Welcome your fearful thoughts and sensations

TLDR: "The sleep book" by Guy Meadows and mindful meditation practice.

It's probably been said here before but I still want to make a post to share my experience. I wish someone told me earlier. You need to stop fighting insomnia, its a losing battle. Make friend with it, lay with it, play with it. Pretend it's an unwanted guest but you still have to be polite and accept it. I couldn't sleep because my brain was on fight or flight mode in bed every night. I tried to relax, to read, to breath, to meditate, to get up and do something, sleep pills, etc. None of that would work because I tried too hard. Only when my brain stop seeing insomnia as a threat that it could relax and fall asleep.

Backstory: I was always a good sleeper until about 8 years ago when I had a stressful time at work. I couldn't sleep for months. Then I found the Sleep school app and practiced it and it helped a lot. Every now and then when I couldn't sleep I will go back to that app. Then last month I got diagnosed with a health condition and it triggered my insomnia so bad. But the app was gone, I couldn't find it anymore. So I tried to find other resources. I found the book "Say goodnight to insomnia" (CBT-i program) and was desperate to try it. I limited time in bed, I get up to read until I fell asleep. Some nights I read the whole night. It was miserable. Then after a couple nights, I got my sleep back. But that didn't last for long. My need to control my sleep drove me insane again and that made insomnia the worst I've experienced in my life.

That was when I tried to google "Sleep school" in hope to find something similar. I found the book "The sleep book" by Guy Meadows. It turns out he is the cofounder of "Sleep school" app which was discontinued for some unknown reason. So I read the book and follow his guide and found great results. I no longer fear my negative sleep thoughts and sensations. I say hi to them and play with them. And that tell my brain I'm safe and I can rest / sleep now. It's life changing. I also use the free app "Smiling mind" someone suggested here on Reddit and use it for mediation.

I hope this helps someone.