All the repair that happens in your body happens at sleep.

– Dr. Peter Cummings

A CAUTIONARY TALE

Up until Belinda had her first baby, she was a carefree girl, who loved life, slept well and coped with the stressors of her job as a dermatological nurse. She could recover from a night out and bounce back into her week of work, socialising, going to her dance classes, walking her Golden Retriever and making love to her husband of 4 years Evan. She ate well and effortlessly managed her weight intuitively as she quickly learned that she didn’t need to match Evan’s portion sizes!

Belinda and Evan decided it was time for them to start trying for a baby. After a few months they were thrilled to find they were having their first child. They gave birth to their baby girl who they called Summer is celebration of the season she was born in. Belinda had managed to put not much more than 10kg on over her pregnancy and she hoped that would come off as soon as she got back into normal life and as she breast fed. She had struggled with swollen legs and feet towards the end of her pregnancy and was hoping this would also resolve.

Little Summer was feeding well and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Belinda had rejected the notion that you needed to ‘eat for two’ and was meeting her energy needs with three balanced meals a day. A few weeks in however Summer starting showing signs of reflux and was really distressed throughout the night. It was taking more than an hour to settle her at times. Because Evan worked as a high voltage electrician, she didn’t want to disturb his sleep. She started sleeping in Summers room on a futon couch between feeds and settling Summer.

The days and nights started to merge and become a blur. Belinda felt the only way to move through this fog was to eat uncharacteristically with ‘healthy’ sugar laden protein bars, her favourite dark chocolate and ‘fat free’ gelato as her ‘go to’s’ to survive the day. With this fog hanging over her each day she craved coffee, which she wouldn’t have while breast feeding, so she instead used sugar to give her the lift she desperately needed.

Belinda had won a photoshoot as part of a promotion for new mothers, she was hoping to wear her favourite pre-pregnancy dress that she knew would be perfect for the photos. The shoot was booked for 3 months post birth and Belinda trusted she would fit it by then. The week of the shoot arrived and she thought she better check and make sure it fitted. To her horror she couldn’t do the zip up above her waist line.

With no time or energy to go shopping, she resolved to attach the dress to her camisole and make sure none of the photos showed her back. The photographer made it work but on receiving the photos, Belinda hardly recognised herself. She found herself falling deeper into a depression. All of her support systems, her routines with work, her dancing friends, her daily walks, her intimacy with Evan was gone. She devoted every waking and sleeping moment to her bundle of joy Summer.

Belinda decided it was time to do something about these extra 10kg’s which made her so unrecognisable and seemed to be all around her waist. She thought she’d weigh herself before starting the latest keto program that promised she would lose 10 kg’s in 12 weeks. To add to her horror, she realised she wasn’t just 10kg’s but now 17kgs over her ideal weight. Somehow this was just creeping up on her and she felt helpless.

The keto diet got her off sugar, but it made her bloated and more uncomfortable and found that the high amounts of fat and protein gave her reflux at night, pain in her gallbladder and more water retention in her legs. Her moods were all over the place, she found herself irritated with Evan, anxious about Summer and frustrated by the dog, who missing his daily walk took to yelping through the night.

She found herself finding solace in social media which began with a support group for mums, but quickly became doom scrolling while feeding endlessly in the night. It didn’t seem to matter how exhausted she was, she couldn’t get quality sleep. The aircon had broken in Summers room and Belinda couldn’t sleep through the sweaty nights, so she went back to sleeping with Evan. However she found she no longer slept through his bouts of snoring. Every little noise woke her and she felt hyper-vigilant.

In a worse state than before, she gave up on her diet and went into survival mode. Her maternity leave was quickly coming to an end and she decided she couldn’t return to full time work with Evan being so busy. Instead, she opted to take shift work as a casual nurse at the nearby hospital. Night shift suited her well as Summer was finally sleeping through, and the nights were quiet and less demanding on her physically. She figured she could sleep with Summer during the day and catch up once Evan was home.

Belindas life became a revolving door of survival. With no energy to look after her diet, she ate what was available at the hospital, and with no ability to have a routine, she never returned to dancing, to walking her dog, she had no libido whatsoever and was rarely intimate with Evan. All she wanted to do was binge watch Netflix and eat. She found the daily activities of looking after Summer all consuming and her dream of having another child fell to the wayside.

