OVERVIEW OF EFFORTLESS SLEEP
Here is a highly simplified overview of the main components of our effortless sleep course. Two very important things to keep in mind:
1. I can give you a 95-99% guarantee that if you follow through on the practices below, and maintain them for the rest of you life, you will have excellent sleep and it will in turn (to the extent you’ve not had good sleep in the past) transform your life.
2. It’s hard. I mean, it’s incredibly easy if you’re used to being disciplined about working with your inner consciousness, but if not, it’s hard. It takes a lot of consistent hard work, and most likely, it will require ongoing support, Which is why I’m offering you the opportunity to contaxt me if you have questions: donsalmon7@gmail.com
By the way, did I mention it’s hard?
And requires discipline?
Ok, now you’re ready!!
The following was laid out in 8 weeks of lessons, with over 20 instructional and practice videos, numerous PDFS with detailed explanation of the science underlying sleep, and numerous other resources. This is greatly shortened and simplified, but if you’re willing to put in the effort, I guarantee it will work for you (did I mention it will work if you’re willing to put in the effort??)
YOGA NIDRA
Sleep scientists say that one of the most important things one can to do transform restless nights into effortless sleep is to establish a 20-30 minute wind down period. The videos with audio-guidance that Jan and I have created for this purpose are, we believe, enough to provide you with the skills you need to make the wind down period deeply effective.
You can listen to them (ideally, through earbuds or headphones) for a few weeks, but the more you can learn the skills and do them on your own, the better it will be for you.
If you are having trouble sleeping, it is likely that it is more difficult for you to get BACK to sleep later in the night than to get TO sleep early in the night. And when you do wake up in the middle of the night, you are likely to be not much inclined to set up the video to listen to. That is the time when having practiced and memorized the yoga nidra skills, they will be most useful to you.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA - CBT I
There are 5 or 6 major aspects of CBT-I, but for practical purposes, there are two that are most powerfully effective in terms of improving sleep. Their technical names are:
· Stimulus control
· Sleep scheduling (which comes in two forms – sleep restriction, and sleep compression
Stimulus Control
This one is very simple to understand. You know how you feel real tired at night, you can hardly keep your eyes open, your head is drooping, and you go to lie down, and the instant your head hits the pillow, BOOM!! You’re wide awake?
This is from days, months or years of lying in bed unable to sleep – your bed has now become a stimulus to staying awake.
So the practice is very simple: NEVER STAY IN BED MORE THAN 15-20 MINUTES WHEN YOU CAN’T SLEEP, and, “NEVER GO TO BED UNLESS YOU”RE TRULY SLEEPY (not just tired, SLEEPY!
That’s it. You’re going to establish a regular sleep schedule. But if your regular going to bed time is 11, and you’re not sleepy? Wait. And if you feel sleepy at midnight, lie down, then wake up at 1 and can’t get ack to sleep, EITHER GET OUT OF BED OR AT LEAST SIT UP IN BED AND DO SOMETHING CALMING UNTIL YOU FEEL TRULY SLEEPY AND READY TO LIE DOWN AGAIN.
That’s it.
Sleep scheduling
This is way too complicated to explain fully here. Do the Yoga Nidras, practice stimulus control, try to absorb what “effortless mindfulness’ means, and if none of that helps, write me to ask me how sleep scheduling works.
The simplest thing would be, choose a time to go to sleep and a time to wake up, and stick to it (within 30 miutes more or less) That is astonishingly effective for a significant portion of the people having trouble sleeping. The problem is it takes more than that to figure out the best sleep schedule for most people.
Sleep restriction: I’ll just say, the common technique is sleep restriction, which means you go to a CBTI specialist and they’ll make you start with 5 ½ hours sleep, and you’ll be utterly miserable for several weeks but possibly, if you’re one of the 4 out of 10 for whom this works, you’ll be cured.
Sleep compression: This is much gentler. You start with the 8 or 9 hours you probably spend in bed hoping to sleep, though you’re likely ending up awake for much of that time. You keep a careful sleep log (this takes quite a bit of work to figure out, but it’s really only 2-3 minutes every morning for about 2-3 weeks). You gradually decrease your time in bed by 10-15 minutes every few days until you find the “sweet spot” for the right time to get to bed and to wake up.
But admit it – now that you’ve gotten this for, I’ll bet the prospect of just listening to guided practice videos (the links are below) is looking pretty good.
IF you really want to try the whole process of sleep scheduling, write me to ask about it: donsalmon7@gmail.com
EFFORTLESS MINDFULNESS
There is very little to say about this in writing. I can tell you: there is a calm, quiet, spacious and often VERY still awareness underlying all our experience, but just reading those words is not likely to be enough for you to discover it. It has been spoken of for thousands of years in relationship to religion, but you don’t have to be religious to experience it. You can be a fundamentalist or an atheist; no matter, you can still have the experience.
Best thing is to practice the yoga nidras. The video marked “Space of Awareness” will teach you infinitely more about effortless mindfulness than any words can.
But if you have any questions, PLEASE don’t hesitate to write me at donsalmon7@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to do what I can to make that experience more clear for you.
To sum up – letting go of effort, and simply enjoying the rest you can experience simply by lying down, without any thought of “TRYING” to get to sleep, is THE key to effortless sleep.
LINKS TO THE YOGA NIDRA VIDEOS
The videos are best learned in the order laid out below.
I would recommend spending a week on each one. During the week, AT LEAST for one or two days, see if you can do the practices on your own, from memory, without using the video.
Remember, for learning Effortless Mindfulness, the 4th video: “Space of Awareness” is the best. But the practices on all the videos are meant to reinforce each other.
· YOGA NIDRA BASIC BREATHING PRACTICES https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219966933/a697dfba6d
· YOGA NIDRA BASIC PRACTICES: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219968940/39f80e6b85
· YOGA NIDRA 7 AND 61 POINTS https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219968941/3f45d91940
· YOGA NIDRA SPACE OF AWARENESS https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219968939/6cc0e2613a
· YOGA NIDRA REVIEW OF THE DAY https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219968938/89b4710024
NOTE: What about healthy sleep habits, commonly known as “sleep hygiene”?
There are around 100 million people in the US, and over 1 billion on the planet, who have trouble with sleep. If you interviewed them, you could probably find thousands of suggestions for things that absolutely
“cured” their sleep problems – until the cures stopped working:
Lavendar, the right pillow, the right mattress, the right lighting, sounds, early morning sunlight, exercise, foods (or lack of foods), etc etc etc.
There are numerous medical and psychological things I don’t trust in regard to scientific research, but I think the research is quite good about sleep hygiene – by itself, it rarely has a significant impact on long term sleep problems. Among the various interventions that have some moderate effect:
Sunlight in the morning
Regular exercise and healthy whole foods (more plants!) diets
Not eating within 2-3 hours of bed time (along with not smoking or taking drugs or, for most people, drinking alcohol, and not having anything caffeinated within 6 to 8 hours of bed time
Having a good mattress and pillow, the right temperature in the room, a quiet calm environment, and a partner who does not upset your sleep routine!!! (or, sleep alone, if it won’t hurt your relationship:>))))
On the other hand, sleep scheduling OR stimulus control alone have a 40% cure rate for insomnia; together a 50% cure rate; add effortless mindfulness and the cure goes up to 60-70%; add yoga nidra (regularly practiced) and now we’re talking about a close to 80% cure rate.
But you have to work at it, be very disciplined, and keep up with the practices.
So, again, questions? Donsalmon7@gmail.com
