Mindfulness for Insomnia: A Four-Week Guided Program to Relax Your Body, Calm Your Mind, and Get the Sleep You Need

(Paperback)

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Break the cycle of anxious thinking and rumination that keeps you up at night. With this much-needed guide, you'll learn to quiet your mind, relax your body, feel less tense, and finally get the sleep you need. Sleep plays a crucial role in our waking lives. While we sleep, our bodies are recharging with energy, damaged tissue is repaired, and our memories are stored. When we don't get enough sleep, we are tired, less positive, less motivated, less focused, and more likely to feel depressed. We may even experience more intense cravings for high-fat, sugar-rich foods. And yet, despite the myriad advantages of getting a good night's sleep, countless people suffer from chronic insomnia. If you're one of them, this book can help. In this evidence-based guide, a trained mindfulness expert teams up with a behavioral sleep specialist to offer evidence-based meditations and an innovative four-week protocol to address the emotional stresses and anxieties that lie at the root of sleep issues. You'll learn practices grounded in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindful self-compassion (MSC), and guided mindfulness and acceptance for insomnia (GMATI) to alleviate the mental, emotional, and physical suffering caused by insomnia. You'll also learn to identify both internal and external factors that may be compromising your sleep, and develop a plan to address these issues. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves fall asleep. In many ways, this is why insomnia can be so maddening. But what we can do is help create the conditions necessary for healthy slumber. The mindfulness tools in this book will help you do exactly that.

Reviews

"Mindfulness for Insomnia is an in-depth guide to mindfulness and compassion training, as well as to the science of sleep. The book offers a dynamic combination of invaluable information and practical skills to support mind and body wellness. I highly recommend the four-week GMATI program skillfully detailed in this book for anyone who wants to reduce stress and improve sleep."
--Diane Reibel, PhD, director of the Myrna Brind Center for Mindfulness at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, coauthor of Teaching Mindfulness, and coeditor of Resources for Teaching Mindfulness--Diane Reibel, PhD
"Mindfulness for Insomnia outlines a four-week program that provides people suffering from insomnia with a gentle method to work with their sleep-disrupting thoughts. Using a series of mindfulness practices and important information about how our minds can impact our sleep, the reader learns and uses daily mindfulness practice to move away from the insomnia struggle and in the direction of calm, restful sleep."
--Jennifer L. Martin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and academic researcher in Los Angeles, CA. She is associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles--Jennifer L. Martin, PhD
"As a busy person who struggles with insomnia, I found Mindfulness for Insomnia to be a practical and accessible guide toward better sleep. As a mindfulness practitioner for over fifteen years and a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's Plumb Village for a year, I consider its approach to mindfulness practice to be spot-on. And as a human in our complex and often chaotic world, this book helped me manage stress, find greater acceptance, and manage daily suffering from chronic illness with greater ease, and even joy. Mindfulness for Insomnia is packed with excellent meditation techniques. It is a practical and thorough guide, not only to sleeping better but also to living a healthier life. I highly recommend it."
--Courtney Zenner Campbell, studied Buddhist philosophy intensively in college (in addition to practicing Buddhism since 2004), has taken a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course, and was a resident at Thich Nhat Hanh's Plumb Village for a year--Courtney Zenner Campbell
"Catherine Polan Orzech and William Moorcroft do an excellent job bringing what can be a complicated but extremely effective treatment for insomnia into an easy-to-read format. It is fortunate that now many people suffering from insomnia, who may not be able to access therapists trained in this technique, can now follow step-by-step instructions through this book. This guide consists of well-formulated, day-to-day instructions paired with online meditation recordings to provide a road map for those struggling with insomnia and desiring a behavioral approach that lasts long term."
--Nicole Cirino, MD, reproductive psychiatrist, and associate professor and director of the Women's Mental Health and Wellness Program at the Center for Women's Health at Oregon Health & Science University--Nicole Cirino, MD
"If you find yourself trying harder and harder to overcome your insomnia, you may be discovering that it becomes more and more difficult to sleep. The dilemma of insomnia is beautifully articulated (and solved) in this informative, practical, and clear guide to bringing mindfulness to our challenges with sleep. Written in a light and inspiring style, this excellent book draws on the deep wisdom of mindfulness and compassion to support you in moving beyond insomnia. Let psychologists and mindfulness teachers, Catherine Orzech and Bill Moorcroft, gently guide you to finding ease and sleep through the meditative practices of mindfulness and compassion, and maybe find some new ways to contend with stress of all sorts in your life."
--Steven D. Hickman, PsyD, clinical psychologist and executive director at the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, founding director of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, and associate clinical professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine--Steven D. Hickman, PsyD
"Thanks for an incredible treatment option for those suffering from insomnia! Although cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is very effective, it does not work for everybody. Mindfulness for Insomnia offers an alternate approach to treatment which helps disarm the fears and anxiety so many with insomnia experience. I am grateful to have this book as a resource for my patients!"
--Ryan Wetzler, PsyD, DBSM, ABPP, founder of Sleep Health Center in Louisville, KY; and codeveloper of Night Owl - Sleep Coach, a CBT-I-based insomnia treatment app--Ryan Wetzler, PsyD, DBSM, ABPP
"This book is a comprehensive guidebook and resource to get back to regular and restful sleep. Catherine Polan Orzech and Bill Moorcroft have pulled from a wide range of practices, disciplines, and subject matter, as well as a wealth of professional experience between them, to inform and teach useful life and sleep practices. The progression of guided exercises is straightforward and supported as if you are being personally coached along the way. Enjoy the richness of learning provided in this book and be well!"
--Deanna O'Connell, is a mindfulness practitioner in Fort Collins, CO--Deanna O'Connell,

Author Bio

Catherine Polan Orzech, MA, LMFT, has taught mindfulness since 2000. She received her initial training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and her professional training under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn and is certified to teach MBSR and mindful self-compassion (MSC). She has taught and lectured on the subject of mindfulness internationally and was founder and co-director of the Montreal Center for Mindfulness. William (Bill) Moorcroft, PhD, is a registered psychotherapist; behavioural sleep medicine specialist; Emeritus
Professor at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; founder and chief consultant at Northern Colorado Sleep Consultants, LLC; and specializes in treating insomnia, children's sleep problems, nightmares and sleep problems in shift workers.