EP 12: How To Sleep Better With Buffy Co-founder and CEO Leo Wang
Episode Length: 1:10:35
Each of us, at some point or another, has struggled to fall asleep, to stay asleep, or to feel rested after sleeping through the night. This week, we talk all things sleep with Buffy co-founder and CEO Leo Wang. Leo shares his personal journey of dealing with insomnia and the surprising way he resolved his sleep troubles (it’s not what you might think). You’ll learn some practical tips for how to get a restful sleep, how the teachings of Daoism can help us sleep better, Leo’s rituals for getting more rest, and the biggest misconception about sleep according to Leo. This episode is so incredibly rich and unexpectedly profound. I know you’ll take away universal lessons for how to live your life in a more harmonious way regardless of your relationship with sleep at this moment in time.
“The consumer is not even aware that they’re just bringing synthetic and chemical dyes into their bedroom and wrapping and cocooning themselves into them every night. What if those dyes were made from things like walnut peel or geranium husk or other things that you wouldn’t mind bringing into your kitchen?” - Leo Wang
“It is a belief that we have a natural programming that will correct for imbalance those things that need to be fixed, without the help of melatonin, without the help of binging on sleep, without the help of spending hours and hours into the night reading about sleep on Web MD…” - Leo Wang
“We are very busy, we live fast paced lives, we’re all highly educated and we think a lot, we’re in our heads a lot...try to contact your body a bit more. Whether that means sitting down and feeling what your body sensations are telling you or meditating or dance or yoga…” - Leo Wang
“In Daoism, or most Eastern thought, everything is about balance. It takes darkness to see the light and light to see the dark. A candle lit is a shadow cast, and the origin of everything is in its opposite.” - Leo Wang
“Sleep, and your quality of sleep, is nothing more than a manifestation of your overall health.” - Leo Wang
Resources
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Show Notes
What Buffy does and why it’s changing the sustainability industry
Why Buffy uses Eucalyptus in its comforters
Why what you sleep in matters
How Leo’s childhood shaped his personal and career trajectory
How a common case of insomnia brought Leo to a surprising discovery
The Daoist concept that says “do not doing” or “wu wei,” which means achieving without achieving
Ying and Yang and why they matter when it comes to sleep
The different elements in traditional Chinese medicine and how they can help you sleep better
Why doing less helps us return to ourselves
How acupuncture can help resolve sleep issues
Why diet matters when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep
How eating late at night inhibits the restorative state that the body needs to be in to rest
How to create more Ying (calm) energy in your bedroom
Leo’s rituals for great sleep
The biggest misconception about sleep
The Last Five Questions
The Last Five Questions
What is your favorite place in nature?
A cornfield.
What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most?
Dogs!
What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives?
Embrace the fact that everything is part of the natural world and stop looking for it. Even us – man, and the ugliest inventions of man, are part of nature. Everything is nature, and we can try and accept that more I think.
What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you?
The most valuable thing in existence is life.
Nature brings me…
Nature is trying to bring me, me. Nature is trying to bring you, you.