Your night routine
Not a sequence to work through. Pick the one that matches the night you're having. Same time each night, about ten minutes.
The other eight practices
Breath Awareness
Attention-Based Practices
4-7-8 Breathing Pattern
Attention-Based Practices
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Body Practices
Grounding Exercise
Body Practices
Noticing Sleepiness Cues
Body Practices
Leaves on the Stream
Acceptance-Based Practices
Compassionate Self-Talk
Acceptance-Based Practices
Safe Place Visualization
Visualization Practices
Who made this
Night routine created by Tony Ho, CBT-I/ACT-I practitioner at Quadra Wellness.
CBT-I is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. ACT-I applies acceptance and commitment therapy to the same problem. Both are talking therapies — they work on what you do at night and how you respond to being awake.
How sleep works
Tony explains what's actually going on when sleep breaks down, so you can build the rest of the routine around it.
The other three episodes
The Science of Sleep
Gentle Tips for Better Sleep
What Actually Helps
Gentle Tips for Better Sleep
Making It Stick
Gentle Tips for Better Sleep
Background sound
For after the practice, if silence isn't what your room gives you. Loops until you stop it.
The other two sounds
Airplane
Old TV
Recorded sound. Not part of the guided routine.
What the practice asks for
Darkness
Every practice above asks you to close your eyes and keep your attention inward. A room with light in it keeps giving you something else to attend to. Complete darkness removes the competition.
The same cue, every night
A routine works by repetition. When the same scent is there each time you start, it stops being a smell and becomes the signal that the practice is beginning — the way a familiar song tells you what's coming before the words do.
You can do all of this without buying anything. Most people find the conditions are the part they can't reproduce on their own.
Sleep Mask with Lavender Aroma Capsules
$29.99