Books before pillow: How semi-supine helps us 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:–

1. Loosen you up
2. 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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

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