People spend a lot of time THINKING about going to sleep. The stress that comes from not sleeping can build into a kind of obsession that you’ll never sleep again…
Enter SleepWell.
Using the music I created from my “Dream Cycle” album, I wanted to create an evening of guided meditation that would incorporate everything I’ve learned about entrainment, wellness and about humans after leading “self-help” and “personal development” seminars for 13 years. Being a college professor helped too!
Humans balk at getting TOO much new information all at once. So, in designing the evening — I wrote down some words that became my mantra (pun intended) for my work:
- Create a familiar and safe space
- The evening must be reassuring & acknowledging
- The participants must leave the event empowered by having new actions
Wherever we do the SleepWell event must be clean, friendly and connote an atmosphere of calm. In creating a safe space, there must answers to people’s questions and a spot for everyone. Even though we do techniques of “yoga”, SleepWell is not weird, kooky or pseudo-religious. It’s an event that puts crucial information about relaxation & sleep to work immediately. We go over the 6 steps of how to fall asleep in the entrainment process.
Here there are from my earlier article:
How to Go to Sleep:
- Complete everything you did and did not do today. Do not obsess. Do not make yourself or anyone else wrong. If so, get in action to complete whatever needs to done BEFORE doing steps 2–6.
- Now, unplug from your computer, television or phone for at least 20 minutes before attempting to go to sleep. Really. No “white light”. It stimulates your brain and makes the process of winding-down much more difficult. Checking your email before sleep is a really bad idea in the world of entrainment. See #1.
- Lay in bed and relax. Listen to music! Read a book. 20–60 minutes.
- Breathe. If you concentrate on breathing, you cannot focus on anything else. It’s one of the miracles of Yoga and meditation.
- As you relax, push your thoughts away and lose yourself in the music. Take deep breaths now. Slow your heart rate. Feel yourself relax into the bed or whatever you are laying on. Muscles as relaxed as possible.
- Now you can attempt to fall asleep.
Some of the information presented at SleepWell will be obvious. However, its taking ACTION on these techniques, practicing them and building muscle with them that really makes the difference.
Finally, yes, I play live music working with our sleep/relaxation coaches. Picture yourself: there you are on your yoga mat enveloped in the music and taking new actions that will make a difference with your wellness and with your peace of mind. People spend a lot of time THINKING about sleeping because they don’t have the actions to take. Empower yourself with action not concerns, doubts or fears… Once you begin to master these concepts, you’ll be sleeping like a baby!
Michael Whalen is an Emmy® award-winning composer, music supervisor, professor, author and thought leader on digital rights and music copyrights. He is also a dad, a CrossFit newbie and is doing a “SleepWell” concert on April 15th, 2017 in New York City. Tickets and information here.
You can get Michael’s new recording, “Dream Cycle”, here.
Originally published at medium.com