Body of Imagination for Stress and Sleep

Larry Wells on NLP and Sounder Sleep

If you’ve ever lain awake at night wondering why your mind won’t slow down, you’re not alone. I’ve worked with many people who find that when the lights go out, the mind suddenly becomes very busy.

 

We live in a world that keeps our nervous systems activated for most of the day. By the time we finally lie down to rest, the body may be tired—but the mind is still running.

 

This is one reason many people begin exploring NLP certification training. In that work, we learn how thoughts, emotions, language, and body responses interact with each other. When Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is combined with the Sounder Sleep System®, small body-mind practices can begin to shift the internal patterns that contribute to stress, anxiety, and insomnia.

 

In a conversation with Lavinia Plonka during the Move Better, Feel Better Summit, I shared some of these simple approaches. Often the change begins with very small things—paying attention to the breath, making a subtle movement, or using imagination in a different way.

 

What people discover is that the nervous system can change much more quickly than we expect.

 

If stress can become a habit, calm can become a habit too.

 

Sometimes the key to better sleep isn’t trying harder to fall asleep. Sometimes it’s simply learning how to change the patterns that keep the mind awake.

My Unique Path in Body-Mind Work

With a master’s degrees in divinity and social work, my focus has always been on the “human” element of change. I’ve spent decades as a substance abuse counselor and an NLP Master Practitioner/Trainer and Consultant, helping individuals and corporations navigate the most difficult transitions of their lives.

 

My specialty is working with the mind/body to help clients  experiencing stress, trauma, addiction recovery, and insomnia find a different relationship with their nervous systems.  I believe that if you can learn a habit of stress, you can also unlearn it.

 

And one of the most powerful ways to change that habit is by working with both the body and the imagination.

Understanding Modern Insomnia and Stress

Most of us have a complicated relationship with the pillow. I see clients every day who suffer from insomnia or generalized anxiety that spikes the moment the lights go out. 

 

They often describe three common experiences.


  • Trouble Falling Asleep
    You lie awake waiting for sleep, but your mind keeps racing.
  • Waking Up in the Middle of the Night
    You fall asleep easily but wake around 2 or 3 AM with an active mind.
  • The Worry Loop
    Once awake, anxiety about not sleeping makes it even harder to fall back asleep.

Michael Krugman, the creator of the Sounder Sleep SystemTM, taught me something that provides immediate comfort to many of my clients.

Historically, humans often slept in two segments rather than one eight-hour block. This pattern — called biphasic sleep — meant people would sleep for several hours, wake briefly to read, reflect, or pray, and then fall into a second sleep. 

Simply knowing this can reduce anxiety about waking during the night.

If this sounds familiar, you may also benefit from exploring strategies to overcome daily worry, anxiety, and fear for better sleep, which I discussed in a previous article on how persistent worry patterns can keep the nervous system stuck in stress mode.

Why Stress Disrupts Sleep

Modern lifestyles keep many people in a constant state of stress.

When the body experiences ongoing pressure, it releases stress hormones such as:

  • Cortisol
  • ACTH

These hormones activate the body’s fight-or-flight response, which keeps the nervous system alert. If stress remains high throughout the day, the body struggles to transition into the relaxed state required for deep sleep.

This is why reducing stress during the day is one of the most effective ways to improve sleep at night.

Day Tamers: Reducing Stress Throughout the Day

One of the most practical tools in the Sounder Sleep system is called Day Tamers.

 

Day Tamers are small, subtle movements performed throughout the day while sitting at your desk or attending meetings. Most people around you won’t even notice you’re doing them.

 

Their purpose is not to make you fall asleep immediately.

 

Instead, they keep stress levels from building up during the day, which makes it easier for your body to relax when bedtime arrives. I’ve used these in the middle of intense meetings just to stay centered.

Night Tamers: Quieting the Thinking Mind

When people can’t sleep, the problem is usually not the body — it’s the mind. We use Night Tamers (formerly called Mini Moves) to use the body to calm the brain

 

Night Tamers use small rhythmic movements to redirect attention away from racing thoughts.

