Sounder Sleep System™
A Revolutionary Approach to Better Sleep
“I use these techniques with all my patients because they are so simple and effective.”
Why are sleep and sleep quality important? Sleep deprivation takes a toll on mental health, cognition, immunity, weight regulation, cardiovascular health and relationships. It’s also dangerous because it makes us more accident-prone. A CDC study reported that an estimated 1 in 25 drivers in the U.S. reported having fallen asleep while driving in the previous 30 days. Sleepy drivers were at fault for about 90,000 accidents in the U.S. in 2017. From an economic and environmental standpoint, we pay a price not only in slumping worker productivity but major accidents. According to OSHA, the nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, and the Texas City BP oil refinery explosion were consequences of worker fatigue. We need to change our culture to value rest and sleep, for ourselves as individuals and for the planet as a whole.
What are the origins of the Sounder Sleep System? Michael Krugman, a Feldenkrais practitioner based the Sounder Sleep System on Feldenkrais and Eastern healing modalities. Michael authored The Insomnia Solution and taught his techniques to employees of major corporations, healthcare professionals in the U.S. and Europe, patients at Cedars-Sinai and Torrance Memorial Medical Centers in L.A., and patrol officers for the NYPD. Read more about Michael here.
How does the Sounder Sleep System work? Every physical movement you perform involves a mix of excitatory and inhibitory activity in the brain. It may seem obvious that large, fast, vigorous movements wake us up. They involve excitation and relatively less inhibition, biasing the brain toward greater excitability. Michael Krugman observed that the opposite is true. Small, slow, gentle movements that are linked to breath decrease excitability and produce inhibition. Rather than closing our eyes and hoping that sleep will ensue, we can learn to initiate sleep. The Sounder Sleep System is a 3-pronged approach that gives us specific tools to use 1) during the day, 2) before bedtime and 3) in bed, to fall asleep and to fall asleep again during nighttime awakenings.
Daytime
Most of your sleep quality depends on what you do during waking hours. Day-Tamers™ help you to recover from stress and set the stage for a good night’s sleep.
Bedtime
You can’t expect to go, go, go and then fall asleep on demand. Guided Natural Breathing™ quiets your nervous system and prepares you for the descent into deep sleep.
Night
Staring at your alarm clock? Too tired to sleep? No worries. Your toolbox includes an array of simple, sleep-inducing techniques called Night-Tamers™ that will help you to drift into a dreamy state and wake up refreshed.
Who benefits from immersion in this system? Everyone who wants to have a better quality of life will enjoy the calming effects of this system. The Sounder Sleep System gives us tools that, even at our most stressed and busy moments, introduce a feeling of expansive peacefulness that permeates everything we do and eases our relationships with other people. Sleep will be refreshing and restorative. However, this system is not a cure for medical issues like sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. And if it’s musculoskeletal discomfort that keeps you awake, I recommend also doing Feldenkrais.
How long does it take? Progress is cumulative, so while many will notice improvement quite early on, it usually takes about 3 weeks of structured practice for full results. Once you have internalized the lessons and conditioned yourself to relax and fall asleep, you’ll find that even a brief session will achieve desired results.