Ways to relax

Ending the day with a bit of gratitude and a few wishes for all of you…

Published June 19, 2013 | By Debra

As the day comes to an end, I just want to say a few things:

1. I am thankful for all that I have learned today.

2. I am thankful for the new people I met.

3. I am looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the evening with my husband (cooking and eating a healthy tofu stir-fry and putting on a Woody Allen movie).

I wish for all of you:

rest,

laughs,

a cozy place…

where you can sink in and enjoy the evening

and then sleep like a baby.

Goodnight!

Debra

Videos to help you relax and fall asleep: ASMR

Published June 12, 2013 | By Debra

A couple of days ago, we published a guest post by Amber Ferguson: In Less Than a Second, My Life Changed Forever…
I had never heard of ASMR before and a lot of our readers had questions about it as well after this post was published. I’ve asked Amber to give us a little more information about it, so here is her follow up post…

ASMR is an acronym for “Autonomous sensory meridian response,” which is a neologism only as recently as 2010; however, technical jargon aside, ASMR is really just soft sound I’ve found is capable of inducing relaxation and sleep in this old insomniac.

If you visit youtube and run a search for ASMR, you’ll get results ranging from soft music to the sounds of softly crumpled paper to people speaking with soft voices or in whispers. There’s a huge variety to choose from, and both men and women have uploaded them. Originally, I was skeptical of all the “role-play” videos, which make up a huge percentage, but they’re some of my favorite ones now.

For example, the first video that ever put me to sleep was titled “Relaxing Makeover *ASMR* *Soft Speaking and Whispering*.” In it, a young woman “welcomed” me to a hair salon and then went through the motions that a real beautician would while giving me a makeover, all the while speaking in a very soft voice or even whispering. This one is just shy of an hour long; to this day, I’ve never heard more than ¼ of it without falling asleep first (even when I’ve tried to stay awake!).

That said, my favorite videos are by another young woman who has her own youtube channel, which she calls “GentleWhispering,” and my favorite video of hers is one titled “Oh such a good 3D—sound ASMR video.” It’s just a little over 15 minutes long, yet I only once made it to the end before falling asleep. Her voice is so soft and soothing that I couldn’t leave it running in the background while I typed this post because it was putting me to sleep again (and please remember, I’ve had trouble with chronic, severe insomnia for almost 50 years).

Although I believe the ASMR videos work well for me because they’re probably hypnotic, actual “hypnotherapy” videos are also available. I won’t personally listen to one without hearing it to the end first (I don’t trust everyone, by any means), but I have listened to the end of one called “Hypnosis for Sleep with Chelsea – Relief Anxiety” that I know I can trust. It features yet another young woman speaking softly with a rhythmic melody playing in the background. Although she doesn’t whisper like the others do, I think her voice, combined with the music, probably is truly hypnotic. Reason being: it works best for me if I listen to it when I want to nap, rather than sleep through the night, because at the end of the video I usually wake up to her saying, “ … seven … eight … nine … ten … welcome back.” In other words, she apparently does hypnotize me, and has to wake me up at the end (just like I’ve seen people do on TV shows!)

My main suggestion is that you find a video that sounds pleasant and then experiment with its sound. Most are too loud for me at first. I turn the sound down on my favorite (“the oh such a good 3D” video) to about a third of its full volume. Another tip: I downloaded an app called RelaxTube for my iPhone, and I put my phone near me under the covers and fall asleep that way, but my son likes to listen to the videos play on his computer across his bedroom. He has completely different favorites, by the way.

The ASMR industry is brand new and just now starting to catch the notice of mainstream America. Please try it yourself, and keep looking until you find one that soothes you. I thank God for ASMR! I learned about it only after praying for help, and I consider it a miraculous answer to those prayers.

I wish for you the peace I finally, finally have at night after all these years. I truly, truly do!

