Krugman’s 4 exercises to end insomnia

Modern life has brought us many benefits, but also new ailments.

One of the most important is the insomnia in its two manifestations: inability to fall asleep or waking up at midnight when we should be asleep. Instead, we find ourselves with an avalanche of thoughts that do not stop and that lead us to despair.

if we stop that uncontrolled mental agitation we will enter the dream, but how to achieve it?

exercises to fall asleep fast

An alternative is the Sounder Sleep System, based on micro-movements and organic mechanisms that facilitate sleep. Michael Krugman, the creator of it, was inspired during a hike in Mexico by seeing a yogi on a rock in a very difficult pose performing subtle movements with his fingers.

They were like those of algae: almost imperceptible, as if he were navigating through his state of mind. And he remembered that in a seminar he had given, in which the students opened and closed their hands subtly and slowly, the movement had soporific effects.

Michael Krugmann He practices the Feldenkrais method and, experimenting with these movements, he shaped this somatic sleep training, which takes elements from medicine and the arts. There are currently some two hundred authorized instructors in a dozen countries.

The method, with principles common to both traditional and modern self-healing systems, is based on the sleep performancegoverned by two fundamental and opposite principles of nerve cells: stimulation and inhibition.

The stimulation it is behind our actions, physical or mental. It allows us to initiate, guide and sustain them. But it cannot do its job without a limiting regulatory principle: inhibition.

The inhibition it modifies the speed, intensity, amplitude, dimension and duration of our actions so that they better adapt to our intentions.

Working in a coordinated manner, stimulation and inhibition shape, coherence and orientation to our actions. We need stimulation to do things and inhibition to do them well.

Less stimulation, more inhibition

He balance between stimulation and inhibition in the brain changes radically when we fall asleep and favors the latter.

As a result, brain processes slow down to a minute fraction and billions of neurons “synchronize”; that is, they all do the same thing at the same time, smoothly and slowly: cognitive activity slows down, metabolic activity slows down, and the entire body becomes still.

This is the natural process to fall asleep. micromovement and breathing

The breathing It is the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. Adding a movement or stimulus to one of the breathing moments (inspiration, exhalation and pause), without manipulating it, we approach unconscious processes and sleep.

The right movements to fall asleep

But what movement type help more?

all physical movement produces a mixture of stimulatory and inhibitory activities in the brain.

big moves, fast and strong produce a lot of stimulation and proportionally less inhibition, tipping the balance in the brain towards stimulation.

Instead, the small movementsGentle, soft, and friendly produce abundant inhibition, and proportionally less urgency, which reduces stimulation in the brain and enhances inhibition.

The soft movements transport us to a absorption state. Just as it happens when we do a very interesting reading, watch a moving movie, listen to music that excites us, work on something we like, or meditate.

Therefore, the stimulus, the movement associated with breathing, must be low intensity. We must eliminate syncopated, strong, complex and unpredictable movements. And enhance the predictable, chained, lazy and simple.

It must be like a lullaby: a smooth movement, as small as possible, fluid, easy to perform, predictable and adapted to breathing. We call it “micromotion.”

The Krugman system against insomnia

Krugman’s system proposes alleviate insomnia by performing micro-movements both throughout the day and before going to sleep or if you wake up in the middle of the night.

During the day micromovements regulate stress and allow us to be in touch with the inhibitory movements of the brain. This is a necessary previous step to be able to fall asleep later or at night.

If during the day we do not stop being in the stimulation process at any time, when we ask the body at night to descend directly into sleep it will be impossible for us.

At night Micro-movements made in bed before going to sleep, or in the middle of the night when we have woken up, will first lead us to relaxation and, with its inhibitory effect, towards sleep. no rush to sleep

We must take into account a component of sleep that can reduce the effect of the exercises: the attitude regarding him and ourselves.

The dream comes when we are alone and requires a clear internal dialogue, without rushing. Therefore, the first premise to sleep well is don’t rush for time How long does it take to fall asleep?

The second is not sabotage: you have to want to sleep, but not as an imposition, not as if it were a job.

the dream comes when we trust in the elements that make it possible, our weight and breathing. For this, relaxation is necessary first, and this depends on the weight and the exhalation, it consists of letting go, of letting go towards the earth.

We breathe about 15 times a minute, a total of about 21,600 times a day, and not even half are aware. The body, the brain and the nervous system know how it works and that is why we continue to breathe in any situation.

deserve a confidence vote. If we do, the dream will come. She will cradle us in her bosom with the full confidence that everything will be fine.

To promote sleep, introduce the micromovements in several phases:

Observation. Scan your body, how it weighs on the floor or bed, and then the respiratory movement.Activation. Choose a micromovement (you have examples on the right page) and introduce it into a part of the body when you breathe in.Relaxation. Pause, and as you exhale, loosen the micromovement, your weight, and the thoughts.Trust. Once the air is released, let the inspiration come naturally: trust that it will. Take advantage of the pause to observe what changes have occurred.Rest. After 8 minutes practicing with the chosen micromovement, rest and take time to breathe in and out, without doing anything.Repetition. After five minutes of rest, resume the micromovement coupled with breathing, but this time do it with half the intensity of the previous time.

say goodbye to the day

Before falling asleep, You can do this exercise to clean your interior and download the information that has been recorded in your memory and that you do not need to sleep. Visualize whatever comes to mind by following these steps:

evoke with a smile everything you learned, what enlightened you, what gave you support and projected you forward.Recognize whatever caused you grief or pain, and then dismiss it kindly.appreciate the moments and the people who helped you carry the day forward.

With this cleansing, the senses are free and prepared to perceive. Sleeping, although it is an activity developed by and for the brain, is not an intellectual activity, but rather a sensory one.

4 very effective mini-exercises to sleep

End the day with these exercises and enjoy a restful sleep.

Sitting, with the palms of the hands on the thighs, exerts a micropressure as you inhale and release as you exhale.

Wait for the air to come naturally and repeat for a few minutes.

Sitting, hands in lap On a cushion resting on your thighs, place the ball of your right thumb in the center of your left palm.

exercises a micropressure on inspiration and release as you exhale.

lying face up, place the palms of the hands on the abdomen.

When breathing in, slightly raises the thumb. As you exhale, let it rest in the abdomen.

Repeat over the arch that form the ribs at the level of the stomach and in the upper part of the chest.

Sitting or lying down With the mouth closed, when inhaling, the jaw is pulled up towards the top of the head: the lower teeth come closer to the upper ones, the lips are slightly compressed.

as you breathe out, relax your jaw without parting your lips. Wait for inspiration to come naturally and return to micromovement. Perform about ten times and rest.

then continue with the same movement, but bringing your jaw closer half of what you did before. Perform about ten repetitions and rest. The dream will come to you.