How Semi-Supine helps you sleep better
Do you toss and turn for hours before falling asleep? When I get into bed, I’m usually out like a light.
Going to bed, you want to sleep. You can’t fall asleep if you’re tight from your day’s activities. If you don’t know how to wind down, this can take hours.
Take a short cut
Immediately before getting into bed, lie down on the floor with the books under your head for ten minutes.
This will:–
- Loosen you up
- Give you a better sense of where everything goes.
It loosens you up much better than anything else could
Most people are tight all day every day. The only time they relax is when they’re asleep. At least they do loosen up. But loosening up takes time … and it’s uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable? Why?
Uncomfortable because you get used to being tight. It feels normal and even necessary — if you’re going to get things done. In fact, being tight becomes normal for you.
Anything else comes to feel wrong, like it won’t work. Even though it would be better if you allowed it to happen that way. Feeling wrong, you struggle against it.
You end up struggling to keep hold of your tension
You don’t know how to let go. So you don’t
… unless you’re falling asleep, because you’re too tired to stay
awake. Then you realise what’s happening and you’re suddenly jolted
awake.
Jolted awake …
Is that familiar? You bet, so what can you do about it?
What you need is a way to let yourself loosen up —
loosen up while you’re still awake.
Semi-supine is a bridge from here to there
… a bridge from how you are at the moment (awake=tight) to how you’d like to be.
How would you like to be?
How about fresh, easy and alert while you dash about your daily
business?
Semi-supine is a bridge because of the juxtaposition of two qualities that otherwise never come together for you: freedom from tension and alertness.
Freedom from tension
As you’re lying down, you’re free from the need to do anything - even hold yourself up. So your habit of stiffening to hold yourself up is not bugging you.Alertness
As you don’t sleep on the floor, you’re not that likely to fall asleep. You can be alert enough to notice what’s going on in your body. Alert enough to let it loosen up. Alert enough to get used to being awake without tension.
Switch the light out
So if you want to sleep better and wake up refreshed, lie down on the floor with the books under your head for ten minutes before rolling into bed.
Afterwards, just remember to switch the light out before your head hits the pillow.
This article is included under the following categories:‒
Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley
If you want to get the best kind of help, come to me for an introductory lesson in Liverpool.
If you’re too far away, then the next best thing is to get personal lessons and advice from me online at Repoise.com, my on-line school. (Both far-away and local pupils use Repoise).
In more detail:–
If you’re in Liverpool (or can get to Liverpool)
- There’s nothing better than individual lessons. My practice is at 37 Hope Street, Liverpool L1. Ring me on 0151 708 6172 to book an initial consultation and first lesson. (Leave your number so I can get back to you).
-
If you’re short of funds, you can still have first class training from me — though it will require a little more work on your part.
The thing to do is have an individual, in-person lesson just once a month. That will entitle you to also get regular on-line lessons from me through Repoise. That way, you have the best of both worlds: in-person lessons and very regular, even daily, on-line Personal Coaching by Philip Pawley from me. That’s a real bargain because Repoise costs the equivalent of three lessons a year to everyone else.
Ring me on 0151 708 6172 if you want to arrange this.
- I occasionally run group lessons. If you’re interested in these, go here for details.
If you’re further away and can’t get to Liverpool
- There’s still nothing better than individual lessons. Here’s where you can find a teacher near you in the UK or elsewhere
- I suggest you also get direct day-to-day guidance from me by joining Repoise.
If you’re having plain Alexander Technique lessons from someone else, you still need to discover the Smiling Back Method of the Alexander Technique. You’ll get a lot more out of your lessons when you do.
37 Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside L1 9EA, England
Telephone: +44 151 708 6172 Mobile: +44 7872 905 154
Copyright © 2007-2012 Philip Pawley
SmilingBackMethod.com
