Ep 7: Improve your sleep quality to regulate your emotions with Lauren Ziegler
Episode Summary
In this episode, I have the honor of having Lauren Ziegler, IAYT-certified yoga therapist and a sleep coach to discuss the importance of sleep, and how it impacts our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Lauren also shares her experience with sleep difficulties and how she overcame them through yoga nidra and meditation. She discusses five ways to know whether your sleep quality is poor, how sleep and emotional regulations are closely tied to one another, and offers tips on improving sleep by practicing mindfulness during the day.
Topics discussed in this episode
3:05 - Common sleep hygiene practices and sleep solutions, and how sleep coaching differs
5:26 - Why is insomnia and sleep issues so prevalent nowadays? Correlation between sleep issues and emotional regulations
7:00 - The different kind of stressors that impact our nervous system and sleep
9:40 - Lauren’s own struggle with sleep, and how mindfulness and meditation helped her get better sleep
12:48 - Using busyness to avoid feeling feelings during the day, which can then impact sleep at night
14:15 - Taking brief pauses throughout the day for emotional check-in’s as a way to ease into better sleep
18:14 - What happens when daily stress is not regulated
19:40 - How to know if your sleep needs improvement
29:00 - Elaine recalls a client case study of how improving sleep alone helped the client lose weight
32:14 - Becoming mindful of our own daily habits that can affect our sleep, and choosing wisely
36:11 - Sleep is a passive process; trying too hard backfires
38:50 - Awareness of our lifestyle to set up an ideal sleep window
40:20 - Using CBTi (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia)
41:28 - Ancient practice of yoga nidra to get into deep sleep by shifting into parasympathetic state
42:55 - Sleep retreat with Lauren in Costa Rica
45:46 - Where to find Lauren Ziegler
Episode Transcript
Elaine: Today, I have the honor of having a wonderful friend and colleague of mine, Lauren Ziegler. She's here with us today to talk about sleep and how sleep interferes with our emotions, and how emotion regulation can actually help us sleep better at night. Lauren Ziegler is also an IAYT-certified yoga therapist and a sleep coach who has helped millions of people with sleep over the past 12 years. She helps people that don't sleep well get the one thing holding them back from achieving their best lives — consistent, lush, deep sleep. In her sleep coaching practice, she crafts customized sleep solutions for people with insomnia so you can get back to sleeping again and enjoy your days to the fullest. She is contracted by major sleep apps Colorado State University, and medical and mental health clinics in the US. So welcome, Lauren, and thank you so much for joining us today.
Lauren: Thank you. Elaine, it's a joy to be here.
Elaine: Yeah. And such an honor to have you as my first guest. I thought of you because we do go way back. We met, what, like eight years ago during our yoga therapy training. So where I kind of went more along with the yoga therapy side, now you are focusing more on meditation and sleep coaching as well as yoga nidra. And we'll go a little bit more into that. But, for those of us who are not familiar with what sleep coaching is, can you just briefly tell us exactly what it is that you do?
Lauren: Well, when it comes to sleep issues, I think a lot of people go to the internet and find a plethora of different. Choices for how to approach it from pillows and mattresses. And there's some amazing technology out there from wearables to measure sleep to sleep hygiene, you know, doing the basic things like the blackout blinds, keeping the room cool at night. And these things are good, but they're not enough. When it comes to insomnia, there is something more. Medical doctors have been prescribing sleeping pills. This has changed as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended the first line gold standard treatment to be CBT, which is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. So this goes deeper than sleep hygiene. And then the yoga therapy, the ancient wisdom built into that goes even deeper to help explore what's at the root of these sleep issues. So I find using these various techniques in a sleep coaching context, I can apply them in a personal way for the for the person, which ones are going to really work, what is really going on here. Sleep coaching allows people to find the root cause of the issue. It’s great to work in conjunction with the medical doctor. Maybe it's a biological issue, but the sleep coaching can get at the mind and the body and how those are influencing one's sleep. So it's really a way to get some personalized support and go through a process to improve sleep.
Elaine: That's so important because I feel like a lot of people nowadays struggle with sleep, whether that is falling asleep at night, staying asleep or, um, waking up in the middle of the night and unable to get back to sleep or waking up too early. I hear all kinds of sleep problems nowadays, but why do you think it's becoming more prevalent these days? Like throughout the span of humanity, you would think sleep is something that is so natural. But why do we as human species nowadays struggle with it?
