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#HURDLEMOMENT: How To Use Meditation for Better Sleep · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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Speaker 1: Through the practice of meditation. My frims were really training
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Speaker 1: the mind to bring you a kind awareness to not
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Speaker 1: only how we're feeling, but also to help us take
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Speaker 1: a little bit of a different perspective to some of
0:14
Speaker 1: these situations that might be arising. And that was one
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Speaker 1: of the biggest things that I noticed pretty straight away actually,
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Speaker 1: was that, Gosh, it's really how I'm responding to the
0:26
Speaker 1: stress in my life that's causing the issues. So how
0:29
Speaker 1: can I perhaps change the conversation.
0:46
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily Avadi or you are listening to another
0:49
Speaker 2: installment of Hurdle Moment from Hurdle. We've got a lot
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Speaker 2: of new listeners around these parts this week after the
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Speaker 2: unbelievable response to our Alex silver Fagan's episode this Monday,
1:03
Speaker 2: as well as my guest appearance on the Girlfriends and
1:06
Speaker 2: Business podcast with my dear friend Brittany Driscoll, co created
1:10
Speaker 2: by Ali Webb and Lorie Harder. So grateful to all
1:14
Speaker 2: three of you for having me as your first guest.
1:17
Speaker 2: I'll put the link to that in the show notes.
1:19
Speaker 2: But lots of new listeners over here, so let me
1:22
Speaker 2: be the first to tell you welcome. I'm grateful for
1:26
Speaker 2: your ear and I promise to bring you thought provoking,
1:30
Speaker 2: helpful conversations about topics that will help you live healthier, happier,
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Speaker 2: more motivated lives. Over here on Hurdle Moment Wednesdays, I
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Speaker 2: often bring in experts to unpack different topics, and today
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Speaker 2: I'm diving into the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for
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Speaker 2: sleep with Eve Lewis Prieto. She's the director of Meditation
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Speaker 2: and a mindfulness teacher at Headspace, and it's a perfect
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Speaker 2: time for us to connect on this topic as we
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Speaker 2: head into a global stress awareness a month, and in
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Speaker 2: honor of the Netflix premiere of Headspace's Guide to Sleep,
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Speaker 2: which actually comes out today and Eve is narrating the series.
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Speaker 2: In today's episode, Eve offers up her best practice tips
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Speaker 2: on how to integrate meditation into your routine for better sleep.
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Speaker 3: We talk about it all.
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Speaker 2: I have been, like many of you, frustrated about both
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Speaker 2: not being able to get to sleep and waking up
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Speaker 2: in the middle of the night, and we unpack how
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Speaker 2: the practice can help with both of those things. She
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Speaker 2: also talks about what time of day could be best
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Speaker 2: to implement meditation into your routine and sheds some light
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Speaker 2: on a question I had which is, are there different
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Speaker 2: types of meditation that you should be doing to benefit
2:42
Speaker 2: different areas of your life, whether it be stress reduction
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Speaker 2: and anxiety to sleep, or perhaps work life balance. You
2:50
Speaker 2: get the idea. A lot of different issues that many
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Speaker 2: of us struggle with, and Eve talks to us about
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Speaker 2: how meditation can be beneficial to deal with them all.
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Speaker 2: I also have a fun announcement. I have a new
3:02
Speaker 2: hurdle session on the horizon for those of you who
3:06
Speaker 2: may be new to the feed Hurdle sessions our digital
3:09
Speaker 2: workshops that I offer to the hurdle community. At the
3:13
Speaker 2: beginning of the year, we did many a hurdle session
3:16
Speaker 2: on goal setting, and come May eleventh, at seven pm Eastern,
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Speaker 2: I'm going to be offering a twenty twenty one mid
3:23
Speaker 2: year reset hurdle session. You know why, because I believe
3:27
Speaker 2: that it's time for a touch base. We're going to
3:29
Speaker 2: get together and unpack and regroup on your biggest twenty
3:32
Speaker 2: twenty one goals. Zero judgment. Things happen, life happens right now.
3:38
Speaker 2: You have the opportunity to get back on track, to
3:41
Speaker 2: go where you want to go, to get done what
3:43
Speaker 2: you want to get done. And I'm going to talk
3:45
Speaker 2: you through the exact steps on how to get there.
3:49
Speaker 2: Link to snag your ticket. Space is limited to a
3:52
Speaker 2: small group session is in the show notes. As always,
3:57
Speaker 2: make sure you're following along with Hurdle at Hurdle Podcast.