 

By focusing on these subtle motions, the brain gradually quiets and the nervous system shifts toward relaxation.

A Simple Sounder Sleep Technique: The Main Squeeze

I’d like to share a process Michael Krugman called the “Main Squeeze.” It starts with a “secret handshake.”

  1. Hold your hand up as if signaling “stop.”
  2. With your other hand, grab your thumb.
  3. Place your first finger across the palm of the hand holding the thumb.
  4. Relax your hands in your lap and notice your natural breath.

Once you’re comfortable, follow these steps:

  1. Inhale: Ever so slightly squeeze the thumb.
  2. Exhale: Let the squeeze go completely.
  3. Repeat: Do this for a few breaths.
  4. Alternate: On the next inhale, squeeze your index finger instead.

The movement is very small. What matters most is the attention you bring to it.

As Lavinia Plonka once said:

“It’s not the movement that’s important, but the attention you’re paying to the movement.”

Most people find that squeezing on the inhale (an active process) and letting go on the exhale (a release process) feels the most natural. This simple coordination of breath and motion often quiets the “monkey mind” within minutes.

How NLP Changes Stress Patterns

While Sounder Sleep works primarily through the body, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) works with the patterns of the mind.

NLP is often described as the study of the structure of subjective experience.

In NLP Certificate Course Programs, students learn how internal thoughts, images, and language influence emotional states and explore questions such as:

  • What images do you create in your mind?
  • What internal dialogue do you hear?
  • Where do emotions appear in your body?

These internal patterns shape how we experience stress, fear, and confidence. When the structure of these internal experiences changes, the emotional response changes as well.

This is why many people who enroll in NLP certification courses online or NLP training certification programs report major improvements in confidence, stress management, and sleep quality.

Rewiring Phobias and Trauma Quickly

The brain learns very quickly. Most phobias are learned in a single, intense instant. For example, a child is grabbed roughly at a ravine and told, “Watch out, you’ll fall!” Suddenly, the brain creates a permanent link between heights, fear, and a jerking sensation.

In NLP certification training, we learn to change those internal “movies” in minutes. If we change the picture or the sound, the body’s response changes too. I once had a client with a harsh internal critic. We changed that critic’s voice to sound like Donald Duck. It’s hard to stay stressed when your “failure” is being announced by a quacking cartoon character. This kind of Neuro- Linguistic Programming online course work is about regaining choice.

Mapping Your Reality

One of the core ideas taught in NLP training certification programs is:

“The map is not the territory.”

Your internal interpretation of reality is not the same as reality itself. Sometimes that internal map helps you navigate life effectively. Other times it leads to unnecessary worry or anxiety.

Through NLP training, people learn how to update these mental maps so they support the life they want to create.

By understanding your preference, whether it’s sights, sounds, or feelings, we can use your own internal language to help you retrain your nervous system from pain and high levels of stress.

Moving Toward a Better Map

Your map is just your current perspective. If you are lost in the woods, a roadmap won’t help you as much as a topographical map. Sometimes, my job is simply to help a client find a more useful map for their current life.

We believe that every behavior has a positive intention. Even your anxiety is trying to keep you “safe” in some misguided way. By acknowledging that intention and offering the brain a better, more efficient way to achieve it, we can create a world to which people actually want to belong.

Key Guiding NLP Principles for Life:

  • The Map is Not the Territory: Your internal view of a situation isn’t the situation itself.
  • Resources Within: You already have the internal tools you need; we just need to access it.
  • There are no Failures, Only Feedback:If a technique doesn’t work, it’s just data. We try something else.
  • Positive Intent: Every behavior, even a “bad” one, started as an attempt to help you survive.

Using Imagination to Support Healing

I once facilitated a support group where we used the body of imagination to help people through cancer treatments. We encouraged them to find metaphors that worked for their subconscious. Some saw their white blood cells as knights fighting a battle. One woman, who disliked war imagery, imagined her cancer cells were grass and her white blood cells were sheep eating the grass.