Lauren: Right. It's a huge problem. Sixty percent of people have sleep issues. We all have stress in our lives, and when it's not properly regulated, can lead to sleep issues and mental health issues. So our stress and our emotion impacts our sleep. And there's also evidence that sleep plays a key role in regulating our stress and emotion. So there are a lot of stressors these days. And one theory is that it is ever more necessary to have ways in place to process those emotions and to process that stress. Otherwise it will impact sleep, and it will become a vicious cycle where the next day you are a little bit sleep deprived, and then it becomes harder to regulate emotions and then therefore harder to sleep the next night. So there are a lot of mental and emotional factors, I think, that are going into the sleep issues that many people are having.
Elaine: I'm playing the devil's advocate here too, because some might argue that, well, in ancient times, or when we were all cavemen and cave women, we had stress, too, of being preyed upon. How was that stress different from the stress that we encounter today? Because maybe they had insomnia. Who knew? Maybe they did not record it. Um, but how would you differentiate between those two stressors, the stress we face today versus the stress encountered by cave people.
Lauren: Well, I think a major difference is that our lifestyle and our cultural pressures and norms and standards. So if we think back to the cave people, let's just say somebody was chased by a tiger, and then they went into a sympathetic fight or flight stress response where the body shuts down. A lot of the systems aren't online because it's all about survival in that moment. And then the cave person reaches safety and then what do they do? They go back to their cave and they sleep, and then their body regulates, and then they wake up and then they go back out into the day. But we don't do that in our modern day, you know, we don't have it built in where we can let ourselves activate our parasympathetic nervous system and then go forth into the rest of the day. We just keep going, don't we?
Elaine: Right. Especially with just 24 hour news cycles or having a smartphone device in our hand, it's almost like we're constantly pinged by that stress hormone. So. It sounds like there is a lot more in terms of stressors nowadays, mental and emotionally, that get in the ways of sleeping. How would you, in your practice, help a client regulate? Or I guess in your words, how how do our mental and emotional states affect our sleep?
Lauren: Well, for me, I used to do my day in a kind of fight or flight state. I didn't really realize the extent to which I was doing that. It was just normal. It was just the way I was operating. But I would live in this sort of go, go, go state. Even when I was relaxing, because of being in physical pain, having some underlying emotional pain and all kinds of intrusive thoughts. So it just was that way. It was the way it was, and I was doing my best during the day. Just keeping on, keeping on. And then night time would come and I would, you know, go about my night, maybe end up watching something on Netflix. And then there would be that moment like, okay, Lauren, you need to go to bed. It's time to go to sleep now. So I would close my eyes and then whoosh! Emotions were there. Grief. Dissatisfaction. Longing for something different. Overwhelm. And I couldn't sleep. And I wished that I could just bypass that moment of feeling my feelings and just get into sleep. But there is that getting real moment that we have with ourselves when we close our eyes. I think no matter how well we were able to hold it together during the day. And I believe that the more we unknowingly try to skip that part, we'll. We'll do things like deprive ourselves from sleep by watching something distracting, doing something else, avoiding that moment. Or we struggle with sleep and lie there and cannot get to sleep because we're trying to force sleep to happen. And it doesn't happen that way. Sleep is a passive process. You can probably relate to that struggle from time to time. And then what happens the next day is your insufficient sleep that night. And that whole struggle leads to more intense negative emotions, which can lead to even more persistent negative mood. So it it exaggerates it. I found that being able to handle that moment of closing my eyes and being with whatever it is that I discover, but also doing things throughout the day so that it's not just this whopping great shift from the sympathetic system to the parasympathetic system, which is required to activate sleep. And we can't just flip a switch. It doesn't work that way. We really need a process to activate the parasympathetic system so that we can let sleep happen.
Elaine: Thank you for sharing that. I have so many thoughts on that. But first of all, it sounds like what you're saying and alluding to is that a lot of us use our busyness during the day to avoid feeling our feelings, and correct me if I'm wrong: We use busyness to cover up having to face some of the harder feelings that we have that we try to suppress. And I know personally, for one, I definitely use busyness, my work, or even little things like errands and tasks to procrastinate on having to deal with these emotions that then lurk when the lights go out. Then you're by yourself with your own thoughts. And that could be very scary for a lot of people. And that seems to be what's keeping them at night.