4:00
Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a body and with that, let's
4:04
Speaker 2: get to hurdling.
4:13
Speaker 3: Today.
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Speaker 2: I'm sitting down with Eve Lewis Prietoshio's the director of
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Speaker 2: meditation and a mindfulness teacher at Headspace.
4:21
Speaker 1: How are you today, Hi, Emily, I'm really good.
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Speaker 3: Thank you.
4:25
Speaker 1: It's so nice to be speaking with you today.
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Speaker 2: It's so nice to be speaking with you. I feel
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Speaker 2: instantly calmer. I'm sure that people tell you that all
4:35
Speaker 2: of the time.
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Speaker 3: You know, I'm getting used to that.
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Speaker 1: It's funny when people say you sent me to sleep
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Speaker 1: last night, like, oh good, glad, I could be upset.
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Speaker 3: I'm glad. I'm glad I can help.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are chatting today about meditation and sleep. Now,
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Speaker 2: before we get into some of the nitty gritty when
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Speaker 2: it comes to that, talk to me a little bit
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Speaker 2: about your journey with meditation and how you arrived at Headspace.
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Speaker 1: I joined when I think we just launched the first
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Speaker 1: version of our app, Prior to that, Andy had been
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Speaker 1: leading meditation and mindfulness events, so it took a little
5:22
Speaker 1: bit of convincing by rich is In, our founder to
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Speaker 1: make it digital. But my journey into meditation really began
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Speaker 1: because I was really experiencing a lot of stress and
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Speaker 1: anxiety in my life.
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Speaker 3: I used to work in advertising.
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Speaker 1: So pretty full on existence, you know, burning the can
5:42
Speaker 1: that both ends. And I'd also been experiencing a lot
5:47
Speaker 1: of stress within my family. My dad hadn't been very
5:51
Speaker 1: well for a number of years, and I was in
5:54
Speaker 1: a lot of debt after a bad relationship. So I
5:57
Speaker 1: was just not in a very good place, and it
6:00
Speaker 1: was having a significant impact on my sleep. Actually, I
6:04
Speaker 1: was finding it really really hard to get to sleep,
6:07
Speaker 1: and then when I finally drifted off, I would often
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Speaker 1: wake up at least two to three times in the night,
6:14
Speaker 1: and you know, over the course of a few months,
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Speaker 1: even maybe beyond that, it was really took a toll
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Speaker 1: on my health. I lost a lot of weight, I
6:22
Speaker 1: was really irritable to be around, generally just not in
6:25
Speaker 1: good company. And one day I actually woke up with
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Speaker 1: a rash on my neck, my hands, my skin, and
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Speaker 1: it was quite literally my body's way of saying stop.
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Speaker 3: The stress was really showing up very physically.
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Speaker 1: And around the same time, a very good friend of
6:43
Speaker 1: mine sent me an article actually about headspace. It was
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Speaker 1: one of our first big print pieces in The Guardian
6:52
Speaker 1: in the UK, and at first I was pretty dismissive.
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Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I definitely associated or thought that meditation
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Speaker 1: was very spiritual and religious, and I was like, this
7:05
Speaker 1: is I'm good, thanks, I'll figure this out. Anyway, I
7:09
Speaker 1: wasn't good, and I continued to feel worse, and she
7:13
Speaker 1: nudged me again as she had actually been trying headspace
7:18
Speaker 1: and anyway, she convinced me, and I'll never forget my
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Speaker 1: first ever ten minute session with Andy, and I remember thinking,
7:28
Speaker 1: you know, wow, there is an alternative to feeling what
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Speaker 1: I'm feeling right now. And it's not that my stress
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Speaker 1: and anxiety and all the problems that I was experiencing
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Speaker 1: my life just suddenly disappeared, you know, absolutely not. But
7:43
Speaker 1: in learning to understand my own mind and learning to
7:46
Speaker 1: understand my you know, reactions to stressful events and situations,
7:52
Speaker 1: I was able to bring in a greater awareness of
7:55
Speaker 1: you know, how I was behaving around them, how it
7:58
Speaker 1: was impacting you know, my body, my health, and yeah,
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Speaker 1: I was kind of hooked from there really, and like
8:06
Speaker 1: everyone I've had, you know, in my early days of
8:09
Speaker 1: meditating stops and starts. You know, I meditated pretty consistently
8:14
Speaker 1: for a few months and I was like, right, I'm
8:15
Speaker 1: good now, I don't need it anymore. And you know,
8:19
Speaker 1: then unfortunately those sort of habitual patterns come back in.
