7/2/2023 0 Comments Are you sleeping well?If you are having difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early.
Be kind and compassionate to yourself about this – acknowledge and accept it, don’t fight it :-) Women and men in their midlife transition are changing physically and mentally, so is your sleep – you may not even need the same number of hours sleep as you used to. Here are my top tips for navigating these midlife sleep disturbances, particularly for women experiencing night sweats. INSOMNIA - 10 TOP TIPS 1. Create your own personal sleep routine – it starts when you wake up in the morning with your intent to sleep well tonight incorporating daily healthy exercise, diet and being in nature. Design a bedtime ritual such as: - read, - meditate - gentle restorative stretch - journal to empty out your mind. let go of to do list’s & worries or try a gratitude practice 2. Set up your bedroom for sleep so it’s cool & comfortable. Use cotton or bamboo sheets and blinds or curtains to keep it dark. 3. Wear loose fitting sleeveless nightwear, light undies or nude!. 4. Use an eye shade to keep out the light and ear plugs, especially if your partner is a snorer. 5. Eliminate blue light screens after 6pm –TV or computers. 6. Dinner/ snacks are best at least 3 hours before going to bed so you have time to digest by the time you want to go to sleep. 7. Avoid caffeine after 12pm. 8. Reduce or avoid alcohol as its dehydrating. 9. Reduce waking up to go to the loo in the middle of the night then not being able to go back to sleep by not drinking too much, a few hours before bed, & just before bed empty your bladder. 10. If you are waking up due to night sweats, invest in a ceiling or floor fan or try a cooler pillow& cover and turn the pillow over regularly so your head is always resting in a cool place. Add a cold pack under your pillow or at your feet to also keep you cool. If you need more support, you can try natural herbal remedies over the counter, for instance Black Cohosh shown to reduce hot flushes or Valerian as a natural relaxant. Doctors can prescribe sleeping tablets or strong melatonin but...this is a last resort.. Hope this helps to create your our sleep ritual... Join me on Flow with Fiery Femininity at Bay of Fires Tasmania 15-19 March 2023 wherewe’ll be nurturing your ability to manage sleepless nights, brain fog, wild emotions & hot flushes.
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18/12/2022 0 Comments Why Gratitude Is Good for You?A Gratitude party is the ideal time to remind myself & share why practicing gratitude is good for your body, mind, and relationships. Today, we had an intimate gathering @Wylies Baths in Coogee to share gratitude as we come to the close of the year.
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Sleep is sooo important because it can help us physically heal, recover from illness, deal with stress, solve problems, consolidate memories, and improves motor skills. A good night’s sleep isn’t just about how many hours of sleep you get, but also the quality of that sleep. There are two essential kinds of sleep: non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM).
- NREM sleep aids physical recovery. It helps your body unwind and fall into a deep sleep.
- REM sleep bolsters learning and memory. It is the sleep phase closest to wakefulness, and where most of our dreaming occurs.
There are many ways that yoga can help improve the quality of sleep:
- Mindfulness. This is a practice of judgment-free awareness in the moment. Mindfulness is a common component of many types of yoga. Mindfulness can increase melatonin levels and reduce nighttime sleep disturbances in adults.
- Breathing awareness and regulation. These are also elements of yoga. Deep breathing is a relaxation technique that can induce sleep.
- Regular exercise. Frequent movement is an important element of sleep hygiene. Moderate exercise several times a week can improve overall sleep.
- Weight loss. While weight loss is not a goal for many yoga practitioners, losing weight can have positive effects on sleep. Weight loss can reduce or eliminate sleep problems, such as sleep apnea.
Yoga and Insomnia
Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Insomnia can have many long-term effects, including daytime sleepiness and impairment, memory loss, and mood changes. Studies have demonstrated that yoga can be beneficial in managing sleep problems such as insomnia. Yoga can especially benefit particular groups of people with insomnia, such as postmenopausal women and women with breast cancer.
What Types of Yoga Help You Sleep?