Lauren: Yeah. And I also want to say it's like it's not our fault. I don't think we're doing this on purpose. We can take the power and learn ways to be more in tune throughout the day. But I just think that, a lot of the time it's it's like, well, I don't have time to feel that feeling right now. I have my work. I have my, my parenting that I have to do and whatever it is,. It feels like there =isn't time or we don't carve out the time to do it, but it's hopefully what we can inspire today is that there are really brief ways to do it, to check in throughout the day. It doesn't take much. But yeah, I don't think that we're suppressing on purpose all the time. It's just happening, you know?
Elaine: Yeah. There are a lot of simulations and demands of the world that keep us on our toes, for sure. The little pauses and checking in throughout the day, that sounds like something I also talk often about with my clients of having these self nurturing moments for themselves, kind of reclaiming little time back so that they don't feel like they're constantly jumping from one task to the next, or feeling like they're completely out of control of how their day goes, and they're just swept up by the demands of the world around them. So instead of feeling swept up, reclaiming little moments, even if it's 30s or one minute to really just check in with themselves and genuinely ask how they are and if there's anything that they need to do to support their bodies at that moment.
Lauren: Yes. Brilliant. That's huge. When you do check in like that with yourself and you see what you find. Here are some things to maybe think about to to notice. How you feel when you don't get quality sleep. So when you check in with your emotions and you do those ways that Elaine recommends, and and then how can you tell that you might be having insufficient sleep or that you might be sleep deprived?
Lauren: So sleep deprivation can make us more reactive. More reactive, especially to negative emotions. And it can impair emotional regulation. So impair. That's a key word here I think because it's not about let me just try to really be a good person. Let me use my willpower and be really patient here. I know if I stay calm, I can get through this. I can think this through our emotional regulation. Networks in the brain are impaired. They have gone haywire. So as much discipline and willpower as we have, our emotional regulation capacity is down. It's just down and we're working against that. So emotional regulation is the ability to moderate our emotions and our mood. And reduce the intensity of negative experiences. So if you have a check in, you close your eyes and you realize, look, I'm having these negative emotions. And you're trying to force yourself to think positively. There's more going on there than just deciding I'm going to not be thinking this way or feeling so out of control. Your brain is affected by the insufficient sleep. So there's a bidirectional relationship between emotion and sleep. Sleep seems important for restoring daily function, whereas deprivation makes us more emotionally sensitive. And activated by stressful stimuli and events. So sleep is essential to our ability to cope with emotional stress in our everyday life. So if you're trying to cope, but you are having insufficient sleep. It's a very difficult struggle when our daily stress is not regulated. That's why it's so great that you're recommending these these methods. And I think we can all benefit by having those listening check ins more. When daily stress is not regulated, it may result in sleep disturbance. And then not only does emotion impact sleep, but there's also evidence that sleep plays a key role in regulating emotion. So waking up after a night of insufficient sleep, if you didn't get enough sleep or you've been chronically getting insufficient sleep. Oh, it feels like you're emerging from a fog. You know that feeling like the world around seems muted. There's a persistent kind of gnawing exhaustion that makes everything a chore. You're on edge. Patience is thin. Small inconveniences that you would normally brush off now feel insurmountable. And it triggers irritation, frustration. And there's that sense of detachment again, like you're looking through a fog or like you're watching the day happen from behind a really thick piece of glass, unable to fully engage or fully find the joy in the little things. And then this weariness and this detachment amplifies feelings like helplessness, sadness.
Lauren: Here are five ways that research shows that you could know if your sleep needs improvement. More impulsivity. So you're reacting to negative stimuli. Again, as much as you want to try to control your reactions and be your best self, you're still working against this effect in the brain and you're reacting to negative stimuli. Such as sounds, conflicts in relationship. You feel more sensitive to stress and anxiety and more irritable. Another piece is reduced immune function. You might be more susceptible to infections and illness, getting sick more often or experiencing more discomfort physically. More aches. More fatigue. Malaise. And then third, difficulty concentrating. Feeling fatigue. And you may just be used to feeling this way. So really getting to know how your sleep might be sufficient or might be insufficient. And looking at it with beginner's eyes, almost like this new like what is what is happening? Because we may just be used to this feeling of fatigue. Studies show that chronic, insufficient sleep. We get used to it and we underestimate the extent to which we are impacted.
