Hey Koko Sleep listeners, Abbe here! We have a special bonus episode for you tonight, and it’s a little bit different as it’s with my good friend Taes! Taes is the host of an amazing podcast called “Good Morning, Good Night” which I think you’ll really enjoy.
It has lovely episodes every morning and night that help us greet the day with love, and reflect on our connections to one another and the world around us - before we go to sleep. This episode starts with myself and Taes talking about all things sleep and relaxation before we hear one of her “Good Night” episodes. I hope you like it 💜
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About Koala Moon 🐨🌕
The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
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00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hey, Coco sleep listeners, Abby, here, we have a special
00:00:14
Speaker 1: bonus episode for you tonight, and it's a little bit
00:00:17
Speaker 1: different as it's with my good friend Tess. Tess is
00:00:20
Speaker 1: the host of an amazing podcast called Good Morning, Goodnight,
00:00:24
Speaker 1: which I think you'll really enjoy. It has lovely episodes
00:00:28
Speaker 1: every morning and night that help us greet the day
00:00:31
Speaker 1: with love and reflect on our connections to one another
00:00:34
Speaker 1: and to the world around us before we go to sleep.
00:00:38
Speaker 1: This episode starts with myself and Tess talking about all
00:00:42
Speaker 1: things sleep and relaxation before we hear one of her
00:00:46
Speaker 1: good Night episodes. I hope you like it. Hey, good afternoon,
00:00:57
Speaker 1: tests or good morning.
00:00:58
Speaker 2: A Yeah, that's right, we're morning over here.
00:01:02
Speaker 1: Oh lovely to see you. Lovely to see you again.
00:01:05
Speaker 1: How are you doing.
00:01:06
Speaker 2: I'm really good today. How are you doing?
00:01:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm great, actually, thank you. I'm at the end
00:01:12
Speaker 1: of a working day winding down towards the evening, but
00:01:17
Speaker 1: it's delightful to be able to catch you and I
00:01:21
Speaker 1: really hope that we can understand a little bit more
00:01:25
Speaker 1: about your podcast work and about your work with Big
00:01:28
Speaker 1: Heart Journey Amazing.
00:01:30
Speaker 2: A few questions, Yes, I would love that. Thank you
00:01:33
Speaker 2: for having me.
00:01:34
Speaker 1: You're welcome. I think our listeners are really going to
00:01:36
Speaker 1: enjoy hearing from you and hearing about your podcast. So
00:01:40
Speaker 1: let's see if we can dive in so your podcast,
00:01:45
Speaker 1: Good morning, good night. Can you tell me why is
00:01:48
Speaker 1: it helpful to start or end your day with your podcast?
00:01:54
Speaker 2: Well, I actually believe that what we do when we
00:01:56
Speaker 2: first wake up in the morning and what we do
00:01:58
Speaker 2: when we go to sleep are the most important things
00:02:01
Speaker 2: that we do all day long. I mean, starting the
00:02:04
Speaker 2: morning with setting an intention, connecting to your heart and
00:02:09
Speaker 2: really connecting to you know, ourselves and why we're here
00:02:12
Speaker 2: and how we want to be for the day really
00:02:15
Speaker 2: sets the tone for the rest of the day. And
00:02:18
Speaker 2: I believe that giving that to kids is it's a
00:02:21
Speaker 2: really gift to them to be able to have that
00:02:25
Speaker 2: knowledge as they're when they're younger, and at the end
00:02:29
Speaker 2: of the day, we want to be able to clear
00:02:31
Speaker 2: our brains from you know, any of those big worried thoughts,
00:02:35
Speaker 2: any feelings that that you didn't get to express in
00:02:38
Speaker 2: the day. If we can have a space to get
00:02:39
Speaker 2: those out and then be able to move into a
00:02:43
Speaker 2: place of relaxation and just feeling safe and loved, then
00:02:47
Speaker 2: we're then we're really setting up our sleep for you know,
00:02:52
Speaker 2: a long, happy sleep where they wake up feeling good
00:02:56
Speaker 2: again the next morning. So I just think it's such
00:02:58
Speaker 2: an important thing the mornings and the nights.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I completely agree with you. It's like times
00:03:05
Speaker 1: when we're on our own, in the quiet and in
00:03:08
Speaker 1: the dark, and that's when you kind of can really
00:03:11
Speaker 1: benefit from some of these exercises. Tell me a little bit.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: I listen to your podcast, and I love your relaxation
00:03:20
Speaker 1: exercises that you do. And I when I was listening,
00:03:24
Speaker 1: I thought, I wonder if she's doing them with children,
00:03:28
Speaker 1: or whether she's doing them alone, whether she does them herself.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: You know, can you tell me do they work? And
00:03:34
Speaker 1: do you enjoy doing them with the children?
