The Effortless Sleep Companion: From chronic insomnia to the best sleep of your life Paperback – October 9, 2013

Once I understood that my chronic insomnia was due to my thinking about the problem, I could finally take back control, vs thinking the cure was in the remedies, pills and magic potions. I discovered that my sleeper wasn’t broken but the way I was thinking about it was. Life changing and very liberating once you really realize this.

Don’t think about it - just buy it! This book will change your relationship to your sleep and your life!

This was a good companion book along with "say goodnight to insomnia." A lot of the same techniques but I loved that the author battled insomnia herself. I've since realized how much of the sleeping issues were all because of my faulty thought pattern. After making a few sleep hygine tweaks and working through my negative thoughts, I'm on the road to recovery. This hook really helped to inspire me to get over the hump. If you follow all the techniques and commit to them you will sleep again!! I suffered terribly after giving birth to my first baby. I now know I can sleep again. Thank you!!

This second book by Sasha Stephens once again unleashes a withering blow to insomnia. She knows exactly how we insomnia sufferers think and feel and cope with this affliction having plumbed the depths of this madness herself. She identifies with our deepest fears like no other author on the topic before has. Moreover, she seems to hold a reassuring hand out to the reader ready to pull you up out of the pit.Showing compassion and humor along with a tough love demeanor that acknowledges the urgency of the subject matter, she carefully and methodically with some brilliant analogies dissects the entire process or life cycle of insomnia, while constantly reminding us of certain fundamental facts about sleep that we all know in our hearts but somehow have forgotten in the haze of sleeplessness, pills, doctors, desperation, etc. Her fresh insights clearly emerged from her own personal battle, and some of her conclusions left me both stunned and deeply relieved.Seems the truth once it fully sinks in, relieves one of great distress, especially late at night in bed at the crossroads between sleep and fear.For the first time in my life I feel a real sense of empowerment over my insomnia, and that my own personal struggle is drawing to a close. I know it's not going to be easy, but I feel it is inevitable, as I am no longer flailing in the dark. Hopelessness and despair rarely get a grip on me now even on bad nights. And I have this wonderful book at my bedside should I lose my way or forget who is really in charge.

You can read all the other sleep books on the market and gain some useful knowledge and skills that might improve your sleep. But let me save you some time. Just buy this book and Sasha's first - The Effortless Sleep Method. The Effortless Sleep Method may be all you need. You learn the basics about sleep (like all other sleep books, it covers sleep architecture and sleep hygiene) but then through her own struggles with sleep and her eventual resolution of her sleep problems, you will learn practical, eminently sensible advice on how to stop undermining your own sleep. She teaches you how to take back control of your life and not let insomnia rule you. This book (the companion) is like a FAQ or appendix to book 1. It reinforces the 1st book by answering all the most common questions Sasha received after publishing the method. Practical, sound advice from someone who has been there and understands the mindset of the poor sleeper.

For me, reading Sasha's "Companion" (repeatedly!!) - and only after reading her "Effortless" (repeatedly!!) - was key to gaining, retaining and sustaining my sleep after many years of sleeplessness and the associated pain of being a zombie every day. Reading, absorbing and honestly living her learnings was key for me. There were signs of a quick cure, but it's taken me many more months and deeper reads of the "Companion" to fully get my act together - thx to Kindle, the book still looks new :) For those of us with long term sleep issues, the cure goes well beyond just good sleep hygiene. You def need a STRONG belief system ... and for most of us, that's not such an easy nut to crack. But stay curious and with lots of practice (and positive attitude), it's do-able and it works. Period. For the last time, thanks again Sasha!

I will definitely be recommending this book to others! It spells out a recipe that can be used for sleep issues as well as all kinds of life "challenges" in that it provides tools that can facilitate an inner "shift" which can be built upon to improve one's experiences - VERY empowering!! This is the last thing I will be reading/trying out on the subject since she covered it so well . . . Thank you, Sasha!

I had high hopes for this book--frankly any book that might help me understand my sleep issues. I read it immediately. It wasn't easy. I should have counted the number of times she made self-aggrandizing comments. A writer/communicator she is not I'm sad to say. So I read the book anyway. I even took notes, I started immediately putting into practice most of what she claimed were tried and true sleep improvement methods praised my many of her devotees. I kept a diary. I went back and reread passages. That was excruciating; as I said before, she is not a writer. So were her methods ineffective or is my brain stuck on high drive 24/7? That is hard to say. I was no further on my journey toward restful sleep than before. I sincerely tried despite not liking the book. I personally would not recommend this book, but sleep patterns are so individual that maybe something in this book will click with you.