Amber has been writing for more than 25 years. She’s won more than ten competitions, and has been selected by her peers as a judge for several others. She’s been published in numerous publications both online and in print; samples of her work are available at http://www.amber-kay.com and http://www.professional-freelance-writer.com

How Meditation Can Help You to Reboot Your Body and Sleep Well. A guest post by Claudine Riddles

Published June 3, 2013 | By Debra

“Sleep is the best meditation”

is a famous quote from Dalai Lama.

I certainly agree with the quote as sleep is the healing process of our body. Without proper sleep, you may not feel that much energized and will lack interest in doing work. So, why not to follow a proper discipline of sleep in life? Most often we neglect our sleep and put our work in priority or in youngsters; the party plans and studies becomes important especially at night time. I would comment here that depriving your sleep, will take away the work and parties in a longer run as it will hamper your health. So why not to live life fully as well as enjoy it? I had similar habits, but I recognize its ill effects very soon and there after followed a discipline of good sleep habits and enjoys a better life. How did I achieve this? Well through most basic natural techniques such as meditation and yoga.
I have been given this opportunity to share my ideas and knowledge by Debra. She is quite an inspiration to me and she puts in a lot of hard work working on her website thewarmmilkjournal.com.

I was too tired looking for details on how can I overcome the stress issues that I have developed following an undisciplined life, and then one morning I saw my friend doing funny looking exercises. I was surprised to see such exercises but I kept quiet as it may create a sense of disrespect. Then I just went to her and ask what was she doing? She told me these are yoga exercises and meditation techniques that helps her to reboot the mind and help her to remain active all day. I was quite fascinated by the term she used “reboot the mind” and I started learning about it and slowly & steadily became quite addicted to it. May be I never gave up and kept on pushing myself to perform them.
Here, I will discuss the importance of meditation and its impact on snoring as well as sleep. I will try to bring out some important points as how easy it’s to meditate and perform breathing exercises to help you overcome snoring and sleep disorders as well as get a good sleep.

Photo credit: sharetwenty.com

How To Meditate?

Meditation is the posture where you sit silently and concentrate on your breath.

Sit quietly and concentrate on the way you inhale or exhale. By focusing on your breath inhale and exhale, you can:

1. Relax your body,
2. Reduce stress and other tensions
3. Increase self-confidence and awareness
4. Slow down your metabolism
5. Breathe spontaneously

I am not asking you to do it for hour and hours, just set aside 15 – 20 minutes daily for meditation and you will see the change gradually and will become addicted to it.

Something For People Who Snore Or Are Looking For Snoring Solutions For Their Partner

Chanting Or Reciting

Photo credit: MattsMusiclessons.com

Studies have proved that singing helps to reduce snoring as it controls the muscle of upper throat and soft palate. As per the meditation techniques, chanting “Aum” popularly known as “OM” helps to open the nasal blocked passage which helps to move the air freely and comfortably. Chanting OM not only helps to overcome snoring but also relaxes the body and increase positive energies in the body. For better results, chant OM daily in the early morning for 5 – 10 minutes and notice the changes.

Breathing Exercises

Another phrase of meditation and yoga is popularly known as Pranayama in Sanskrit language. This technique offers various breathing exercise to increase the life strengthening powers in the body. To get better sleep and also to stop snoring a person should try humming breathe that is also called brahmari (Sanskrit word), to clean the nasal passageways.
Steps to perform humming breath:
• Take a comfortable sitting position and inhale properly in a normal way.
• While exhaling, make a humming sound from your nose just like a bee.
• Tolerate the exhale as long as you are comfortable with.
• Repeat the process for few minutes.

Such exercise is a sure way to heal your body against many types of diseases. Especially, I have seen many great improvements in my body itself. My circadian rhythm clock, keeps in tune and I do not suffer any kind of sleep disorders. Especially, I find it very useful in overcoming jet-lag, a type of sleep disorder when you travel to different time zones.

I hope you find this article a worth reading and hope you start practicing such exercises and overcome your sleep related issues.

