If you're seeing a doctor currently, be sure to keep in contact to make sure you're on the best medication for your body chemistry and at the best current dose. Easy does it ... it can take months of practice to be able to learn to rely consistently and confidently on self-care programs like the one that follows. And, having also worked with doctors, I can say to please remember that to a large extent what they do is on a trial and error basis; they try this or that medication or group of medications at this or that dosage and make adjustments as indicated; plus please remember that your physiological and psychological responses are also changing. So please be sure to make sure that any medication and dosage you're taking - are at - optimum levels - at all times.

I do not publish this page or link it from my website, but I do make it available from time to time to people I know personally and/or in business who might be able to benefit. Almost always the initial response is - sleep was needed urgently, took medication, got through the worst of it. That's fine with me; I'm not a practicing health care practitioner, I don't have advise for or against sleep medication.

Back when I had the problem described above, in 1976, I took over-the-counter sleep medications, a more old-fashioned remedy available from the pharmacy called bromides, and a prescription-only medication called Dalmane.

And I have been reminded recently that taking something like Tylenol® Simply Sleep can help you get out of the syndrome of not sleeping enough, then getting depressed from not sleeping, then getting anxious from feeling depressed, or anxious about sleeping or not, and then not sleeping and repeating the cycle. Once safe rest and sleep are established enough that the cycle no longer rules your days and nights, your whole outlook and perspective improve again.

For some people it's so intense that only a doctor-supervised program of stronger medications adjusted over periods of months and years can seem to promote sleep safely. So some of the suggestions in this article seem weak by comparison and contrast. They surely are more gentle and less body chemistry altering. But again, I repeat, I am not recommending for, or against, medication per se.

What I can say, from my own experience years ago, is that I suddenly told myself I needed to learn how to get myself to sleep, and that fortunately this ended up working, after a period of insomnia that felt at least as insurmountable as any experiences any one else has shared with me from their own lives since.

And that, by adjusting a few beliefs about sleep, and by practicing some very simple methods that, as it turns out, my Mom had taught me (and I'm writing this section on Mother's Day!) have been the life savers I was so desperately in need of. I had insomnia so bad that I wasn't able to work. Now, 32 years later, I still have some uneven patterns with sleep, but for the most part, I am fine, and I have not taken sleep medications of any kind since that 4-1/2 months of sleep purgatory nightmare back at that time.

So again, without recommendations or judgments, I can tell you what worked for me:

• I realized that making a goal of getting to sleep at night was getting in my way. I also realized that sleep deprivation is a terrible experience but not necessarily harmful or life threatening by itself. So I changed my goal from getting enough sleep - to resting at night.



• I realized that one of the things keeping me up at night was that after many nights of lack of sleep, going to sleep itself had become frightening, because dreamlike images, music, thoughts, etc. would start rushing in before I was actually asleep. So I changed my awareness to learning to welcome this pre-sleep dream state, as something I could get through in a matter of minutes, rather than fighting it off and staying awake another several hours.



• I realized that if I slept even one REM cycle I was making progress, even if I would still be awake in the middle of the night for a couple of hours after sleeping that little bit of time. I began to understand that if I could accept that I would go back to sleep again after those two hours or so - eventually I would be able to sleep through the whole night. And this turned out to be true.



• I realized that not sleeping was a way in which my mind kept racing and working even when my body wanted to take a break. So I started noticing more that I am a physical being as much as a mental, emotional, spiritual, social, active and creative being. I got in touch with my body again.



• It turned out there were three very simple ways of getting back in touch with my body again. One was tensing and relaxing on purpose, gritting my teeth, squeezing my fists tight, etc., letting go, and then doing it again. That by itself began to shift the thinking-resting balance back into resting when it was time and thinking when it was time.



