How to Make Up for Lost Sleep — A Slower Kind of Life

This post is part of a series onEssential Skills for New Parents: How yoga practices can help you parent with peace and presence.

Sleep is a common concern for new parents. The baby may be up at all hours, or may sleep only in short cycles. There are so many new demands with parenting that you may be too worried or wound-up sleep well. Ironically when you are overtired, it is harder to settle down and sleep.

I HAVE A SECRET ANTIDOTE TO MAKE UP FOR LOST SLEEP!

Why isn’t this secret antidote pasted on every bulletin board in every maternity clinic in the world? Why isn’t it in every baby book?

I don’t know.

There is a very simple and easy yoga practice that can be used not only to release tension from the body and mind, but ALSO to make up for lost sleep.

What is this magic practice?

Guided Relaxation

Guided Relaxation involves taking your attention through your body in a specific sequence. As you focus your attention on your body, the thinking part of the brain quiets. In that state of quietness, in a true state of relaxation, the body can come into harmony.

Guided relaxation practice releases tension form the body and mind and can give you some of the same benefits as sleep. It can also help you wind down so that you fall asleep more easily and deeply.

Relaxation is not a luxury. The body and mind need to release tension so they can work optimally. Many of the activities that we choose to “relax” are actually not that relaxing. Scrolling, watching shows, video games, even reading can actually be stimulating to the mind adding tension rather than removing it.

Without stimulation, when the mind is left to its own wanderings, it may get into some unhelpful places- like worry, planning for the future or ruminating on the past. The mind actually needs a bit of a focus so that the body and mind release tension.

This is where the practice of guided relaxation comes in. It gives the mind enough of a focus that it doesn't get into trouble and lets it be quiet enough to allow the body and mind to release tension. This is true relaxation.

It a state of true relaxation, the body and mind can rest deeply. This deeps state of rest can have some of the same benefits of sleep in a much shorter time. The ability to relax the body and mind deeply can make up for lost sleep.

Several practices are beneficial for learning the skill of relaxation for the body and the mind.

They may include:

· Guided Relaxation

· Progressive Relaxation

· Yoga Nidra (including 31/61 points relaxation and 61 points of light)

· Yoga Sleep

· Savasana

· Body Scan

Choose one that you like and develop it as a skill. There are many great sources for recordings of these practices on YouTube and through Apple Music and other services. Find one whose voice, pace, and music that resonates with you. Or record one for yourself in your own voice.

Great times to use this practice are nap times, before sleep, in those wee hours of the morning before you want to get out of bed, and when you are lying with a child at bedtime.

Recommendations for Relaxation Resources

· Swami Sivanaanda Radha- Guided Relaxation (on Apple Music)

· Rolf Sovik- Yoga Relaxations. (on Audible)

· Swami Bharati- Yoga Nidra (on Youtube)

· Dr. Siddarth Ashvin Shah- Restorative Yoga Nidra Guided Relaxation ( on Spotify)

In the next post, I will share another great strategy for making up for lost sleep in early parenting. The yogic practice of energy management involves being aware of where your energy is going and plugging up leaks so you can do more with less.

This post is part of a series:

Essential Skills for New Parents: How yoga practices can help you parent with peace and presence.

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I am working on a book on the same topic to compile all the practices with further information and make it available as an easy reference for new and expecting parents. Please subscribe to my newsletter in the blue box below if you want to be sure to get the book.

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