The results often include less nausea and fewer radiation burns than doctors expect. By using our body of imagination for stress and sleep, we move from being victims of our circumstances to active participants in our healing.

Whether you are dealing with a serious illness or simply trying to get a better night’s rest, the principle is the same. There are no failures, only feedback. If one image or movement doesn’t work, we simply try another.

Worry is an imagination. It’s imagining bad stuff. Let’s use your imagination for good stuff. Once you’ve done what you can do, there’s no need to be us wasting the energy on worry. You can turn it off, turn it down. ~ Larry Wells

My goal is to help you create a world to which you want to belong. When you stop worrying about doing things “right” and start noticing what is different, change becomes automatic.

Simple Practices to Reduce Stress Today

If you want to begin improving your sleep and lowering stress levels, start with two simple habits.

Practice Day Tamers

Spend a few minutes several times a day noticing your breath and relaxing your body.

Consistency is the secret to lowering your baseline anxiety. I recommend practicing a Day Tamer three or four times a day for just three minutes. This creates a “dip” in those stress hormones.

Try the Main Squeeze

When your mind begins racing, coordinate a gentle hand squeeze with your breathing.These small practices help retrain your nervous system to move out of constant alert mode.

Over time, the body remembers how to rest.

Can You Teach Yourself NLP?

Many people first discover NLP through books or NLP courses online. Self-study can introduce the concepts, but guided learning often goes deeper. 

 

In a quality NLP Training Certification, students are provided with guided exercises and coaching to apply NLP methods effectively. Participants receive:

  • Practical exercises
  • Coaching feedback
  • Live demonstrations
  • Opportunities to apply techniques immediately

Many programs offering nlp training certification provide guided exercises and coaching to help students apply NLP methods effectively. 

 

For many people, NLP training becomes both a personal development path and a professional skill set.

Participant changes are profound in my training program. Toni discovered a good night’s sleep for the first time in over 50 years. Trauma had resulted in clanging in her ears and shaking of her body through night. This went away as she participated in the NLP training course.

Explore NLP Training and Better Sleep

Whether you’re looking for nlp certification near me or just want to finally get a full night’s rest, the key is noticing the difference that makes the difference. Some individuals explore structured learning through an NLP Practitioner Certificate Course to deepen their understanding of NLP techniques.

 

Neuro- Linguistic Programming and the Sounder Sleep system offer practical, somatic ways to change things that “thinking” alone cannot reach. By breaking free from habitual movement patterns, you create a world you actually want to belong to.

 

If you’re ready to explore these tools further, you can find me at Future Life Now. I offer private NLP sessions and nlp certification training via Zoom to help you find your own “better map.”

 

Take the Next Step: 

Final Thoughts

Better sleep rarely comes from forcing the mind to stop thinking.

Instead, it comes from learning how the body, imagination, and attention work together.

Through practices like Sounder Sleep and NLP training for stress and sleep, people can retrain their nervous systems, reduce anxiety, and create lasting patterns of rest.

Sometimes the smallest shifts — a breath, a gentle movement, or a new mental image — make the biggest difference.

Speaker bio (Larry Wells)

I’m Larry Wells, and my work lives at the intersection of coaching, mind-body change, and practical NLP. Over the years, I’ve been a math teacher, a minister (for 20 years), and a trainer and consultant in Neuro Linguistic Programming. I’m a Master Practitioner in NLP, and I see clients privately in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as online.

My academic background includes a Master of Divinity (M.Div) and a Master of Social Work (MSW). I’ve worked with people around chemical dependency, organizational development, cancer support, infertility, organ transplant, chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, anger, and surgery.

 

If you’d like to learn more about my background, training, and approach, you can read my full bio here: https://futurelifenow.com/larry-wells-bio/

Lavinia Plonka is an assistant trainer of the Feldenkrais Method®, a lead instructor of the Emotional Body® and founder of Kinesa®. She is an internationally recognized master teacher who combines somatic movement intelligence with her deep studies of ancient wisdom, mythology and the creative process. “

Lavinia’s website: www.laviniaplonka.com

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