00:03:40
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting. I mean I actually do them in
00:03:44
Speaker 2: the podcast. While I'm doing it, I find that it
00:03:46
Speaker 2: helps me connect to the words. So, but the other
00:03:50
Speaker 2: night I could not sleep. It was like you know
00:03:53
Speaker 2: when you wake up at three in the morning and
00:03:55
Speaker 2: you wake up a little too much and your brain
00:03:58
Speaker 2: starts thinking. And I just us done a session with
00:04:01
Speaker 2: a kid who was having a hard time with not sleeping,
00:04:04
Speaker 2: and I had given him the exercise that we are
00:04:07
Speaker 2: actually going to do in the episode that you'll be
00:04:09
Speaker 2: playing for your listeners. And so I was lying there
00:04:12
Speaker 2: it's three in the morning, and I thought, okay, Tess,
00:04:15
Speaker 2: you've got to practice what you preach. So I did
00:04:18
Speaker 2: the exact relaxation exercise that I'd taught to Max the
00:04:23
Speaker 2: week before, and it worked. It really worked. The next
00:04:27
Speaker 2: thing I knew, I was waking up in the morning
00:04:29
Speaker 2: and I was laughing because I thought, well, I'm glad
00:04:32
Speaker 2: that the things that I'm saying work actually do work.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: And now I can see that for real. It's proof.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: It's actually yes, isn't it. And I think it's it's
00:04:41
Speaker 1: lovely that it was top of your head, that you
00:04:44
Speaker 1: you had it kind of fresh from that day. That's
00:04:47
Speaker 1: the benefit of the work. I think that you do, yes,
00:04:51
Speaker 1: I do to some degrees that we're in it all
00:04:55
Speaker 1: the time. So actually you do you do learn to
00:04:58
Speaker 1: use some of the tools yourself off. Yes, yeah, exactly
00:05:03
Speaker 1: proved itself to you. And can I ask you maybe
00:05:08
Speaker 1: a personal question. I don't know, but good Morning is
00:05:12
Speaker 1: obviously a podcast in the morning. Good Night is last
00:05:15
Speaker 1: thing in the evening or to be listened to in
00:05:17
Speaker 1: the evening. But can I ask you what your favorite
00:05:20
Speaker 1: things to do are, either to start your day really
00:05:23
Speaker 1: well or just just get yourself into a kind of
00:05:28
Speaker 1: into the groove for sleep in the evening.
00:05:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm quite I am quite rigid about
00:05:35
Speaker 2: my morning and night routines for myself because I find
00:05:39
Speaker 2: they make such a big difference. So in the morning,
00:05:41
Speaker 2: I actually start with meditating for at least twenty minutes,
00:05:46
Speaker 2: just straight before I'd like to do it before I
00:05:48
Speaker 2: speak to any other human before I just open up
00:05:52
Speaker 2: my eyes and I sit up and I do it
00:05:54
Speaker 2: right then and there because I want to start. I
00:05:58
Speaker 2: want to sort of stop any bitch thoughts that might
00:06:01
Speaker 2: pop into my brain before they get there. So that's
00:06:04
Speaker 2: a real that's a practice that I do every morning.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: And then at night, I always lie with my hands
00:06:10
Speaker 2: in my heart and I start at the beginning of
00:06:12
Speaker 2: the day and I just go I go through my
00:06:15
Speaker 2: day in my mind and I just say thank you
00:06:17
Speaker 2: for you know, little things, big things that happened. And
00:06:21
Speaker 2: I find that's a way of preparing myself house self
00:06:24
Speaker 2: for sleep in a feeling of gratitude connecting to my heart.
