The Wind Down: Meditation Coach Leah Santa Cruz

5:30 p.m.: It’s a Friday evening and my household and I’ve early dinners to present our our bodies sufficient time to digest the meals earlier than sleep.

6:30 p.m.: Earlier than my bedtime routine, I reply to a few emails. I make sure that to make use of display shaders and night-time tinting settings to keep away from an excessive amount of stimulating mild from my laptop computer and cellphone.

7 p.m.: As darkness falls in Bali, I dim the lights and encourage my two-year-old son to wind down with quiet playtime together with his papa, whereas I meditate and journal utilizing the Steadiness app. 

7:45 p.m.: I learn for a bit, earlier than asking my son to pick a ebook so my husband and I can learn to him earlier than mattress. 

8:00 p.m.: Now it’s time to take a shower with my son. Bali is kind of a sizzling and humid local weather so it feels nice to clean the sweat away and really feel squeaky clear earlier than leaping into PJs. We do a good bit of enjoying within the water earlier than washing off collectively within the bathe. 

8:15 p.m.: Time to get dry, which turns right into a sport of me chasing him across the bed room with a towel whereas he giggles and runs away from me dripping moist. I lastly catch him and wrap him up like a burrito and toss him on the mattress whereas he squeals in delight. 

8:18 p.m.: We return into the lounge, the place my husband is and we put our son on the potty earlier than dressing him up in PJs.

8:23 p.m.: I end a tall glass of coconut water and my husband makes a sippy cup of it for our son earlier than getting the room prepared for us, by turning on the stargazer evening mild and AC to chill the room down from 81 levels Fahrenheit all the way down to 67 levels—far more appropriate for sleeping. 

8:25 p.m.: I begin to tidy up the lounge that’s now filled with my son’s toys. I encourage him to assist me put his automobiles in a basket. 

8:30 p.m.: We now have our son brush his tooth with us, whereas we perform a little music and dance collectively. It’s a lot simpler to get him to brush his tooth when he sees us doing it and we make it a enjoyable sport out of it. I exploit charcoal toothpaste which is unusual as a result of it makes my mouth look black whereas brushing them, and my son makes use of a cake-batter flavored toothpaste that he loves. 

8:35 p.m.: I decide up my son in my arms, seize his sippy cup, and we give my husband a kiss goodnight. I deliver him upstairs with me to mattress as he’s waving and saying a candy, “bye-bye” to his papa in the lounge. We co-share in the identical mattress, and by now it’s already cool and has stars floating across the room and mosquito web over the mattress.

8:37 p.m.: We spend a couple of minutes cuddling in mattress and searching on the stars on the partitions whereas I sing him a lullaby and rock him to sleep in his pillow. 

8:45 p.m.: The mild, steady swaying movement lulls him into sleep, I can really feel his muscle tissue twitching as I transfer right into a trance-like, hypnagogic state. A deep meditation. 

9:07 p.m.: Barely capable of keep awake now, I give him just a little kiss whereas he’s peacefully sleeping, so cute, and dive my head into my reminiscence foam pillow that has an expensive silk cowl. The stargazer evening mild turns off by itself, and I go to sleep instantly. 

10:30 p.m.: My husband comes into the room to go to mattress, however we don’t even hear him or stir a bit. 

1:32 a.m.: My son wakes me as much as the sound of him groaning, pointing along with the mattress for his sippy cup. Fortunately it solely wakes me up, not my husband who’s in a deep sleep. I hand my son his sippy and he takes a number of chugs earlier than handing it again to me to placed on the nightstand once more. He then arms me a pillow and I do know meaning he needs me to rock him a bit again to sleep. I lay him subsequent to me and put my arm below the pillow as I rock his head gently till he falls again asleep. 

1:45 a.m.: My son is again asleep now and I fall effortlessly again to sleep subsequent to him. Time for my second sleep shift. 

4 a.m.: My son wakes me up once more in a half-awake, half-sleep state, it’s nonetheless darkish out however he’s thirsty as soon as extra. We repeat the identical issues as final time, giving him a sippy cup for a second and placing it again. Solely this time he doesn’t want me to rock him, he simply crashes to the pillow—down for the depend. And so do I. Sleep shift quantity three is right here. 

6:27 a.m.: Nearly like clockwork, the roosters exterior are crowing whereas the sparrows and pigeons round our home begin singing. Bali is totally awake and the solar is peaking in brightly by way of the gaps in our black-out drapes. My son wakes up with the birds after which touches my face gently. I open my eyes to his vast smile and loving gaze. It’s among the finest moments of my day. I give him an eskimo kiss, rubbing noses earlier than an enormous smooch on the cheek. The three of us share kisses and cuddles collectively for a couple of minutes earlier than getting away from bed and sharing the love with our two Bali canine and beginning our morning routine.