• Wake up feeling tired.
• Have a tough time getting through the day.
• Feel stressed, irritable, or overwhelmed.
• Do not think as clearly as you would like.
• Are not able to be as productive and alert as needed.

In addition, studies show that poor sleep can:

• Impair judgment and decision making ability, and slow your reaction time to the equivalent of being legally drunk.
• Aggravate physical pain and discomfort.
• Slow body metabolism, contributing to weight gain.
• Result in increased sickness, higher utilization of medical services, and increased medical bills.
• Heighten a propensity towards heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and alcoholism.
• Increase workplace absenteeism and accidents.
• Negatively affect personal and work relationships.

My background

I am a Sleep Specialist treating insomnia patients referred by more than 80 Colorado physicians and psychologists. I developed Sleep Easily in the early 1990s to resolve my own severe insomnia. It would take me hours to fall asleep or fall back to sleep. During this time, I trained myself to closely internally observe what was occurring in my body and mind as I was eventually falling asleep. From this, I discovered and documented the subtle physiology of the "sleep switch." Over the course of years, I systematized these discoveries to create a procedure that reestablishes the body and mind's natural inner pathway into sleep. Because this method was discovered from middle-of-the-night observations about sleep, people report that it feels natural and easy—much more so than other methods that were created during the day.

The Sleep Easily method

This three to four session program can help you sleep better even if your sleep difficulty is due to stress, anxiety, depression, physical pain, medical conditions, hormonal changes, jet lag, shift work, restless legs, TMJ pain, or discomfort from a CPAP device. Sleep Easily is effective if you have been taking sleep medication. In fact, if you desire—and in consultation with your doctor—you will gain a way to reducde or eliminate your use of sleep medication. Sleep Easily goes far beyond sleep hygiene and general relaxation. It is comprised of simple, logical steps that do not involve hypnosis, meditation, or visualization.

With Sleep Easily, you release your sleep switch to:

• Fall asleep or back to sleep quickly.
• Sleep deeply and sleep longer.
• Sleep better your first night, even after years of trouble sleeping.
• Reduce or eliminate sleep medication.
• Feel better and think more clearly.

When you sleep well again, it is one central change that can create numerous positive changes throughout your life.

The Sessions

Below I have provided a brief overview of each Sleep Easily session.

Session One

• You learn how to breathe the sleep breath, the way you breathe when you are deeply asleep, which is very different from relaxation breathing. Your body relaxes by itself, your mind becomes quiet by itself, and you ease into sleep.
• You learn the sleep breath via small, simple steps. If any step is not as easy or effective as you would like, I ask that you tell me so I can make changes to make it easy and effective. You do not have to figure out how to get this to work. It is my responsibility to get it to work. Your role is just to give me honest feedback.
• You receive the Sleep Breath CD to listen to as you fall asleep (or back to sleep) to create within yourself a natural pathway to sleep. The method is so easy you soon are able to sleep well without this CD, yet periodically listening to it deepens your ability to sleep well.
• You also receive the Sleep Easily Sleep Guide booklet that gives you concise, yet essential information to help you sleep well.
• If you have sleep apnea and are having difficulty with or resistance to using a CPAP device, my treatment program specifically addresses that so you can experience reduced anxiety and increased comfort.
• If you grind your teeth or have TMJ, this treatment program addresses a different way to loosen and relax that tension.
• You also learn a stress reduction method that is so simple you can use it during the day while in the midst of activity.
• Most clients report that they sleep better after Session One - obviously not completely better, but a significant enough improvement that you feel encouraged.

Session Two (approximately one week after Session One)

• Based on what you experienced during the previous week, we make refinements to the method to make it as easy and effective as possible.
• You then learn a simple way to have sensations from your heart area down to your abdomen feel deeply calm - the way the core of your torso feels when you feel deeply safe. This signals your brain to become calmer, which relaxes your mind, nervous system, emotions, and body, and draws you towards sleep.
• You receive a second CD, Resting Deeply In Your Body, that deepens the pathway within you to fall asleep even more quickly and easily and to sleep more soundly. It also includes a special application for falling back to sleep more quickly and easily. This recording is acknowledged by many to be the most effective recording in the field of sleep medicine.

Session Three (approximately one week after Session Two)

• You learn four simple method variations to sleep well. When water runs downhill, it follows the path of least resistance. Similarly, in any given moment, you use whichever variation feels best for you. This makes sleep easier. These sleep methods enable you to loosen and release tension and to rest in a place of deep calmness within your body. When your mind rests in your body, it becomes quiet by itself. Your body and mind ease into sleep. These methods are especially useful for ease in getting back to sleep. This also can be used to relieve physical pain.

Session Four (approximately two weeks after Session Three)

• You learn one more variation on the sleep method - the simplest of any of them. Then you learn a simple way to experience a feeling of well being, more happiness, and have a more positive attitude. This method works at the level of body sensations, so it is far different (and much easier) than the power of positive thinking or affirmations. This reduces stress, makes life easier, and helps you sleep more easily.

I also offer treatment nationwide via telephone, which is as effective as in-person treatment, with the only difference being that we are not looking at each other as we are talking. You are sent the CDs and written material in advance of our first session.

If your insomnia is particularly difficult, you may choose to have additional sessions. In all cases, I recommend a follow-up session about two months later. By that time you will have had considerable experience using this process to sleep in the midst of various conditions in your life. From this, we can build on the process.

Click here to download a 12-page pdf paper on the Neurophysiology of the Sleep Easily Method.

If you live outside of the Boulder-Denver metro area, you may be interested in my Sleep Easily product of four CDs and a Sleep Guide. Two of the CDs, Session One and Session Two, replicate private sessions with me. The other two CDs, The Sleep Breath and Resting Deeply In Your Body, are for use at night to help guide you to sleep or back to sleep. The accompanying Sleep Guide provides concise yet essential information to help you consistently sleep well. While these are not as effective as in-person treatment, they are far more effective than any other self-administered non-medication sleep treatment. For more information and to order, visit www.sleepeasily.com. If you wish, you could then continue with Sessions Three and Four via telephone.

To schedule a session, click here.

To contact me, click here.

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