Can you Meditate in Bed? 5 Important Questions

When I first started meditation, I actually did start my practice sitting up in my bed during the day. It just seemed like the most comfortable and peaceful place to do. Add to that at that time I didn’t know you could just sit in a normal chair and meditate, I thought you had to be sitting with your legs crossed somewhere ‘comfortable’ and this I equated with my bed.

So to answer the question, Can you Meditate in Bed? The answer is absolutely! In fact its one of the four postures recommended by The Buddha. The other three are sitting, standing and walking. With each having its own distinct benefits.

But if we expand on the question here I may or may not have answered your question. “Can you meditate in bed?” This question could also tie in with or relate to any of the below variations –

Can I meditate in bed to help fall asleep?

Can I meditate in bed to promote better sleep?

Can you meditate lying down in bed before going to sleep?

Can you meditate sitting up in bed before going to sleep?

Or simply…

What is the best way to meditate in bed?

We start to get into a few, well it depends…. And for those variations above I can definitely give some different advice. We will need to take the following things into consideration –

What is the specific reason you want to start meditating in bed? Is there a problem to solve?

Are you wanting to start creating a routine?

Are you wanting to expand on your current meditation practice?

Using those general outlines above, lets dive into these specific scenarios.

Can you meditate in bed to help fall asleep?

Again, absolutely! But with this one it alludes to a possible problem you’re trying to solve… You’re finding it difficult nodding off or maybe suffering from something a little more serious like insomnia.

Meditation will definitely help with this if you’re an overthinker and often insomnia and overthinking go hand in hand.

So if we look at meditation to help you get you off to sleep we can look at two different types. The first being a self lead practice or a guided meditation via an app or recording.

With a self lead service you’ll have to do a little bit of research on best practice. The most common method here is to focus on your breath, this is called “Mindful Breathing”.

It’s a super simple practice where you focus on your breath.

Now there are few possibilities on where you can place your actual attention when doing this –

• Following the breath in and out of the mouth – attention on the air itself
• Focusing on the area of the chest and lungs feeling the expansion and contraction
• Having your attention on your mouth where the breath is entering and exiting

I think each are fine for this scenario, so go with what works for you or you feel most at ease with, the easier you find it the better.

If I could recommend one I would practice (and still do) the expansion and contraction of the chest and actually more like the space there. You can also visualize a ball of green energy there expanding and contracting with your breath.

A really great organization to look into is Heartmath. They have been studying the heart for the past 25 years and this is very relevant to this technique due to the heart being in the very place weve been discussing, the chest.

Along with their research and main practices, they have some really great guided meditations.

Can I meditate in bed to promote better sleep?

Yes, you can…

Getting better sleep is essentially getting DEEPER sleep and that’s tied to your brainwaves.

So when asking this question its really more like, can I use meditation to make sure I get deep enough sleep?

There are 4 main types of brain waves

• Beta waves (low, mid and high)– day to day wakefulness
• Alpha waves – physically and mentally relaxed
• Theta – falling asleep, slow states
• Delta – deep and restorative sleep

The best way to use meditation to get deep sleep is to practice deep relaxed breathing. This study found that relaxing through deep, slow breathing practices improves the quality of your sleep and that means getting into the highly important delta zone.

Can you meditate lying down in bed before going to sleep?

Yes you can, again, obviously. But, if the intent behind this practice is to indeed practice meditation I wouldnt advise against it.

It can lead to falling asleep or day dreaming. This is the position the mind is most most accustomed to the feeling of freedom and especially lying in your bed, at some stage you will be triggered to drift off to sleep because this is what it is accustomed to doing in this spot.

So practicing in this type of position gives you very little opportunity to develop wisdom or patience or to build on your practice.

Now for those people that have back issues and have little choice here, practicing would absolutely be better than not at all. I would then just recommend not doing it on your bed as you would then not have the environmental trigger of falling asleep.

A tip for those that are needing to practice lying meditation is to bend the knees, this would keep you a little less “comfortable” and you will be less likely to fall asleep, which might be nice but really goes against what were likely trying to achieve, and that’s improving the quality of our life.

Can you meditate sitting up in bed before going to sleep?

For this one as well, obviously another yes but again, I wouldn’t advise.

This would mean you’re not having any other particular goals or issues, this was pretty much me.

I fell asleep often when I did this but I just continued to persist because I found it comfortable sitting on my bed. I think what I really wanted back then was a rest, a lot of the time I gave in and just laid down after a while, sometimes falling asleep.

I only started making headway when I started to sit in sometimes uncomfortable spots, like cross legged on the ground in front of my couch, or on a dining room chair. This does promote a bit of uncomfortableness but that is indeed the point,  to see what your mind does when the body has to face difficulties.

Sitting with your spine straight is the best way to go as it allows for energy to pass up the spine easier. Those with back issue or that cant sit with their spine upright for long periods of time can lean up against something like the couch. If sitting on the ground its advised to sit on a cushion to promote straightness of the spine.

What is the best way to meditate in bed?

Best and quickest way to answer this one and this is just recommendation… don’t if you don’t have to.

And this is basically around if you’re wanting to start a meditation practice and you don’t have the particular goals of improving your sleep or because of a physical injury.

I would suggest picking another place in your home, room or apartment that you can regularly practice. This way you will build up energy in that space and soon enough your subconscious will recognize that space as your practice space just like it recognizes your bed as the place where you’re triggered to sleep.

Best meditation practice for falling asleep

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best meditation practice for bedtime will vary depending on your individual goals and needs. However, some general tips on how to get the most out of your bedtime meditation practice include:

1.Lying down on your back with your legs slightly apart so they’re not touching i’ve found to be the optimal position. You wont get distracted by body heat this way. Also with your arms down and away from your body. This is also known as the corpse pose.

2. Perform a physical body scan and if uncomfortable in anyway, adjust yourself.

3. Perform an energy body scan and feel any discomfort in your body, these types of sensations vary greatly but if you feel tension anywhere we want to try and releive that somewhat. If you feel discomfort, place your attention on the space and perform a deep breath with the intension of clearing that. Stay in the present moment with your awareness in this single point while deep breathing. Complete this as many times as you need to.

3. Once you feel yourself energetically more relaxed, focus on your breath, and count each inhale and exhale. If your mind starts to wander, simply bring your attention back to your breath.

4. If you dont fall asleep during the practice and decide to stop, take a few more deep breaths and give thanks for the practice. Your body will be more relaxed and you will be able to transition into sleep easier.

A Guided Sleep Meditation

If you’re needing a little help with the meditation and trying to get to sleep is your goal, looking into brainwave entrainment would be helpful.

Six Steps to Sleep offer a great mini program with guided sleep meditations that incorporate brainwave entrainment.

Using the meditation audios is really easy. All you have to do is put on a pair of headphones, relax, press play and let the frequencies do the work!

The Guided Sleep Meditations go for 30 mins each and have been created by brain entrainment specialists to combat insomnia. All the audios are instantly downloadable.

Conclusion

From whats been discussed above the answer is definitely yes, but for optimal results on what you’re trying to achieve, it depends.

In short if you are trying to develop your meditation practice, practicing in bed might not be the best space to do that. On the other hand if you are trying to use meditation or mindfulness to get to sleep, this is a good idea.

There are so many different meditation practices out there, its about finding the right one for you. You might want to consider a meditation teacher, there are many out there that are very good at what they do.

The benefits of meditation are far reaching, even just performing a short meditation practice before falling asleep will help to relax you and reduce stress.