Part 28

Sometimes one is too weary to go to sleep, or sinks into a deep slumber which is not normal. The taking of breath is short and the giving up of the breath more sudden. This sleep will not be refreshing. Nine times out of ten such a one will wake up in the morning feeling more weary than when he lay down at night. Of course, if a man could sleep for an unusual number of hours, nature might in time restore him. The excitement of our civilization prevents normal conditions and therefore we must aid nature. Man must understand the laws of life and so use them as to find rest properly.

We need harmony in our thoughts, to let them dwell on what is sacred and beautiful that our sleep may be normal and that we may enter into the world of slumber with sympathetic conditions.

We must, also, laughingly throw off negative thoughts and feelings and allow expansion and stretching to equalize the circulation. All the vital functions must be harmonized. As we perform these exercises once more we find various congestions that have resulted from the one-sidedness of our day's work,--congestions around the throat, parts of the body are weary, constricted, and cramped. By stretching ourselves we can harmoniously adjust the activities of our breathing and circulation. All parts can be restored to harmony and we can rest properly.

After all, what is rest? It is not a mere slumping into inactivity. It is allowing the involuntary rhythm of our being, the sympathetic co-ordination of all the forces of our body to act normally. The rhythm of our volitional activities must be given up to the rhythm of the unconscious and involuntary life.

Before this rhythm can reign we must remove all constrictions from any part of the body.

After taking these exercises we should feel the sympathetic enjoyment of all the cells of our bodies, then sleep will be refreshing, the rhythm of breathing will be normal and the circulation and vital processes will proceed easily and rhythmically.

What are the differences in the practicing of exercises in the morning and evening?

In the first place the exercises in the evening should be more steady, more regular, more harmonious, slower and more rhythmic. Every exercise must soothe the excited nerves, the agitated brain, and the weary respiratory muscles, the heart, and all the circulatory system.

Release needs to be especially emphasized. After every stretch, for example, every part of the body must be relaxed. The reaction will take more time on account of the greater activity through the day. We should, therefore, take especial pains to accentuate the recovery or recoil of the muscles into sympathetic passivity and rest.

The object is now not to stimulate as much as in the morning, but to allay all excitement, harmonize the co-ordination of all parts, remove all local activities in the different parts of the body, establish centrality of the vital functioning and the diffusion of blood and feeling into every part.

It is well to practice the exercises on a hard floor before getting into bed.

The more violent exercises should of course be omitted unless there has been a one-sided position during the day. For example, standing exercises will be beneficial for a person who has been sitting all day. We must practice intelligently, and carefully apply such exercises as are needed. Harmony means the removing of constrictions and over-activity in certain parts which one finds upon exercising. These often need to be vigorously exercised so as to restore the harmonious condition.

On lying down on the floor feel in stretching as if the body weighed a ton,--feel the weight of the arms, legs and head.

Often we lie down but soon the excitement of a thought brings us to our feet before we know it. Eliminate all such exciting ideas, then let the stretch reach every part. Let it be slow and steady and let the release be gradual. There should be a complete rest for quite a little period before the next activity. Other things being equal, the activity should be less than one-third of the surrender not only in time but in attention.

Just before going to sleep it is well to practice a few stretches and to give full expansion to the chest and to take a few deep breaths slowly and rhythmically so as to establish a vigorous and normal rhythm, equalize circulation and bring all parts into harmonious freedom.

In order to emphasize the rhythm in our evening exercises we should accentuate and prolong especially the passive rest between the movements. We should not only more gradually give up the actions of the movements, accentuating the static and eccentric contraction, but we should also feel more sense of surrender at the end of each movement. That is, we should feel a sense of weight and of rest at the end of each action, breathing easily, steadily and freely, all the time.

The time of this rest at the end of the exercising should be prolonged more and more especially after we are in bed and have felt the satisfactory feeling all through the body of harmonious diffusion of energy and the removal of constrictions.

This sense of satisfaction through all the body is fundamental and necessary in order to bring healthful and normal sleep.

The harmonious extension of all parts of the body should be emphasized. All stretches are truly conducive to sleep. They allow life to permeate through the whole body. The exercises, before going to sleep, should be less rigorous unless there are constrictions and these should be removed by simultaneous and sympathetic co-ordination of all parts of the body rather than by vigorous movements.

After any local movement the stretch should be renewed and the affirmation made of some thoughtful and beautiful idea--as love, joy, peace. It will be surprising how quickly help will come and weariness disappear. The entire body, in every cell, will be soothed and enjoy sweet repose.

The affirmation of confidence, love, trust, and peace should follow as well as precede the evening exercises. We should make the going to sleep a sacred part of our lives. In giving up our consciousness we should be sure to surrender it to the positive forces of the universe. This is not an idle dream, nor a mere mystical fancy. Even from a psychological point of view the emotion with which we go to sleep is apt to remain with us and get in its good or evil work in the unconscious, involuntary metabolism that takes place in all the cells. We must lie down to rest in peace.

"Dr. Thomas Hyslop, of the West Riding Asylum in England," according to Professor James in "Memories and Portraits," "said last year to the British Medical Association that the best sleep-producing agent which his practice had revealed to him, was prayer. I say this," he added [I am sorry to say here that I must quote from memory], "purely as a medical man. The exercise of prayer, in those who habitually exert it, must be regarded by us doctors as the most adequate and normal of all pacifiers of the mind and calmers of the nerves.

"But in few of us are functions not tied up by the exercise of other functions. Relatively few medical and scientific men, I fancy, can pray. Few can carry on any living commerce with God. Yet many of us are well aware of how much freer and abler our lives would be, were such important forms of energizing not sealed up by the critical atmosphere in which we have been reared. There are in everyone potential forms of activity that actually are shunted out from use. Part of the imperfect vitality under which we labor can thus be easily explained."

Have a few simple sentences full of thanksgiving, of peace and rest. The best are found in the Bible. The words to Moses, "My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest," may be given and repeated many times with a realization of their deep meaning and a personal application to the individual.

Not only repeat phrases, lines, and verses, full of beautiful thought, but change these into your own words. Learn to articulate your own convictions and apply them to your own needs,--even paraphrase, for example, such a phrase as "He restoreth my soul" in the twenty-third Psalm. For the word "soul" we can substitute anything according to the specific needs of the hour. We should, however, use nothing that is not in accordance with universal love and the highest spiritual ideals of man and of our conceptions of the universe. We must always remember that truth is universal.

We can change "soul" also to "health," "strength" or "life," to "joy," to "success," to "confidence," to the body or any part of the body which may seem to be afflicted.

There are in this Psalm other good affirmations on going to sleep. Take individual clauses and repeat them many times, such as "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."

One of the best affirmations is found in the first of the twenty-seventh Psalm. "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom [or of what] shall I be afraid? One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in a consciousness of His presence] all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple [to commune with Him in the sacred temple of my own soul].