00:06:27
Speaker 2: And I always since I started doing that practice. I
00:06:31
Speaker 2: actually never have a hard time just falling asleep because
00:06:35
Speaker 2: it just puts me to sleep. By the before I
00:06:37
Speaker 2: get to the evening, i'm asleep. So that's those effective. Yeah. Wow, yeah,
00:06:43
Speaker 2: I find it really works. Try it out.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: I appreciate that a lot, actually, because yeah, I think
00:06:50
Speaker 1: some days you feel like you're going to be absolutely fine.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: You know you're going to go to bed and it's
00:06:55
Speaker 1: going to be no trouble whatsoever, and then you kind
00:06:58
Speaker 1: of lie there and just find your self waking up
00:07:01
Speaker 1: rather than you know, winding down, and then it's kind
00:07:05
Speaker 1: of like this mad scrabble of what can I do?
00:07:08
Speaker 1: What can I do? My brain is going into overdrive.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, try it out. Let me know how
00:07:16
Speaker 2: it goes.
00:07:17
Speaker 1: And especially with the hands on your heart, because I
00:07:19
Speaker 1: think doing something physical your body can help rather than
00:07:24
Speaker 1: it's simply being in your mind.
00:07:26
Speaker 2: Yes, and actually, I mean there's research that shows that
00:07:29
Speaker 2: putting your hands in your heart really does slow down
00:07:32
Speaker 2: your heartbeat. It connects you to that you know, that
00:07:34
Speaker 2: right side of your brain, so you can move into
00:07:38
Speaker 2: our less logical thinking space and into really move yourself
00:07:42
Speaker 2: into your heart.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: Okay, great, Yeah, oh that's lovely. Okay, I've got to
00:07:47
Speaker 1: my final question already, but I'm just dying to hear
00:07:51
Speaker 1: about what we might be listening to any minute now.
00:07:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, this is the episode that I use the
00:08:00
Speaker 2: other night, So it's funny. Yeah, And it's a lot
00:08:03
Speaker 2: about how do we I want to use the word trick,
00:08:08
Speaker 2: because there's all of these little tools that we can
00:08:10
Speaker 2: use to trick our bodies into thinking we're tired. So
00:08:14
Speaker 2: when you're not tired and you're going to bed, and
00:08:18
Speaker 2: I'm sure this happens for kids all of the time,
00:08:20
Speaker 2: it happens to me all the time. We need to
00:08:22
Speaker 2: show our body through our physiology that we are tired,
00:08:28
Speaker 2: and then eventually our body is like, okay, we're tired,
00:08:31
Speaker 2: let's go to sleep. So this is an activity that
00:08:35
Speaker 2: I think it's fun. It brings in an element of
00:08:37
Speaker 2: play which I'm always all about with the kids, where
00:08:41
Speaker 2: we actually pretend to be sleepy like an actor, and
00:08:45
Speaker 2: then eventually our body catches up and we're like, oh,
00:08:48
Speaker 2: we are sleepy. And this is a you know, this
00:08:50
Speaker 2: is a proven thing that works scientifically, and so I
00:08:54
Speaker 2: just wanted to take that concept and make it into
00:08:57
Speaker 2: more of a game. So that we can make falling asleep,
00:09:00
Speaker 2: spend bedtime, you know, fun, bring some lightness and play
00:09:04
Speaker 2: into it.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, that's great. So it's like role playing
00:09:09
Speaker 1: sleeping basically, or.
00:09:10
Speaker 2: It's like I'm sleepy, are yeah, fantastic?