Bio

Claudine Riddles

My website mysnoringsolutions.info has been setup to give a very clear and easy to understand explanation on sleep disorders and snoring solutions. It includes longer articles or reviews with full explanations as well as short, Q&A type, fun and simple answers to the many questions people may have.
No technical knowledge or medical background is required in order to understand the articles. That is the strength of mysnoringsolutions.info – giving all the information to the people on complicated topics, but in very easy English so that everyone can understand.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/claudineridweb

How to Release Anxiety and Stress throughout the Day to Get a Good Night’s Sleep. A guest blog post by The English Sisters

Published June 2, 2013 | By Debra

Continue reading →

Meditative Journaling For Greater Peace: a guest post by Jack Ori

Published May 27, 2013 | By Debra

I used to be afraid of my negative emotions, especially my anger. I didn’t want to feel them, because anger and pain were uncomfortable and their presence made me feel out of control. Trying to hide them from myself didn’t work, though–it just led to me feeling restless, depressed or anxious and stopped me from feeling much of anything at all.

As part of my journey towards wholeness, I’ve learned how to deal with these emotions better. I’ve shifted my perspective on feelings. Now I see them as important sources of information about my life. For example, my anger may be telling me that someone is violating my boundaries or making me uncomfortable; without knowing that, I can’t possibly decide what to do about it.

I like to use a process I call “meditative journaling” to help me understand what my emotions are trying to tell me. Try it out next time you’re battling an emotion you wish you didn’t feel!

Steps to Meditative Journaling:
1. Lie down and close your eyes. Take several deep, slow breaths. As you breathe in, say to yourself, “Welcome anger.” (or whatever emotion you are fighting). As you breathe out say to yourself, “I accept you.”
2. Focus on how your body feels as you continue to breathe. Look for the space in your body where your negative emotion is living.
3. Breathe into the emotion once you find it. Continue to welcome it as you breathe.
4.Ask the emotion what message it has for you. Breathe and listen. Do not try to consciously think of a message; let it come to you.
5. Once you receive the message, thank the emotion and breathe slowly in and out as you bid it farewell.
6. When you are ready, open your eyes. Write in your journal about your experience. Free associate; don’t stop to think or go back to edit. Write for at least 20 minutes.
7. Put your journal aside for a few hours, then reread what you wrote and see what additional insights you received.

This process allows you to honor your emotions without immediately acting on them. It puts you in a more peaceful frame of mind so that you can decide what to do. Get in the habit of meditative journaling regularly. Check out my new coaching program, Rewrite Your Life Script, for other ways you can embrace your emotions and learn from them. You may also want to explore art or music as ways of honoring, expressing and releasing emotion.

Jack Ori has overcome depression, anxiety and feelings of invisibility to create a love-filled life for himself. He now helps others overcome self-sabotage and feelings of powerlessness through writing, meditation and other coaching tools. He is the creator of the Rewrite Your Life Script program (http://rewriteyourlifescript.blogspot.com), which includes a radio series and blog in addition to coaching opportunities. Coach Jack has appeared numerous times on empowering radio shows, most notably Autism Empowerment and Abundance U R It.

Website: http://www.ftmcoachjack.com/

Follow Coach Jack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FTMCoachJack

Like Coach Jack on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FTMCoachJack

Charmed by Summer Journaling: a guest post by Mari L. McCarthy

Published May 25, 2013 | By Debra

Are you interested in making some good, healthy choices for your life but feel stuck in a rut? Often it’s so hard just to start, to take those first steps. We have enough on our minds as adults in the real world; who wants to add more ‘stress’?

Even though committing to healthy choices is something you know will reduce stress, the idea of taking on a new practice can be scarier than anything else.

I suggest using the special magic of summer to overcome such hesitations. You might finally dive headfirst into the wonders of keeping a journal, for instance, even though that New Year’s resolution never amounted to anything so far.

