A Career Journey to Coaching Better Sleep
Image: Disney's portrayal of Sleeping Beauty / Credit: Disney.com
“To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come…” Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare
Sleep is embedded in our culture. Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be..." sees Hamlet, prince of Denmark, musing on "...what dreams may come" in the ultimate sleep. Websites like Your Life in Numbers tout clickbait with startling statistics: "Have you ever wondered how much sleep you get in your life on average? 26 years!"
Sleeping Beauty, Walt Disney's classic 1959 animation, features a somnolent golden-haired vision designed to melt the heart of any knight in shining armour. The story is based on Charles Perault's 1697 book La Belle au bois dormant (The Beauty in the Sleeping Wood). Perault is credited as a founder of the fairy tale as a modern literary genre. The Brothers Grimm's 1812 Dornröschen (Little Briar Rose) was based on oral recollections of Perault's publication.
Our guest is sleep practitioner, Rebecca "Becs" Hunter, daughter of Olga Hunter whose painting Windy Day at the Coast graces The Wind episode of Poet's Corner. Becs is an experienced acupuncture practitioner, coach and founder of THEA Sleep Protection Programme. You can listen to The Hub's interview with Becs by clicking on the link below.
An outline of Bec's sleep programme follows, designed to restore a good night's sleep to individuals. And finally... scroll on for The Hub's multi-zone musical playlist Sleep - music for counting sheep to.
Rebecca Hunter's Sleep Protection Programme
Picture: Rebecca Hunter founder of THEA Sleep Protection Programme
/ Credit: Rebecca Hunter
THEA Sleep Protection Programme
After my 30 year career in healthcare ended during the pandemic I developed my SLEEP PROTECTION PROGRAMME.
In my time as a therapist I came to see Sleep as the STAR of the wellness show. All bodily and mental functions improve with good quality sleep... it truly is the BEST MEDICINE for mind and body.
I am motivated by seeing people and organisations navigate blockages, channelling productive changes and reaching a comfortable and secure place. For them, their families and communities. Good sleep is the cornerstone of this restful place, requiring day and night to be balanced.
In today's over-stimulated culture with all the scrolling, alerts, emails, socialising... and stresses around finance and family life, I have come to understand a whole life approach is needed to improve sleep.
Reflect, Navigate, Transform
My 8 week, 4 session SLEEP PROTECTION PROGRAMME will help you to reflect, navigate and transform to make changes in your day to help and enhance your sleep.
I combine reflecting, coaching and practical steps to focus on wellbeing goals and the path to good sleep.
I have developed innovative solutions to some recurring health issues such as stress and insomnia combining treatment with education and goal setting for a tangible result.
I love to combine my skills to work with individuals and small businesses to find new ways of solving complex life, business and health problems.
You can contact Rebecca Hunter via her website.
Listen to Bec's Sleep Tales
Mixcloud audio: Rebecca Hunter's Sleep Chat with The Hub
The Hub's interview with sleep practitioner, Rebecca Hunter, founder of THEA Sleep Protection Programme covers her career from studying Social Policy at university, to working in crisis management in Housing.
To training in the first cohort at the Northern College of Acupuncture in York, to an acupuncture practice focused on alleviating experiences of breast cancer. To a growing interest and expertise in the critical importance of Sleep to wellbeing. To launching her online Sleep business.
You can listen to The Hub's interview with Becs by clicking on the link above.
Music of the Night
YouTube video: Prince - Way Back Home
Way Back Home
...So many reasons why
There's so many reasons why
I don't belong here
But now that I am I
Without fear I am
Gonna conquer with no fear
Until I find my way back home
Until I find my way back home
Find my way back home...
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriter: Prince Rogers Nelson
WAY BACK HOME lyrics © Npg Publishing
Can't sleep? Here is The Hub's multi-zone playlist, music to count sheep to til you drop back into the land of nod.
Becs adds three picks to the playlist: Norah Jones' Sunrise, Bob Marley and The Wailers' Three Little Birds. She says: "I love these (songs) for the relaxing messages, they get you in a sleepy state." Becs used these tunes to help her daughter Elle sleep at bedtimes. Long a Prince fan, she adds Way Back Home from 2014 album Art Official Age, because "... if you listen to the lyrics, you realise it is about releasing trauma".
As a bonus treat, Becs sings Little Bird at the end of the audio interview. Her mother Olga sang the song to Becs when she was an infant. In turn, Becs would sing the song to her daughter Elle and Becs sang Little Bird to Olga as she was dying.
Picture: The lyrics of the tune Little Bird / Credit: Quozio.com
Musical Zones - Rock & Pop: Roy Orbison to Aerosmith; Dance Floor: Tight Fit to Andrea Olivia; Chill Zone: Bob Marley & The Wailers to Corpo-Mente; Classical: Luciano Pavarotti to Danny Norbury; Ballads: Mary Costa (a soprano who voiced Sleeping Beauty in the 1959 Disney movie) to Lana del Ray.
You can listen to The Hub's Sleep playlist by clicking on the link below.