8:22
Speaker 3: And it's called a practice for a.
8:25
Speaker 1: Reason because you need to kind of continue practicing it.
8:28
Speaker 3: And it was through a.
8:32
Speaker 1: You know, a bit of an auspicious coincidence, having a
8:34
Speaker 1: conversation with a very good friend of mine, I decided
8:38
Speaker 1: to quit working and advertising and I was going to
8:40
Speaker 1: train as a pilates teacher. Actually, I'd always been really
8:44
Speaker 1: into movement and fitness, and I just happened to be
8:50
Speaker 1: updating how what I was going to do, and I said,
8:53
Speaker 1: but you know, I've I'd love to work with someone
8:55
Speaker 1: like Headspace. You know, it's helped me so much. And
8:58
Speaker 1: it turns out she used to work with Rich. So
9:01
Speaker 1: I never trained as a pilaritus teacher and instead I
9:04
Speaker 1: ended up training as a meditation teacher.
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Speaker 2: Wow, talk about a really special journey. I mean, I
9:09
Speaker 2: think a lot of people can definitely relate when you
9:12
Speaker 2: talk about your hesitancy to get into meditation. There's certainly
9:17
Speaker 2: a hurdle that goes hand in hand with that experience.
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Speaker 2: Do you have any other recommendations for those that feel
9:24
Speaker 2: like you did, for those that just are of the
9:26
Speaker 2: mindset like I just don't know if this is for me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll definitely speak on you know, personal experience.
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Speaker 1: I think when you know, well, there's a couple of things.
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Speaker 1: There's the associations that we have around the practice like
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Speaker 1: meditation because of its roots in you know, it's spiritual
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Speaker 1: roots in Buddhism, and it can be viewed and it
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Speaker 1: is viewed as a spiritual practice and the religious practice
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Speaker 1: for many, many millions of people all over the world.
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Speaker 1: But really about talking about training the mind, much like
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Speaker 1: we train our body and exercise, how we think about
9:59
Speaker 1: trying to think about how we eat, you know, the
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Speaker 1: mind is it needs that same care and attention. And
10:06
Speaker 1: so I would say to anyone who is a little
10:08
Speaker 1: on the fence trying it out, if you've realized it's
10:12
Speaker 1: not for you, then at least you've tried it. Because
10:14
Speaker 1: I was so dismissive of it and I immediately sort
10:17
Speaker 1: of assumed it wouldn't really work. Even just that process
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Speaker 1: itself meant that I was really curious to learn more.
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Speaker 1: And for so many of us, you know, sitting with
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Speaker 1: the mind, we've never really done that before. So it's
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Speaker 1: this new relationship that you're developing kind of with yourself.
10:36
Speaker 1: I was talking about this recently about dismissing things we've
10:39
Speaker 1: never tried, and you know, we do it quite often
10:42
Speaker 1: with things like say, your food we've never eaten. Are like, oh,
10:44
Speaker 1: I don't like that. It's like, boy, have you ever
10:47
Speaker 1: tried it? And you're like, no, no, no, but I
10:49
Speaker 1: don't like it because we put this like perception and
10:51
Speaker 1: this association with things that we think will write and
10:55
Speaker 1: then interestingly, when we try them, we're like, oh, this
10:57
Speaker 1: isn't quite what I thought. So I think curiosity is
11:02
Speaker 1: a really good word actually, just being curious around you know,
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Speaker 1: what is how you're feeling right now, and there could
11:09
Speaker 1: be some alternatives to try, things like practices and meditation, mindfulness,
11:13
Speaker 1: but also just bringing a greater awareness into how you're feeling.
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Speaker 2: Completely on the vibe of this may be something that
11:22
Speaker 2: I don't like, but I'm gonna try it anyway. I
11:25
Speaker 2: was actually with a friend last night and we had
11:28
Speaker 2: suggested to a server at the restaurant that we were
11:32
Speaker 2: at that she could just pick some of their most
11:34
Speaker 2: popular small plates to send to the table, and she
11:38
Speaker 2: brought us over about ten minutes later a set of
11:40
Speaker 2: silverware that was specifically for wait for it, s cargo.
