Events

The world’s top experts, live every day

Get away with a Teacher

Browse retreats

Join thousands

Explore a Challenge

Browse A to Z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

COURSE

Intro To Mindfulness Of Sleep And Dreams

With Eric Spirko

Mindfulness: Learn what mindfulness is, and how it relates to sleep. External Environment: Learn how to optimize external factors like sleep consistency, light exposure, and your sleep environment to set yourself up for success. Internal (Mental) Environment: Understand the role that stress plays in our sleep, and learn tools to regulate the nervous system to counterbalance our stressed-out lives. The Sleep Experience: Develop an appreciation that each individual's experience is unique. Understand the function of dreams and tools for benefiting from the dream experience.

Optimize the night time for recovery, creativity, and mental health

28 Days

2.8k students

4.7 stars

5 min / day

English

About this course

Dream Incubation

Hypnagogic Meditation

4-7-8 Breathing

Meet your Teacher

Eric Spirko

View Profile

New York, NY, USA

Eric Spirko is a Sleep & Dream Guide, meditation teacher, and dad who helps adults and families navigate their nightly journey. Drawing on maps from Western science and Eastern wisdom traditions, especially Tibetan Dream and Sleep Yoga, he guides people into the vast and powerful territory of the night. Inspired by bedtime with his young son, he also creates dreamy stories and wind-down practices for kids and the grown-ups who tuck them in. A former Division I athlete, Eric’s mission is to help people use the night to improve their day, becoming more aware and kind.

View Profile

28 Days

2.8k students

4.7 stars

5 min / day

English

Lesson 1

Day 1: Introduction

Today's lesson gives an overview and what to expect over the course of the next 28-days, as well as an introduction to Eric and his background in developing the program.

Lesson 2

Day 2: Consistency

In today's lesson we'll discuss why consistency is so important for sleep, and set the goal of a set target wake-up time for the rest of the program (and beyond!)

Lesson 3

Day 3: How to Wake Up

The transition from sleep to wake is important. Get an alarm that isn't on your phone so the first action you take each day isn't grabbing your smart phone.

Lesson 4

Day 4: Sleep Environment

Keeping a clean, cool, dark, quiet, and sacred space is fundamental to a good night of rest. Use these suggestions and reflections to optimize your sleep environment.

Lesson 5

Day 5: Morning Light

Getting direct sunlight upon awakening anchors our circadian rhythm, helps to consistently wake up at the same time, and increases alertness. In today's lesson we will talk about why this is a good practice and how to go about it.

Lesson 6

Day 6: Evening Light

Let's be real, no one listening to this is going to totally abandon screens after sunset. Here we discuss ways to protect ourselves from bad light; get sunlight at sunset, wear blue-blockers, and avoid screens in the period of time right before bed.

Lesson 7

Day 7: Wind-Down Routines

Establishing a wind-down routine can be a great tool for preparing for a restful night of sleep. By making a plan for what to do in the window of time before bed, we can intentionally engage in activities that facilitate relaxation, as well as train the mind to know when it's time to sleep.

Lesson 8

Day 8: Internal (Mental) Environment

We can't always control every detail about our external environment. Life happens, and sometimes we deal with stress. In times when our external environment is nuts, we need to really lean into working with our internal (mental) environment; learning what's happening in our mind, and how can we train it to shift into relaxation when we need it.

Lesson 9

Day 9: Naps

A nap can be a great way to supplement a poor night of sleep and not sacrifice your consistency. Today we'll learn how to take a nap in order to minimize drowsiness and avoid it impacting our sleep in the evening.

Lesson 10

Day 10: The Power Of The Breath

The breath is a power-switch that can activate our relaxation response. An incredible tool that we can use on nights when we have trouble falling asleep.

Lesson 11

Day 11: 4-7-8 Breathing

Today's lesson will teach the 4-7-8 Breathing practice, a powerful tool that will strengthen your parasympathetic (relaxation) response and help ease you into relaxation.

