Épisodes

  • How Laura found freedom from insomnia by accepting her thoughts — not just her sleepless nights (#71)

    How Laura found freedom from insomnia by accepting her thoughts — not just her sleepless nights (#71)
    Jun 30 2025
    Laura’s insomnia began during one of the happiest times in her life. She tried everything to fix it but nothing worked. The real shift came when she stopped fighting her thoughts and started meeting them with openness and compassion. This is her story of letting go of the struggle and moving forward — with or without sleep. Watch/listen to this episode
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    46 min
  • How Rebecca went from doing everything right and still struggling with sleep to letting go and achieving insomnia freedom (#70)

    How Rebecca went from doing everything right and still struggling with sleep to letting go and achieving insomnia freedom (#70)
    May 29 2025
    Rebecca never struggled with sleep — until 24-hour shifts as a hospital-based midwife changed everything. To protect her patients, she stayed awake through every shift. Eventually, she couldn’t sleep even when she tried. She turned to medication, tracked every detail, followed every rule — but sleep only got harder. It wasn’t until she stopped chasing sleep, and started reconnecting with life, that things began to shift. Today, Rebecca lives fully. She has achieved insomnia freedom. Watch/listen to this episode
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    58 min
  • How Rupsa ended her insomnia struggle by being more open to experiencing insomnia and all the thoughts and feelings that come with it (#69)

    How Rupsa ended her insomnia struggle by being more open to experiencing insomnia and all the thoughts and feelings that come with it (#69)
    May 1 2025
    Sleep was never a problem for Rupsa but after experiencing some professional challenges and moving to a new city, it became a struggle. Although Rupsa found a new job and everything was going well in her life, her struggle with sleep continued. She started to fear each night. Her heart would race. It felt like her mind was working against her. Things started to change when Rupsa realized her mind was actually trying to help her. When she stopped struggling with her thoughts and feelings, when she stopped trying to control sleep, when she practiced accepting what was out of her control, things started to improve. Rupsa now sleeps well and whenever a night of less sleep shows up from time to time, it no longer has any power or influence over her life. Watch/listen to this episode
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    48 min
  • How Tim broke the cycle of sleep anxiety and insomnia by relinquishing control, embracing self-kindness, and building skill in acceptance (#68)

    How Tim broke the cycle of sleep anxiety and insomnia by relinquishing control, embracing self-kindness, and building skill in acceptance (#68)
    Apr 1 2025
    A few bad nights during a stressful period triggered Tim's struggle with insomnia. The more he tried to fix his sleep, the more difficult it became, the more power and influence it had over his life, and the more anxiety he experienced. Tim's transformation began when he realized that trying to control sleep was keeping him stuck and that his response to the fear of not sleeping was a bigger problem than being awake at night. As Tim relinquished control over sleep and was less resistant to experiencing insomnia and all the thoughts and feelings that come with it, insomnia began to lose the stranglehold it once had over his life — and sleep started to show up all by itself. Watch/listen to this episode
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    59 min
  • How Sophie recovered from postpartum insomnia by moving away from trying to control her sleep so she could regain control over her life (#67)

    How Sophie recovered from postpartum insomnia by moving away from trying to control her sleep so she could regain control over her life (#67)
    Mar 1 2025
    Sophie never thought of herself as a great sleeper but when her son was born, sleep became a real struggle. This was expected in the short-term but when things became more difficult over time, Sophie became increasingly desperate. Listening to the stories of others offered reassurance and gave Sophie a new way forward that led to improvements. Unfortunately, after a few months insomnia returned and seemed to be taking over her life. This is when Sophie committed to an approach that involved committing to actions that reflected who she was and the life she wanted to live, regardless of how she slept. As she did this she realized how much power she still had over her life. How capable and resilient she was, independently of sleep. Sleep started to lose its importance. It became less of a focus. And, as a result, it was able to take care of itself and it lost all its power and influence. Watch/listen to this episode
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    58 min
  • How Danny overcame the insomnia struggle by abandoning sleep rituals, embracing acceptance, and moving toward the life he wanted to live (#66)

    How Danny overcame the insomnia struggle by abandoning sleep rituals, embracing acceptance, and moving toward the life he wanted to live (#66)
    Jan 31 2025
    When Danny experienced sleep disruption during a period of stress and an intense focus on health and fitness, he became very concerned. After reducing the stressors in his life, reducing the intensity of his exercise, and eating more appropriately he noticed that his sleep improved. This led Danny to believe that sleep needed an absence of stress, a certain amount of exercise, and a certain type of diet to happen. When sleep difficulties returned, Danny realized the issue wasn't stress, exercise, or diet. It was all the effort he was putting into sleep. By exploring CBT-I and ACT-I techniques, Danny refocused his attention away from trying to protect or control sleep and toward doing things that mattered to him. With ongoing practice, insomnia lost its power and influence over him, the struggle came to an end, and sleep became effortless. Watch/listen to this episode
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    1 h et 12 min
  • How Esther starved insomnia of its power and influence in the presence of generalized anxiety disorder (#65)

    How Esther starved insomnia of its power and influence in the presence of generalized anxiety disorder (#65)
    Dec 6 2024
    When Esther stopped taking a medication for generalized anxiety disorder, sleep became a struggle. New medication helped with her anxiety symptoms but a phobia of insomnia remained, no matter what she tried to do to get her sleep back on track. When we started working together, Esther began to make some changes to deal with her insomnia phobia in a different way. Instead of trying to control sleep, Esther refocused on controlling her actions. She explored and committed to new habits such as going to bed later at night, doing something more pleasant whenever she found herself struggling at night, doing things that mattered independently of sleep, and acknowledging her thoughts and feelings rather than battling with them. This new approach gave Esther more options. Options that helped her reduce the pressure she was putting on herself to make sleep happen and break free of the vicious cycle of more trying to sleep and more difficulty with sleep. As a result, insomnia lost the power and influence it once had over her. Watch/listen to this episode
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    56 min
  • How Irina went from feeling enraged at the idea of accepting insomnia to embracing it and ending her struggle with sleep (#64)

    How Irina went from feeling enraged at the idea of accepting insomnia to embracing it and ending her struggle with sleep (#64)
    Oct 31 2024
    Irina thought that something was seriously wrong when she experienced a night of no sleep and all her ongoing efforts to make sleep happen were not working. The turning point came when Irina committed to an approach based on accepting the presence of wakefulness and all the difficult thoughts and feelings that came with it. This didn't mean she pretended to like them. This didn't mean she gave up. It meant that she moved away from trying to control what her experience was telling her was out of her control. She practiced and built skill in experiencing insomnia and all the thoughts and feelings associated with it, with less struggle. When she let go of the struggle that came from heroically battling away, trying to fight or avoid what was out of her control, she was able to refocus her energy and attention on actions that helped her live the life she wanted to live. As she did this, her sleep took care of itself and she gained invaluable skills that are now with her for the rest of her life. Watch/listen to this episode
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    1 h et 26 min