Insomnia is driving me crazy

[OakLeaf]

I know meditation is supposed to be a spiritual practice, not a sleep aid...

but when anxiety is keeping me awake, I find it very helpful to grab my prayer beads and use them to focus on a mantra. Usually I'll just slip off, and wake up in the morning with my beads in my hand.

Only I lost my prayer beads somewhere (probably on my second-to-last trip ) so now I'm using Mardi Gras-style beads. No, I did not get them that way. But don't tell the Buddha, anyway.

+1 on the valerian also, even more so in one of the combos with skullcap and hops. And excluding artificial light... but that's a double-edged sword when you live in a populated area, because it means excluding natural morning light too, which is even more important. Either way, it's very important that you get exposed to plenty of natural spectrum light during your waking hours. If your office doesn't have a window, ask for full-spectrum light bulbs (or buy and install them yourself). They made an ENORMOUS difference to my sleep quality when I was working in a windowless office.