I heard a story about how tea came to China. A monk was praying in cave. He fell asleep and slept for many hours. When he woke up, he was so angry with himself for falling asleep and neglecting his prayers, that he tore his eyelids from his face and threw them to the ground. From where the monk’s eye lids landed, the first tea bush sprouted. Now we have tea to keep us alert.
Well, that’s just great if every evening you snuggle down into your pillow, pulling the blankets warmly around your shoulders to take a sail through dreamland. In the morning you can have your cup of tea and head out into the big, wide world as calm and collected as an eye-lidless monk. I envy that monk. To fall asleep and stay asleep for a long, long time. To not even feel that you need eye lids, to never long to feel them sweetly heavy, closing kindly to the world of the waking. That would be nice.
But what about those of us who aren’t so lucky? Those of us who endure the red stare of the clock, the small biting sounds of the night, the bed that seems to shift, becoming more and more uncomfortable with every toss and every turn, the inability to use lost sleep time for anything so productive as the intended prayer and meditation of the monk in the cave. What about us?
Well, I for one am going to sign up for the Wellness Hour: The Hunt for a Good Night’s Sleep Thursday, March 31st at 7:30pm. Our local Root experts will help us get to the bottom of sleeplessness and then help us combat insomnia naturally.
In the meantime, make sure you’re not a believer in any sleep myths.
And check out this great bedtime yoga routine.
See you March 31st. If you’re not a complete insomniac, maybe you should drink some tea before you come.