its benefits and how to let go

What is meditation and guided meditation? Meditation is a relaxation technique that is very similar to what is called self-hypnosis. “It’s about managing all access to one’s states of consciousness. Mediation is a practice that allows access to states of spiritual research”defines the specialist Kévin Finel. “We can relate the mediation of self-hypnosis because at the base, meditation is done without a goal behind: we meditate to meditate. Here, we meditate for the purpose of well-being. We have made meditation in full consciousness a training for well-being, in short.”

As for guided mediation, as the name suggests, it is led by another person, a book or a YouTube video that takes you through the steps step by step. You have a guide with you, you are not alone: ​​this can reassure you, especially when you are just starting out. You can find this guide through an app, YouTube videos, book, or podcast. These are perfect for giving you advice to start your initiation.

Some people combine mediation and yoga. However, these are not the same techniques. However, both have roughly the same beneficial effects on your body and your mind, thanks in particular to breathing: they help you find a state of relaxation. Often, yoga sessions end with a guided meditation session which can be helpful in relaxing and clearing your head of thoughts. The teacher offers you to lie on your back, close your eyes and guides you with his voice in short and intense exercises. You need to pay special attention to your breathing. The rhythm of the latter can vary according to your emotions, your stress, your activities… It is so natural that you don’t even notice it anymore. However, in meditation, the goal is for you to become aware of your breath and use it to relax.

What are the benefits of meditation, in general but also to find sleep?

“Thanks to meditation or self-hypnosis, you can detach yourself emotionally from a situation. Because when we are not in a state of self-hypnosis or meditation, we are a little limited in our routines” : “It is difficult to act on our emotions. However, if you change this state of consciousness, you can use tools to access resources for change and improvement”recalls Kevin Finel. “Meditation and self-hypnosis, two relaxation methods, also make it possible to act on compulsions such as tobacco or addictive substances and to fight against stress.” Choosing mindful meditation to sleep means benefiting from these multiple health benefits. Meditating allows:

• An emotional relief : your emotions are appeased since you take the height in relation to them by putting all your attention on them. You let the thoughts pass but you manage to detach yourself from them.
• An emotional regulation : “you learn to regulate your emotions and take distance.” This is particularly possible thanks to the work on your breathing. Slow and deep breathing will slow down the rhythm of the body and thus that of your mind.
• To fight against insomnia : “you reduce the time you fall asleep and you improve the quality of your sleep”, ideal for a good night’s sleep! If you regulate your streams of thoughts before sleeping, you are more likely not to ruminate or dwell on moments or negative emotions or which stress you out: you will quickly fall into the arms of Morpheus because your mind will be lighter .

“Studies show that if 100 people witness a traumatic event, a percentage will develop post-traumatic stress. Interestingly, groups that practice mediation do better”says Kevin Finel. “Often sleep problems are emotional problems: I have trouble letting go, so I don’t fall asleep.” Indeed, sleep, and especially the period of falling asleep is a lapse of time where emotional problems emerge.

What is the meditation to do to sleep and let go?

Meditation exercises to let go and sleep can be done by anyone, in the evening, at bedtime. First, it is advisable to focus on letting go. In fact, if you can’t fall asleep easily, it’s because you’re thinking too much and something’s bothering you. Mediation can help you let go by detaching yourself from your emotions or situations that have caused you problems during the day. With it, you are relaxed: it helps to gain height, step back from one or more situations that have disturbed you.

Several short sessions can already have a very positive impact on you, especially if you suffer from insomnia. As Kévin Finel, hypnotherapist, explains, the practice of meditation for sleep can have three main goals:

• Stilling the flow of thoughts : before sleeping, we are in the dark and silence reigns. A silence that allows your thoughts to appear in massive flux that the noises and habits of the day allow to drive away.
• Reconnection to the body : the more we are in the physical, the less we are in the mental. Your mind is calmer. As we know, the link between body and mind is very important…
• Manage the overflow of emotions : meditation can help to manage fear, anxiety, stress… It allows you to put your mind at peace and in particular to make it easier to fall asleep.

Can you fall asleep in minutes with meditation? “It depends, because each person is different: some need a few minutes of meditation, others more time”, answers the specialist. We can even imagine that some people manage to do it in barely 30 seconds… “Doing a meditation session makes all the difference because in 5 minutesencourages the expert, we already manage to reach another level of consciousness if we are trained.” The duration of a meditation session can also depend on the degree of emotions to be appeased. “Meditation exercises can be done preventively a little bit every day. So when you need to channel yourself and take a step back: you can do it in no time.”

How to meditate well to sleep?

“We mistakenly think that to practice meditation, we need to be in a seated position, to be calm, to do it in the evening or to have music or soft melodies in our ears. , This is not the case”, explains the hypnotherapist. “At the beginning, you can indeed do your session in silence to help you. But afterwards, you have to know how to do it everywhere so that you can practice at any time if necessary. Meditation is all-terrain, you can even practice it while jogging. or when you do the dishes: these are times when you are available.” Meditation is therefore far from the static image that is often attributed to it.

“This received idea prevents some people from getting started: they think that meditation is a constraint and do not start because of that, whereas if you are used to it, you can do it everywhere without problem”, recalls specialist Kevin Finel. So, when you feel the need or the desire, take a few minutes to meditate. You can even do it while walking down the street. If you need a guide, open an app, play a video, or open your book, and go. It only takes a short time for you to succeed in taking a step back from your emotions. In summary, meditating is letting your flow of thoughts come and go without forcing yourself to do anything to avoid developing stress. Good letting go…

Thanks to Kevin Finel, practitioner and hypnotist, founder of ARCHE (main school of hypnosis in France and Europe) and co-founder of Psychonaut.

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