Yogic Sleep Meditation with an Ornate Bed

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Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.

[Rising, meditative music]

Lilit Sadoyan:   Today, we’re exploring a luxurious French bed from the end of the 18th century.

[Theme music begins]

Welcome to Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation podcast, or OMMM. Part art history and part meditation, we use works of art from the Getty collection as inspiration for mindfulness and deep reflection. Hello, I’m Lily Sadoyan. I’m a longtime meditation practitioner and museum educator at Getty. Thanks for joining me as we bring mindfulness out of the gallery and into our daily lives.

Today, we’re exploring rest and relaxation, inspired by a late 18th-century French bed called a lit à la polonaise, or a Polish-style bed. This episode begins with a breathing exercise to help relax your body and mind. We’ll then give a bit of history and context for this ornate bed. We’ll close with a yogic sleep meditation.

This series is also available as an audio podcast. If you’d like to step away from a screen for a few minutes, listen on your favorite podcast app.

Now, if you’re ready, let’s jump in.

[Gong chimes]

[Slow, meditative music begins]

Go ahead and find a comfortable meditation posture, whatever that means for you today. Maybe you’re sitting, lying down, something that allows you to feel relaxed yet alert. And let’s start by taking a few deep breaths together.

In through the nose. [inhales]

Out through the mouth. [exhales]

Deep breath in. [inhales]

Deep breath out. [exhales]

Settling with each breath in. [inhales]

And out. [exhales]

Now let your breathing resume its natural rhythm as we explore today’s work of art.

[Bells chime]

Picture yourself entering a grand palace or mansion in France in the late 1700s. You find your way to the bedroom and see a magnificent bed topped with a grand canopy, its curtains draped elegantly and then gathered at the four posts. Resplendent beds such as this one were set into deep niches in a bedroom. The combination of the hangings and interior architecture heightened a sense of theatricality. In this period, a bed was often the most expensive item in the home. Textiles were costly, and the beds were largely made of fabric. The size and splendor of the bed demonstrates its owner’s importance.

The extravagant nature of this bed clues us in to how bedrooms were used and perceived in the 18th century. Today, bedrooms are often thought of as retreats or personal havens. For wealthy Europeans in the 18th century, it was a new idea to design bedrooms, or chambre à coucher, to promote a good night’s rest. But people frequently received and entertained guests in these rooms, too. Friends might drop by with a host or hostess still in bed or getting ready for the day. People would read books or poems aloud from bed to a small circle of friends who pulled stools or chairs near. A bed served as a focal point to intimate social activities.

We’re focused today on a bed that is elaborately draped with blue and white silk, passementerie, meaning decorative trimmings, fringes, and tassels, and fluffy white ostrich feathers. This bed is large. It’s about the size of a California king bed today, and it sits high off the ground. You’d need a special step stool to get into it. The bed is symmetrical in form. The headboard and footboard, carved from wood and gilded, are mirror images of each other, with a tall bedpost at each corner. Four curved iron supports run from these bedposts to support a dome that rises about ten feet off the ground and sits over the center of the bed. From this dome, curtains drape down evenly over the iron supports and are tied at the bedposts. Each bedpost is topped with a crown of ostrich plumes.

The bed is composed of geometric forms, rectangles and ovals, carved with classical elements like Corinthian columns. These design elements are hallmarks of the neoclassical style. Neoclassical artists strove to imitate the spirit of the ancient Greco-Roman tradition. While this is a French bed, its style is called a lit à la polonaise, or a Polish-style bed, because the big drapes reminded the French of Polish dress.

Every aspect of this bed drips with luxury, but perhaps none more than the textiles. Upholstery on such sumptuous beds, from bed covers to the canopy, even the fabric on the head and footboards, was also changed to correspond with the seasons. Ducks, peacocks, and pheasants decorated the golden-toned original fabric of this bed. The same fabric was ordered by Empress Catherine II of Russia around 1773, perhaps suggesting she also owned this bed, as records of its original owners have been lost. Although the fabric on the bed today is a recreation of 18th century fabric, the Getty Museum still preserves some pieces of the original fabric and passementerie.