00:09:16
Speaker 1: What a good Another good tip actually, because I think
00:09:20
Speaker 1: sometimes when you're when you're tired and you know you're
00:09:24
Speaker 1: playing a game or whatever you can, you can find
00:09:27
Speaker 1: yourself wanting to go to sleep, but you're like, no,
00:09:30
Speaker 1: I mustn't, I mustn't because I'm still in the middle
00:09:32
Speaker 1: of you know, doing this thing or playing cards or
00:09:35
Speaker 1: reading a story or whatever. But actually there are other
00:09:39
Speaker 1: times when you when you do just need to almost
00:09:43
Speaker 1: fool yourself that you're doing something else because it takes
00:09:46
Speaker 1: the pressure, the pressure or.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: The pressure that's the thing, and you know that feeling
00:09:51
Speaker 2: of saying, oh, I need to go to sleep. And
00:09:53
Speaker 2: I know kids probably don't have these same things in
00:09:56
Speaker 2: their brains, but mine is always if I don't sleep,
00:09:59
Speaker 2: my day tomorrow going to be when it's going to
00:10:01
Speaker 2: be harder to move through that. So the more you
00:10:03
Speaker 2: think about not sleeping, the harder it is to sleep.
00:10:06
Speaker 2: So this is just a game too, to just pretend
00:10:09
Speaker 2: that you're sleepy and just roll with that feeling and
00:10:12
Speaker 2: connect to what it feels like to be sleepy, and
00:10:14
Speaker 2: then our body will just respond according to is the plan.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: It is kind of like magic.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this this episode is then called something like
00:10:24
Speaker 1: pretending to sleep.
00:10:25
Speaker 2: It's called pretend to be sleepy, just straight up, we
00:10:28
Speaker 2: call it what it is. Yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker 1: And in your episodes, they're quite short, aren't they. So
00:10:33
Speaker 1: it's not a kind of majorly long process. Which is
00:10:37
Speaker 1: also rather magical that you can kind of transform yourself
00:10:40
Speaker 1: from one state to another really relatively easily quickly if
00:10:45
Speaker 1: you just know how.
00:10:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's like, how can we how can we
00:10:49
Speaker 2: learn these tools? And that's that you said it so
00:10:51
Speaker 2: perfectly to transform from one state to another, And it's like,
00:10:57
Speaker 2: now you can be a superhero with this. You can
00:10:59
Speaker 2: do it yourself off. And I love the power that
00:11:01
Speaker 2: we can get and give kids through that.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I really think that it's going to
00:11:07
Speaker 1: go down a storm with our listeners. I really am happy.
00:11:10
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for giving us more insight into
00:11:13
Speaker 1: your podcast, and.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for having me, and thank
00:11:17
Speaker 2: you for what you do. I just love your work.
00:11:20
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you a kid that day you
00:11:28
Speaker 1: can go slow ay kids podcast about.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Hello. My name is Tess, and I am so happy
00:11:46
Speaker 2: to be here with you at the very end of
00:11:49
Speaker 2: our day to say good night. It is just such
00:11:52
Speaker 2: a good time to think back on what happened today,
00:11:55
Speaker 2: on how we felt throughout the day, and just wind
00:11:58
Speaker 2: down together. Me too. I love knowing all day long
00:12:04
Speaker 2: that I get to see you and hear about how
00:12:06
Speaker 2: your day was and how you're feeling. So first of all,
00:12:09
Speaker 2: I just want to say thank you so much for
00:12:12
Speaker 2: being here with me. Before we start, Can you make
00:12:19
Speaker 2: sure you are in your pajamas, grab a stuffy and
00:12:22
Speaker 2: a blanket and whatever makes you feel cozy, and come
00:12:25
Speaker 2: on back and find a really comfortable space to sit down.
