by  Dr. Bridgett B. Simon

 

yin yang sleepSleep is the time of the yin, the calming, cooling and gentle time to restore our energy and our blood. If the heart is unhappy, Chinese medicine teaches us that it will be hard to sleep comfortably. The heart can mean the physical heart in this case and also the emotional heart. If we are wracked with worry, anger, fear or similar emotions, this will affect our sleep in a negative manner after time passes. You may see increased restlessness in people, and heat symptoms like anxiety and seating at night, and elevated blood pressure after enough time goes by.

Hormonal changes also are a cause of this sometimes, such as menopausal symptoms and I believe that hormones are yin supportive steroid molecules. Progesterone in particular is a sleep inducer for many, and a tired, first tri-mester  mom will confirm this. I thought in terms of energetic medicine and sleep we could touch on stones and crystals that are calming, stress relieving and even sleep inducing. Let’s look at 3 stones that are not too hard to come by and give different advantages.

 

rose quartz

  • The first stone I would like to talk about because it is very soothing for the heart and sleep is rose quartz. It is easy to come by at local stone shops or bookstores. It calms the mind and eases us into the transition of sleep time, yin time. Nourishing the emotions or the shen of the heart.

 

  • Moonstone is another stone that is particularly helpful for reconnecting us with sleep rhythms. Many of us are not aligned with the natural earth rhythms. We sleep indoors separate from nature and the cycles of light and dark. We have less sun on our skins during the day and less moonlight in our energy at night because we are not in nature. Moonstone can help you reconnect with these cycles a little easier.

pink tourmaline

 

  • Pink tourmaline is very interesting. It has a nourishing effect on the heart. You can look for heat release which is often anxiety release and sweating at night. It might also support a healthy blood pressure level. This tourmaline as well as watermelon tourmaline is believed to protect against the unwelcome stress others give to us as well.

 

 

Stones are easy to purchase and can be kept in a little satchel by your bed or under your pillow at night. Try to follow the light and dark cycles to some extent with sleep, and get outside a bit to avoid losing the rhythms of nature. Let us know if we can help you rest more easily.  Reiki and energy work can relieve stress that is already in place and work with the subtle energies in your body to get rid of old anxiety.  Sometimes old emotions are buried in injuries and even our muscles and tissues are believed by many in the energetic world to harbor old memories of trauma.

 

Rest easy,

Dr. Bridgett

Reference:  Healing Stones for the Vital Organs, by Michael Gienger and Wolfgang Maier.