This bed frame, too, is a work of art. In the 18th century, as trends moved towards more visible woodwork on bed frames, it became important for beds to showcase the menuisier’s, or the carpenter’s, skill. The original wooden bed frame here features elaborate decorations: oak leaf patterns, floral swags, cornucopias filled with fruit, ribbons, acorns, and laurel wreaths, all carved by hand.

It is an exquisite example of French menuiserie, or woodwork. The wooden structure is made of walnut, which has been gessoed, painted white, and gilded with gold leaf. Four handles attached to the frame would help to pull the bed out of the niche to change the sheets and fabric more easily. On top of the bed frame, below the canopy, sat the mattresses, perhaps four or more on a single bed, and made from materials like straw, wool, horsehair, or feathers, sometimes in combination.

Pillows, in this period both squarish and bolster shaped, rested along the head and foot. Linen bedsheets and an assortment of blankets covered the bed when it was time to sleep. With all its meticulous detail and construction, imagine you could climb into this bed. How might you position your body? What would it feel like to relax into this bed?

Let’s now invite relaxation into our bodies, preparing ourselves for deep rest. The following meditation might be best enjoyed in a reclining position, or what is called shavasana, corpse pose, in Sanskrit. I will guide us through a yoga nidra, or yogic sleep meditation, that allows us to move into a deep state of relaxation while maintaining conscious awareness. It’s kind of like being in a state between waking and sleeping. It is a wonderful way to reduce stress and anxiety, promoting nervous system regulation, and calmness. Above all, we can cultivate complete effortlessness if we allow ourselves.

[Gong rings and meditation music begins]

Take a moment now to set yourself up for restfulness. Find ease in your body and establish a sense of comfort, whatever you need today. If you feel comfortable, I invite you to close your eyes. Use this time to go inward.

In a reclining position, allow your body to feel supported and comfortable. Allow your legs to extend, your feet to fall open. Let your arms rest slightly away from your body to your sides, palms facing upward.

And let’s begin by taking a few deep breaths together.

In through the nose. [inhales]

Out through the mouth. [exhales]

Deep inhale.

Deep exhale.

One more breath in.

And out.

Now let your breathing resume its natural rhythm. No need to force or extend the inhale or exhale. Just let your body do what it does very naturally.

And I invite you to set an intention for your practice. Something simple but meaningful to you. A short phrase stated in the present tense, such as, “I’m calm” or “I am at ease”. Silently repeat this intention as if it is already unfolding.

And now begin to notice how the breath moves in and out of your body. What’s the pace like?

Notice the rise and fall of your chest.

Notice how your belly inflates and deflates. How it swells and subsides, without forcing anything.

Let the breath be effortless. There’s no need to hold on to any stressors of the day, any challenges we may be facing; nowhere else to be, nothing else to do in this moment but to be here now.

Relax your body part by part. Release any unnecessary points of tension or clenching by bringing your awareness and your breath to it.

See if you can just let your body melt here.

Relax your feet: your soles, toes, ankles.

Relax your legs: calves, knees, thighs.

Just melting here.

Relax your hips.

Relax your belly, torso, chest.

Let your heart softly open.

Relax your shoulder blades, shoulders.

Relax your neck, throat.

Relax your face: chin, jaw, lips.

The area around your eyes.

The space between your brows.

Your forehead.

Relax your mind.

Feel the whole body together.

Surrender the weight of your body to the surface upon which you’re resting.

Coming back to your breath, you can begin to count your breath backwards from ten to one.

Inhale ten; exhale ten.

Inhale nine; exhale nine.

Continuing at your own pace.

[Silence]

If you lose track of your counting, you can always return to ten and begin again.

[Silence]

And you’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. You can move into restful sleep. Or if you’re ready to return to your day, invite some gentle movement into your body.

Wiggle your fingers and toes.

Maybe offer yourself a gentle stretch.

Turn over to your right side before sitting up.

And if you’re ready, you can gently blink your eyes open. Come back to your environment.

[Slow, meditative music plays]

Wherever you are headed next, let’s carry this sense of ease and restfulness with us. Notice what feels different, perhaps subtle, perhaps profound. What is one quality from this practice, such as effortlessness, awareness, or softness, that you might carry with you? See if you can offer yourself the same gentleness you experienced here as you move through the rest of your week. Let’s return to our breath and close our practice by taking a full deep breath together.

Inhale.

And sigh it out.

Thank you so much for joining me.

[Meditative music slowly fades out]