00:12:32
Speaker 2: Today I'm going to show you a little trick that
00:12:34
Speaker 2: I do when I'm having big awake feelings when it's bedtime.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: Did you know that if you pretend to be sleepy,
00:12:42
Speaker 2: your body actually listens and starts to become sleepy in
00:12:46
Speaker 2: real life. So let's start off by discovering how sleepy
00:12:51
Speaker 2: you are right now. If you are feeling wide awake
00:12:56
Speaker 2: and like you wish it was breakfast time, can you
00:12:58
Speaker 2: touch the top of your head? Okay, And if you're
00:13:02
Speaker 2: feeling so sleepy that your eyes just won't stay open,
00:13:08
Speaker 2: oh I'm yewling already. Can you put your hands together
00:13:11
Speaker 2: and lay your head on your hands like you are
00:13:13
Speaker 2: about to fall asleep? Great, So, if you are wide
00:13:19
Speaker 2: awake or really sleepy, this is a really good trick
00:13:23
Speaker 2: that you can do right before bed and it works
00:13:25
Speaker 2: every time. This trick is going to require you to
00:13:29
Speaker 2: be an actor, especially if you are feeling wide awake
00:13:34
Speaker 2: right now. So the first thing you're going to do
00:13:37
Speaker 2: is make a great, big pretend yawn. Are you ready,
00:13:42
Speaker 2: let's hear you yawn? Oh? Oh that was a really
00:13:49
Speaker 2: good yawn. Can you yawn even bigger? Ready? Oh? Oh,
00:13:57
Speaker 2: it is a really good yawn too. Now, can you
00:14:01
Speaker 2: make your hands into fists and stretch your fists over
00:14:05
Speaker 2: your head, And as you stretch them up in the air,
00:14:08
Speaker 2: can you say I am so sleepy? And I want
00:14:14
Speaker 2: you to be very dramatic about this, because remember you
00:14:17
Speaker 2: are an actor. Okay, ready, stretch those arms up over
00:14:22
Speaker 2: your head, and can you say I am so sleepy?
00:14:29
Speaker 2: Oh that was really good. Okay, Now we're gonna put
00:14:32
Speaker 2: it all together. Let's start with that pretend yn. Are
00:14:35
Speaker 2: you ready, big yon, Oh, stretch your arms up over
00:14:41
Speaker 2: your head. Oh, and say it, I am so sleepy.
00:14:48
Speaker 2: Oh that's so good. One more time, ready, big Yon,
00:14:52
Speaker 2: even bigger, stretch your arms up over your head. I
00:14:57
Speaker 2: am so sleepy. Now are you finding that you're actually yawning? Oh?
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Bit right now like I am?
00:15:06
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: If it's not working, try it a few more times,
00:15:11
Speaker 2: and try making your yawn even bigger, because I promise
00:15:15
Speaker 2: you that if you do your pretend yawns, they will
00:15:18
Speaker 2: turn into big yawns and you will be ready for bed.
00:15:22
Speaker 2: When you make the action of the yawn, your body
00:15:25
Speaker 2: thinks that you are for real sleepy. So it activates
00:15:29
Speaker 2: your body's sleep mode, slows down your heart rate, and
00:15:32
Speaker 2: relaxes your body, getting you ready for sleep. And one
00:15:36
Speaker 2: of these mornings we are going to do the opposite
00:15:39
Speaker 2: and we're going to activate your body for energy to
00:15:42
Speaker 2: start your day. But for now, let's try it one
00:15:45
Speaker 2: more time. Ready to stretch your arms up and I'm
00:15:50
Speaker 2: so sleepy. Oh, And I want to let you know
00:15:57
Speaker 2: that I love you so much. I'm wishing you a
00:16:01
Speaker 2: great sleep. Thank you to you for being here with me.
00:16:11
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see you tomorrow morning. Have an
00:16:14
Speaker 2: amazing sleep with lots of happy dreams, and remember there
00:16:19
Speaker 2: is nobody in the whole world with a heart just
00:16:22
Speaker 2: like yours. I love you, and I love your big
00:16:26
Speaker 2: heart so much. Good Morning, good Night is written by me,
00:16:38
Speaker 2: Tess Lovett. You can learn more about me and my
00:16:41
Speaker 2: work by visiting bigheart Journey dot com. You can write
00:16:47
Speaker 2: to me or record a voicemail and send it to
00:16:51
Speaker 2: listen at a KidsCo dot com. I would love so
00:16:57
Speaker 2: much to hear about your day, and I would love
00:17:00
Speaker 2: to hear the ways that you say goodnight. Our show
00:17:04
Speaker 2: is edited and produced by Matthew Winner, with the help
00:17:07
Speaker 2: from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at sound On Studios.
00:17:12
Speaker 2: Our executive producer is Jelani Memory and this show was
00:17:17
Speaker 2: brought to you by a kid's podcast about Follow the
00:17:21
Speaker 2: show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found, and
00:17:25
Speaker 2: check out other podcasts made for amazing kids just like
00:17:30
Speaker 2: you by visiting a KidsCo dot com.