest bit tipped forward so your sacrum is facing your cushion or chair and do whatever you need to with your legs, with your feet and take the time to find this comfortable space. Allow the palms of your hands.

[12:32] To.

[12:33] Be near your knees or thighs facing up or down. And in this space, do a body scan and make sure there’s no part of you that’s suffering already or that needs micro adjusting. And now just begin to notice your breath. Perhaps bring your attention to your heart center, watching your breath pass through come and go. Breath comes and goes.

[13:34] And on your.

[13:35] Next in breath, I want you to imagine that this breath starts at your sacrum, at your I first chakra, all the way down at the base of your spine and breathing in a long breath up, in and up your spine as if you are sipping through a straw. In and up, middle back, upper back, through, all the way to the top of your medulla, the back of your skull and shooting through your beautiful brain and resting on your third eye between your eyebrows. And then down and out, breathing out the same route twin your eyebrows to your medulla, all the way down your neck, upper back, middle back, lower back and sacrum. In and up, out and down.

[14:44] In.

[14:44] And up, out and down, following your spine as you breathe. This is Sushumna. Breath in and up, out and down. Follow this beautiful breath up and down your spine. I’ll leave you to it for a few moments and I’ll be back to guide you out.

[16:59] Sadeena. Sadeena. Sadeena. Sadeena.

[21:37] Allow the visual picture of your beautiful spine to fall away from your awareness and before jumping up and moving on to the next thing, just allow your breath to be whatever it is.

[22:01] And.

[22:02] Allow your awareness to fall upon it wherever you want. Perhaps by your nose, your heart center, your belly as breath comes and goes. And after your next exhale, take a long, slow, deep breath in your nose. Let it all go out of your mouth. And again a long, slow, deep breath, cleansing breath in your nose. Let it all go out and your mouth, one last awakening, beautiful breath in your nose, letting it all go out of your mouth. And when you’re ready, you can open your beautiful eyes. Okay, so I hope that meditation was.

[23:20] Lovely for you, that you were able to really, really focus on just that one thing, that breath moving up and down your beautiful spine, because you’re sitting up alert and sending a message to your brain that even if you change brain waves, that your body is awake and that you stay awake during those altered states to get the beautiful benefits of meditation. Okay, until next time, have a lovely, lovely day. Oh, and if you have a question for me, go ahead and send it to me on Instagram. You can find me hestress therapist on Twitter. It’s stresstherapy. You can just send me an email. Sherry. C h e r. I ate a the stresstherapist.com. i can’t wait. I’ll answer your question on the show. So until next time, have a lovely, lovely day.

[24:19] How y’all feeling after that stress therapy session? Good. Awesome. Check out the show notes to connect with me, the stress therapist on social media, hestress therapist on Instagram, and stresstherapy on Twitter. You can always go to ilovetherapy.com to find out about meditation and yoga retreats and other offerings that I have there. If you live in Georgia and you’re ready to be one of my clients, go to my website to find out how you can sign up for a free face to face consultation with me. At the very least, jump on my mailer so you don’t stress or miss one thing. Until next time, have a lovely, lovely day.