Elaine: Right,I was going to say that some people are like, I'm fine with five hours of sleep. And it could just be they're desensitized to sleep deprivation at this point, because they've spent years and years being in a sleep deprived state, and they don't know anymore what their optimal functions can be.
Lauren: Right. We just get used to the way it is. Yeah. It was a really interesting study. They actually had people perform some tests in a sleep lab where they systematically sleep deprived people, and then had them take a simple test. And the people reported how they felt and how they thought they would do on the test to be much higher than what they actually performed. They had felt like they were able to perform cognitive functions, simple math stuff, like in a in a good way. But then their performance was actually much, much worse than what they had thought it would be, what they expected it would be. So in other words, we just get used to the way it is. Yeah. And then judgment is impaired. This is the fourth thing. And you find that your willpower is low. In my experience, that can lead to being hard on ourselves and other things that impact our stress even more. But you do things more impulsively without taking time to think things through. And again, this is just what's happening in your brain. This is not any fault. It's just your judgment is impaired from insufficient sleep. In fact, they've shown that if we're awake for more than 18 hours, the impairment that we have is equal to a blood alcohol level of 0.05, which is like having three drinks in a couple of hours.
Elaine: Right. And now I'm thinking maybe they should have signs that says don't skip sleep and drive or something like that.
Lauren: Yes! If your impairment level is the same as having three drinks that's dangerous. And yet we we expect ourselves to pull it together and have this willpower and have this control. But our executive functioning is impaired. Our prefrontal cortex in the in the way that we filter through our decisions and our actions and our mobility. Yeah, impaired to that extent. And yet we're still trying to function normally and maybe not aware of the extent of what we're really working up against. So it's hard.
Elaine: I'm also thinking about doctors and nurses that have these long shifts, and we literally have our lives in their hands. But how much sleep are they actually getting? And are they making the right decisions and functioning optimally all the time now that now they know this fact that how impaired our decision making becomes when we are sleep deprived?
Lauren: Right, exactly. I've been really passionately studying about that recently. I'm involved in the medical field with my sleep coaching work and the system has been always that way. You know, think of like residency and doctors are in there working for 24 or 36 hour long shifts. And it's just always been the way it is. So fortunately, there's a lot more young doctors that are specializing in sleep and hopefully starting to change that into into 12 hour shifts. I've heard some talk about that, but yeah, it's a very unfortunate way. Of course, we would want our medical professionals to be at their best. And yet there's these demands just built in to that career, at least in the beginning. But hopefully this is changing for all of us as we start to value sleep. Sleep has become just something that we don't prioritize anymore. We sacrifice sleep to get everything else done. But then what are we really sacrificing and re sacrificing also? Quality of our efforts and definitely emotional impairment. Memory impairment? Probably. And our health. Right. And then the final way that we can know if our sleep quality could use some improvement is that we have a difficult time making healthy choices, especially when it comes to food. We have heightened cravings for sugar, the hormone that signals hunger increases, and the hormone that signals fullness decreases, leading to weight gain. This is happening on a biological level, you know? So if I got about six hours of sleep, personally, I feel affected. I do, and I noticed that the next day I'm going to want more carbs. I'm going to want to get that croissant instead of cook breakfast. Like there's just a way that our, our brain starts to to want to make different choices. So it's something that's happening on a physical level, and we can have all the, the willpower that we want. But these are, these are things that are happening in our systems when we get insufficient sleep.
Elaine: Right. And not getting enough sleep is another stressor on the body, in the brain as well. And it seems like it just becomes a whole vicious cycle that doesn't end unless we intercept, or unless we become aware of the state that we are in and do something about it. Can you just briefly recap the five things to look out for to know if you're not getting quality sleep.
Lauren: So five ways to know if your sleep quality could use improvement. (1) You have more impulsivity. (2) Reduced immunity. (3) Difficulty concentrating. (4)Judgment is impaired. (5) And difficult time making healthy choices, especially when it comes to food.
Elaine: Wow. So it sounds like a lot of our problems and behavioral issues can be solved by just getting more sleep. Our health problems. Our behavioral problems. And our dietary problems, cravings and the lack of inhibition around less healthy decisions and wanting to go for the high sugar, high carb, high fat foods. Because we are unable to make the right choices.