Summer’s somehow easier, happier, calmer than other times of the year. The warmth helps, of course, and the general atmosphere of holidays. Nature bears copious fruit in this season, and so can we.

Here are a few suggestions for starting up a healing journaling practice as summer settles in.

1. During the hottest part of the day, find a cool place where you can sit to write. Spend a few minutes experiencing the relief of the coolness. Thinking about the contrast between where you are and how it feels outside in the heat, begin writing. Write from the free flowing stream of your thoughts for at least five minutes. If your pen pauses, return to the image of cool contrasted with heat and continue.

A vitally important but hard-to-grasp understanding in early journaling is that what you write is infinitely less important than keeping the pen moving. Your challenge is to go beyond thought, so you don’t want to remain slave to your brain. Your writing may become messy and nonsensical. This is perfectly fine.

2. Experiment with writing at different times of the day until you find one that particularly resonates. Do you most readily reach for your journal first thing in the morning, or after the kids have gone off to camp, or during the drowsy siesta hour, or maybe as the night wears on?

Regular journaling creates a new bond between you and your inner self. It becomes the time when you face your own truth most honestly and clearly. Consider the journaling time of day that feels best to you. What is your relationship to that hour and what makes it especially right for your journal writing?

3. Use journaling prompts to keep your writing momentum going, or tap into my 27 Days method of self-discovery journaling. Take liberal advantage of summer’s muses. Vacation travels, nature’s abundance, beach or camping or picnic fun, warmth vs. heat, and dreaming about a life of unbroken leisure are all rich sources and worthy topics.

Remember that your journaling for self-discovery is really not about the content you come up with on the page: it’s about increasing inner wealth and peace. Indulge yourself in all summer’s charms without limit: you’ll find they have much to reveal about You!

Mari L. McCarthy is The Journaling Therapy Specialist, founder of Create Write Now, the Personal Growth Journaling Place. Mari offers counseling and encouragement to journal writers through her many online journaling resources, as well as private consultations. Mari’s teachings and workbooks center around journaling for self-discovery, self-growth, and self-healing. Her most recent publication is Perfect Health: 7 Days Journaling Heal Your Body Challenge. A free chapter is available for download.

When life seems crazy all around you…

Published May 22, 2013 | By Debra

Let’s face it, there are just times in our life when it gets and feels all crazy… deadlines at work, children acting up, scary storms knocking out towns (God bless you folks in Moore, Oklahoma)…

When the world is acting like it’s a full moon (whether it is or not), we have to develop certain sanity preserving skills such as:

1. The ability to distance ourselves from unhealthy situations and people.

2. not take anything personal.

3. to be able to just shrug, breathe, and say “f–k it”!

4. Remember

this too shall pass…

5. pray

6. Write

7. Take walks, go to yoga class, hop on your bike…

8. Connect with friends on Facebook

9. Have your sweetie hold you tight and cry if you need to…

10. Listen to Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World

or John Lennon’s Imagine or Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli – Time to Say Goodbye

And when all else fails and you just need to smile and laugh, watch The Baby Bachelor.

In peace,

Debra

Ten things to keep in mind to keep a peaceful state of mind.

Published May 16, 2013 | By Debra

The prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

A peaceful state of mind will lead to less anxiety and restful sleep most nights.

How do we on a consistent basis be in that peaceful state of mind?

I suggest we keep the following in mind:

1. The past is the past. It does not have any power over us unless we allow it to.

2. The future is not yet here. Why sacrifice today by fretting about something that may or (more than likely) may not happen?

3. Find your allies! Surround yourself with positive, supportive people who love and care about you.

4. Have faith in yourself,

5. Have faith in others,

6. Have faith in life,

7. have faith in God.