Love this book! She describes everything I ever thought and felt about sleep when I was trying to fix myself. Her solutions is working as long as I "do"it. It's been 4 days now. I also had insomnia for 15 years.

I cannot put into words how much these books have helped me. I found The first one just by generally googling insomnia one day and that insignificant event has changed the course of my life. I was in a very bad way as my doctor had got me addicted to benzodiazepines and other pills. Thanks to this book I am completely off the Benzodiazepines. I'm sleeping brilliantly and have a positive outlook which can also permeate other areas of your life. If you have chronic insomnia which is fuelled by fear and anxiety of insomnia itself this book is for you. But it's only for you if you are prepared to carry out all the recommendations with energy and commitment.You also should sign up to the author's free bedtime stories Emails - See her website. Or her book of the bedtime stories will be coming out soon I hear. These emails full of tips give you regular ideas and encouragement as backup to both the author's books.I have read both books and did not think the second book could add much to the first but it has! I now have a whole new set of techniques and a better understanding of my problem which is now really an ex problem. It breaks down your recovery into four stages and I realise I have done really well coming through stage one and stage two and I'm working well through stage three and looking forward to stage four of getting back to complete normality! Having this structure really helps you understand your situation and how far you've come and where You're headed. This book is also great for people who started to do well after the first book but who have become 'stuck'. This program will get you out of that stagnation and get you moving again with new ideas tips and techniques. I also found her 'TEA' 'recipe' a simple way to make sure you have giving yourself the best conditions to sleep well in three easy steps. As always the book is Very easy to read and interesting with absolutely no waffle!Definitely adds loads to the first excellent book!

It works! Highly recommand :)

I have purchased both of Sasha books now and this book is exceptional as it goes into more detail than the Effortless Sleep Book. My problem started in February 2014 through a noisy neighbour and stress from work. After years on end sleeping a solid 8 hours a night I found I was waking up 10-12 times a night and only ever achieving stage 1 sleep. Like many others i rushed off to the chemists for OTC drugs that amplified the problem, enrolled on a SRT program which made the problem worse! After reading quite a bit myself I realised that the problem was essentially just a learned bad habit amplified by my own actions! Anyway after starting to commit to the 12 commandments as I like to call them and learning to understand insomnia a little better or I like to call insomnia bad sleeping habits! i have found over the last week i have had 1 bad night now waking up a 6-7 times but getting straight back to sleep to the other 6 nights waking maybe 2-3 times and getting back to sleep straight away.My mother after reading Sasha first book has went from 30 years of bad sleep spending most of her night reading to sleeping from 11pm to 0630am every night now, it took her 4 weeks to turn the 30 year habit around!I agree with the commentator in the book who calls Sasha and angel! Not many people after suffering what Sasha went through for 15 years would still want to actively engage with something that wreaked havoc on her life for so long! So thank you Sasha both from me who is still recovering and from my mother 30 years of bad sleep gone in 4 weeks! Thank you!

I bought this hoping it would help me to "mop up" my frustrating residual feelings towards sleep and the amount of time it took me to fall asleep. I found the first book very helpful although, like others, found some contradictions. There is more helpful advice in this book including that you are likely to experience problems with sleep at some point and not to panic about it. My "safety net" is that I will fall asleep eventually and I always seem to these days, waking feeling generally like I have had enough sleep. In the past, when I have panicked about not getting enough sleep, I have suffered nights of very very little sleep. Not clock watching is a huge tip because it makes the problem worse if you are obsessed with time and it is much easier to give yourself a positive message that you are getting enough sleep without this as you have no proof ! My issues have not completely gone but feel much further away and I feel much more like I used to. This was confirmed today when I woke feeling worn out, a feeling that lasted all day. Whilst I still dwell on it (hard not to when you're dog tired), it also dawned on me that I hadn't had this worn out feeling for a while so it was not the norm for me anymore. This is such a relief after feeling so tired for months. I look forward to a better night's sleep tonight and logically know that there is no reason why I should suffer any worse sleep than the next person. I agree with others that sometimes you can't sleep and it's not because of your attitude or bad habits. Also, that for chronic insomnics with no "trigger" event the method may not work. From my point of view I had got myself into a panic mentally that I found very difficult to shake and this really helped me.Lastly I have found The sleep salon product that Sasha mentions very helpful. The tracks are v easy to listen to and helpful for me as, when I listen in bed they distract my thoughts from focussing on falling asleep.