Elusive sleep...

Firstly, just a little bit about last Saturday's mini retreat. We had a full hall and, despite the wild weather that felt like it was going to take over, we had a thoroughly relaxing time! Thanks to everyone who came and participated so whole-heartedly! Looking forward to the next one already (in January, date tbc), which will be on 'switching off' and sleep, as per your requests.

Which brings me to a bit of a taster for this week's ramblings... I've had so many conversations with people in the past couple of weeks about people not being able to sleep. The frustration seems to be about not being able to find out why sleep seems so elusive, despite following all the well-known recommendations. So what can I offer that might be different? I guess I will always return to my favourite saying: do more of what works, do less of what doesn't work. Yes, that's all very well, but when you haven't found anything that actually works, how can you keep doing more of it? Well, go back to the beginning and start again. Go through this checklist and see if there's anything new that you could try, or try again.

• Make sure you're the right temperature for sleep.
• Make sure you have enough space to spread out.
• Find something that quietens your internal chatter, which could be by listening to something monotonous, or a specific relax-y sound (not necessarily whales/dolphins, but something that works for you; Youtube is full of them).
• If you're into thrashy, hard-core exercise, try something slower that encourages more mindful movement. It doesn't have to be boring: it can be just as challenging for the body and can be more stilling for the mind.​
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I don't want to bombard anyone so will stop there, until the next mini retreat. It would be great to hear what works for you. Share your successes, I'd love to hear them.