My Personal Story: Healing Insomnia Naturally with Meditation

Aug 21

Ever since I can remember, I have had problems with sleep. I am no stranger to insomnia. It is something I carried with me for many years and eventually hopelessly accepted it as part of my life. Having insomnia brought with it high amounts of anxiety around sleep and it was extremely crippling to go about life feeling that my body wasn’t doing something it was meant to.
The bulk of it was when I was a primary school teacher living in London. I was dealing with a lot of stress and no matter what I did - I simply could not get to sleep. I would often turn up to school the next morning utterly exhausted with only a few hours of sleep and every evening I was experiencing mass amounts of anxiety around not being able to sleep. Ultimately this created a negative feedback look that felt impossible to dismantle.

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I eventually moved to Canada, stopped teaching and switched to a less stressful job (nannying), however the insomnia persisted and this time it got worse. Less willing to accept it this time, I began to seek out help. I tried everything under the sun.. I read countless books about sleep, gave up my phone, learnt sleep yoga, started journalling, began taking calming herbal supplements, taking melatonin before bed, took up yoga and also dabbled in certain types of meditation. Nothing worked. NOTHING WORKED. It was frustrating to say the least and I refused to take pharmaceutical sleeping tablets. Since I was currently living in Canada (where marijuana is legal), a few people had suggested that I try using it for my insomnia. So I did.

For quite a while, smoking marijuana in the evening before bed was my saving grace. It actually helped. Without fail, every night, I was able to fall asleep within 20 minutes, and I slept until the morning. It was a huge relief and I continued to do this for about two years.

After a while of doing this, although I was getting the sleep I needed, I did recognize that it still wasn’t the solution and the marijuana was merely a band-aid fix. I wasn’t getting to the root of the problem of why I couldn’t sleep and on the nights I didn’t have marijuana, the insomnia was still loudly present.
More time passed, and I was still highly addicted to smoking weed in the evenings. I actually tried better than dealing with insomnia.

How I Healed my Insomnia Naturally with Meditation

At the start of 2022, I moved back to Australia, where marijuana is still illegal. I felt called to actually dive deeper into my insomnia and why it was there. I realized that it shouldn’t be so difficult to fall asleep. My body should fall asleep with ease, and I am worthy of this. In large desperation I called upon the universe for help. This is something I have come to do often. That week I felt a nudge to re-learn how to meditate. Logically I wasn’t sure about this - because I had tried different forms of mediation in the past and felt that they didn’t work. Despite my hesitancy, the inner nudge to learn meditation continued.

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Meditation Technique for Sleep

I spent a week researching where to learn meditation and what type I would like to learn. I stumbled across something called ‘Effortless Meditation’ - It caught my eye. I had never heard of this type of meditation before and wasn’t even sure if Effortless Meditation could be possible. The meditation I had tried in the past felt hard and required A LOT of effort to switch my brain off. I felt it didn’t help my insomnia at all. However ‘Effortless Meditation’ sparked my interest and I set out to learn more.

I invested my time and money in a three session course which taught me how to confidently meditate on my own, anytime and anywhere - using the Effortless Meditation technique. I decided to give Effortless Meditation a good crack and began practicing it everyday, twice a day for 20 minutes. I was actually pretty shocked to discover this technique and how wildly simple and easy it is. “Can something this easy possibly heal my insomnia?”. The answer is YES!

Only two weeks after showing up to practice Effortless Meditation everyday - I started to notice that I was actually falling asleep with ease.

Just after meditating 2-3 weeks with the Effortless Meditation Technique, my insomnia was completely gone

It was really incredible. I kept up the practice and at the 3 week mark, my insomnia was COMPLETELY GONE. I was falling asleep with ease, EVERY-NIGHT, without fail. I was stunned, and actually I still am when I think about. I suffered insomnia for so many years and it was hugely debilitating. Just after meditating for 2-3 weeks with the Effortless Meditation Technique, it was gone! I was waking up in the mornings feeling refreshed, energized and ready to go for the day without needing coffee. My anxiety around sleep naturally began to diminish and I had a new light behind my eyes. It was freeing and liberating to not have to deal with insomnia anymore and the anxiety it brought with it. Overcoming Insomnia has given me so much freedom and I can’t believe that something as simple as effortless meditation is the cure for insomnia (I can’t say for certain it WILL be the cure for your insomnia, but it certainly was the cure for mine).

For me, Effortless Meditation is the cure for insomnia.

Since first learning the Effortless Meditation Technique at the beginning of 2022 , I have continued my daily meditation practice. Without fail I meditate twice a day for thirty minutes - and the effects this has on my mind and body are profound. It feels as though the longer I continue to show up daily to my practice, the more the benefits accumulate and deepen.

In April of 2022 I felt inspired to complete a 200 hour meditation teacher training course, where I learnt how to create and deliver Guided Effortless Meditations. Eager to learn more, In July of the same year, I began another 200-hour meditation teacher training course where I learnt to teach the practice of Self-Directed Effortless Meditation. The journey was incredible and I now teach others the same “Learn how to Meditate Course” that I went on. I now teach others how to confidently meditate, anytime and anywhere, using the Effortless Meditation Technique.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading about some of my life story and how Effortless Meditation has been a huge catalyst for change. If you desire to know more, or have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out - hello@theunboundself.com or book in a 20 minute discovery call and find out how I can support you on your own journey.

Thanks again for reading

Much love, Sammy x

Useful Links:
Learn How to Meditate Course
Find out more about Effortless Meditation

Hello and Welcome!

I’m Sammy, a compassionate meditation teacher and devoted yogi. Through transforming my own trauma into light, my mission is to carve the path for others to do the same.

I teach courses on how to meditate and to heal through meditation. I also guide people through private meditation journeys.