As the years went by, Belinda found her weight going up steadily. Her energy was also increasingly erratic as she depended on coffee in the morning, sugar during the day and wine at night. Unable to sleep more than a few hours at a time, Belinda thought it was time to see her GP. He put her on sleeping tablets and antidepressants. The sleeping tablets gave her periods of sleep but never allowed her to go into deep restorative sleep and the antidepressants made her feel like a zombie and she further dissociated from life and her relationships.

As Belinda laid in her bed one morning in incredible pain after injuring her back for the third time lifting someone at work, feeling like a devastated shell of her old self, she saw her life as a movie in her mind. She saw Evan holding on by a thread, angry and alone, she saw Summer looking up at an absent mother, she saw all of her friends who had dropped out of her life and she saw how utterly alone she is. She saw how she avoided ever looking in the mirror or being seen naked, she saw her chronic pain and believed she would never dance again. She wondered “how did things end up like this?” The hole she was in felt too deep and too dark to see any light of hope.

The cautionary tale of Belinda’s life, describing this devastating downward spiral is a story you may relate to at some level. This is why I created Project Shimmer, to light the way out of that dark place.

I want us to understand that the catalyst to her demise was lack of quality sleep. Her diet and lifestyle was a reaction to her lack of sleep, her relationship, her experience of herself as a mother, her hormonal imbalance, her moods and her life trajectory was ultimately because of her lack of sleep.

This module is about how to come out of the abyss of sleeplessness, to reclaim your metabolism, your moods, your energy, your weight and your waist through the power of sleep.

The most important bodily processes occur during sleep. This is where fat burning occurs, the hormones responsible for hunger and satiation (grehlin and leptin) are optimised, muscle building and tissue repair occurs (as growth hormone peaks), our brain is detoxified, our memories are consolidated, our ability to collect and recall information improves, tissue growth and cell regeneration occurs, emotional processing is achieved, creativity and insight is enhanced, and our bodies detoxified.

So allow quality sleep be the overflow and happy result of great practices and choices throughout the day.

We have the power to influence the quality of sleep we get, and following are some tried and tested ways to improve our sleep.

SLEEP BEGINS WHEN YOU WAKE UP

Our circadian rhythm is something that is inextricably linked with every part of our day. Cortisol rises in the morning to help us to wake up and get going with the day.

It is here that we are designed to see the light of the daytime sun, releasing melatonin into our system.

At the same time as taking in the light, if we also ground by placing our bare feet on the wet morning grass we will set ourselves up for wonderful sleep that night.

Think of sleep as something to be romanced and cultivated throughout the day, rather than something we are desperately trying to control.

HACKS FOR BETTER SLEEP

Because this is such a time of repair and renewal we want to optimise how we enter the hours of sleep so that the burden on the body is lightened and it can get to its work efficiently and effectively. A few principles to consider are…

• Stop eating 2-4 hours before sleep so that you are not digesting food in your precious hours of sleep.

  This also directly impacts your weight as the food that is being digested at this time is simply stored. Eat lightly, with easily digestible foods that will not disrupt your sleep or cause heart burn.

  Eating sugar close to bed time completely alters your entire sleep process and the regenerative rhythms attempting to happen during the sleep cycle. I choose a combination salad, fruit or a fresh juice to finish my day of eating.

• Pay attention to the blue light that you are exposed to in the hours before sleep (anything that comes from a screen or man made white light).

  Blue light can cause the release of excitatory neurotransmitters and make it difficult to wind down.

  It is a great idea to wear blue blocking glasses in the evening from the time the sun sets and be sure to stop exposing yourself to screens at least an hour or two before bed.

  I keep my phone on night mode (which makes the screen yellow and eliminates the blue light) in case I need to look at my phone.

  Also be aware of any devices like phone chargers around your room that emit blue light.

• Make it a matter of principle that all activating conversations, or stress (like watching late night news) stops well before going to sleep.

  Anything that spikes cortisol (our stress hormone) is not ideal to promoting quality sleep.

• Burn a candle at the dinner table or in your room before bed, look into the flame, be mesmerised and receive the benefits of the trance inducing warm light.

  This is a way of counteracting our overexposure to blue light and helps our brain shift out of our alert beta brainwave state, and slow down into the alpha brainwave state, which is our relaxed and creative state of mind.

  In the absence of an actual fire, this is a taste of living how our ancestors would have lived in sync with the rhythms of the day, with fire, the stars and moon being the only source of light. 

  As much as we can imitate this rhythm in our own lives, the better our health.

  It has been shown that extending our exposure to man made light as women, we produce oestrogen for longer periods of time, which then in turn increases our risk for diseases like breast cancer.

  So this is something to pay attention to as it impacts every area of our health and longevity.