11:44
Speaker 2: And my friend looks at me and he's like, oh,
11:48
Speaker 2: those are for you. And so when they show up,
11:51
Speaker 2: I was like, well, you have to try it if
11:53
Speaker 2: they're here, and he tried it and he was like, yep,
11:54
Speaker 2: that's delicious. So totally different, but very much of that
12:00
Speaker 2: well this isn't going to be for me mentality. I'm
12:03
Speaker 2: sure that the vegans and the vegetarians listening to that
12:06
Speaker 2: are like, oh no, thank you.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's amazing how much that I mean, food
12:11
Speaker 1: is a really good example, but we do it in
12:13
Speaker 1: so many different ways, kind of almost without realizing whether,
12:18
Speaker 1: and often you know, it can be to do with
12:19
Speaker 1: things that might be helpful towards us, We immediately and
12:22
Speaker 1: I'm talking of my own experience here, you know, be like,
12:25
Speaker 1: well it probably won't work for me, because we're sort
12:29
Speaker 1: of defaulted to assume that doing things for ourselves probably
12:33
Speaker 1: won't work. So you know that's why I said, so
12:37
Speaker 1: I've sent the curiosity and kindness, particularly when we're talking
12:40
Speaker 1: about the mind, is pretty important.
12:43
Speaker 2: So let's bring this around back to what we're here
12:46
Speaker 2: to talk about today, and that is sleep and how
12:49
Speaker 2: meditation can give us a little helping hand in that department.
12:54
Speaker 2: I know you referenced that you had a really rough
12:57
Speaker 2: time at sleeping when you were dealing with some of
12:59
Speaker 2: that chaos in your life. Talk to me about the
13:03
Speaker 2: basics here. I mean, for again, someone who hasn't really
13:07
Speaker 2: implemented meditation when it comes to their sleep for the
13:11
Speaker 2: better miant of it. Where does somebody start and why?
13:14
Speaker 2: Why is meditation and good for our sleep?
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Speaker 3: Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Lots to say here. So I think the first thing
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Speaker 1: is that you know, sleep is universal. You know, we
13:24
Speaker 1: all need to sleep in order to feel generally healthy
13:28
Speaker 1: and happy. You know, when we're not sleeping well and
13:31
Speaker 1: we're not having good night's rest or storative rest, how
13:34
Speaker 1: we show up in the day can be you know,
13:37
Speaker 1: I use my own example, irritable, frustrated, short tempered, and
13:42
Speaker 1: so you know, sleep is in many ways we kind
13:46
Speaker 1: of take it for granted that we sleep and don't
13:49
Speaker 1: really think about it from a you know, sleep is
13:53
Speaker 1: not separate from the day, as the day is not
13:55
Speaker 1: separate from sleep. And I think if we can do things,
13:59
Speaker 1: you know, this is where menation mindfulness.
14:00
Speaker 3: Really comes in.
14:01
Speaker 1: What are the things that we can do in our
14:03
Speaker 1: day That means that when we come to hit the
14:06
Speaker 1: pay so to speak, put the head on the pillow
14:09
Speaker 1: and turn the light out, that we're actually able to
14:13
Speaker 1: wind down and get to sleep, you know, quicker than
14:18
Speaker 1: maybe we would normally otherwise. And you know, it is
14:23
Speaker 1: that that point around what we do in our day
14:26
Speaker 1: really really does impact, you know, when it comes to
14:29
Speaker 1: going to bed. And the way that meditation mindfulness can
14:32
Speaker 1: be such a helpful tool is, you know, particularly when
14:37
Speaker 1: it retains to things like stress and anxiety. You know,
14:40
Speaker 1: stress is designed to keep you awake, like it's our
14:42
Speaker 1: body's physical response to, you know, a challenging or threatening situation,
14:48
Speaker 1: and so we release you know, hormones like adrenaline and cortisol,
14:51
Speaker 1: which are basically designed to keep you in a high
14:54
Speaker 1: state of vigilance. And you know, when it comes to
14:57
Speaker 1: and the perceived threats, you know, in a modern day sense,
15:00
Speaker 1: are work stress, family stress, commitments to do this global pandemics.
15:07
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no end of stressful scenarios that are
15:10
Speaker 1: happening at the moment, and so if we're able to
15:15
Speaker 1: bring a bit more awareness to how we respond to
15:18
Speaker 1: those situations, because often it's not really the event itself,
15:23
Speaker 1: it's what happens afterwards, you know, the ruminating, the storylines
15:28
Speaker 1: that we create in the mind, you know, the what ifs.
