I relish my flannel sheets and my comfy pillow. My nightstand has all that I need at my fingertips; ear plugs, mouth guard, lavender oils, lip balm and of course my headphones. Listening to an inspirational talk, music, story or mediation is something I look forward to every night.

Of course—not being entirely perfect—I do break down and sneak in some Seinfeld or Scrubs some nights. Once the pillows are in the perfect position, my earphones are in (or at least one of them in and an earplug in the other ear—I’m usually on my side). I can relax and wind down with some Yoga Nidra or a good night-time story to lull me to sleep.

However, there are nights when the “insomnia beast” rears its ugly head. That’s when I am in an endless mind loop of things I should have done…things I shouldn’t have said…things to do tomorrow and other stuff crashing around in my brain distracting me from the rest I need.

I recently listened to Cate Stillman talk to Meaghan Minogue, who had great advice for when your mind starts to do this. Just say NO. NO! I will not let my brain take me down that road and NO I will not let my mind take over with these distracting thoughts.

Like I said, sleep is my keystone habit. When I sleep well my day starts right. It’s a fact. I’ve struggled with insomnia for more years than I can talk about. However, with the 10 Habits I am slowly able to call myself a “former insomniac.” And that feels good.

Tamsin Astor-Jack has a BS/BSc in Psychology and a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, where she studied the relationship between intention and reactivity in the brain.

Yoga Nidra is yogic sleep or sleep awareness.  It is a practice that allows for total and systematic relaxation.  The goal is to leave the waking state, go through the dream state and into the deep sleep state, while remaining awake.

This lofty goal is tough for most of us!  It is very difficult to let go completely.  We live in an overstimulated world where are our attention is split between many things which makes it harder to let go.

Ideally it is best to give yourself 45 minutes, following a restorative yoga practice.  However, it is tough to find the time – believe me, I know – and it is not a practice that is taught everywhere.  We live a strong, busy, hectic lifestyle and many of us feel that our exercise and yoga should be strong, busy and hectic too!

Creating new habits that are sustainable is best done by linking your new habit to one that always occurs – so for example, here, make this new Yoga Nidra practice something that you always do after brushing your teeth and putting on your pjs.  Making the new practice short is also key to making it maintainable.

I want you to find a way to add this practice to your day because research has shown that Yoga Nidra helps with menstrual problems, managing glucose levels in diabetic patients, lowering blood pressure and managing the symptoms of PTSD.

How to do Yoga Nidra

1) Start by setting up your space.  If you can, create a warm room, with a mat and blanket on the floor, lights dimmed and perhaps some lavender or vanilla essential oils.

2) Have comfy clothes on and lie down, in savasana (corpse or relaxation pose).

3) Turn on the following recording and get a little taste of complete relaxation!

Go ahead – give yourself a chance to deeply relax!

Check out this blog post for more info on creating new habits: http://www.yogabrained.com/blog/2-ways-to-create-habit-changes/