I've had chronic insomnia since childhood, and I have several good tapes and cds for relaxation and sleep. There are some nights when nothing works, but I think this cd by Janet Decker helps me more often than any other. She speaks in an ordinary, pleasant voice, and there is no background music. After some introductory breathing and relaxation, she has you focus on your breathing and repeat this phrase over and over in your mind : 'Breathing in I relax, breathing out I feel comfort', while she continues repeating various suggestions aimed at helping you sleep. On my first listen, I thought having to think 'Breathing in I relax, breathing out I feel comfort' would require too much effort and prevent me from falling asleep; but I find that by giving me something simple to focus my attention on, it actually helps keep my mind from compulsive thoughts about stuff I need to do, things I'm worried about, or anything else that might contribute to keeping me awake. She says the suggestions may not work if you fall asleep while listening, but if I fall asleep while listening, that's good enough for me!
The relaxation meditation is similar to the sleep meditation, but focuses more on progressive muscle relaxation.

I think a product such as this is hard to review because I suspect that a remedy that works for some people won't necessarily work for others. That said, I will relate what the cd did for me. I go through frequent phases where I cannot get to sleep easily, sometimes lying awake for hours with my mind constantly working. Other times, I awaken hours before I'm ready to and have difficulties getting back to sleep.

The instructions on using this cd recommend that you listen to it while you are awake and not when you are ready for bed. I did this only one time during the day. Since then, I've listened to it with a portable cd player with headphones after I get in bed on nights that I suspect that I will have problems going to sleep. Each time, I fall asleep way before the cd ends but I'm always able to wake up and turn the player off and then go back to sleep. I've noticed that I always sleep my entire 7-8 hours without interruption and I awaken fully relaxed and refreshed. Since listening to the cd each night for one week, I stopped using it and I've slept well since. On the occassional night when I don't feel sleepy at bedtime, I listen to it again and I'm asleep within 20 minutes.

Now I'm thinking about trying the author's hypnosis cd that helps you to remember!

This CD has been very helpful to me. The voice is nice, the rhythm is good, and the suggestions are very good! I was uncertain about buying it due to a "Spotlight Review" by: Karen, however, I needed help to sleep and have tried other things with no result. Unlike Karen I did not find the "disclaimer" to be annoying. It's less than a minute long and having worked in the legal field for many years, I can understand why it has to be the first thing you hear before the actual hypnosis begins. Too many people don't read disclaimers, so I don't consider this to be poor editing, but rather a smart move on the part of Ms. Decker. The other thing I thought was very good about this CD is the length of each track. Some CD's I've tried for various things are up to 45 minutes long. This is far too time consuming for me. My schedule is full and I need something effective which is no more than 30 minutes in duration, therefore I find the tracks on Decker's CD's to be of perfect length. Decker's speaking pace is quite perfect for facilitating relaxation. I do seem to find my own breathing rhythm, which is what most everyone does and is supposed to do, according to the instructions which I received by emailing the company. Most importantly of all, I am sleeping better. I am also using Decker's "Hypnosis for Stress Reduction" along with her "Sleep Deeply" CD and honestly I am much calmer everyday. This may be why I'm sleeping better as well. I find them to be a dynamite combination and well worth trying if you have sleeping difficulties.

I found this CD to be disappointing after having expectations from reading the other reviews. I have stubborn insomnia as well, often waking in the middle of the night. I had hoped the CD would help me to sleep deeply through the night or at least from the middle of the night moving forward. First, I don't see why disclaimers such as "don't listen to this tape while driving", etc. aren't printed on the label instead of on the audio portion where they don't belong. Not only does this CD have the disclaimer, they have it twice! This is poor editing and not geared to the consumer. The CD is broken into two sections: the first to help you sleep and the second is just for relaxation. Both sessions are too short to be useful with lengthy disclaimers before each section. While I appreciate that the CD is only spoken word which I find helps quiet my mind chatter as a music-only CD is unable to do, I find Decker speaks too rapidly for this CD's purpose nor do I find her voice soothing. Think of when you read a child a bedtime story...don't you slow down your pace to facilitate the purpose?
On the relaxation section, Decker has you melt like warm putty. For me personally, this conjurs up images of gray cold mud rather than a soothing warmth. I'm heard of other techniques using warm orange liquid imagery that might be more soothing. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD has a Mindful Meditation CD series 1, Guided Body Scan (side 1), that I believe is much better. It's 45 minutes long and he has a soothing slower-paced voice talking you through relaxing your body from your toes to the top of your head. Often you fall asleep before it finishes. I tried Decker only because my well-worn Kabat-Zinn tape had finally broke. Unfortunately, Kabat-Zinn only sells this as a pair with other yoga tracks which I'm not interested in.

This is the first time I've tried a hypnosis CD and I am very pleased with this CD. Janet's voice is very soothing. Her suggestions on the CD put me in a state of relaxation. I fall into restful asleep very quickly with this CD playing in the background. I hope it will help you too.