- How trauma impacts sleep
- 3 strategies for changing unconscious programs
- How to use sleep for trauma healing
Conference Day 1
Understanding sleep
- Sleep vs rest
- The difference between mental and emotional rest
- The two components of physical rest
- Why "sleep divorce" is on the rise
- How to navigate different individual sleep cycles in a couple
- How to use communication, tools and techniques to stay connected and rested
- Why insomnia is a symptom not a condition
- Why you still feel tired when you wake
- When to get a sleep study
- Why a dysregulated nervous system makes surrendering to sleep very difficult
- The neurology of sleep and the different states that our brain wave patterns can be in (Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta)
- How resetting your nervous system is crucial to getting a good night’s sleep
Bonus Sessions
- Come back to the body through diaphragmatic breathing
- Experience how different positions can settle the mind
- Draw the senses inwards to perceive the body-mind as sensation
- Guided yoga nidra session for deep rest
- You will need pillows or blankets
- Best practiced in a comfortable environment
- Best listened to in a quiet environment
- Includes images, music and voice
- Running time 13 minutes
Conference Day 2
Factors disrupting your sleep
- How PTSD affects our sleep
- Why sleep hygeine is not enough
- The power of lucid dreaming
- Why unprocessed grief impacts sleep
- How to understand the relationship between grief and trauma
- How to deal with our feelings to sleep soundly
- How sleep impacts pain
- Why anger and anxiety are inflammatory states
- How expressive journaling can help you sleep today
- The difference between "false" anxiety and "true" anxiety
- How the gut, brain and hormones are important to sleep
- Why sleep is the most effective treatment for anxiety
- How much sleep we need
- How sleep and pain are correlated
- Medications that can help sleep
- How grief can impact sleep
- Why its important to give a voice to our feelings
- How to use the breath to support opening our emotions
Bonus Sessions
- Guided yoga session for relaxation
- You will need some blankets or cushions
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Best listened to in a quiet environment
- Includes images, music and voice
- Running time 20 minutes
- Guided meditation and breathwork session
- Short simple exercise to calm the body and mind
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
Conference Day 3
Getting sleep ready
- Which techniques to try, and when you should try them, to reset your rest
- When to seek help for your sleep issues
- How perfectionism and anxiety play a role in sleep
- How to get your kids to sleep better
- How Vicki's career in education sparked an interest in sleep
- Why evaluation is important before sleep strategies are applied
- Why sunlight is so important
- Optimum room temperature for sleep
- Why timing of exercise and food is so important
- How daylight, movement and nutrition relate to sleep
- How to make lasting behavior changes to support better sleep
- Why stress and anxiety management play a key role in rest
- What good sleep hygiene looks like
- Why a regular routine helps
- How to use sleep trackers effectively
Bonus Sessions
- Guided yoga session for transitioning to sleep
- You will need some blankets or cushions
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Best listened to in a quiet environment
- Includes images, music and voice
- Running time 15 minutes
- Learn to soften the grip on the body and mind
- Experience how twists can help you to unwind
- Sense how holding yoga poses for longer settle the body by releasing stuck energy
Conference Day 4
Functional medicine for restoring rest
- Functional vs pathological sleep issues
- The role of epigenetics
- How to use the functional matrix to map your sleep issues
- Why daylight is so important
- How we make melatonin in our body
- Simple daily habits to optimize sleep
- Homeopathic remedies for great sleep
- How unhealed trauma contributes to ongoing sleep issues
- Why healthy liver function will increase your health and rest
- The importance of brain detoxification
- The impact of the lymphatic and glymphatic systems
- Nutritional strategies for better sleep
Dr Margaret Christensen
How sex hormones impact sleep
- Which hormones affect sleep
- How toxins impact hormones
- Strategies to improve hormone balance
- Conventional treatment options for insomnia
- Why sleep hygiene is so important
- Powerful naturopathic interventions
- Why sleep impacts our skin
- How to get good quality rest without sleep medication
- Which hormones factor into our sleep cycles and why
- How the gut microbiome influences health
- The link between sleep and the gut-brain-axis
- How microbial diversity is linked to sleep improvements
- The impact of low GABA
- How low serotonin affects sleep
- How dietary oxalates and fat malabsorption cause restless legs and insomnia
Bonus Sessions
- Guided meditation and breathwork session
- Short simple exercise to calm the body and mind
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Best listened to in a quiet environment with headphones
- Includes voice and gentle binaural beats
- Running time 40 minutes
- Guided Yin yoga session for deep rest
- You will need pillows or blankets
- Best practiced in a comfortable environment
Conference Day 5
Brain and body
- What the difference is between rest and sleep
- Why a supported conscious rest practice can help us get better sleep
- What to know before you engage in a restorative yoga practice
- Understanding chronic pain and Fibromyalgia
- How addressing sleep issues supports deeper healing
- Therapeutic tools for targeting sleep issues
- How Debora's own insomnia changed her life
- Why energy fields impact your ability to rest and heal
- How to engage in energy healing
- How trauma affects our biology
- The impact of the freeze response
- The root of trauma healing
- Lifestyle factors which influence sleep patterns
