Should I meditate before going to bed?

I am super excited to talk to you about “Should I meditate before going to bed?”. The reason why I want to approach this topic today, is that I did a consultation this week for a fellow professional, a naturopathic doctor, who is basically stuck with one of her clients.

The more we talked about her patient, I realized that he's really the kind of person that I usually work with, and a lot of my clients are not necessarily the type of people, who like to meditate. I think meditation is amazing, but I also think sometimes we're not quite ready for it and you need to give everyone their time to do so.

In some cases, I actually found that people make their lives more difficult when trying to meditate, because they tend to be such perfectionists that they put themselves under stress. They beat themselves up over it and say ‘I can't think’ or ‘I can't not think’, ‘I'm really bad at mediation, because I have all these thoughts popping up’. All of that is okay. At first meditation is just about realizing what you're thinking about. Just becoming aware of that is totally fine. Then taking it, putting it into a bubble and putting it aside. That is your job when you're meditating, and it takes a little bit of time.

I find that if I have a very anxious person, it can sometimes wind them up even more. So, here's an alternative that I suggest to a lot of my clients and it works really well for them and it works well for me too: Walking.

Taking a walk. Ideally an evening stroll.

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I love going and having a quick walk in the evening. Around 8 / 9 pm, if my schedule allows. Especially now. Summer is around the corner, the days are getting longer and going out for a walk through the neighbourhood or if you're in the countryside on a little country road, is wonderful. I'm close to the woods and once it's getting really light out, I love going to the woods and watching the sunset, being close to my car obviously. I don't want to be stuck there when it's dark!

It brings wonders and you can't do anything wrong. You just walk and the thoughts will pop up. You deal with them and I find, for a lot of my clients, it is the first step to becoming mindful. To process things that we've talked about, to become okay with your thinking process and after a while, you can have them try meditating again.

So, when I ask the question, “Should I meditate before going to bed”, I would ask you, is it creating anxiety in you? Are you one of those people who say “I'm really bad at meditation! I can't make it right. I can't meditate correctly!”. Maybe you’re someone who just doesn’t like it and who digests their thoughts better through movement. Then take a walk.

Really enjoy that movement in your body. We all move, but not enough. A lot of us don't exercise regularly and having that 15-minute stroll in the evening, right after dinner, is going to be a life-changer. Trust me on this!

That is my little piece of advice for today, for those of you who like movement, who want to try meditation but aren't quite ready and who are too harsh on themselves aka. perfectionists. Walking is amazing. Conscious walking, taking a stroll. It's wonderful. Even when it's raining, it can be amazing. The cold, the wetness, the smell in the air when it's raining… It’s amazing. Try it out!

Let me know how it goes. Try it out with your clients and let me know how they react to it. I'm looking forward to seeing you again next week.

Bye-bye for now.

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