There are many types of yoga that provide health and wellness benefits. During the day, any type of yoga practice is appropriate, so long as the user is comfortable. High-activity forms of yoga, such as vinyasa or hot yoga, are a good type of moderate to high exercise. Such exercise, when done at least several hours before bedtime, can help you sleep better at night.
Since high-activity yoga forms elevate the heart rate, it’s best to avoid these practices right before bedtime. People who wish to practice yoga nearer to bedtime will find a slower and restorative type of yoga more suitable:
- Hatha yoga involves gentle body postures and breathing techniques. These breathing techniques focus on lengthening inhalation, holding the breath, and exhalation.
- Nidra yoga is done while lying down and focuses on breathing or perception of certain parts of the body.
Poses done before bedtime should encourage the body to relax and sleep. Recommendations among yoga instructors and physicians vary, but the following poses are commonly suggested:
- Standing forward bend (uttanasana). From a standing position, bend your torso slowly forward in front of your legs. Your hands can rest on your elbows, shins, or the floor.
- Reclined butterfly (supta baddha konasana). Lie on your back. Press the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall to the side. You can have your hands at your sides or above your head.
- Legs up the wall (viparita karani). Lie on your back with your legs against a wall so that your body makes an “L.” Relax your arms at your sides.
- Corpse pose (savasana). This is often the closing pose of yoga practices. Lie on the floor with your arms at your sides, palms up, and your legs straight.
If you have concerns about your yoga practice, consult a yoga teacher for a private session or a clinician. Remember that yoga is not a substitute for medical treatment. In the event of persistent sleep disturbances or other concerns, consult your physician to develop a treatment plan.
Yogarama is doing our part to help make your sleep serve you. Sleep Week is 13-19 March 2022

Chronic inflammation is something you want to avoid long-term. At the 2021 Global Yoga Therapy Conference, I learned how a regular yoga & meditation practice can reduce chronic inflammation, that underlies so many modern day conditions from irritable bowel syndrome to eczema to heart disease.
The Science Behind Inflammation
Inflammation is actually an essential defense mechanism - its a protective process to ensure an infection or injury can be dealt with. It typically lasts a short while and is referred to as acute inflammation, where the body then returns to a state of balance. The immune system sends out signaling molecules to the site of issue and this signaling initiates an inflammatory response to promote the removal of the issue and healing.
Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation can cause more harm than good. A prolonged inflammatory response is often due to factors relating to our diet and lifestyle.
Chronic Inflammation underlies many modern day diseases
In our modern world, chronic inflammation is most commonly caused by our intake of sugar, alcohol and preservatives, our exposure to toxins in food and the environment and infections and sedentary behaviours.
These factors put pressure on the body's systems. They cause imbalances and increase the damage and injury within the body’s tissue.
Weeks, months and even years of damaging activities cause inflammation to continue. It's purpose is to repair the damage in your body, but this level of inflammation may be too much and certain body systems may become dysfunctional as a result. We may not see the consequences of this low level of persistent inflammation for some time, until a body system can no longer perform its optimal function because of it. That’s when disease sets in and the symptoms start to show.
Sometimes the symptoms can be mild and affect a non-essential body system. Other times it affects a critical organ, with severe and dangerous accompanying symptoms.
This type of chronic inflammation can cause heart disease or autoimmune disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, hormone imbalances, even forms of arthritis where inflammation begins to destroy otherwise healthy tissues in the body system.
In summary inflammation is a necessary and essential defence and repair process of the body in the short term, but can result in chronic disease if left unchecked.
The good news
Managing inflammation can help you achieve optimal health. The good news is there are plenty of diet and lifestyle changes along with therapies, including yoga therapy, that can be implemented at any age to reduce the impact of inflammation in your life.
Reach out if you would like to know more about the benefits of yoga and meditation to help reduce conditions related to chronic inflammation. email: daniella@yogarama.net
To all Yogis...
Be Safe
Be Well
Be Happy
Be at Peace
Author
Daniella Goldberg has a love of yoga and a passion for mindful meditation. Through her Hatha-Flow classes, she gently guides her students to grow strong, be flexible, focused and mindful, on and off the mat.
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