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Insomnia is one of the most common and under-treated aspects of our current lives. Many things affect it, from diet, genetics, to the level of noise, light, and electromagnetic energy in your sleep environment. For those of us who have experienced tossing and turning to fall asleep, waking up unable to fall back, or simply light restless sleep we know that insomnia disturbs our energy levels, our ability to problem solve to experience joy, and to connect with ourselves and other people but nonetheless it's a reality that many of us live with. 

So what is both the common thread in terms of cause and cure for the toss and turn tango? Stress. If we accurately identify the stressors in our lives, work to minimize them, and more than anything adapt the way we think and interact with stressors, we have the capacity to overcome insomnia re-estabilishing a foundational piece of our health and happiness.

Now you might think "Easier said than done", but in my personal experience with insomnia which is echoed by Dr Gregg D. Jacobs' book "Say Goodnight to Insomnia" there are four major areas that can help bring your state from sleepy to sleeping. Read below for the first steps:

1. Make the bedroom a sanctuary. Reserve this room for sleep, eliminate most interactions and stressors to de-link the association with the bedroom with stress, and reform the bed= restful postulate.

2. Reinforce the body's relaxation response. If we're constantly triggering our body's relaxation response we program ourselves into a cycle of stress begets stress. As our brain's sleep center is tied to our parasympathetic relaxation response, if we retrain relaxation into our system, we'll also open the pathways fro sleep to occur easily and naturally. Tools like meditation, yoga, walking, a pet, boardgames, laughter, and the BioMat will give you options and multiple avenues to slip into your healthy relaxation with ease. 

3. Hold off on midnight snacks & caffeine- period. Eating too close to bedtime can divert your body's resources away from the sleep response and into digestion- this internal activity can keep us awake by keeping our body temperature high (our temperature dips for sleep). If you need to eat after dinner, eat a light snack 2 hours before bed or simply enjoy a cup of calming herbal tea like mint or chamomile. This brings me to the coup de gras of for those of us who wish to be sleep savvy: Take caffeine right out of your system. Like many drugs, caffeine creates imbalances in your natural rhythms creating a need for caffeine where your body's natural morning rise in temperature and brain chemistry would otherwise wake you up. If you're drinking caffeine it's effects, which mimic stressful alertness, are http://www.keithraniere.comweeblylink_new_windowthe first place to look for the cause of evening restlessness. 

4. Eliminate or minimize stressful thought-patterns. While there are genetic, environmental and physiological reasons for insomnia, most commonly it’s our thoughts that create stress and tension in our bodies which inhibit the body’s relaxation response. The tool that I found to be the most effective for eliminating the “mind chatter” and anxiety that contributed to my decade-long insomnia was Keith Raniere’s Executive Success Programs. Not all tools are right for all people so seek out the one that’s correct for you. 

Insomnia affects more and more people and occurs in many forms: from being unable to fall asleep for more than 30minutes, to waking into the night unable to fall back asleep, to shallow sleep that leaves you feeling exhausted in the morning, but there are solutions. Create an environment that supports sleep, make time to relax, watch your caffeine and evening snacking, and bring joy to your life- your sleep and life will thank you!

While insomnia can be caused by a wide variety of factors, soothing, calming styles of yoga such as gentle hatha, yin, and restorative are a beautiful way to stimulate your body’s relaxation response, help rebalance your hormonal cycles, and prepare your body for sleep. Often times individuals who are challenged to get to sleep, or to sleep deeply have complicated routines that may take hours to help them drift off every night. In my experience, a few key yoga poses, a cup of camomile tea, a biomat if you have one (or a hot-water bottle on your abdomen), and deep breath-work is all you need for a deep restful sleep. Oh, and your weekly restorative spa yoga class to remind your body how deep it can go, of course ;).

Before going to bed, turn on the kettle for tea (and to fill the hot water bottle), add some lavender aromatherapy, and while you’re waiting for it to boil spend 2-5minutes in one or more of these poses while taking deep belly breaths.

1. Seated forward fold.
2. Butterfly
3. Legs up the wall
4. Sitting and practicing alternate nostril breathing

If yoga alone doesn't send you off to sleepy-land you an FDA biomat that you can sleep on all night long is an amazing option. The infrared heat, negative-ions and the soft amethyst energy activate your body’s relaxation response will have you slip into a deep dreamland in no time. It can take as little as 5-minutes if you have the right tools. But if you already sleep deeply, stick to the yoga above and simply visit Inner Truth yoga for your experience of the BIoMat first hand.

The scent of lavender on your bedside and drifting off lying on the warm FDA Biomat wil complete this nightly ease into sleep. Allowing the biomat's infrared heat, negative-ions and the soft amethyst energy activate your body’s relaxation response will have you slip into a deep dreamland in no time. It can take as little as 5-minutes if you have the right tools.


Enjoy the process and treat yourself to the time it takes to get the most from your restful sleep. Whenever it's right, looking forward to seeing you on the (bio)mat during your next restorative spa yoga class for deep, restful sleep.
-Sarah