Lauren: That's why I'm so passionate about sleep. It impacts everything. You know, it's not just one part of our health. There's not one system of our health that is not touched by sleep or insufficient sleep. It impacts everything. So it's really one great place to focus on to make a lot of other improvements and to support us with our other health goals.
Elaine: I always like to tell a story of one of my clients from awhile ago, where he was having trouble losing weight and that was one of his goals — to lose weight. And I looked at his sleep, asked about his sleep, and he wasn't getting much because as we all do, sometimes we watch that next episode and then the next morning before we know it's like 2 a.m. and we have to go to work the next morning. So I worked with him a little bit on getting six and a half to seven hours of sleep, and within a couple of weeks I forgot how many pounds he lost. But he didn't change anything else. But he just dropped pounds just by getting more sleep.
Lauren: Yes. And I think that there are we could talk about the ways to improve sleep quality. I wonder what you recommended in that case for him to start to value his sleep. Was it setting a sleep window? Like, here's where I go to bed, and here's where I wake up, and I'm trying to stick to that as much as possible. Um, yeah, I'm curious about that. Was it putting the priority on sleep, or was it also helping with the actual falling asleep?
Elaine: It was mostly putting the priority on sleep, um, because we had tried looking at his diet. And he was working with a nutritionist at that time as well and wasn't working in terms of getting to his goal weight. So just working backwards from when he had to wake up for work and getting seven hours of sleep. What time would that be for you to go to bed? And it wasn't immediately say, let's go to bed by 11. We kind of nudged it earlier by about half an hour each day or every couple of days until we're getting as close to, let's say, 11 p.m. as much as possible if he needed to wake up at 6 a.m.. And yeah, it it worked in terms of just moving the clock a little bit forward each day. So it didn't feel like such a drastic change.
Lauren: Nice.
Elaine: I'm curious if you have any other ways in terms of improving quality to sleep because so many people suffer from that. Not just biologically but also behaviorally. Like I said, just watching that next Netflix episode and binge watching our favorite show or scrolling on Instagram, which I'm also guilty of every now and then. And all of a sudden it was way past my bedtime, right?
Lauren: Yeah. I think these, in whatever way we all do that we kind of push into our our bedtime and for various reasons. I love the story about that client that you shared by helping him just slowly work back and can be just so helpful to look at our sleep. I think the goal should really be not perfection but progress. And so just starting to notice what is the impact when I watch the Netflix shows until 2 a.m. versus if I were to turn it off at midnight. Like, what is the impact the next day? And just getting a real sense of how do I feel and what's it like? And then, you know, or for example, alcohol is something a lot of people enjoy and maybe have a glass of wine at night. And it has been shown that alcohol affects sleep. I've seen that in my own personal practice of experimenting with with it mindfully. So maybe you just start to notice, well, when I do this, this is how I sleep. So for me, when I have a drink, I know that I will it will affect my sleep and I'm just not going to sleep great that night. I'm going to be more tired the next day. Okay, I know that. And still sometimes I'll choose, you know, it's like a celebration or, you know, I'm having a dinner party and these people are here, and they brought this nice wine like. And I just know, like, okay, I'm going to partake, but I know it will affect my sleep tonight and I'll feel more tired tomorrow. Okay. That's fine. I'm aware. But then I just think starting to notice how what we do affects our sleep, then we can choose and and that the goal should be progress and not perfection.
Elaine: I love that. Being aware of your choices and what the consequences of those choices are to help you make better decisions. And it's not to say that we have to be very strict about our schedule, but just knowing why we're choosing what we're doing and knowing the consequences and just go for it.