15:32
Speaker 1: You know that the stories we tell ourselves basically, you know,
15:35
Speaker 1: either wishing something was going a different way, or you
15:40
Speaker 1: know that self doubt, critical, judgmental voice, I won't be
15:42
Speaker 1: able to do this, I'm not good enough, I don't
15:44
Speaker 1: have enough time. Oh my gosh, you know, everything's so overwhelming.
15:47
Speaker 1: And so you know, through the practice of meditation min
15:50
Speaker 1: from us, we're really training the mind to bring, you know,
15:55
Speaker 1: a kind awareness to not only how we're feeling, but
15:59
Speaker 1: also to help us take a little bit of a
16:02
Speaker 1: different perspective to some of these situations that might be arising.
16:06
Speaker 1: And that was one of the biggest things that I
16:08
Speaker 1: noticed pretty straight away actually, was that, gosh, it's really
16:13
Speaker 1: how I'm responding to the stress in my life. That's
16:16
Speaker 1: causing me issues. So how can I perhaps change the conversation,
16:22
Speaker 1: give a bit more space for not only how I'm feeling,
16:26
Speaker 1: but also what might be a more skillful way, because
16:29
Speaker 1: you know, when we go to bed at night, we
16:31
Speaker 1: don't have the distractions of the day to you know,
16:36
Speaker 1: to keep us occupied, which is why and maybe you've
16:39
Speaker 1: felt this as well. Often it feels like your mind
16:41
Speaker 1: goes in to overdrive and suddenly all the problems that
16:45
Speaker 1: you're thinking about, worrying about, seem sort of tenfold. So
16:51
Speaker 1: if we're able to address some of the stress and
16:53
Speaker 1: anxiety we're feeling in the day, not only we better
16:57
Speaker 1: able to recognize how the body's feel feeling closer to
17:01
Speaker 1: bedtime and noticing that sleepy feeling in the body, but
17:05
Speaker 1: we're more likely going to be able to sort of
17:08
Speaker 1: separate ourselves from the storylines and the worry and anxiety.
17:14
Speaker 1: So I mean, that's how it's.
17:16
Speaker 3: Been for me.
17:18
Speaker 1: You know, some days more stressful than others, and so
17:21
Speaker 1: it's never going to be this perfect situation, But it's
17:26
Speaker 1: more about finding the tools that work for you. And
17:30
Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that you know, people have to go
17:32
Speaker 1: and start an hour long meditation session a day. You
17:35
Speaker 1: can really start small. I think in the early days
17:38
Speaker 1: of starting a meditation practice, it's actually more about consistency,
17:44
Speaker 1: So finding that moment maybe in the morning before the
17:46
Speaker 1: day started, actually when you wake up, because it can
17:49
Speaker 1: help set the tone of the day.
17:58
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Speaker 2: I want to double click on here is the concept
20:27
Speaker 2: that you don't have to be doing this meditation right
20:31
Speaker 2: before bed for it to help your sleep. As you
20:33
Speaker 2: just mentioned here, doing it first thing in the morning
20:36
Speaker 2: can actually be quite beneficial. So from a timing perspective, again,
20:41
Speaker 2: can we just reiterate, is there a quote unquote ideal
20:45
Speaker 2: time of day for someone to add meditation in or
20:48
Speaker 2: is it, as you were saying, just as long as
20:50
Speaker 2: you're doing it consistently that really matters.
20:53
Speaker 1: Yes, the consistency part is really important. I think the
20:57
Speaker 1: ideal time of day. You know, from my own experience,
21:02
Speaker 1: the morning has been more effective for a number of reasons.
21:07
Speaker 1: First of all, you're able, as I said, to try
21:10
Speaker 1: and set the intention, set the tone for the day,
21:13
Speaker 1: and also most importantly reminding yourself of the awareness and
21:18
Speaker 1: compassion to bring into your day. The second one is
21:22
Speaker 1: that often, and we hear this from quite a few
21:25
Speaker 1: of our members at he Spaced, that once they get
21:28
Speaker 1: into their day and the busyness starts and family responsibilities
21:33
Speaker 1: and you know, it can be harder to make that
21:35
Speaker 1: time because we always will often maybe prioritize something else.
21:40
Speaker 1: So I would say experiment. You know, there's no one
21:43
Speaker 1: size bits or experiment.
