What time do you call this?

If you find getting to sleep pretty easy..but you tend to wake up at silly o'clock in the night and it's the 'wake-wake' type, where you find yourself cajoling your body....come on now, it's still night-time.."

Well here are a few things that you can do to help this.

1. Investigate - there could be an external stimulation - a bright light in from the street, a noise household appliance, loud sound of some kind.

If that sound is a child - not much you can do, though you can still practice the following exercises to get back to sleep. And if it's something else, try to find a way to remove it (otherwise earplugs?)

2. Sometimes when you wake up - your body is so fully awake you know that you're not going back to sleep easily - if this is the case, or if you've been awake for twenty minutes or more - then don't stay in bed. Get up and move fully out of the bedroom

3. Try to not turn on any bright lights and definitely do not check your phone for any reason. There's just too much there that will grab your attention.

4. Repeat the signals you use to tell your mind that it's still time for sleep. You'll already have your little rituals you do before bed (we spoke of these last week) so do a mini-version of your bedtime ritual to message your subconscious that that's the direction you're going.

5. If this is a regular thing, have a candle nearby. If you're up at night, you'll need light - and all electrical lights are stimulating to the conscious mind - but candlelight is not. So you may feel like Florence Nightingale, but to only use candlelight will make your wakefulness more soporific.

6. Dharana. This is one pointed meditation - and you can do it for anything - even counting sheep. Bring your focus absolutely to one thing to the exclusion of all other thoughts. This can help to calm the nervous system enough to help you drift off.

7. And breathe. Best to do this out of bed - they may be part of your wind-down ritual (and adding to your wind-down ritual is a good idea if you are waking up in the night without a clear cause). There are many yogic breathing methods. I love alternative nostril breathing, but do whatever works for you - inhaling as you count in for four, hold for four, exhale for four and hold out for four is a great technique.

8. Body Scan - this is a bit deeper and is better done in bed as you may nod off during it - go through the body relaxing each part as you go. I've created a Body Scan to go with Yogandha Relax as part of our Mindfulness Pack (where I speak you through the body and invite you to feel the separate relaxing actions that the different essential oils). If you were to practice with the audio meditation for a while - then just applying the oil without the audio (as we're wanting to avoid any tech at night) will do the job - deeply relaxing and promoting sleep.