Professional Documents
Culture Documents
H OW T O R E C L A I M Y O U R SLEEP AND
TR A N S F O R M Y O U R LIFE
ELINA WINNEL
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except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
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Table of Contents
1 Sleep secrets 5
Take heart in the knowledge that there IS a solution to
your struggles with insomnia – even if you feel like you’ve
tried everything.
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CHAPTER ONE
SLEEP SECRETS
Do you remember what it was like to float away effortlessly to the land of
dreams, spend the whole night sleeping deeply and soundly, and awake in the
morning feeling refreshed, energised and full of life? Or, if you have never slept
well, can you imagine how wonderful that would be?
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’ve probably already tried implementing
every piece of information you could find about how to improve your sleep. And
I wouldn’t blame you for approaching what I’m going to reveal with a healthy
balance of scepticism.
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The sleep secrets I want to share
with you are not just a catchy
slogan: these are the answers
you’ve been searching for.
For years, I travelled all over the world, trying to unravel the mystery of my
insomnia. Somehow, I knew the answer was out there – and gradually, piece by
piece, I managed to put the puzzle together.
Perhaps you’ve started to think that maybe you are beyond help, especially if
you’ve followed the advice of every health and wellbeing blog, magazine, and
news article that crossed your attention span. And if you have, I’m sure you
applied yourself with the utmost diligence. Well, let me reassure you that the
problem does not lie with you: you’re not a hopeless case, and you’re not ‘just
doing it wrong’.
Most of the information on ‘curing’ your sleeping issues deals with only
the surface symptoms, not the root causes.
Is it any wonder that you’ve been unsuccessful if you’ve been trying to stick
Band-Aid after Band-Aid on a problem that must be healed at a deeper level? If
all the bloggers, health writers and so-called experts can really offer a functional
solution, why isn’t every single one of us sleeping like a baby?
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After visiting one medical specialist after another for years on a desperate quest
to restore my ability to sleep, I eventually realised that the pharmaceutical-based
approach of the medical profession was simply not going to solve the problem.
As I found out, alternative methods such as acupuncture and meditation, by
themselves, were not the answer either.
I believe it’s time someone set the record straight, which is why I’ve written this
– just for people like you. I want to show you that you DO have a choice, no
matter what your experiences might have been up until now, no matter what
you might have been told by medical professionals.
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CHAPTER TWO
The topic of sleep has been dumbed down, the advice that’s floating around has
been simplified to the point of ineffectiveness, and much of it has failed to keep
pace with the way we live in the 21st century. The whole field is antiquated,
and it’s time to give it the overhaul it deserves, so that people like you can finally
reclaim the peaceful night’s rest that has been eluding them.
How can you fix your sleep if you’ve been working from
outdated information?
Part of my mission is to change this, and to equip you with the knowledge you
need, to begin to truly address the issue of how to get better sleep.
The first step is to understand the myths behind improving sleep: all the stuff we
are advised to do, but which doesn’t really make a great deal of difference.
On the following pages, I will share some of the myths that have kept
people stuck in the cycle of poor sleep, and reveal the truth about one of
the most important health topics for us as human beings.
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MYTH 1
Practicing sleep hygiene will ensure that I nod off effortlessly.
THE TRUTH
Your habits surrounding sleep only represent a tiny piece of the puzzle!
Did your sleep problems start when your bedroom got a bit messy one day? If
the answer is ‘no’, then this should be a clear indication that such a simplistic
approach probably isn’t the solution to your difficulties with sleeping.
Sleep hygiene is a popular catchphrase for the sum of our habits that are
supposedly related to our sleeping patterns. These can range from the state of
our bedroom to our evening routine, what and when we eat, and so on. The
truth is, these issues only account for about 10% of people’s sleep struggles.
Admittedly, there is truth in the idea that cutting out coffee in the afternoon
and going to bed at the same time every night may help you sleep. However, it’s
crucial to remember these only comprise a tiny piece of the whole reason you
have trouble sleeping.
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There are also issues such as an inability to
control your thoughts, imbalances in your
nervous system, hidden stress and other factors
that all play a part in determining your quality of
sleep. This means that even the best sleep habits
in the world are usually not much of a guarantee
that you will regain a wonderful night’s rest.