21:45
Speaker 2: The other thing that I wanted to double click on
21:47
Speaker 2: is this idea that meditation helps us. Of course, as
21:51
Speaker 2: we've talked about here, deal with the mind and manage
21:55
Speaker 2: those thoughts and separate fact from feeling. For those that
21:59
Speaker 2: are interested in meditation specifically for better sleep, are there
22:04
Speaker 2: different types of meditation that you should be doing if
22:07
Speaker 2: that is your main focus or is it all kind
22:10
Speaker 2: of one and the same.
22:11
Speaker 1: That's a really great question, actually, and there are definitely
22:14
Speaker 1: a number of techniques that can be really beneficial, and
22:18
Speaker 1: depending on when you do them, can also have maybe
22:24
Speaker 1: a greater impact on your ability to wind down and
22:28
Speaker 1: switch off for going to beds. I think for a
22:31
Speaker 1: meditation to be done during the day, a technique that
22:35
Speaker 1: can be really really helpful is called the note noting
22:39
Speaker 1: or labeling technique, where essentially you are really building a
22:44
Speaker 1: skill of recognizing when you are distracted. So when you're
22:49
Speaker 1: in a meditation, often, for example, the breath is used
22:53
Speaker 1: as an objective focus, and so when you realize that
22:57
Speaker 1: you're distracted, which happens a lot in meditation, you label
23:03
Speaker 1: and note it whether it was thinking or feeling. And
23:06
Speaker 1: the reason that that is really helpful is it starts
23:09
Speaker 1: to create some awareness around our thought patterns and sort
23:15
Speaker 1: of feelings in the body.
23:17
Speaker 3: And so the point here is.
23:19
Speaker 1: Not about noticing every thought. It's about noticing when you
23:23
Speaker 1: are distracted. So when you're perhaps getting caught up in
23:27
Speaker 1: you know, a story, a pattern of thoughts, and then
23:31
Speaker 1: just bringing it back to the breath. And it doesn't
23:33
Speaker 1: matter how many times you have to thinking, feeling, come
23:36
Speaker 1: back to the breath. That's That's the one that I
23:39
Speaker 1: would say is particularly good in the day for one
23:42
Speaker 1: closer to bedtime. And actually this is one we use
23:45
Speaker 1: a lot in the Heads based Guide to Sleep is
23:48
Speaker 1: visualization and meditation. So it's really designed as a way
23:54
Speaker 1: of winding down and you know, switching off of the body,
24:01
Speaker 1: you know, to really it's designed to help you cultivate
24:04
Speaker 1: that feeling of you know, calm, soothing, spaciousness, which is
24:11
Speaker 1: really great when you're trying to go to bed at night.
24:14
Speaker 1: So I'd say those two, you know, can work really
24:17
Speaker 1: well hands in hand.
24:20
Speaker 2: I love the word spaciousness. I will say that I
24:24
Speaker 2: for sure if I wake up in the middle of
24:27
Speaker 2: the night, I'm talking like that witching hour of like
24:30
Speaker 2: two or three am, after about like ten to fifteen
24:33
Speaker 2: minutes of not being able to just like roll back
24:37
Speaker 2: over and go to sleep. Visualization is one of the
24:40
Speaker 2: first things I go into in that deep breathing and
24:43
Speaker 2: sometimes admittedly turning on headspace just because it's like, Okay,
24:48
Speaker 2: how many ways can I signify to my body that,
24:50
Speaker 2: like I am so ready to go back to bed,
24:54
Speaker 2: and not getting angry or anxious about it, just you know,
24:58
Speaker 2: doing what's within my control, navigate the situation as it
25:01
Speaker 2: arises from me.
25:03
Speaker 1: Yes, and you actually touched on a really a couple
25:06
Speaker 1: of things. Actually, One is deep breathing is a really
25:11
Speaker 1: great way to signal to your body and to your
25:13
Speaker 1: brain that like any perceived threats stress are gone. Helps
25:19
Speaker 1: to hump oxygen and blood and really activates the para
25:23
Speaker 1: sympathetic nervous system. So that's a great great thing to
25:27
Speaker 1: do either before bed orf you wake up in the night.