8. Circumstances and other people can not hurt you if you don’t let them.

9. At the end of the day, say, “I did my best”. Breathe. It is done.

10. In the end, what is truly important? So much of what we permit worry us or upset us if just fluff. Let it go!

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith. ~ Author Unknown

In peace,

Debra

Montreat, North Carolina August 2012

For a treat, listen to
Time To Say Goodbye Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.flv

Sleep Yoga (a.k.a. Yoga Nidra) A guest post by Aryn Youngless

Published May 6, 2013 | By Debra

Photo credit: studioserenity.com

I used to teach these two lovely ladies once a week at 6:30 in the morning. Every week, they would show up like clockwork, them and them alone. My morning class went from that of a general open level setting, to a very friendly, and personal semi-private – to the point we carried our friendship off the mat, and out into the world. Every now and then, when the weather was terrible, or someone had worked too late the night before, I would receive a text that said, “Sorry, Aryn. Today we’ll be practicing sleep yoga.”

photo credit:thewell.spafinder.com

Now, they were just letting me know they were going to sleep an extra hour, and they would see me at my next class, but in the realm of yoga – sleep yoga does actually exist. Yoga Nidra is a style of yoga that helps you glide into a sleep like state, by means of guided meditation. By concentrating on our breath, and following the instruction of a Yoga Nidra teacher, Sleep Yoga can helps us, simply, let go of the stress and tensions of every day life.

Benefits of Yoga Nidra include: Improved concentration and focus, a clear mind, and improved performance at work and in other areas of life. According to The National Sleep Foundation it also helps improve menstrual problems, and even helps relieve post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD).

Personally, I love yoga nidra. It is something I do at least once a week to help ensure I am getting the amount of sleep that I need. As the Dalai Lama said, “Sleep is the best meditation.” But remember, sometimes meditation is the best way to get a full nights sleep.

~Namaste
Aryn

Bio:

Aryn Youngless:

I’m Aryn, a mother of one born in Ohio, living in California. I love ice cream, but I don’t eat it and couldn’t even if I wanted to, and I hate popcorn. I love carnivals and summer, the beach and ocean, I love yoga and to live every moment the best that I can with my family, and I really, really love to write.

You can find Aryn at her wonderful blog Weekly Adventures. Ordinary Girl.

or she is quite active on Twitter at @ArynYoungless

A special note from me to to Aryn:

Aryn,

From the very beginning of my blogging journey (about three years ago now) you have been there. You are someone I can always share things with about my writing, my yoga practice, and life. Thank you for being a guest blogger here at The Warm Milk Journal and
most of all,

thank you for being my friend.

Debra

A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world. ~ Leo Buscaglia

A list of all-time relaxing things

Published April 26, 2013 | By Debra

photo credit: Dreamstime

Here is this night’s list of all time relaxing activities:

1. Savoring a glass of wine in the early evening

2. Listening to jazz on Pandora while enjoying glass of wine (see above)

3. Reading beautiful poetry and spiritually inspirational books (Rumi, Marianne Williamson come to mind).

4. A hot lavender bath

5. Playing Yahtzee or Scrabble with my husband or daughter

6. Cooking (while drinking wine and listening to Jazz on Pandora).

7. Walks on the beach

8. Spending time in nature

9. Afternoon bike rides

10. Morning cup of coffee and writing in my journal

11. Blogging in the early evening.

12. That afternoon cup of tea and watching the wildlife in my back patio.

13. Cuddling with the most special person in the world…

In Peace,

Debra

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Ending the day with a bit of gratitude and a few wishes for all of you…

Related Posts:

Videos to help you relax and fall asleep: ASMR

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How Meditation Can Help You to Reboot Your Body and Sleep Well. A guest post by Claudine Riddles

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How to Release Anxiety and Stress throughout the Day to Get a Good Night’s Sleep. A guest blog post by The English Sisters

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Meditative Journaling For Greater Peace: a guest post by Jack Ori

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Charmed by Summer Journaling: a guest post by Mari L. McCarthy

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When life seems crazy all around you…

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Ten things to keep in mind to keep a peaceful state of mind.

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Sleep Yoga (a.k.a. Yoga Nidra) A guest post by Aryn Youngless

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