sHare experts agree that going to bed at the same time each night and creating a relaxation ritual are the two main components of getting a good night’s sleep. Wave Sleep – a new app from Mason Levey and Brad Warsh, the duo who previously helped run the ship at the Y7 yoga studio – checks both boxes. Just as someone may have booked a place in yoga class before to help ensure they attend that class (sigh, memories!), The app aims to usher in a new era of commitment to bedtime using a booking platform to meditating your way to REM.
The app (free until March 11, starting at $ 10 a month) offers 45-minute sessions that are live and on-demand and feature viewing-style meditations (think: walk along Bali’s beaches or float around along a lazy river in Colorado) to bring your mind and body to sleep. One of 18 guides from across the country digitally joins the group before their experience begins, and the platform offers classes every 30 minutes to accommodate all sleep times and time zones.
“We mix relaxation techniques with narratives with music that induces sleep,” says Warsh. “So, let’s start with a breathing exercise; let’s move on to what we call a bed scan, or body scan, where you start to relax and melt in bed; and then we transition from this world to the world of history, where we take you in a visualization. “
In short, Wave is very similar to yours favorite pre-COVID spin class … only it will calm you down instead of cheering you up.
Wave’s music director, Matthew Wong, even creates a symphonic playlist of delta waves, instruments, and synth tones to provide the right environment to cultivate rest. And while you wrap yourself in your bed alone, Levey and Warsh emphasize that there is a community aspect to these sleep primers that many of us are missing now. In short, Wave is very similar to yours favorite pre-COVID spin class … only that it will rock you to sleep instead of cheering you up.
“There is a waiting room that opens 15 minutes before class, and if you sign up for that session, you will receive a push notification that says, ‘Hey, the waiting room is open.’ It is a time to relax you. There is music, and then the sleep guide enters the waiting room five minutes before the session, and there is a little pre-session play, ”says Warsh. Wave even fixes a prompt or question at the bottom of the waiting room to encourage pillow talk (of the Platonic variety).
As someone who doesn’t exactly have a perfect relationship with Mr. Sandman, I was looking forward to experiencing an on-demand Wave Sleep session for me. As soon as I completed my night hygiene routine and turned on my phone in “do not disturb” mode, I slid under the covers for the “Fall asleep in a bookstore” session, guided by Audrey. I immediately realized that she speaks in a soft, smooth voice in a whisper. This particular session took me to a bookstore (in my mind, I imagined Three Lives & Company in New York City) decorated for the holidays. Audrey then led me through the various sections of books, from children’s to fiction and geography. I was transported.
I wish I could say that I know how the bookstore story ends and that it is adorable … but that bibliophile fell asleep while still leafing through the children’s section. If you were one of those kids who always begged for “one more book!” at bedtime, Wave Sleep allows you to carry that joy into adulthood with the power to schedule your bedtime with guided meditations. So, although I may not book yoga classes for a while, I will definitely be scheduling my bedtime.
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