25:30
Speaker 1: The other thing is if you know, if you do
25:31
Speaker 1: wake up in the night and you cannot roll back
25:34
Speaker 1: over and go to sleep, whether you know, even you know,
25:37
Speaker 1: if you are you know, say, using headspace. One of
25:40
Speaker 1: the things that I learned, actually from one of the
25:42
Speaker 1: researchers we work with the on the show, is actually
25:46
Speaker 1: getting out of bed, not to get up and get
25:48
Speaker 1: on with your day, definitely not, but to maybe go
25:52
Speaker 1: into another room if you can dim the lights, either
25:56
Speaker 1: listening to you know, maybe a wind down exercise or
26:00
Speaker 1: relaxing music, doing a visualization, or maybe even just reading
26:04
Speaker 1: a book or something that's relatively mundane, maybe something out
26:08
Speaker 1: of the newspaper or something as a way of getting
26:11
Speaker 1: yourself ready to get back to sleep again.
26:13
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, do you have any other
26:17
Speaker 2: helpful tips when it comes to meditation and sleep that
26:20
Speaker 2: you think that we should throw into the mix here.
26:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest is,
26:26
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you do have sleep issues
26:29
Speaker 1: and you are, you know, worrying a lot about about sleep,
26:32
Speaker 1: you know, don't worry. You know, you're not alone. I
26:36
Speaker 1: was really surprised to learn that either not being able
26:38
Speaker 1: to get to sleep or waking up the night is
26:41
Speaker 1: really common. But the good news is that there really
26:44
Speaker 1: are some some fantastic tools that you can use, and
26:48
Speaker 1: meditation wipro ones is is really one of them, I
26:51
Speaker 1: think as well. You know, it's really can be really
26:54
Speaker 1: helpful to try not to either sort of think you're
26:58
Speaker 1: failing if you're if you're not being able to get
27:00
Speaker 1: to sleep, or perhaps finding that your mind is really
27:03
Speaker 1: busy when it comes to learning meditation mindfulness, like you're
27:06
Speaker 1: not doing anything wrong. You know, it could just be
27:09
Speaker 1: that for the first time in a really, really long time,
27:11
Speaker 1: you're actually being present with the body and the mind.
27:14
Speaker 1: So be patient, give it some time, and know that
27:18
Speaker 1: everyone's different, so you know, do what works for you
27:23
Speaker 1: and experiment and try out. And you know, both in
27:26
Speaker 1: the Headspace app and with the Headspace Guide to Sleep
27:29
Speaker 1: coming out next week on Netflix, there are a lot
27:32
Speaker 1: of tools and resources, and I talk a lot about
27:34
Speaker 1: the science behind sleep in the show as well, so
27:39
Speaker 1: we have you covered for getting a rest at night's sleep.
27:44
Speaker 2: So many great tips here, and as you just said,
27:47
Speaker 2: it's so important too things one to remember that you're
27:50
Speaker 2: not alone in the struggle. Just like so many of
27:52
Speaker 2: the things that we deal with as a part of
27:55
Speaker 2: our overall wellness snapshot, if you will, there are so
27:58
Speaker 2: many things that we could feel a loan in our frustrations,
28:01
Speaker 2: our struggles, but the fact is that we are certainly not.
28:04
Speaker 2: And then, as you touched on before, just the importance
28:07
Speaker 2: of thinking of meditation as a piece to the puzzle.
28:10
Speaker 2: It is just one thing that you can use in
28:13
Speaker 2: your toolbox to help you get to where you want
28:16
Speaker 2: to be.
28:17
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, And you know it's a practice, it's a journey,
28:21
Speaker 1: so you know, I think just having that sense of
28:24
Speaker 1: kindness and patience with it as well, I know that
28:28
Speaker 1: you're not alone.
28:29
Speaker 3: Eve.
28:30
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time today. How do
28:32
Speaker 2: the hurdlers keep up with you? Where can they find
28:35
Speaker 2: you on social? Where can they find headspace? Give me
28:38
Speaker 2: all the details?
28:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, so probably the best place to find me
28:43
Speaker 1: is on Instagram meditate with Eve. I regularly try and
28:48
Speaker 1: do little mini moments of meditation sessions, maybe two or
28:52
Speaker 1: three minutes, just as a way to drop into your day. Obviously,
28:55
Speaker 1: there's headspace on Instagram across all of the social platforms
29:00
Speaker 1: as well. Uh, and yeah, that would be the best
29:04
Speaker 1: best place to find me.
29:06
Speaker 3: Of course.
29:07
Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast Another
29:10
Speaker 2: Hurdle Conquered.
29:11
Speaker 3: Catch you guys, next time.