Night-time Rituals For The Highly Sensitive Insomniac

Insomniacs have heard all the suggestions before:

• Turn off the TV and get off laptops and mobile devices 2-3 hours before bedtime so your body’s melatonin is not suppressed by the blue light they give off
• Don’t eat a heavy meal right before bedtime
• Don’t eat any sugar before bedtime
• Stop caffeine intake by 7pm
• Try a magnesium supplement that’s at least 300mg to help calm you
• Dab lavender essential oil on your pillow
• Avoid arguments and stimulating conversation before bedtime
• Try sleeping meditations

These techniques do work for some people.

But, what happens when you are a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) who’s too pumped with (other peoples’) energy before bedtime, and/or overthinks the events of the next day?

You either: stare at your ceiling forever for the umpteenth time, stay in bed and pretend your insomnia is not happening, finally finish reading War & Peace or some other epic book, or get your fix on by getting back on the computer and answering emails and surfing your Facebook newsfeed.

That’s because as an HSP, your energy is still plugged into the day, and you haven’t unplugged yourself, or detached your energy from, those you’d interacted with earlier!

Is the remedy as simple as clearing your personal energy? Some of it can be.

However, not only do you need to clear your personal energy, but you have to unload what attachments you have around those energies – what feelings are you holding? HSP’s sometimes don’t even realize that they’re holding onto feelings that don’t belong to them.

If they’re vexing you, it’s time to exorcize them!

Before you get cracking on unvexing yourself, know this first:

As a Highly Sensitive Person, it is your responsibility to be familiar with your own energy. (click to tweet)

Because once you are, you can easily scan yourself and identify if the feelings that are bugging you even belong to you. Or not.

You see, ever since I was young, I have always loved a good mystery. When all those “Forensic Files” shows came on TV, for a long minute, that became my downtime. Slightly sad, but true.

I love finding out why we do what we do, and what influences us to behave how we do. Getting to the root and genesis of where things began. That’s part of the reason I almost went into forensic psychology. But, that’s now a lifetime ago.

These days, I help people solve their own mysteries – of their Heart, Spirit, Soul, and Body.

And, when it comes to the mystery of why all your energy goes where it goes, it can be simplified to just becoming more in touch with what you’re about.

When you start feeling the typical symptoms of absorbing other peoples’ energies, this looks like:

• Feeling overstimulated
• Frazzled
• Overwhelmed (not due to the usual work or life stressors)
• Suddenly exhausted
• Feeling a sudden and deep energy drop (especially after interacting with someone)
• Feeling agitated or irritable (and it’s not due to an argument, altercation, or hormonal fluctuation)
• In extreme cases, if you are a hardcore empath, you may feel other peoples’ physical uncomfortable symptoms of distress, or even illness

Discovered the difference between what’s yours and not yours? Fabulous! Onwards…

Here are the night-time rituals for the Highly Sensitive Insomniac:

 

1. Smudge your body with a bundle of White Sage. Clear your energy like a boss by smudging yourself with White Sage. Smudging is when you burn dried sacred herbs for the purpose of ceremony and/or cleansing, and allow the smoke to purify you and whatever you bless with it. White Sage has been used by Native Americans and other indigenous cultures for eons to clear out negative energy, spirits, energy that doesn’t belong to you, and anything that’s attached itself to you. It works immediately! In fact, if you are feeling blue, and it belongs to you or not, you can feel an immediate shift in your body (particularly your Heart Chakra and Solar Plexus Chakra, and oftentimes, your shoulders) upon smudging yourself. It feels like something has been lifted from you. If you are more pissed off than feeling blue, and especially carrying heavy anger, smudge yourself with the sacred stick, palo santo!
2. Take an epsom salt bath. Epsom salt bath’s are a highly sensitive person’s BFF. For reals. A 20-minute dip clears your aura. And, if you add 1 cup baking soda to it, it intensifies the detoxing effect and gets you ready for clear slumber.
3. Cut your psychic ties. Throughout the day we connect with other people, even if we don’t speak to them or look at them. Our Energy Bodies extend about a foot outwards from our body in all directions, and vibes speak louder than words. So, even if you don’t speak with certain individuals throughout the day, your energy may actually be affected by theirs simply by sharing a room with them. Even those who may not be energetically inclined can feel this. But, the power lies within knowing if you have taken on someone else’s energy. Even if you can’t tell or not, your heightened reaction (especially anxiety, shallow breathing, or feeling like your energy is caught up in your shoulders) is a clear give away that it’s time to cut the cords! My favorite way of doing this is asking Archangel Michael to sever all psychic ties within a certain time frame, using his Sword of Light. An example of this would be, “Archangel Michael, please sever all psychic ties in the past 2 days.” Keep in mind that working with angels is not necessarily tied to any specific religion. They are very high vibrational beings, and some are Ascended Masters. Archangel Michael is great to call on when you’re looking for strength, or releasing ties and cords. Also, just because you sever psychic ties doesn’t mean that you become disconnected from loved ones. It just means that you are just more integrated with your own energy, and not acting out of influence in connection to anybody.
4. Hold your crystal ally as you sleep. If you have a Master Crystal (a crystal ally that you have identified as your main crystal that you work with), or a favorite crystal that brings you solace, hold that crystal in your left hand as you nod off into slumberland, since the left hand is your receiving hand. There are many allies to choose from in the mineral world, and some crystals that are great for energetically calming the insomniac are: amethyst (a calming stone, helpful for building intuition, great sobriety ally, and psychically protects you) and selenite (actively clears and rejuvenates your aura as you sleep, and if you have the long rod, you can apply it on your midline to align your chakras, which is great for sleeping or meditating). Those 2 allies are my favorites to work with at night. You can also use blue lace agate, fluorite, howlite, sodalite, and celestite.
5. Get out of your head. When you’re overthinking or highly charged, you need to ground your energy. One easy way to do that is to simply send the energy to your feet, particularly the balls of your feet. You can also use crystals such as black tourmaline and red jasper to ground your energy. Place them by your pillow or hold them to guide your heady energy into the ground.
6. Ask your Spirit Guides for help. If you find yourself still restless, and you’ve already cleared your energy, get in touch with your Heart and ask your Spirit Guides to help you release the tension within it. In Chinese Medicine, we experience insomnia when we are Heart Yin Deficient. Our Shen (the Spirit of the Heart) rests in the Heart in the evening. But, when we are on edge for whatever reason, it is unable to reside in the Heart, making our Spirit restless at night. Add to that any worry that may be taxing your Spleen, and you’ve got an interesting combo for the night! So, ask your Spirit Guides to calm your Heart, and bring you inner peace. Ask them to help you sleep soundly and surround you in light as you sleep, so that you may awaken feeling rejuvenated. If you are feeling unprotected for any reason, ask your angels and ancestors to protect you when you slumber.
7. Try Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra means “Yogic Sleep”. It’s a meditation that helps you access deep sleep, yet remain conscious. Check out this Yoga Nidra Meditation CD, which I’ve found to be effective and helpful.

What are your favorite techniques for calming your Energy Body at night?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments, below!

Sweet dreams,

 

Copyright © 2016 by Alcantara Acupuncture & Healing Arts. All rights reserved. You may quote, copy, translate and link to this article, in its entirety, on free, non-donation based websites only, as long as you include the author name and a working link back to this website. All other uses are strictly prohibited.