I was reflecting on how many people have challenges with sleep and wanted to offer something that may help.

It's called Yoga Nidra (i.e. "Yoga Sleep"). Are you familiar with this?

Basically it's a guided meditation practice that helps you develop the capacity to relax the body and mind in order to sleep better. If you give it a try, you'll see it's a combination of intention-setting, calming breathwork, and a body-scan.

There appears to be an increasing amount of research validating its effects, and I've found it helps me to recover after a poor night of sleep when I do it mid-day the next day.

Recently I was feeling quite low-energy around lunch and noticed anxious thoughts arising about my ability to serve my clients in the afternoon. I set aside 30 minutes to do Yoga Nidra and was totally restored for the 4.5 hours of coaching I had afterwards.

There is also some evidence that this actually helps us fall asleep more easily at night, and stay asleep.

You may appreciate the blend of intention-setting, meditation and breathwork, and I’d like to challenge you to practice this every day for the next two weeks. You could do it in the morning, anytime during the day or before bed—your choice (and you could try different times to find your preference, of course).

If you want more information on Yoga Nidra, this 5-minute clip of neuroscientist Andrew Huberman covers the basic “what" and "why." He also goes much deeper on it (and other sleep-related topics such, as bright light exposure) on this podcast with entrepreneur Kevin Rose.

The Yoga Nidra "script" I like to use is narrated by Jennifer Piercy, who created this phenomenal 10-day Sleep Course (which you may also be interested in) on the Insight Timer meditation app.

Here is her free 22-minute Yoga Nidra script.

Let me know if this peaks your interest, and whether you'd like to take on the challenge of doing 14 days of practice. I'd be interested how this may impact your sleep.

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