Lauren: Right. So in this way, knowledge is power. I mean, education about sleep, it's pretty prevalent these days, which is great. We can learn about how important sleep is for the brain and body. And that education, I think, can be fuel for our making good choices. And then there's that level of listening in, like you talk about to our own what is impacting us and our own way of going about sleep and getting that educational information to help inform our decisions moving forward. But simply noticing and maybe experimenting a little. Sometimes people use a sleep log or a sleep diary to note these different factors. When I stayed up this late or when I ate this or when this event happened, here's how my sleep was. And you can start to make some draw some correlations there. But starting to maybe just notice these things and also remember how much of a priority sleep is that. Yeah. So sometimes I'll do it too. I'll stay up late watching something. I mean late for me is like 11, but I'll push past my bedtime sometimes and I'll just know that that's what I'm doing. And I'll try to look at why am I doing that? Um, but it's going to impact my sleep, you know? And. I think just having the sense of that, that's important. And sometimes that's enough to help me make a good decision. I'm going to just turn it off right now, or I'm not even going to watch something tonight because I am really valuing the sleep tonight. That being said, sleep is a process that is passive. So there's something called sleep effort. So if I know we have to be careful because if I know that sleep is a priority and it's really important and I have an important business meeting the next morning, I'm going to really try to get good sleep. But if I try to get good sleep, if I take all these steps. I take a bath and then the wind down process, which can be essential and very helpful. But if in my mind I'm doing it to try to sleep, and then I get in bed and I'm like, okay, I'm going to try to sleep. Now that actually works against us because we can't force it. Like, it has to just be this passive process. We have to let go. We have to let it happen. So I think the way in which we go about our behavior leading up to sleep is, is important too. So keeping it as a priority. But then also, um, walking that fine line of like, okay, it's okay, whatever happens if I fall asleep in five minutes, or if I fall asleep in 45 minutes or even two hours, I will live. You know, just knowing that like it's okay. And that mindset in and of itself, I think, can be really important in the process of getting to bed.
Elaine: That is huge because I definitely have those days or those nights where I know I have to wake up early, and that pressure of having to wake up early makes me go, I need to go to sleep now. I need to go sleep now. I can't, I need to go to sleep now, and then I end up not sleeping well because of the stress of needing to get to bed and needing to get quality sleep. So I know what you mean in terms of it being a passive process, but at the same time it is also so difficult, I believe, if especially if you've had weeks, months or even years of not being able to sleep. So what I'm hearing is knowledge around sleep is important. Having check ins with yourself during the day also is important to keep our minds from reeling into that state of busyness and stress, to keep our emotions regulated, and thirdly, awareness of our actions and choices around sleep. Is also an important aspect of getting quality sleep. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Lauren: Yeah, to expand on the awareness piece. I think just looking in a really practical sense, looking at our sleep schedule and your sleep schedule, your sleep routine, your work routine, your whole life and getting a sense of what is my sleep window, I think would be a great first step with that. Like, what is the window? The ideal window? And though it won't always happen that way, what is what is my ideal window? So like. 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. or whatever. You know, you set your window of sleep opportunity. And this is the time that ideally, when we talk about prioritizing and valuing sleep, that would be protecting that sleep window as much as possible. So consistency has been shown to be really key. And so getting that consistent even on the weekends as much as possible within that sleep window. And if that's not happening for you because there are other factors that are at play, you know, it's difficult for you to get that sleep within that window because of insomnia. Then there's more that we can do. There's actually there's more than you think that you can do about your sleep. And so sleep coaching can really come in there where you have somebody look at your sleep schedule with you, decide what that sleep window is together, and then use different, um, ways. Like one of those ways that I use in my practice is CBTi, which is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. And there are some really useful protocols that you can kind of pick and choose in the context of sleep coaching. They can help decide which ones would help you the most, and then apply those and then get some data like experiment your personal subjective reports, sleep diary, sleep journals. How is this working? And there are there are really powerful protocols within that that lean towards the behavioral side of things. They also it's it is beyond sleep hygiene, but it is the behavioral sleep patterns as well as untangling the mental, um, thinking patterns around sleep. So that's a huge thing that gets in the way of sleep is the way that we're thinking about sleep. Overall, which I briefly mentioned. The way that we think about sleep, the way that we perceive our sleep, and what's actually happening in our minds in those moments is a big piece. So CBTi can get at those factors. And then there's the ancient practice of yogic sleep called yoga nidra, which excels in helping people access the state of deep sleep where their brainwaves are going really, really slow and they're experiencing rest. It is really a effective way at helping us train our bodies to relax and to shift into the parasympathetic system and then start to allow sleep to happen. So there in my sleep coaching, I combine those methods of practice with that ancient technique, as well as working with the mind and the behavior through specific CBTi protocols. CBTi is really useful. It's not for everybody though, so that's when sleep coaching can be so great is to get a way to apply it. You can do CBTi on your own. You could do it in a group context. You could do it on free apps that exist. And you can apply these principles to see if they start to improve your sleep. Sleep coaching is a way to get handholding through that process, and to really understand which ones are going to make the most impact for you in which to do.
