ELIXIR OF SLEEP
Practical Solutions for a Good Night’s Rest
CLARE R. JOHNSON PHD
Elixir of Sleep: Practical Solutions for a Good Night’s Rest Copyright © 2025 by Clare R. Johnson, PhD. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Edition
First Printing, 2025
Cover design by Kevin R. Brown
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ISBN: 978-0-7387-7613-2
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Printed in the United States of America
Other Books by Clare R.
Johnson, PhD
The Art of Transforming Nightmares (2021)
The Art of Lucid Dreaming (2020)
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming (2017)
Dream Therapy
(US title: Mindful Dreaming) (2017)
Sleep Monsters and Superheroes: Empowering Children through Creative Dreamplay
(Coedited with Jean M. Campbell, 2016)
Dreamrunner
(Pen name: Clare Jay, 2010)
Breathing in Colour
(Pen name: Clare Jay, 2009)
Acknowledgments
My heartfelt thanks go to all of the people who are precious to me, especially my husband, Markus, who encouraged me to go for it when this book idea blasted into my dreams, and my daughter, Yazzie, who gave me a young teen’s valuable perspective on some of the practices within these pages, reminding me of the awesomeness of a pre-bed foot massage and the playfulness of zoomorphising sleep. Huge thanks also go to the multitalented team at Llewellyn Worldwide for their care and dedication throughout the publishing process.
Fittingly, the creative state of sleep is responsible for the existence of this book. I am thankful for the illuminated manuscript that appeared to me in a lucid dream with such splendid power and focus that I was able to read the words as they hovered before me: they formed the table of contents for a book. This book. Just days earlier, I had decided to stop writing books and dedicate myself to creating video classes and sleep meditations instead. Without this initial dream inspiration, it’s unlikely that Elixir of Sleep would have seen the light of day.
Another dream led me to the book title. A woman stood before me and others holding up a magical scent bottle. We all knew this was an elixir and that we were about to receive healing on all levels. She sprayed it, and exquisitely light moisture droplets floated onto our upturned faces, along with a heavenly scent. At that moment, I knew this was a dream and that I was experiencing one of the most blissful moments of sleep with all of my senses. I woke up with the working title, “The Sleep Elixir.”
Finally, I’d like to thank the wonderful International Association for the Study of Dreams and my exceptional colleagues in the field of sleep and dream research. Their undying passion for sleep and dreams mirrors my own.
For my daughter Yasmin, a creative sleep explorer who brings the genius of dreams into her mythical stories
Contents
List of Practices & Sleep Solution Programmes xvii
Disclaimer xx
Introduction 1
Part One: Embrace Blissful Sleep
Chapter 1: Who Are You When You Sleep? 11
Chapter 2: The Gifts of Sleep 25
Chapter 3: The Power of Dreams 35
Chapter 4: Breathwork, Bodywork 51
Chapter 5: The Sleep Quiz 61
Part Two: Portals to Sleep
Chapter 6: The Magic of Sound 89
Chapter 7: The Wild and Wondrous Hypnagogic Portal 101
Chapter 8: Naps and the Ancient Art of Yoga Nidra 111
Chapter 9: Dream Guides and Power Animals 123
Chapter 10: Sexy Sleep 135
Part Three: Heal Insomnia, Nightmares, and Scary Experiences
Chapter 11: Insomnia 151
Chapter 12: Nightmares 169
Chapter 13: Scary Sleep Experiences 183
Part Four: The Potential of Sleep
Chapter 14: Creative Sleep 197
Chapter 15: Healing Sleep 217
Chapter 16: Lucid Dreaming 229
Chapter 17: Spiritual Sleep 243
Conclusion 257
Appendix: Unique Sleep Solution Programme Template 261
Go Deeper with Dr. Clare R. Johnson, PhD 263
Bibliography 265
Chapter 1
Practices & Sleep Solution Programmes
Practice 1: Keep a Sleep Diary 13
Practice 2: The Five-Step Programme to a Restful Night’s Sleep 15
Practice 3: The Bedroom Makeover 17
Practice 4: Change That Thought 20
Practice 5: The Worry Journal 22
Practice 6: Pre-sleep Meditation 23
Chapter 2
Practice 7: Sleep Is a Gorgeous Animal 30
Practice 8: Candlelit Bath Ritual 31
Practice 9: Turn Your Night of Sleep into a Mini-Vacation 32
Chapter 3
Practice 10: How to Improve Your Dream Recall 36
Practice 11: Fall in Love with Your Dream Journal 42
Practice 12: The Ancient Art of Dream Incubation 45
Practice 13: Seven Questions to Unwrap Your Dream 47
Practice 14: Dream Mantra 49
Chapter 4
Practice 15: Mountain Pose (Tadasana) 53
Practice 16: Walking Meditation 54
Practice 17: Blissful 6-6 Breath 55
Practice 18: Alternate Nostril Breathing 57
Practice 19: Corpse Pose (Savasana) 58
Practice 20: Human Heartbeat Meditation 59
Chapter 5
Sleep Solution Programme 1: The Sleepy Koala 71
Sleep Solution Programme 2: The Insomniac Owl 72
Sleep Solution Programme 3: The Lucid Dolphin 73
Sleep Solution Programme 4: The Sensual Sleeper 75
Sleep Solution Programme 5: The Nightmare Sufferer 76
Sleep Solution Programme 6: The Creative Sleeper 77
Sleep Solution Programme 7: The Interrupted Sleeper 78
Sleep Solution Programme 8: The Nap Lover 79
Sleep Solution Programme 9: The Health-Challenged Sleeper 80
Sleep Solution Programme 10: The Light Sleeper 81
Sleep Solution Programme 11: The Anxious or Depressed Sleeper 83
Sleep Solution Programme 12: The Spiritual Dreamer 84
Chapter 6
Practice 21: Encode Sound with Intention 92
Practice 22: Humming Bee Breath 93
Practice 23: Omming in the Bathtub 95
Practice 24: Musical Sleep Portals 97
Practice 25: Sound Meditation 98
Practice 26: Sonic Dreaming 98
Chapter 7
Practice
27: Lucid Hypnagogia 106
Practice 28: Create a Powerful Hypnagogic Intention 107
Chapter 8
Practice 29: A Golden Nap 114
Practice
30: Create a Yoga Nidra Nest 117
Practice 31: Yoga Nidra—Balance between the Worlds 118
Chapter 9
Practice 32: Get to Know Your Power Animal 125
Practice 33: Meet Your Guide 128
Practice 34: Honour Your Power Animals and Dream Guides 130
Practice 35: Create a Sacred Sleep Altar 131
Chapter 10
Practice 36: Reprogramme Unconscious Sexual Beliefs 139
Practice 37: Imagine Your Sexual Energy as an Animal 141
Practice
38: Incubate an Erotic Dream 143
Practice 39: Channel Sexual Energy into Spiritual Bliss 146
Chapter 11
Practice
40: The Insomnia Freedom Technique 158
Practice 41: Top Tips for Resolving Insomnia 161
Practice 42: Eat to Sleep Well 164
Practice
43: Floating Head Insomnia Solution 165
Practice 44: Face Massage and EFT Tapping 167
Chapter 12
Practice
45: Who Are You in Your Nightmares? 174
Practice 46: The Lucid Imaging Nightmare Solution 177
Practice
47: Play with Creative Nightmare Responses 180
Chapter 13
Practice
Practice
Practice
Practice
48: Lifeline Breath for Sleep Paralysis 185
49: Tips for Night Terrors 188
50: Egg of Light 191
51: How to Have an Out-of-Body Experience 193
Chapter 14
Practice
Practice
52: Incubate a Creative or Problem-Solving Dream 200
53: Activate Your Inner Genius for Business Success 205
Practice 54: Lucid Writing 212
Practice
55: Dream Poem 214
Chapter 15
Practice 56: Identify Potential Health Issues in Dreams 219
Practice 57: Restorative Yoga Poses to Do in Bed 222
Practice 58: Healing Energy Ball 225
Chapter 16
Practice
59: Seven Top Tips for Lucid Dreaming 237
Practice 60: Wake Up, Back To Bed (WBTB) 239
Practice 61: Create a Lucidity Playlist 240
Chapter 17
Practice 62: Dream with Deceased Loved Ones or Ancestors 246
Practice 63: Life Review 249
Practice 64: Encounters with the Lucid Light 253
Disclaimer
This book offers a range of techniques and practices for better sleep as well as guidance on how to make the most of the fascinating experiences sleep encompasses. It is not a substitute for medical advice or psychological counselling. If you have sleep-related issues or physical or mental health concerns, you must consult your doctor or other medical practitioner. The author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions of the reader.
Introduction
Over the next ten years, you will spend over three years sleeping.
Three precious years.
We all spend a third of our lives asleep, but many of us barely give a thought as to what we experience during sleep and the many treasures it offers. The seemingly passive state of sleep is anything but passive. We never pass out for eight hours. We never lose consciousness completely. There is so much more to sleep than lying down all night with our eyes closed.
This highly practical book is a wake-up call about the vital power and potential of sleep. We’ll go on a journey of discovery into sleep, dreams, and the astonishing gifts we can receive when we pay closer attention to the world of sleep. You’ll learn how to sleep better, dream well, and navigate the wild and wonderful states you pass through whenever you fall asleep.
Imagine an oak tree. Its branches are mirrored by its roots: As above, so below. Humans are the same. Our waking life takes place above the surface, while below lies the mysterious realm of sleep. When we cut ourselves off from the world of sleep by ignoring its gifts, we live half a life. We skate on the surface. But when we explore sleep in all its glory, we become whole. We grow our spirit and tap into the wisdom of deep, hidden places. Sleep is a profound journey through the psyche and through remarkable states of consciousness. Let’s fall in love with this journey that brings new riches every night.
What could be more enthralling than bringing our bright attention to the realm of sleep? When we understand the raw energy of pre-sleep imagery, the creative emotional frenzy of REM sleep, the wisdom of dreams and nightmares, and the timeless bliss of deep sleep, we open the door to a whole new life.
With artificial intelligence and computerised functions taking over more and more in many spheres of life, some people are starting to doubt the value of being human. AI might be able to regurgitate vast swathes of knowledge at the click of a button, but humans are uniquely creative beings. One thing computers can’t do is dream in the immersive, multisensory way we do. Without our biology and brain architecture, an AI model can’t fully experience the wonders of sleep.
Sleep is a natural gift that all humans possess. We each have the ability to shift through rich states of consciousness every night. Every human experiences the creative, healing, and spiritual journey of sleep countless times in their lives. Sleep is a healing elixir: even if we never pay it much attention, a good night’s sleep will always work its magic, replenishing our bodily systems, balancing our hormones, integrating our memories, and floating us through the rejuvenating spaces of deep sleep. Sleep offers us thousands of adventures every year in the form of movie-like dreams and the rollercoaster ride of presleep imagery and sensations.
Sleep is the creative centre of human ingenuity. Throughout time, many great scientific and artistic inventions have emerged from sleep and dreams. The answers to humanity’s biggest questions can be discovered when we explore the mysteries of sleep. We can find out who we are, why we are here, and what happens when we die. We can figure out the nature of time, space, and consciousness, and grasp how to free ourselves from cycles of misery and embrace our higher nature. Sleep may play an illuminating role in our evolution as we dive deep into all that it has to offer.
Our distant ancestors had a very natural relationship with sleep. Their downtime fitted seamlessly with the natural cycles of day and night. Today, we are a dark-deprived society: electric lights and the blue light of backlit screens keep our brains buzzing long after we should have gone to bed.
When our brains don’t receive a signal of darkness, the production of sleep hormones is delayed. Harvard Women’s Health Watch estimates that over 60 percent of women are not getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night,1 and this is the same situation for most Americans, according to a 2005 National Sleep Foundation survey.2
This means that many people are chronically sleep-deprived, losing an average of an hour of sleep each night. By the time they reach the age of thirty, they will have missed out on thousands of hours of sleep. When we don’t get enough sleep, we are more likely to gain weight or catch a cold, and the risk of developing illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes grows. The good news is that the detrimental effects of accumulated sleep debt can be recovered when we relearn how to embrace restful sleep. As Stanford psychiatrist William Dement says, “When you put away sleep debt, you become superhuman.” 3
The Casper-Gallup State of Sleep in America 2022 report found a strong connection between mental health and a good night’s sleep. People who rated their mental health highly were six times more likely to report getting high-quality sleep.4 Lack of sleep has a huge negative impact on physical and mental health, and it’s becoming urgent for us to make time in our lives for sleep. This doesn’t have to be hard—in fact, it can be delightfully easy to make small but essential changes to our approach to sleep. The practices in this book are designed to give you creative ideas and nourishing techniques to improve your ability to relax and let go so that you can cultivate the healthy habit of blissful sleep.
This book does what no other sleep book has done: I’ve created a comprehensive Sleep Quiz to help you discover your unique sleeper and dreamer type, along with twelve Sleep Solution Programmes to fast-track you to the most effective techniques to deepen and enhance your sleep experience. There is something for everyone among the sixty-four practices in this book. They
1. Harvard Health Publishing, “Women and Sleep.”
2. National Sleep Foundation, “2005 Sleep in America Poll.”
3. Webster, “Can You Catch Up on Lost Sleep?”
4. Gallup Inc., “Casper-Gallup State of Sleep in America 2022 Report.”
cover everything from sound healing to breathwork, and insomnia solutions to lucid dreaming tips. You’ll connect with power animals and guides, learn to channel sexual energy into spiritual bliss, heal nightmares, and release fear in all states of consciousness. You’ll discover the marvels of your own sleep intelligence and find your way to a good night’s rest. As you implement these powerful practices, you’ll experience a real shift in your sleep, dreams, and waking life.
My Journey
The mysteries of sleep revealed themselves to me in a memorable way early in life. When I was three years old, I found myself drowning in a turquoise swimming pool. I was struggling to reach the surface but kept falling deeper and deeper into the depths. Suddenly, with a flash of lucidity, I realised that this was a dream! I knew I could either stay in the dream and drown or wake up. I chose to wake up by rolling violently in the dream water, so violently that I rolled right out of bed, landing on the floor with a bump. My mother raced upstairs to see if I was okay and told me, “It wasn’t real. It was just a dream.”
This statement was so blatantly at odds with the super-real experience I’d just had that it created a lifelong fascination for the “other world” of dreams and sleep. My childhood was filled with flying lucid dreams, nightmares, sleepwalking, and out-of-body experiences. Since my parents had zero interest in dreams, nobody was at hand to help me navigate these sometimes terrifying states of consciousness. I had to figure out through trial and error how to handle fear and use willpower and intention to guide these nocturnal adventures. I learned to befriend my nightmares and encountered amazing guides.
Back then, I had no idea that this hard-won knowledge, along with the personal transformation I was experiencing as I dived deeper into the mysterious world of sleep, would become the basis of my career. In a dreamlike life twist, I was accepted to do undergraduate work on lucid dreaming at Lancaster University in the UK in 1992. This was during a period when I
was experiencing sleep paralysis almost nightly, and I soon figured out how to have lucid dreams at will.
In 2007, at the University of Leeds, England, I became the first person in the world to do a PhD on lucid dreaming as a creative writing tool. As part of my doctorate, I wrote Breathing in Colour, a novel inspired by lucid dreams. As early as 2003, I was presenting my doctoral work at conferences, but my lucid dream research was met with scepticism by some academics and psychoanalysts who believed that becoming conscious in a dream was impossible. Fortunately, science was on my side: in 1975, Dr. Keith Hearne had provided the first scientific proof of lucid dreaming in a sleep laboratory at the University of Hull in England.
In response to the peculiar resistance some people had to the topic, I became even more determined to spread the word about the amazing potential of lucid dreaming. My life began to orbit around teaching people how to access these intense and wonderful sleep experiences. I wrote Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming, followed closely by three practical guides: Dream Therapy, The Art of Lucid Dreaming, and The Art of Transforming Nightmares. The latter proposes lucid dreaming as the world’s most innovative insomnia solution. By this point, I had developed hundreds of original techniques to help people tap into sleep and dreams to access their unconscious intelligence. Today, lucid dreaming has boomed, with a plethora of research studies demonstrating its potential.
In 2018 I was honoured to be elected president and CEO of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. I went on to launch an online school called Deep Lucid Dreaming Video Courses and began leading lucid dreaming ocean retreats. Today my journey continues with a wonderful community of people who love the mysteries of sleep and dreams as much as I do.
What’s in This Book?
Elixir of Sleep is unique in its perspective and scope. It has a far deeper take on sleep than standard sleep books, which tend to focus only on the science of sleep or its physiology. Sleep is not purely a physical state; it is also a spiritual state. When we snuggle into bed and close our eyes each night, we journey
elsewhere. This book explores who we are when we dream and what we can experience at every stage of sleep. We’ll see how much changes when we bring lucid awareness to our night of sleep and how we can deepen our relationship with the marvels that sleep offers. We’ll look at how to fall asleep with a clear mind and wake up energised.
As far as I’m aware, no other sleep book offers a Sleep Quiz, a set of Sleep Solution Programmes, and a creative array of practices, from sound portals to erotic dream incubation and from dream poetry to techniques for releasing the fear of death. Elixir of Sleep offers all of this and is grounded in half a century of active sleep exploration, academic research that began thirty years ago, and twenty-two years of teaching my lucidity techniques and sleep solutions to people around the world.
This book offers a blend of science and creative practices, along with an in-depth look at the fascinating states of consciousness that sleep encompasses. In part 1, we’ll discover how to embrace blissful sleep. We’ll look at who we are when we sleep, focus on the practicalities of turning our bedroom into a sacred space and keeping a sleep diary, and examine the most important steps to a good night’s sleep. We’ll also explore the symbolic power of dreams, create a dream mantra, and learn some amazingly simple breathwork techniques to help you instantly enter a state of calm serenity. At the end of this section is the Sleep Quiz—it’s good to set aside twenty-five minutes to do this properly, as it’s a cornerstone of the book. Your responses will help you get clarity on your relationship to sleep. You’ll be able to identify which sleeper-dreamer type you are, which will enable you to fast-track to the most helpful practices and Sleep Solution Programmes for you personally.
In part 2, we’ll explore portals to sleep, starting with one of my all-time favourites: sound. You’ll learn the power of humming to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and calm you deeply, as well as the joys of chanting Om in the bathtub. Next, we’ll dive into sleep via the wild portal of pre-sleep imagery, or hypnagogia, and treat ourselves to the luxury of golden naps and blissful yoga nidra meditations. We’ll encounter power animals, create a sacred sleep altar, and work with our primal sexual energy to invite erotic dreams and channel our vital kundalini energy into spiritual bliss.
Part 3 focuses on insomnia relief and how to heal nightmares. Sleep is not always a state of deep rest interspersed with fun dreams. By engaging with the more difficult aspects of sleep, we empower ourselves to evolve as we learn how to handle fear and transform our experiences. I’ll share my Insomnia Freedom Technique, and we’ll look at the creative potential of being awake for lengthy periods during the night. Then we’ll ask who we are in our worst nightmares, and through my Lucid Imaging Nightmare Solution, we’ll learn the power of playing with creative responses when dreams get scary. We’ll explore the fascinating yet sometimes terrifying state of sleep paralysis, where we feel trapped in our body and have frightening visions. We’ll cover night terrors and anxiety in the night before leaping into the lucid void, where we find ourselves floating in black light, a state of infinite potential. You’ll also receive tips on how to have a joyful out-of-body experience.
In the final part of the book, we’ll explore creative and problem-solving dreams to tap into your unconscious intelligence for artistic inspiration, life guidance, and innovative business ideas. We’ll also see how dreams can help us identify potential health issues and how to sleep better when we live with chronic pain or illness. Then we’ll get into lucid dreaming, with core tips and practices to help us wake up in our dreams for joyful and exhilarating nighttime experiences. In the final chapter, we’ll explore dreams in which we connect with deceased loved ones or ancestors, and I’ll share my life review meditation—a powerful practice to get clarity on who we are and how we live and gain a new sense of purpose in life. We’ll expand our awareness by exploring luminous dreams and the spiritual gifts of sleep.
After working with this book, you’ll have a more intimate relationship with sleep and dreams. With the help of the Sleep Solution Programmes and techniques, you’ll be well on your way to experiencing sleep as a profound and sacred practice that positively impacts every area of your life.
Sleep exists to help our species evolve. It does this in many well-documented ways, from memory consolidation to the therapeutic and creative act of dreaming. Sleep also plays a vital role in spiritual evolution, providing a portal to states of oneness and cosmic bliss sought after by sages and mystics for millennia. Sleep reveals to us who we really are at our core. When we
engage with sleep in a curious, respectful, and conscious way, not only do we find our way to a good night’s rest, but we also find the way to ourselves.
Elixir of Sleep aims to help you make the most of the third of your life that you’ll spend asleep. I warmly invite you to join me on this journey into the mysterious, marvellous world of sleep.
Part One
Embrace Blissful Sleep
Chapter One
Who Are You When You Sleep?
Imagine that a kind person offers you a wellness experience. One where you float blissfully free of physical discomfort for hours on end while your entire body, brain, and nervous system are infused with a healing elixir. A therapeutic experience during which recent memories and new skills are effortlessly integrated, so that you return with a brighter mind. A physical healing where your bodily systems are repaired and strengthened and your hormones balanced. This rich wellness experience would come with a 100 percent guarantee of improved health and happiness. All you would need to do to receive this balm is lie down and relax.
Imagine you could receive this fabulous gift completely free of charge, without missing a single moment at work.
Would you take it?
It may seem like a no-brainer—of course we’d all love to receive such a wealth of healing bliss! But the truth is many people don’t recognise sleep as the healing elixir it is. Instead, we push it aside, cram it into reduced hours, and fool ourselves into thinking we can do without it. Yet this vibrant wellness experience is available to each of us every night, whether we’re rich or poor. Sleep doesn’t cost us a penny, yet it is the best medicine. Along with exercise and diet, sleep is the biggest factor in human health.
It’s wonderful and uplifting to carve out space in our lives for sleep. Sleep is not the unconscious blankness so many of us assume it to be. Sleep is our biological and psychological portal to radiant health. Sleep is a spiritual practice—it plugs us into the source energy that sustains our mind, body, and spirit. Sleep literally recharges us on all levels.
We cannot survive without sleep. When we are sleep-deprived, our physical, emotional, and mental health are instantly impacted. For many reasons, the quality and quantity of our sleep may not be what it should be. To improve our sleep and gain all of the fantastic benefits that are our birthright, the first step is to be clear-eyed about the current state of our sleep.
Manifest Your Best Night of Sleep
Who are you when you sleep … and who do you want to be when you sleep? You might be restless, wake up tired, or have disturbing dreams. Remember, it is absolutely possible to transform your sleep. Your current sleep quality can certainly change for the better as you work and play with the practices in this book. One important step is envisioning who you would love to be when you sleep.
Michelangelo would look at a giant block of stone and see the sculpture within it, luminous and perfect, waiting for him to free it. He saw his job as being to chip away the excess stone to enable this thing of astonishing beauty trapped within to emerge.
Let’s pretend that your ideal night of sleep is what is trapped within the stone. Imagine what sleep could be for you—a luminous, healing experience. Can you see the shimmering shape of it? What does your ideal sleep experience look like? Some of you may be looking for adventure—rich, wild dreams, erotic encounters, and new vistas. Or you may be into consciousness exploration, out-of-body experiences, and lucid dreaming. Others may seek the power animals or guides that dreams often bring us. Many of you may yearn for blissful rest and healing rejuvenation so that you wake up energised. Sleep is soulful. Can you see the beautiful form your sleep could take? The first step to freeing this inner form is to visualise it. Choose an image that represents your ideal sleep—perhaps an image of yourself rising from
sleep feeling radiant and refreshed, or an image of Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, or an arcing rainbow or a beautiful shape of any kind.
Let’s become the Michelangelo of our own night of sleep. When we clearly envision something, we take one giant step closer to manifesting it. Now all we have to do is chip away at the stone to free the beauty within. In terms of manifesting our best night of sleep, this equates to playing with the practices in this book, keeping a sleep diary, and being prepared to make some changes to our old habits.
This last part is the hardest. It’s amazing how much resistance we can experience when changes must be made. This is why it’s good to hold in mind your luminous vision of your ideal night of sleep. Remind yourself of why you are making changes. Be playful as you allow these changes to happen— this isn’t a punishment. In fact, engaging with the essence of your sleep and dreams can be one of the most enriching and empowering experiences ever.
Practice 1: Keep a Sleep Diary
Keeping a sleep diary is an excellent way to track your usual habits and create healthy new ones. As you work through this book, try keeping a sleep diary. This can also be a receptacle for any dreams you recall, the insights you have into your inner life as you progress through this book, your reactions to the techniques, and your overall state of mind and health. In other words, you can write just about anything you like in your sleep diary. You can draw pictures of your dream animals or doodle images that symbolise your ideal night of sleep. Go with whatever feels inspiring for you.
Try to complete these ten basic sleep statements each day to create an ongoing picture of your sleep patterns and the quality of your sleep and dreams:
1. Before I switched off the light, I (had a candlelit bath/ argued with my spouse/worked like a maniac).
2. It took me X (number of) minutes to fall asleep.
3. I spent around X (number of) minutes awake during the night.
4. My sleep was (disrupted/restful/I barely slept).
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, this night of sleep was a X.
6. I remembered X (number of) dreams.
7. My dreams were (stressful/hilarious/magical/I had a nightmare).
8. When I woke up, I felt (shattered/bright and joyful/ reluctant to get out of bed).
9. Today my mood and energy levels can be described as ______.
10. My further observations about this night of sleep are ______.
As you get into keeping your sleep diary, you’ll start to spot clear connections. You may notice that an emotionally stressful day results in disrupted sleep unless you do something relaxing before bed, such as listen to a guided meditation or read a calming book. You might realise that when you exercise too close to bedtime, your body is too wired to sleep, or that when you drink alcohol at dinner, you wake up at 4:00 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep again.
You might find that you naturally gravitate towards biphasic sleep, which is when people sleep in two chunks in a 24-hour period. Other people are polyphasic, or segmented, sleepers, meaning they sleep three or more times in a 24-hour period. Most people are monophasic sleepers, getting all their sleep in one block of seven to nine hours a night.5 For some, this may not be a personal preference—they may just have to start work at a specific time each morning, for example. If you rarely feel rested in the mornings, chapter 8 has advice on how and when to squeeze in moments of deep rest during the day in the form of naps.
Everyone is different. Some people can watch a horror movie and then sleep like a baby (I’m not one of them!), while others need quiet time alone before bed without screen input in order to experience refreshing sleep. Some people find that the day’s problems spin through their mind just as they’re about to drop off, while others wake up in the middle of the night feeling
5. Al-Abri et al., “Sleep Patterns and Quality in Omani Adults.”
anxious about what the next day will bring. The good news is we can work in simple, practical ways to resolve these common sleep issues.
Practice 2: The Five-Step Programme to a Restful Night’s Sleep
This book is packed with wide-ranging and specific sleep solutions, from how to resolve nightmares and insomnia to how to meditate for inner calm. But let’s dive in right away with these science-supported best sleep practices so you can start improving your sleep tonight.
1. Stick to a regular sleep schedule. This is widely accepted as being the single most important factor for sleep health. Try to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. This is healthier than skimping on sleep during the week and sleeping late on weekends to catch up.
2. Dim the lights for at least thirty minutes before you sleep. This stimulates the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and our brains automatically start to wind down. Avoid bright lights from screens during this time, or your brain will be tricked into thinking it’s daylight and rev up again.
3. Avoid heavy meals and stimulants such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and chocolate too close to bedtime. These activate your body and keep your digestive system in overdrive. Caffeine can reduce the amount of deep sleep you get, so that you wake up tired even if you fell asleep easily and didn’t wake up in the night. It’s good to finish eating two to three hours before bed to maximise your ability to fall asleep and enhance your overall sleep quality. If you always need the bathroom in the night, try reducing fluid intake in the hour or so before bedtime.
4. Exercise during the day—but not too close to bedtime. If you go to the gym or take a power step aerobics class until 9:30 p.m., it may prevent you from falling asleep before midnight. Experiment with what works best for you.
5. Sit in darkness if you wake in the night and can’t fall back to sleep. Some people naturally find themselves awake for long periods in the night. It can be a beautiful, creative time for some. But if you feel anxious or stressed, get out of bed and sit in darkness until you feel sleepy or go to another room and engage in a calm activity, such as writing in your sleep diary, reading, or meditating.
Turn Your Bedroom into a Sacred Space
Sleep is a connection with the divine: it’s not only a physical event, but a spiritual one as well. Throughout history, humans have created sacred spaces to connect with the divine. Have you ever felt like a sparkling drop in the ocean of consciousness or like a living cell in a majestic, conscious being? When we connect with something greater than ourselves, we gain perspective and purpose and our life becomes easier.
We’re going to explore how to turn our bedroom into a sacred space so we can embrace sleep as a spiritual practice.
Set the Scene for Your Sleep Movie
Imagine you’re a movie director setting the scene for A Blissful Night’s Sleep. There is no sarcasm or hidden surprise in this movie—it simply depicts blissful, healing rest. To set the scene, you make particular choices. Rather than installing glaring strip lighting, you choose warm lamps. Instead of an old, lumpy mattress, you pick one that is fresh and inviting. You carefully consider which colours to use for the bedding, passing up jarring psychedelic stripes in favour of restful tones.
Once you’re happy with the soothing bedroom setting, your next job is to direct the actor playing the role of the blissful sleeper. You’re certain you won’t film them storming about the room before scrambling angrily into bed. You’re positive you don’t want a scene in which the actor anxiously checks their phone in bed while eating a massive sugary bun. No—for this blissful sleep scene, you want the actor to glide fresh-faced into the cosy bedroom exuding serenity and clearly anticipating a wonderful night of restful magic.
You are both the movie director and the actor. You are the one in charge—the decision-maker—and you are also the recipient of the decisions you make, because you live with them. This is a gift, because you can always create positive change in your life at any given moment. Such is the power of your creative consciousness. You are the star of your own life.
Try out your new movie director powers on your own bedroom with the following bedroom makeover practice. If you don’t feel like making radical changes, don’t. Only make the changes you feel comfortable with. If we turn the bedroom makeover into a big deal, it’s counterproductive. Go with whatever makes your heart sing.
Practice 3: The Bedroom Makeover
Stand at your bedroom door and assess what you see. Is there clutter, dust, an air of neglect? Notice any emotions you feel when you look at your bed. Perhaps you long to leap onto it and snuggle in, or maybe you feel conflicted. Beds can carry memories we’d rather forget, of former lovers, nightmares, arguments with a spouse, or the exhaustion of sleepless nights. Now lie down on your bed and notice what this experience is like. Consider whether your pillow is comfortable and the age of your mattress. Mattresses need to be replaced regularly, or at least turned over. Polls show that people who are extremely satisfied with their mattress are four times more likely to report high-quality sleep than those who are dissatisfied.6 This is also a good moment to see if you’re happy with your duvet cover and pillowcases or if it’s time to replace them.
Turn your attention to the lighting in your bedroom. Lighting is key. Soft lamps or LED candles create a magical, relaxing atmosphere in the bedroom. Our bodies naturally produce more of the sleep hormone melatonin when we experience dim lighting. This helps us to sleep. Look at your curtains or blinds to see if you need to make changes. Darkness is much more conducive to restful sleep than light
6. Gallup Inc., “Casper-Gallup State of Sleep in America 2022 Report.”
is. If a streetlight shines into your bedroom, you’d do well to have blackout blinds or use an eye mask to block out excessive light.
Having electronic devices such as phones and tablets in the bedroom isn’t the best idea due to the blue light they emit and the enormous distraction they pose. It’s advisable to leave them outside the bedroom or at least switch them to airplane mode. Reading off a phone wakes up the brain so much that falling asleep can be problematic. Meditating or daydreaming in dim light is a much healthier way to spend our pre-sleep time. Are there any changes you’d like to make in this area? It’s helpful to figure out an easy way to play relaxing music or guided visualisations in your bedroom. For some people, it’s better not to use their phone to do this, as the temptation to check for messages is too much to withstand. Others play pre-sleep meditations via their phone but keep it in airplane mode.
The ideal bedroom is cool, around 18 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit). One of the top reasons people give for sleeping badly is being too hot, so make sure you have a beautifully cool environment.
Clear any clutter and find a place for it in a different room. Books are wonderful, but they do attract dust. If you can, move excess books, magazines, and other objects elsewhere. Allow your bedroom to be a restful, sacred space. You may like to pick out a few books on sleep, dreams, meditation, and breathwork. Keep these on your bedside table to look at before you fall asleep.
Make a mental checklist of what you’d like to do to turn your bedroom into a sanctuary for blissful sleep. This doesn’t have to be expensive—sometimes a clear-out and some new sheets are all it takes to create a bedroom with fresh, welcoming energy. When recovering from a romantic breakup, the simple act of moving the bed to a different position can feel liberating.
Set the scene for your optimal night of sleep. You are the creative director here. If you like luxury spa hotels, add little touches to your bedroom that remind you of these places, such as a serene golden Buddha statue, a white eiderdown, or a painting of a leaf. If you prefer
cosy elfin spaces, go for fairy lights and warm colours. You could put a small bag of dried lavender near your pillow to squeeze before you sleep, or have a bottle of sleep-enhancing essential oil on hand, such as lavender, ylang-ylang, or chamomile.
When you’ve finished your bedroom makeover, treat yourself to something relaxing, like a massage or a cup of hot chocolate, as a reward for prioritising your sleep.
Activate the Power of Thought
I invite you to take a moment now to allow any thoughts or concerns you have around your sleep to bubble up. Just observe; don’t engage yet. What arises for you? Here are some common concerns and ruminations:
• “I’m just a terrible sleeper.”
• “I can’t bear another night of tossing and turning.”
• “I’m scared to sleep in case the nightmares return.”
• “I never get enough sleep.”
• “If sleep is supposed to be so healing, why do I wake up exhausted?”
• “There must be something wrong with me because I lie awake half the night.”
• “ How can I ever hope to get a good night’s sleep when my baby wakes me every few hours?”
• “My mind is so wired; it won’t let me sleep.”
• “I just know tonight’s going to be even worse than last night.”
• “Nothing works for me—nothing.”
A lack of quality sleep can quickly make us desperate, anxious, and defeatist. It’s normal to feel this way when we’re exhausted. The vital thing to remember is that we can change our sleep.
We can also change the way we think about sleep. Thoughts are light, mobile forms of energy. They may seem fleeting and ephemeral, but they are deceptively powerful. Thoughts shape our inner reality and manifest our outer
reality. When we learn to intercept thoughts that are unhealthy or reflect limiting beliefs, we set in motion a powerful new energy.
Practice 4: Change That Thought
Reports show that worrying about not getting enough sleep is another factor that hurts sleep quality, creating a vicious circle.7 This practice is not about blaming ourselves if our thoughts take a downward spiral. Fluctuating emotions are natural, and we can’t be upbeat 24/7. But when we observe—and change—any limiting thoughts we may have around sleep, it’s like changing the bedsheets. We feel brighter, cleaner, and optimistic.
1. Identify a concern or negative thought you have around your sleep. Write it down in your sleep diary.
2. Write an affirming statement that counterbalances your concern or negative thought and gives you a feeling of hope and reassurance. For example, “I always sleep badly” becomes “My sleep quality improves every night.” “No techniques I’ve tried ever work” becomes “I’m making progress with my sleep habits and things are shifting.” “I don’t know how to sleep well” becomes “My body is infinitely wise and I support it by giving it the chance to sleep and nap.”
3. Integrate this technique into your life as a thought-transforming practice. Whenever you notice an unhelpful thought or a negative belief around your sleep, replace it with a hopeful, supportive one. Thought transformation may feel strange at first, but soon you’ll find it becomes second nature to intercept and correct unhelpful thoughts, limiting beliefs, and unhealthy expectations around sleep.
4. Choose an affirming statement that speaks to your heart, and repeat it whenever you feel worried about your sleep. It can also be used as a soothing mantra while you are falling sleep. Here are some examples: “Tonight I sleep deeply and wake up refreshed.”
7. Gallup Inc., “Casper-Gallup State of Sleep in America 2022 Report.”
“My dreams are turning into beautiful adventures.” “I love sleeping and I welcome restful sleep.”
Thoughts Are Powerful
You are with yourself 24/7. The thoughts you think have an unbelievably powerful effect on your life. When you become aware of the power of your thoughts, you become the true creator of your own life while awake and asleep. It’s helpful to recognise the way certain thoughts can tailspin into anxiety or resentment. This recognition gives you a golden moment where you can take a deep breath and transform them into something more hopeful or release them. There’s a parable that is often shared in yoga classes. The variation I’m most familiar with goes like this:
Two monks are travelling on foot together. They reach an enormous muddy puddle. An old woman asks them to help her cross it. The older monk obligingly gives her a piggyback. The whole time he’s helping her over the muddy puddle, the ungrateful old woman complains and berates him—she’s getting flecks of mud on her dress, he’s not fast enough, she’s slipping down his back … The older monk gets her safely across the puddle and sets her down. She doesn’t even thank him. The two monks continue on their way in silence.
After several hours, the younger monk bursts out, “How can you be so calm after the way that awful old woman treated you?”
The older monk smiles and says, “My friend, I set that woman down hours ago. However, it seems you are still carrying her.”
Humans love to chew on old hurts. Part of us thrives on the drama of reliving irritating situations and inventing scenarios of how we should have responded. But we can learn to set down our burdens before we sleep. If you find that worries or negative scenarios begin circling in your mind the moment you lie down in bed, the next practice could be just right for you. It helps us to release what we no longer need, so that our sleep is more restful.
Practice 5: The Worry Journal
Some people prefer to use a fresh notepad for their worry journal, but you can of course simply use your sleep diary. Journalling is known to improve sleep and reduce nighttime anxiety.8 Before bed, write down your worries and emotions. Include any irritations, upsetting events, or arguments you were involved with that day. You can choose how much detail you want to go into. Some people simply list keywords to keep it short or write concise sentences: “Car wouldn’t start. Argument about money. Feeling unsupported. Big meeting tomorrow.” Others flow-write for pages, as this feels more cathartic for them.
Next, spend several minutes jotting down the things you need to get done over the next few days. This offloads your to-do list from your consciousness, enabling you to release that nagging sense of needing to think about the days ahead. A 2018 study showed that when people write a very specific to-do list before bed, they fall asleep more quickly than when they only journal about things they have already done.9
When you’re done, announce to yourself, “I release all of these things and I welcome restful sleep.” Then put your worry journal away and do a pre-sleep meditation with breathwork, like the one in the next practice.
The Wonder of Ritual
Ritual has an ancient power. We can easily build beautiful little rituals around our night of sleep. It is purifying on a symbolic level to give our bedroom a makeover. It is an act of self-care to create a small ceremony around sleep. In a way, we all do this without thinking about it—we brush our teeth, change into nightclothes, and get ourselves a glass of water. When we consciously add an intentional ritual to these practical actions, we acknowledge the spiritual aspect of sleep.
8. Pennebaker, Opening Up.
9. Scullin et al., “The Effects of Bedtime Writing on Difficulty Falling Asleep.”
Props are a fun part of any ritual. There may be a sleep-inspiring object, such as a crystal or photo, that you can place next to your bed or under your pillow. These objects can change as often as you like. For a week or so, my daughter slept with a fluffy blanket that reminded her of snuggling with a baby panther she’d met in a recent dream. My workshop participants sometimes hold a calming gemstone in their hand during their pre-sleep meditation. Young children often associate sleep with particular lullabies. Maybe one of your old childhood lullabies will come to mind and you can hum it to yourself as you drift off to sleep. Rituals remind us of our intention to sleep well.
After all, we are preparing to leave our physical body behind for a while and enter another world. We’ll drift through different states of consciousness as we transition from wake to sleep. At some point, our brain activity will slow down magnificently, creating high-amplitude delta waves as we traverse the healing realms of deep sleep. And while our physical body slumbers through the night, we will have all kinds of adventures in our dream body. Sleeping may seem mundane since it’s something everyone on the planet does, but it is way more mysterious, therapeutic, and awe-inspiring than it may first appear. Let’s honour the mystery of sleep with a little ritual to open the door to this curative experience. As you work with this book, you’ll discover pre-bedtime practices that can be combined in any way you like to create your own unique pre-sleep ritual. Let’s begin with something simple yet profound: a short meditation.
Practice 6: Pre-sleep Meditation
Meditation is not complicated. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never tried it before. Meditation is simply resting in awareness. It’s a nonjudgemental space, so it’s good not to judge how well or badly you think you’re doing it. Think of it as a moment to relax and welcome sleep. Sit in darkness, close your eyes, and breathe slowly and deeply. Breathe in thinking “I am …” and breathe out thinking “peaceful.” This mantra helps you focus on your breath while filling yourself with peace. Thoughts will arise, because you have a bright, creative brain.
When you notice these thoughts, rather than engage with them, simply turn your attention back to your mantra.
There will be golden moments, gaps between thoughts, when you float momentarily in pure awareness. Relax and allow these moments to expand and lengthen without striving for them or passing judgement on yourself. It’s all good. The golden moments will happen more often as you become a more experienced meditator. Accept the calm rhythm of mantra … relaxation … thoughts, mantra … relaxation … thoughts. Whenever it feels right, lie down with a peaceful smile on your lips and say to yourself, “I welcome blissful sleep.”
When we embrace the sacred aspects of sleep and invite radiant rest into our lives, we evolve. We broaden our awareness of the wider spectrum of consciousness. We deepen our understanding of what it means to be human and alive today. We take a massive step forward into living our fullest life. All levels of our being—physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional—are affected by the quality of our sleep. Sleep is basic self-care, and access to rejuvenating rest is our birthright.
Life is always happening right here, right now, in the present moment. All of our power lies in this moment, so let’s act now to embrace blissful sleep. Even if it feels like a big thing, choose just one of the points in Practice 2: The Five-Step Programme to a Restful Night’s Sleep and implement it tonight. Congratulations—you’ve embarked on a powerful healing journey!
Body, Mind & Spirit / Sleep & Dreams
“Celebrates the joy of rest, renewal, and rapture across the whole spectrum of sleep and dreams.”
—Robert Moss, author of Growing
Big Dreams
What Kind of Sleeper Are You?
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Dr. Johnson presents sixty-four activities that can work for anyone, whether you’re a nap lover or just plain tired. She encourages you to:
•Give Your Bedroom a Makeover • Create a Yoga Nidra Nest
•Build a Sacred Sleep Altar • Ritualize Your Bath • Meet Your Dream Guide
•Breathe through Alternate Nostrils • Invite Erotic Dreams
This book will help you create healthy sleep habits and overcome insomnia and nightmares. As you embark on this creative and spiritual journey, you’ll fall in love with sleep.
“The most eye-opening and thorough book I have ever come across on all dimensions of sleep and dreams.”
—Bob Hoss, director of
the DreamScience Foundation
Clare R. Johnson, PhD, was the first person in the world to write a PhD on lucid dreaming as a creative tool. Past president and CEO of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, she is an internationally renowned speaker and teacher who has developed hundreds of techniques to help people access their unconscious intelligence. She is the author of eight books, including The Art of Lucid Dreaming and The Art of Transforming Nightmares. She also hosts the Sleep & Deep Lucid Dreaming podcast. Visit Clare at DeepLucidDreaming.com. . . . . .
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