- Case studies on how hormone balance impacts sleep
- Why blood glucose is key to optimising sleep
- How an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency is linked to poor sleep
- Why vitamins B5, B12 and the gut microbiome also influence sleep
- How the RightSleep system may aid better sleep
Bonus Sessions
- Guided yoga session for relaxation
- You will need some blankets or cushions
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Running time 20 minutes
- Best listened to in a quiet environment with headphones
- Includes voice and gentle binaural beats
- Easy to follow movement sequence
- Running time 15 - 20 minutes
- No props necessary
Conference Day 6
Nervous system regulation
- How over activity can affect sleep
- Different types of sleep
- How to optimize sleep for peak performance
- Understanding our biochemical alarm system
- Basic night time routines for optimum sleep
- Herbs and supplements that improve sleep
- Why learning to slow down is so critical
- The impact of stimulants on sleep
- How to manage blood sugar
- How the Sleep Easy Method is different from other sleep treatments
- How the vagus nerve factors into rest and relaxation
- How this technique relaxes the mind body and emotions
- What survival stress is
- Why you wake up in the middle of the night
- Top tips for nervous system regulation
- The sympathetic nervous system's role in disrupting sleep
- How trauma, anxiety and stress impact rest
- How to engage the parasympathetic nervous system for rest and repair
Bonus Sessions
- Best listened to in a quiet environment
- Includes images, music and voice
- Running time 13 minutes
- Guided meditation and breathwork session
- Short simple exercise to calm the body and mind
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Gentle movement session
- Focus on breathwork
- 15 minutes, bring a bolster or cushion
Conference Day 7
Tools and techniques for great sleep
- What breathwork is
- How to breathe for deeper sleep
- Practical tools for deepening your sleep
- The impact of light on sleep
- How to approach nutrition for optimum sleep
- How room temperature impacts upon your depth of sleep
- How yoga impacts the vagus nerve
- The importance of fully letting go
- How to work with yoga nidra
- What typical infant, baby and toddler sleep looks like
- How to set your child up to rest well
- Which factors impact childhood sleep and might need intervention and support
- Understanding how infrared helps promote sleep and relaxation
- How infrared supports energy, detox and anti-inflammatory pathways
- How to use infrared therapies in your life
- Different sleeping strategies for children
- The power of connection
- How to nurture new routines
Bonus Sessions
- Learn an alternate nostril breathing practice to calm the mind
- Receive supported yoga nidra positions
- Experience the power of yoga nidra to help you to drift off to sleep
- Guided breathwork session
- Short simple exercise to calm the body and mind
- Best practiced in a quiet environment
- Running time 15 minutes
- Best listened to in a quiet environment
- Includes images, music and voice
Meet Your Hosts
Alex Howard
Alex Howard is the founder of Conscious Life. He is also chairman of The Optimum Health Clinic, one of the world’s leading integrative medicine clinics. With a team of 25 full time practitioners supporting thousands of patients in over 50 countries.
Alex is an immensely experienced psychology practitioner, having delivered more than 10,000 consultations. He has also led the Therapeutic Coaching practitioner programme since 2005, training the next generation of psychology practitioners. Since March 2020, Alex has been documenting his therapeutic work with real life patients via his In Therapy with Alex Howard YouTube series.
Alex has published research in the British Medical Journal Open and Psychology and Health. His books, Why me? My Journey from ME to Health and Happiness, and Decode Your Fatigue: A clinically proven 12-step plan to increase your energy, heal your body and transform your life, are published by Hay House.
Meagen Gibson
Meagen Gibson is the CEO of Conscious Life. Her career includes award-winning journalist, educator and entrepreneur. Meagen’s enthusiasm and energy for personal development led her to take the leadership role at Conscious Life.
Meagen is passionate about taking complex concepts and distilling them down to simple, accessible applications we can use to take action in our everyday lives.
Meagen is an experienced teacher, facilitator, and speaker on the subjects of journalism, entrepreneurship, film and video as well as improv.
Her previous television work in the U.S. includes The Voice and Who Do You Think You Are.
Most recently, Meagen co-created and directed the series, How I Created A Cult, for Conscious Life. The series is currently available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV in North America.
Kirsty Cullen
Kirsty became CEO of OHC in 2020 after a decade of working within various departments within the organisation, including formerly as Director of Nutrition. Previously having worked in executive recruitment for 10 years, her interest in nutrition began as a consequence of health issues experienced by her own daughter, and her own mother's struggles with M.E/CFS.
Following her graduation in Nutritional Therapy, Kirsty embraced a number of different and exciting career opportunities through the establishment of her own nutrition clinic, which saw her undertake a number of nutrition roles within the professional sports arena. This included working as a Nutritional Therapist at St George’s Park National Football Centre and also for the League Managers Association, assessing and advising football managers and elite athletes on health, energy provision and injury recovery. Kirsty also worked as Lead Nutritional Therapist at Derby County Football Club, establishing an umbrella nutrition strategy for the club, in addition to providing one-to-one nutrition plans for all players.
PROUDLY PART OF ALEX HOWARD GROUP