  Some people even use candle light only after sunset and don’t turn on their lights at all. If this is a possibility in your family it would definitely be worth trying for its sleep inducing effects.

AIM FOR 8

When considering our health and beauty, sleep is another factor that fits beautifully into the figure 8 of our ‘figure 8 waist’ program.

Think of the infinity sign (the number 8 sleeping on its side), where the energy of that line travels forwards and back around, seamlessly giving and receiving.

What we do energetically, physically and emotionally during the day directly impacts how we sleep at night and vice versa. It is indistinguishably linked to our well being, our weight, our long term health and vitality, not to mention our beauty! Our Figure 8 Waist sleep principle is to- ‘aim for 8’.

Aim for 8 is the principle of aiming for 8 hours of sleep as close to 8pm as humanly possible. I know you may be laughing out loud right now but the power is in the word ‘aim’. As women, we tend to start another section of our day at 8pm.

Rather than winding down, we take the opportunity for ‘me time’ or the ‘getting on top of things’ time, the ‘zoning out in front of Netflix’ or ‘scrolling on social media time’ and before we know it, it is close to midnight and we still have to stack the dishwasher and the 20 other routines we do before actually getting into bed.

So my suggestion is to be as proactive as possible by aiming for an 8pm wind down. This means we are ahead of ourselves, with all of the makeup removing, washing of hair, cleaning, getting kids to bed and the like, because psychologically we are aiming for 8. We then give ourselves the best chance at getting close to 8 hours sleep with the most valuable hours being before midnight.

It is the presence of mind and the ability to choose how our day winds down that is important.

Rather than being exhausted and mindless and finding ourselves terribly prepared for the next day.

Sleep is something to be treasured and can become a sacred part of our day where we take intentional time for self care as we wind down for sleep. It so often feels we are sprinting to bed time, then we toss and turn all night, take stimulants to keep us going the next day and we ride a literal rollercoaster of reactivity round and round daily. Sleep impacts everything, so this is about making it a priority by simply aiming for 8.

Another facet of aiming for 8 is to ascertain our ideal waking up time so that we can schedule a morning routine that allows us to feel that we are living optimally each day.

We schedule in our spinal awakening and splits practice, our workout days, our enemas, grounding time, we create time for our spiritual and personal growth practices.

Then we count back 8 hours for when we are aiming to actually be asleep. 2 hours prior to this is when we can stop all of the demands of the day, enter our rest and digest period, cease our eating and start slowing down.

For me ideally this would mean dinner finishes by 7pm, I am winding down around 8 and physically asleep by 9.30pm for a 5am start the next day.

Practically this usually ends up being more like a 10.30pm bedtime but remember it is the aiming for 8 that takes pre eminence and because of this discipline, I function well on 7 hours, as most people can.

ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON SLEEP

For those of us who do experience ‘disordered’ sleep there may be a way to re-imagine our sleep in a way that is unique to us and serves our individual needs and idiosyncracies. So before reaching for those sleeping pills, consider that not everyone fits the average ‘8 hours’ principle.

It is utterly fascinating to me that in periods of fasting I need much less sleep than usual. My own theory is that all of the detoxification processes that would be happening during sleep have a head start and anything that needs to be done, is done very efficiently.

It turns out that fasting increases orexin (the hormone of alertness) which gives the body an ancient signal of starvation causing the brain to dump orexin into the system, therefore compressing your sleep.

Long term practitioners of the Mucusless Diet Healing System, which many would regard to be a ‘clean’ almost fasted state, report only needing between 3 and 5 hours of sleep! Brother Air who has practiced the diet for 40 plus years reports having small naps of 15 minutes as the sum of his sleep needs.

This puts into question our beliefs around sleep and the amounts that we need.

It is entirely possible that the need for sleep is in direct proportion to the toxic burden (both physically, psychologically and emotionally) placed on the body.

Studies on hunter gatherers also show that we do not need to necessarily sleep in one large sitting. In these cultures it is quite normal to sleep intermittently throughout the night.

HYDRATION

Because we wake up dehydrated, waking is the opportune time to start hydrating and taking that big glass of water. I begin with purified hydrogenated water with a cleansing squeeze of lemon to start the day.

Remember we are aiming for at least 2L or more per day (8 glasses) and starting straight away sets you up for the day.

For optimum hydration, we can support the absorption of water by taking a Celtic salt crystal on the tongue prior to slowly drinking our purified (and hydrogenated!) water.

Celtic salt has 82 essential and balanced minerals and is moist because of the presence of magnesium.

