How many of you find that one day morning when you get up, without any reason you are just feeling ugly, for no reason. If it is happening even, at least two-three times a year – if it is, then you must do certain things before you go to bed. It’s very very important. Because, unconsciously – you need to understand this – you can incubate a lot of either negative things, or positive things, in sleep. Either pleasantness, or unpleasantness – you can incubate very effectively, uninterrupted, in sleep. You can also incubate it in the day. But, there is so many interruptions. It doesn’t happen very efficiently.
But, if you have a tendency to go to bed in a certain way, and you wake up in the morning, really nasty – for simply no reason. That means, you are incubating things in the night very efficiently – bad eggs. This is not just about psychological disturbances. It can cause major physiological problems over a period of time. It’s important that you eliminate these things from your life.
So, before you go to bed in the night, there are certain things that you need to take care of.
Eat 3-4 hours before going to bed
It’s best of you are eating meat, and other kinds of meals, you eat at least 3-4 hours before you go to bed. The digestion is over before going to bed. Drink a certain amount of water, and go to bed. You will see, it gets taken care of just like this.
Take a shower
One simple thing can be, just a shower. Always to shower before go to bed. It will make a lot of difference. In this weather, maybe cold showers are difficult. So you go for lukewarm showers. Don’t go for hot showers in the night. Go for lukewarm showers. It makes you alert. So, you will think – oh, I can not sleep. It doesn’t matter. You will sleep 15-20 minutes, or half an hour later. But you will sleep better, because it will take away certain things.
When you shower, it is not just the dirt on the skin that you are taking away. Have you noticed – if you are very tense and anxious, whatever. Just a shower – you came out, it feels like almost the burden has been taken away from you. Have you not noticed this? So, it’s not just about washing the skin. A whole lot of things happen, when water flows over your body. This shower is a very rudimentary Bhuta Shudhi. Because over 70% of your body is actually water, if you run water over it, a certain purification happens – which is beyond cleaning the skin.
Light an organic oil lamp
One more thing if you want to do, you just light an organic oil lamp. A cotton wick, some oil – anything. What do you use here? Normal cooking oil. Linseed oil, rice brawn oil, or sesame oil – what do you have? Olive oil, fine. Any organic oil, with a cotton wick – just burn a little lamp, somewhere in the room, where you sleep. You will see these things will completely disappear. If you can bring in a chant, or there are nightly practices, yogic practices – before you go to bed, sit on your bed, and do this practice.
Remind yourself – “I am not this body, I am not this mind”
Do you know? In about, if you live for about 60 years, you’re, on an average most human beings are eating anywhere between 1,100 to 1,400 tons of food. So that means, even what you think is my body, is not this. It’s changing every day. New input is happening and old things are going away. So 1,400 tons! You don’t have to carry that much of weight right now. So obviously, what you have as a body right now is just a transient amount of food and soil, isn’t it? Hello? So what you think is mine also is not it. It is just all the time changing.
Tonight, before you go to bed, spend at least 12-15 minutes reminding yourself you’re neither this body, nor this mind. Just lie down, and just remind yourself. This body is not really you. It is mine right now for use, but it’s not really me. Just – if you’re not able to do it – just link it to your breath. Inhalation, I’m not the body. Exhalation, I’m not even the mind. Just lie down for 12 minutes, and do it till the last moment, till you fall asleep. There’s something you must notice.
