I sleep in the closet. Or, as my husband puts it, “It’s like you sleep in a fricken altar.” I sleep on a 6 inch thick wool futon that sits on the floor surrounded by candles and soft amber lights. I started sleeping in the closet when my husband started doing dolphin rolls in his sleep. Several times a night he would thrust himself five feet into the air while spinning his entire body like a dolphin before crashing down two millimeters from my face.
Being jolted from my sleep several times a night wasn’t the only reason I moved into the closet. Sleeping and sitting on the floor gives you the opportunity to use your body in a different way than what you’re used to. Have you noticed that modern life is designed to meet our butts halfway? This makes us all Half Assers and Flat Assers (followed by Pelvic Floor Disorder). “Half-assing it” examples would be, spending the bulk of the day sitting on chairs and couches (the standard height of a chair from floor to ass pad is 18-20 inches), getting up and down from a standard 16 inch high toilet, or from a bed that doesn’t require your hips to flex past 90 degrees (if that!). Standard height from floor to mattress is a whopping 25 inches. When we limit the number of daily joint configurations, our bodies adapt to those specific positions and we lose a full range of movements. We literally lose muscle length and our bones even change on a cellular level! The range of motion we lose prohibits movements that our quality of life and our cellular health are dependent upon. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to make the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” 911 call. Moving closer to the ground is an excellent way to work squats into your day.
My cozy closet bedroom altar.
Sometimes I’ll mix it up and sleep outside, but the 387 million gazilion crows that hang out in my yard have been waking me up at 5AM with their death call, “Caw, Caw, Caw!” By the way, that translates to “Kill, Kill, Kill!” in crow speak. Not a good way to wake up.
So, don’t feel sorry for me because I sleep on the floor in a closet, it’s way better than having my eyes gouged out by crows and my closet is really quite roomy. I even have space for….
Alter made out of wine box
…and a meditation altar
…and a bedside altar
Oh, and there’s always room for a wall altar box.
What can I say, sleep is sacred and I’m not about to half-ass it.
Want to learn about how you move (or don’t move) changes your body? Check out Katy Bowman’s book Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement
Need some floor sitting options? Check out this video I made on ways to sit on the floor.
My dynamic workstation and my FlexiSpot review.
Update: 11/11/14 After having my futon directly on the floor for a couple of months, it collected condensation underneath and got all mildewy! So, I ordered the IKEA bed slats to get air flowing underneath. I friend from damp England said it worked perfectly for her, so I’m guessing to should do well in Oregon.
Update: A couple of people recommended the LUROY IKEA slats, but I was a cheap-ass and bought the one that is $10 more (the LONSET). It works fine although it could use two more slats on each end. My futon slopes down a little at the ends, so when I’m on my side my feet are raised up an inch or two into the air (I’m 5′ 7″). I could remedy that though with support underneath. It took me several hours to put the LONSET together! The little metal L shaped Hex Key was a pain to use on the wood. I used winter gloves and that helped some, but dang I got a workout! Overall it works well to prevent the mildew. It elevates the bed off the floor about 3 1/2 inches.
“Little Altars Everywhere!”
So basically you’re saying you are creating more opportunities in your day (and night) to flex your hips past 90 deg. This encouraged me to just get started creating more of those opportunities for myself. Going in the right direction brings progress. I don’t have to have everything in place – just get started. Thanks :). Oh and cool ambiance!
My bed is on the floor, mostly because I have babies and preschoolers crawling in and out of it all night.
But yeah.
And the dolphin thing… my husband does that too! I called him Shamu the whale once, and he didn’t appreciate it, even though I explained that it was a term of affection in my family of origin. 😉
ha!! I love it! Thanks for the inspiration!!!
oh my gosh, this is the first time i have read this. i was in a bike accident almost 3 years ago and couldn’t sleep in our bed. it was the same time i was reading about sleeping on the floor. i had nothing to lose except my husband’s reputation for making his wife crazy with his snoring which led her to sleeping in the closet ha ha…..this is the first time i have ever told anyone….
I guess you’re out of the closet now, so to speak. 🙂 I know a few people who sleep in closets!
Gorgeous article glistening with that sparkly wit!