Lesson 12

Day 12: Coherent Breathing

Today's lesson will teach the Coherent Breathing practice, which uses the breath to evoke a particular autonomic nervous system response of optimal balance of relaxation and mental readiness.

Lesson 13

Day 13: Mindfulness & Sleep

How are Mindfulness and Sleep interrelated? We will dive more into this topic and see how paying attention to what's happening, while it's happening, without judgement or preference (Mindfulness!) is a useful skill for improving sleep.

Lesson 14

Day 14: Mindfulness Of The Breath

Today's session will teach a Mindfulness of Breathing meditation. Practicing this regularly will strengthen our mental focus, clarity, and resilience.

Lesson 15

Day 15: The Experience Of Sleep

Today we will elaborate on how the night-time experience of sleep is unique to each individual, and how paying attention to this experience (bringing mindfulness into it) can benefit us.

Lesson 16

Day 16: The Stages Of Sleep

Today we will dive into the stages of sleep, some of the science around their brain signatures, their importance and primary functions, and the experience of those stages.

Lesson 17

Day 17: Liminal Sleep

Today we'll discuss the first stage of sleep, the doorway into sleep known as the Liminal or Hypnagogic state. Learning to find this doorway, we can then pass through it and fall into deeper stages of sleep and get a restful night of sleep.

Lesson 18

Day 18: Non Sleep Deep Rest

Today's lesson will introduce some of the benefits of Non Sleep Deep Rest practices like Yoga Nidra and Hypnagogic Mindfulness, which can help us become more familiar with this doorway into sleep and promote deep rest and relaxation.

Lesson 19

Day 19: Sleep Paralysis

Today we will discuss a natural side-effect that can happen when working with the hypnagogic/liminal state; sleep paralysis. We'll learn there is nothing to fear, and strategies to work with this state if it happens to you.

Lesson 20

Day 20: REM Sleep

Today we will dive deeper into the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. We'll explore how the brain is as active in this state as in waking, and how dreaming that happens in this state is an evolutionary tool for boosting creativity, problem-solving, mental health, and emotional regulation. We'll learn why REM Sleep and Dreaming is a form of Overnight Therapy.

Lesson 21

Day 21: Mindfulness + Dreams

Today's lesson discusses the connection between Mindfulness and Dreaming. We learn that "paying attention to what's happening, while it's happening, without judgement or preference" - our definition of mindfulness - is very applicable to the dream experience.

Lesson 22

Day 22: Why Dream?

In this lesson we will hear several examples of famous dreams that have changed the course of history, from science to art to athletics. We'll also touch on some of the scientific functions of dreaming to inspire you to pay attention to your own dreams.

Lesson 23

Day 23: Overnight Therapy

Today we'll expand on this idea of REM Sleep and Dreaming as a form of "Overnight Therapy," and share some scientific studies that demonstrate that even our challenging dream experiences like nightmares can be useful for us.

Lesson 24

Day 24: Dream Experience

Today's lesson will provide additional examples as to why dream experience, and the emotional content of our dreams, is valuable. We learn that while challenging experiences and difficult emotions that we work through in some dreams are important and valuable and nothing to be concerned about, it's also important to note that we can actually proactively shape the experience of our dreams.

Lesson 25

Day 25: Lucid Dreaming

This lesson will introduce the topic of Lucid Dreaming, the experience of knowing you are dreaming, while you're dreaming, and share some benefits for learning this skill.

Lesson 26

Day 26: Dream Incubation

Today we will introduce another practice for shaping the content of our dreams; Dream Incubation. This practice has existed for thousands of years, and is just as applicable today as it was in Ancient Greece.

Lesson 27

Day 27: Dream Recall

The foundation of dream practice is remembering your dreams. This is a skill that can be learned and built upon, and in today's lesson we will discuss tips and techniques for how to remember more dreams.

Lesson 28

Day 28: Wrap-Up

Thank you for joining me in this journey into Mindfulness of Sleep and Dreams. Today we will wrap up the program and discuss different opportunities to dig deeper into these various practices presented.