• An even more effective method was to start paying attention to my breathing. In many ways, we are "breathed" by our breath - it's not something we need to be consciously working on all the time. I realized that, by not trying to take a deep breath, and by learning to trust my breathing, which worked on its own without my conscious effort anyway, that I could survive and be comforted by the rhythm of my breathing. There was some effort at first - to not bring effort into this. Over time I became skillful at noticing which parts of my breathing system were breathing fine and which were too uptight to breathe fully. This awareness, instead of trying to breathe better, led to my breath relaxing more, and becoming fuller and deeper. I found this enormously comforting, though at first very difficult to understand.



• But what I began to understand so much more is that - the breath is not just in the lungs, and when you're having trouble sleeping, you'll probably notice it feels as if it were just in the lungs. Breathing - oxygenation in the blood and tissues of the body - is in every cell, and - the breathing system - just a phrase I'm making up to be descriptive - runs from at least - the top of the chest to the bottom of the abdomen - with the diaphragm in between. And, when the diaphragm is fully relaxed and extended, air rushes into the lungs because of air pressure in the atmosphere. So the inhalation takes no effort at all when we're fully relaxed.



• But, if we're not fully relaxed, the moment we just notice our breathing, a tiny shift starts to take place. Our thinking about problems and working hard on solving things or worrying about them, now shifts to the most basic function in our bodies, and shifts by basically acknowledging that it works entirely on its own. And that relaxes the split we've set up between what our worrying and thinking seem to need, and the rest and comfort and oxygenation and so on, that our bodies need. If your experience turns out to be like mine, this very simple and very profound shift in awareness, will seem very awkward at first - even impossible - and then somewhat miraculous, and - amazingly comforting and reassuring. It gets to be a little like a massage to your organs on the inside. It can be so very, very, very soothing.



• Now the part my dear Mom taught me when I was eight or nine years old. Just acknowledge each part of my physical body. I have found doing so from the top down is more relaxing than going from the bottom up. So I start with the head. I used to command each part of me to relax. That worked but created tension of its own. Now I just notice each part of me - and how you select the parts is just whatever makes sense and whatever feels right. The top of my head. I'm getting more relaxed just writing this! The top of my head. That repetition really helps, really secures what I'm doing, section by section. The middle of my forehead. The middle of my forehead. My nose. My nose. And so on and so on until I'm at the bottom of my feet. Then sometimes I'll acknowledge my whole body. And then I'll start all over again at the top.



• And now for the very best part, which pulls from everything mentioned to this point. I start with acknowledging my breath. I also plan on doing the top down physical awareness step by step - a total of 25 to 100 times. I make that my goal, and don't even think about going to sleep. Well, it took awhile, but now I can do it by making the relaxation the goal, not the sleeping itself. So here's my challenge - and it's just - practice - practice noticing your breath happening on its own - and practice noticing the parts of you body from head to toes - and see if something wonderful doesn't happen. You can keep your sleep meds nearby if you like, and you can drink warm milk with honey before you go to sleep, and you can also fill the tub six inches up with cold water and stand in that, which will bring circulation from your head into your body more - but over time, noticing your  B R E A T H   and   B O D Y   part by part part, section by section by section, may make the kind of difference for you it has made for me.



• The additional element is to make the choice to become a superstar at getting rest and to make a point to practice unwinding about an hour or so before the sleep time you determine is best for you. This might start with an evening cup of chamomile tea, a ten minute meditation, reading a book, rubbing your own feet, drinking milk with honey, thoroughly flossing and then brushing your teeth and gums, etc.



• But for now, if you're struggling with just getting enough rest, everything to this point is more useful to focus on. Otherwise you might start hassling yourself about when to go to sleep, how best to prepare, etc. Just trying the breath and body awareness may change your life for the better, and it may take a day to a few months to really master. But - while I can't guarantee it will work - I have taught these methods to friends, clients, partners, and even chronic mental patients on heavy medications when I worked in that field in the mid 1980's. The results have been very, very, very successful and reassuring, with very, very, very great consistency.



• I am available to provide coaching support to help you get acquainted with and comfortable with and practice techniques above, as an educational offering.

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This just in! ~ May 2008: