697 Sheep and I Can’t Sleep

Posted by Ron Ball

Mar 06, 05

A friend of mine asked me about using EFT for insomnia. Hmmm. Usually, I can read a book and fall asleep in bed within 10 minutes. There are times that I wake up in the middle of the night if something is really bothering me, but I’m lucky to have little trouble sleeping. When I did research on insomnia, I felt surprised and sad about how big a problem it is. Insomnia negatively affects millions of people’s lives.

The word “insomnia” comes from the Latin in (“no”) and somnus (“sleep”), so it literally means “no sleep” or the inability to sleep. Insomnia is the chronic inability to fall asleep or remain asleep for an adequate length of time. According to research, one in 10 people suffer from chronic insomnia. Scientists estimate that insomnia or sleep deprivation costs the United States economy $35 billion a year in absenteeism and accidents.

There are a ton of suggested cures for insomnia. They include:

• A shot of Wild Turkey whiskey or alcohol before going to bed
• A glass of warm milk before going to bed
• Not drinking anything before going to bed
• No caffeine before going to bed
• Avoiding eating before going to bed
• Regular exercise
• Stress reduction
• Hypnotherapy
• Listening to relaxing music
• Imagining a relaxing scene
• Over the counter drugs
• Prescription drugs
• Herbal remedies
• Oils and potions
• Feng Shui
• Counting sheep
• And more, more, more

Dr. Joseph Mercola, who has one of the top natural health sites, offers tips and ideas in his article, Is Insomnia Wreaking Havoc on Your Health? You may also want to visit his health blog.

I like to challenge the norm and take the contrarian route. Sometimes the best people to talk to about a problem aren’t professionals. They’re people who have the problem. They have the “pain” and motivation to seek out and be open to any and all solutions.

Take John Wiedman. He’s not a doctor or therapist. He’s a mortgage broker and former “professional insomniac.” He’s also the author of the book, Desperately Seeking Snoozin’ . When I first clicked on his Website www.insomniacure.com, the song, Dream a Little Dream of Me starting playing. I thought, “Oh, I get it. The cure is waltzing me to sleep.” He says that his book has the answers to insomnia. Maybe so. Other books you might want to check out include: Say Good Night to Insomnia, No More Sleepless Nights, and The Promise of Sleep.

But what about EFT for insomnia? A few weeks ago, I had trouble falling asleep. My mind wouldn’t be quiet. It kept jabbering about what was bothering me. I tried “witnessing my thoughts.” That worked for awhile. I decided to do EFT. It didn’t work. That is, until I got more specific about the issue.

I started out with a setup affirmation that was too general:

“Even though I can’t fall asleep, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

To get good at EFT requires being flexible, making adjustments and following your intuition. I did and changed my affirmation to:

“Even though I don’t want to stop thinking about (specific issue), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

[Unconsciously, I didn’t want to stop thinking about it. So, might as well make it conscious.]

When I said that affirmation, I fell asleep in a short time. [I know because I figured it out the next morning.]

To get to the core or root of issues, I like to ask questions. For example, “What’s my resistance?” Often, it’s best to dance with what’s bothering me instead of fighting it. This is the concept behind the martial art, Aikido. In Aikido, instead of opposing your enemy, you use the opponent’s energy to control them. What we resist … persists. Don’t fight the feeling.

Again, asking questions is helpful. Here are some key questions to ask:

What prevents me from falling asleep?
What will happen when I fall asleep?
What’s bad about falling asleep?
What’s good about staying awake?
What beliefs do I have about sleep and getting enough rest?
If my insomnia could talk, what would it say to me?
What is my insomnia trying to teach me?

Do the words “falling asleep” create fear or concern for you? Then change the words to “getting into my sleep state” or words that feel just right. Are you afraid to fall asleep and not be able to wake up?

Ask yourself questions like these. Then be quiet, listen and trust whatever picture, sounds or feelings arise. Go with them to do your EFT.

Another route is to do affirmations and pay attention to the “yes, but” tail-enders (discussed in The Palace of Possibilities video series) that may come up. Tail-enders are the keys to your resistance and what to tap on. Try these affirmations and pay attention to any tail-enders.

I love to go to sleep
I release and let go
I enjoy relaxing feelings when I go to bed

As I said, changing my EFT setup statement worked and got me to sleep. Some other affirmations you might experiment with include:

Even though I worry about …
Even though I am afraid that …
Even though I’m afraid I won’t be able to go to sleep …
Even though I have this problem …
Even though I have these thoughs racing through my mind about …
Even though I don’t know how to stop thinking about …
Even though I don’t want to stop thinking about …
Even though I resist going to sleep …
Even though I won’t allow myself to peacefully go to sleep …

… I deeply and completely accept myself.

Dr. Patricia Carrington also has an excellent article How to Use EFT to Get to Sleep Easily.

When you do your tapping, let go of expecting one minute wonders. If they happen, great. If not, that’s fine too. Tap persistently. If all else fails, you can always go back to counting sheep.

If you have insomnia and you’re up, doing EFT vocally is best. But what if you’re in bed and want to be quiet about it? There are a couple of things you can do. First, do “mental tapping.” That is, using your imagination, do EFT in your mind, including the setup and tapping sequence on the EFT points. The other way is called “Touch and Breathe,” developed by Dr. John Diepold. Instead of tapping, gently touch a point and take a breath one or two times at each energy point.

Hey, what if your mattress is the real culprit? The Sealy mattress company says their mattress is so comfortable, you won’t need to count sheep anymore. I guess they want you to count the number of mattress coil springs instead.

There are so many different cures out there for insomnia that it can get confusing. One unusual “breakthough” cure is a radical treatment where every time a person starts to fall asleep, the participant is woken up time and again. The idea is to be conditioned to fall asleep. Too unpleasant for me. Give me my EFT.

The other interesting insomnia cure is toe wiggling. Here’s what you do. When you’re on your back in bed, wiggle the toes of both of your feet simultaneously up and down 12 times. This will relax your entire body, inside and out. The ends of the energy meridians in your feet connect with every organ and part of your entire body. Toe wiggling helps to bring about a relaxing, free-flowing energy. Hence, you nod off.

Okay, why not? I’ll try it tonight.