Elaine: Sounds like a very well-rounded, holistic approach that you offer. There's a knowledge base as awareness. There's practice and experiential piece to it that is so valuable. So. Thank you for doing what you do. And I know there's a special retreat coming up as well. Can you tell us more about that? A retreat, all about sleep. How great is that?
Lauren: I mean, a sleep retreat. Can you believe it? I actually went to the retreat center in Costa Rica. It's this perfect location. So tranquil. It's like zoom. Just so relaxed. I just felt like my whole system was quiet when I walked into this space. And I made a joke, like, we're doing a sleep retreat here, so we're just going to sleep the whole time. You probably won't even see us, right? That would be great, right? We just go and we sleep for a week. You just catch up. But there is actually a structure to the retreat where I plan to introduce these concepts through a couple of workshops on the behavioral CBT stuff that I've been talking about. And then we do a lot of practice. We do a lot of spinal decompression, restorative release practice, do a lot of the that ancient sleep meditation practice, yoga nidra. There is some sound healing. And it's all in this place where. So one of the aspects I'm really excited about is the environment in Costa Rica. There's a lot of brightness and sound early in the morning in the jungle, and then when things get quiet at night, it gets dark and there's not much going on and it's consistent around 530 sunrise, 530 sunset all year round. So it's been a place I've found where people can. Um, recalibrate their circadian clock with relatively little effort. Just being in this environment and experiencing community healthy food practices and all of the healthy sleep components. So that is coming up February 16th through 23rd of 2025, which is next year. So next February, I'm going to be bringing some people to explore this magical place that's in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, where there are parrots and howler monkeys, and we'll just get out into the waterfalls on indigenous land and explore some gentle river kayaking. It's something I'm very much looking forward to.
Elaine: That sounds so amazing. I'm going to try my hardest to be there for the sleep retreat, and I'm sure I will. I would really appreciate it because now being a new mom, you know sleep is something that is very valuable now, but comes in fewer, fewer opportunities. So I'm sure I would love to have that sleep retreat and just to rejuvenate there and Costa Rica. I've never been, but it sounds just amazing. So where can people find you online or elsewhere, and where can people learn more about your sleep retreat?
Lauren: A good place to go would be my website if you want to learn more, it's laurenziegler.com. And there you can find the sleep retreat information. And you can also take a look at the sleep coaching work and set up a consultation if you want to learn more, if that's for you. So that's just a good place to go. You could also follow me on Instagram @laurenthesleepguide, or YouTube @sleepguide.
Elaine: Yes, and all your meditations and yoga nidra on YouTube are amazing.
Lauren: Oh, thanks. Yeah, I've been creating some variety of content there, and sometimes longer ones to help people with the process of falling asleep, so I really find a lot of joy and purpose in helping people relax and relieve stress and let go and get the rest that they need. So it's it's truly a joy. And thank you again for having me here to talk about this.
Elaine: Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining me today, Lauren. And it's been very insightful in terms of the all aspects in the arena, sleep has in terms of the impact on our lives. And I'm sure after listening to this, everyone will view their sleep and their idea or priority around sleep a little differently. I hope so, so thank you again everyone for listening to this episode on sleep with Lauren, and be sure to check out our next episode, episode eight for a Yoga Nidra practice offered by a very dear Lauren. And that is all for us today. And until next time, I encourage you to continue to listen in to your body's wisdom and to your very own self.
About
Lauren Ziegler is a C-IAYT Yoga Therapist and Sleep coach who has helped millions of people with sleep over the past 12 years. She helps people that don’t sleep well get the one thing holding them back from achieving their best lives: consistent, lush, deep, sleep. In her Sleep Coaching practice, she crafts customized sleep solutions for people with insomnia, so you can get back to sleeping again and enjoy your days to the fullest. She is contracted by major sleep apps, Colorado State University, and medical and mental health clinics in the U.S.
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Elaine Oyang is an IAYT-certified yoga therapist and a self-nurture advocate. Throughout her 12+ year of teaching yoga in studios and private practice, she works to help others restore balance in their bodies from their over-busy lives. She's worked many years in private practice to help clients through their journeys of chronic pain, chronic illness, anxiety, insomnia, and loss of sense of self. With her podcast, Sacred Listening, Elaine shares with a wider audience on her personal experience, and that of her clients', on how to reclaim self-care and self-love.
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This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Information contained in this episode is not to be replaced with medical advice.