My Morning Meditation: Salt Lamps

As a kid, I grew up in a seriously rural area. We couldn’t see neighbors from our house, and had a long, gravel driveway that very few cars drove past anyway. At night, we had a pole light that cast a bright white glow around the house, but no other light pollution to speak of. It was very dark, and very quiet. I can remember lying awake on breezy nights, annoyed because the rustling leaves of the two English Walnut trees near the house was so loud. I could easily sleep past 11am anytime I was allowed, regardless of the bright sunshine pouring in my east- and south-facing windows.

Nowadays I’m a suburban girl.  Traffic noise is routine. I have blackout curtains to block the streetlamps and the neighbor’s porch light. I’ve adapted pretty well, I think, but I miss waking up to the sunlight. No matter the weather, my bedroom is dark during the day.

I’ve looked into those fancy lamp-alarm clocks, the ones that start to glow before it’s time to wake up, so that by the time the alarm goes off it’s shining brightly. This is supposed to mimic a sunrise, and the gentle nudging on your consciousness is supposed to be a healthier way to start the day than my cell phone jangling DINGDINGDING-DINGDINGDING-DINGDINGDING. But those clocks are expensive, and do they really work?

So I tried an experiment. I have a lovely salt lamp (want one? Herbiary has them) that I plugged into a timer. It turns on about 30 minutes before my alarm goes off, and stays on for about 2 hours. There’s no gentle ramp up in the brightness, but the yellow-orange glow is both soothing and intense. Some days I wake up way before my alarm, and have lovely restful time to stretch in bed, maybe meditate, or just snooze. Other days, I’m asleep until just minutes before my alarm sounds, but since I have been trying this I have not been startled awake once. And my days have been the better for it. Salt lamps are supposed to clean the air and the energy in a room, like the air at the beach (light through salt, and moving water, both positively charge the air.) Starting my day with that thought, and with that orange glow, has been a wonderful way to settle into my morning meditation.

Salt lamps get a big thumbs ups from me! I highly recommend trying one out in the mornings, and as daily decor in your favorite rooms.

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