This is what aids water absorption into the cell.

We need the water to be able to enter the cell, rather than to just be flushed through us.

This is why our consumption of raw fruit and veggies is so important as they also provide ‘structured water’ which aids absorption.

I also use ‘cell food’ to help me with optimum hydration and to maintain my minerals while fasting.

LIVING STIMULANT FREE

If the thought of having a wine to help you wind down sounds like a great idea, it may be time to reconsider…

If you then on waking rely on the drug dispensaries of our civilisation (Starbucks et al) to give you the ability to face the day, you are literally killing your sleep.

If you aren’t ready to reconsider the role of stimulants and suppressants in your life, perhaps skip over this section!

The fact is that although you may feel calm and sleepy as a result of having that red wine, as it metabolises, “it rebounds in your sympathetic nervous system and leads to sleep fragmentation” (Cummings).

Alcohol is also a diuretic and leads to dehydration, which also effects your sleep and overall health.

If you choose not to eliminate these substances from your life, try to at least limit them.

If you drink caffeine, try not to drink any after 1pm and understand that it takes 5 glasses of water just to compensate for the dehydrating impact of 1 cup of coffee.

If you drink alcohol, definitely limit it in the few hours before bed and be sure to rehydrate with lots of water also. Staying hydrated will help protect your sleep.

There are many caffeine free alternatives to coffee which you can explore to replace the ceremonial nature of your daily cuppa. My recommendation would be to try carob or a herbal tea. Remember that with every high comes a greater low and we are fooled into thinking coffee gives us energy.

Personally I am determined to be free of dependance on any substance for a false sense of energy, for moderating my moods or as a coping aid.

The stress of drinking coffee on the adrenals alone is just not worth it and I don’t believe I would be in optimum health if I were to be drinking coffee, alcohol or using drugs of any kind.

Following the system laid out for you in Project Shimmer will help you to naturally overcome and be free of any addictions you may have.

We hold the vision for what we want and create that, recoding the subconscious to any resistance that comes up along the way, rather than focusing on a problem we are trying to fix.

When your subconscious programs are released, your consciousness raised and your physiology changed, you no longer ‘crave’ or ‘depend’ on any substance.

You are in touch with who you are, vibing on your highest internal source of energy, rather than identifying with addictions and being disempowered by dependency.

You may think you aren’t dependent, as we have normalised addiction in our society to the point that it is celebrated.

Anything that obstructs communication in our cells, alters our chemistry and our state unnaturally could be considered a ‘drug’.

This can be the opiate simulating effect of wheat and sugar, salts stimulation to the adrenals, right up to the use of illicit or pharmaceutical drugs.

You will realise as you transition away from these substances, the power they have had over you and your life and how free you can truly be.

SLEEP, INFLAMMATION AND BRAIN HEALTH

Seeing sleep as the cause of disease rather than just a symptom may provide extra motivation to prioritise this part of our lives.

It is near impossible to change the size of your waist without giving sleep the attention it deserves.

Lack of sleep releases free cortisol in the body, which is associated with many negative health outcomes and disregulation of the sympathetic nervous system (our fight or flight response).

These include experiencing lowered immunity and cognitive function and increased blood pressure, memory loss, inflammation, belly fat, and cardiovascular disease.

The reason is that proper sleep helps us to recover and moderate inflammation in the body, while lack of sleep can be the root cause of chronic inflammation (think chronic pain, joint stiffness, sleep apnoea, weight gain or loss, fibromyalgia etc.).

These high levels of inflammation are at the root of diseases such as dementia, stroke and heart disease, as a lack of sleep means that proteins accumulate in the brain.

This is because the function of elimination cannot take place without proper sleep.

It only takes one night of poor sleep for excess proteins to be present on the hippocampus.

Fortunately it only takes a good nights sleep for the body to clear these extra proteins.

If sleep loss becomes chronic however, the proteins continue to accumulate on the hippocampus, impairing cognitive function.

The other thing to understand is that inflammation is not only underlying neurodegenerative diseases but also neuropsychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

So getting on top of inflammation- sleep being a massive contributing factor, is crucial!

The value of getting 8 hours sleep is that a percentage of that is spent in deep sleep.

We get on average 1-2 hours of deep sleep per 8 hours of overall sleep. This is our most restorative and important sleep and is what makes us feel regenerated and happy to wake in the morning.

If you aren’t waking up rested then this is a signal you may not be getting enough deep sleep.

Following are some ways we can optimise deep sleep.

