Visualisations and Other Exercises for Sleep

As well as visualisation exercises, McKenna gives exercises that could be probably be described as aural. I have long been aware of the importance of the inner voice - the collection of thoughts that pass through our minds and form beliefs. And since I already questioned beliefs using the process known as The Work of Byron Katie, this was one of the exercises that I didn't think I needed to do the first time I read McKenna's book.

 By Officer [CC-BY-SA-3.0  via Wikimedia Commons

This time though, I am leaving nothing out. Some day soon I will sleep as well as the baby in this photo!

Your Inner Voice Has a Tone!
McKenna says that the tone of voice in which we speak to ourselves (our internal chatter) is just as important as what we say, so his first exercise to deal with internal chatter is to notice the tone with which your inner voice rambles on. Many people apparently lie awake silently telling themselves off, which doesn't help them get to sleep. (Yes, I have probably - er - definitely - done that at times.)
The interesting thing about this exercise is you don't try to change your thoughts; instead you practise saying the same old thing but in a different tone of voice.

So let's suppose upon waking in the night you previously said to yourself, "It's 4am and I should be asleep. I'll never be able to drive to Timbuktu and train SAS soldiers in the morning if I don't get some sleep."

Now, you still say the same thing, but instead of saying it in an exasperated tone, you'd change it to a sleepy peaceful tone, and add in a few yawns for good measure.

The effect is it loses its effect. Or at least its cross, demanding, punishing effect. It is slightly crazy how we think punishing ourselves at 4am will get us to go to sleep, but I guess most of us in some way are slightly crazy. It's just conditioning. We say the same things we heard said to us as kids, without thinking about why we say them, just as our parents punish themselves with the scolds they heard as kids. It's nobody's fault, but it's time to stop it - at least for me.

Anyway, last night I got to bed around ten and did the visualisation exercises again - and this time instead of doing it on a vague issue that might have cropped up in night I did it something that was genuinely worrying me right then. I still didn't think I could do the exercise properly, so was surprised to feel much, much calmer afterwards.

A Universal Belief

I also noticed belief I have about sleep and about many other things: "It can't be that easy. If it's that easy it must be a trick."

It's not surprising I have that belief. I'd like to say had that belief, but I'm not sure it's gone.) I bet almost everyone reading this has it too: it's pretty much a universal belief. From early childhood we hear that success doesn't come easily/we have to work hard for it/ struggle/ make an effort. (Select your own particular version of this story.) Of course, this is the mind's way of trying to protect us, and trying to push us forward, but it's not a very successful way. It makes it hard to enjoy our successes, and makes it  almost impossible to relax.

Seeing that something is a belief, rather than The Truth is the first step to letting go, and not judging ourselves for having the belief is the second step. Being willing to change it the third, and that's where I'm at right now.

I'm going to share a quote from I Can Make You Sleep that is related to this, and that I love.
"If you define yourself by what you have done in the past, you will repeat the past. If you define yourself as someone who is free to make choices in the present, you will change your future."

So just because I have sometimes had difficulty sleeping in the past doesn't mean that's who I am or even how I am. It's just the past.

Day/Night Three of Paul McKenna's Sleep Program

 I had hoped that the success of Day Two would continue. I hoped that because I so much hated getting up in the night it would have created a negative association and I would sleep through forever more. I had hoped that since I made sure to walk for at least twenty minutes in daylight. (On Saturday I did that amount of walking, but half was in darkness, the other half as the sun was rising.) 

Instead, last night was slightly bizarre. My husband couldn't sleep and he tossed and turned so ferociously that I couldn't sleep for his tossing and turning! After talking with a friend today, it seems that tossing around so hard the bed shakes may be a common trait in husbands who can't sleep. (Wives, be sure to let me know if this is indeed a common husband trait, and husbands feel free to come up with your stories about wives. I think we are perfect angels who try very hard not to disturb our men when we can't sleep, but I could be wrong.) 

Anyway, the outcome was I listened to McKenna's CD, dozed off, woke with a jolt, snapped at hubby, listened to the CD again, feel asleep afterwards and woke around two. I cannot swear this was my husband's fault, but it may have been. I cannot blame him for keeping me awake for over an hour, since most of it I spent following McKenna's instructions to get out of bed. I tried doing a yoga exercise known as the Child Pose for a while, but still didn't feel ready to sleep. Simply put, I was doing what McKenna says people do, and scaring myself images of getting back into bed and not able to sleep. So I took my copy of I Can Make You Sleep from my bedside table, and went to another room to quietly read it and try an exercise. 

The chapter I wanted to read was What To Do If You Are Still Awake. I vaguely remembered that the first time I read the book, McKenna said to do something boring. He had told one woman to do her ironing, but this didn't help her because she loved ironing. At least, that's what I remember, but I couldn't find the relevant part of the book. 

I did find a section at the very end of the book where he says if you are awake for more than twenty minutes either get up and do something boring, or do one of the exercises in the book. That seemed to me like permission to go back to bed, so, feeling much calmer, I did. And did one of the exercises and then slept till the neighbourhood noisy dog barked at 6.45am. 

So, it wasn't perfect, and I felt more tired this morning than any other so far. However, that passed during a yoga session and the rest of the day I've felt a good bit better.