HACKS FOR BETTER SLEEP

Along with reducing stress, blue light, food and drugs, you want to ensure all exercise is also done a few hours before bed time.

Make sure you aren’t taking work into your bed at night and that your mind and body knows that this is a sacred place for sleep and relaxation.

A gratitude practice is also beneficial for every area of life and can become part of your bed time routine.

Eye exercises can also induce sleep and of course our spinal awakening exercises. Making use of something like the Calm app can also assist in falling to sleep.

Another consideration for optimising sleep, is the temperature of the room.

We are made to be sleeping grounded and connected with the earth that naturally cools through the night and warms up slightly when it is time to wake.

We need to simulate this as closely as possible by cooling our sleeping environment.

For those experiencing hot flushes and symptoms of menopause, a chilipad is something to consider to help you navigate this period of life.

This helps to manage optimum body temperatures to sync with our sleep cycle.

Other than this, keep your room cool as best you can.

EMF’s

We are surrounded by electro magnetic fields (EMF’s) which do naturally occur on the earth, however all of the additional EMF’s coming from our devices, WIFI and electrical white goods in the home place an unnatural inflammatory burden on the body.

Some of us will be more sensitive than others to EMF’s, however according to Dr Bush, women presenting to his practice ages 35-55 are the most sensitive to EMF’s.

If this is you, this can contribute to having a propensity for chronic fatigue, pain, or autoimmune conditions.

The reason for this is that electromagnetic field exposure is similar to inflammation in the body.

Inflammation is actually a process of disruption to the wave forms at which our electromagnetic field resonates.

This is why detoxification and elimination of blockages in our fascia and our very cells is so emphasised in this program. We are trying to reinforce optimum communication pathways throughout our systems.

There are some protective measures we can take to minimise EMF’s.

This includes the obvious actions of keeping our phones at least 2 mitres away from where we sleep at night (preferably 6!), not using electric blankets, removing electrical devices from our sleeping space, and being sure that our beds aren’t backing onto a wall with something like a fridge on the other side.

However there are proactive measures also to minimise the impact of the inevitable onslaught of EMF’s.

Grounding is the concept of connecting to the earth and benefiting from its ability to balance our magnetic field.

Grounding occurs most powerfully in the ocean due to the ions present from the activity of lightning.

Forest bathing is another form of grounding where the quorum communication between fungi and bacteria has still unknown and far reaching benefits for our own systems of communication (think of how you feel when you are in a lush forest).

However simply placing our bare feet on the ground provides the benefits of grounding.

Grounding neutralises the inflammatory cascades within our own bodies, and in addition, any external EMF’s.

When you ground the skin, it creates a protective field against EMF’s.

So take barefoot walks as often as possible.

I also own a pair of grounding thongs (sandals) and a grounding sheet for my bed.

You can also purchase a range of protective devices to wear or surround yourself with here. You can purchase everything from a koala teddy to put in your childs bed, to a necklace that protects you from EMF’s.

This pendant necklace also has powerful protective properties and has been objectively tested to balance and strengthen your energy field, and to be protective from the world of EMF’s.

If you want something effective and almost free, simply place lemons on your bedside table and all around your home. They are said to also neutralise the impact of EMF’s and have (anecdotally) solved cases of long term issues with insomnia. I have heard of people even carrying them in their handbags, so its worth a try!

THE BIG PICTURE

I invite you to see your body as a resonant, vibrating instrument.

We are large resonating columns of water that desire purity, that want to flow like a fountain without resistance, obstruction or congestion.

When we resonate at our highest frequencies we have all of the beauty and magic of life, the health, meaning and joy available to us.

As an instrument we ultimately want to be in tune with ourselves, and with the world we create.

We need to understand our own resonance and have the wisdom and personal insight to remove that which obstructs our highest vibration.

Whether this be physical or emotional toxicity and obstruction.

When the signal is clear we are operating in the divine and in freedom and love.

When fear, inflammation and all manner of stressors come and interfere with the clarity of this signal, we progressively disconnect from ourselves and our inner essence.

We lose touch with our Source and our true nature and purpose.

Sleep contributes to the assimilation of us understanding WHO we are, and how this is so intertwined with how we experience life.

Sleep plays into our ability to hear ourselves.

To be ourselves and to experience life with the best of what it has to offer us.

So this is a big picture that is coming together.

As we cultivate our intuition and inner wisdom, we are able to further integrate and see the connection between the puzzle pieces that create the big picture of our overall health.

We no longer have isolated problems or diagnosis’, but we see our oneness and the unity between all ‘parts’ of us.