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MYTH 2
Medication will fix my sleep problems.
THE TRUTH
Sedatives only address the symptoms,
not the root causes of poor sleep.
Medication may help in the short term, or for acute bouts of sleeplessness
caused by temporary external factors (for example, trying to sleep in a noisy
environment). However, if you find yourself relying on medication to get
unconscious, there is probably a more serious underlying cause that needs to
be addressed.
This means that if you constantly rely on medication to zonk out, you never
receive all the health benefits that natural sleep holds, and that are imperative
for long-term health.
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MYTH 3
A more natural approach, such as
acupuncture/hypnotherapy/herbal
remedies will solve my sleep
issues.
THE TRUTH
For most people, a single-
pointed approach is not enough,
regardless of how ‘alternative’ it is.
In order to reclaim the deep, restful sleep that is your birthright, a multifaceted
way of tackling all the underlying causes is absolutely imperative. This may
include gaining a greater understanding of the many factors that are damaging
to your sleep, not just the superficial ones. In addition to the simple, physical
difficulties, there are also deeper emotional, mental, even energetic and spiritual
reasons to be considered.
By being open to addressing your sleep issues on all the necessary levels, instead
of just trying a single ‘quick fix’, you can enjoy enormous breakthroughs in
reclaiming a healthy night’s sleep.
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MYTH 4
Meditation is the remedy
to poor sleep.
THE TRUTH
Meditation can be a very
beneficial tool, but if you
have trouble calming your
mind enough to meditate,
then it’s not likely to be a practical solution.
As with sleep habits, meditation is one piece in the puzzle of solving your
difficulties with sleeping. Trying to fix the whole problem through meditation
alone is a bit like saying if you eat kale, you will have a healthy diet – when
obviously, incorporating just one healthy food does not automatically mean you
are receiving adequate nutrition.
The reason meditation can be helpful is because it slows our brainwaves down,
and that’s a skill we do need to develop in order to sleep well. But if you suffer
from a racing mind, trying to meditate might not be the best solution, because
you’re unable to achieve those slow brainwaves in the first place.
Instead, you may need to use alternative tools and techniques to retrain your
brain before meditation can become an effective way of reaching the slower
brainwave states that will be beneficial to your sleep. Once you’ve improved your
ability to slow your brainwaves, meditation can become a valuable practice to
utilise alongside other methods, collectively helping you reclaim deep,
restful slumber.
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MYTH 5
What I do in the hour before bed
will dictate how well I sleep.
THE TRUTH
It is actually your daytime activities
that determine your night.
But the truth is, our day turns into our night, so how we spend our waking
hours has much more potent relevance to how we will sleep.
For example, if our busy day causes us to build up high levels of stress hormones
in our body, or if we have ‘wound ourselves up’ and all that nervous energy
hasn’t been expelled, then there is a high probability that we won’t sleep well.
And no amount of mindfulness during the hour before bedtime is going to
reverse a whole day’s worth of stresses and frustrations!
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MYTH 6
I don’t feel particularly stressed out,
so I must not be under stress.
THE TRUTH
It’s hard to notice you’re stressed
if that’s the way you feel almost all
the time.
Most people today have an elevated baseline stress level that we’ve come to
think of as ‘normal’. The problem is, ‘normal’ may already mean ‘stressed’, and
we’re just not consciously aware of it, because we tend to stop noticing things
we are used to – such as a constant state of background stress.
You need a point of reference to notice the contrast between ‘stressed’ and
‘un-stressed’. If being under stress is your default starting point, then what many
people perceive as the difference between just normal’ and ‘feeling stressed’ is
actually the deterioration from ‘already stressed’ to ‘severely stressed’.
‘Your body can provide you with a more honest evaluation of your stress level
than your conscious mind can. Check in with your breathing, the state of your
muscles, and your posture. Are you breathing quickly and shallowly, and are you
feeling the movement of the air in your chest rather than lower down, towards
your abdomen? Are any of your muscles under tension, or are you clenching
your jaw? Is your back slightly curved and feeling ‘tight’?
These are all telltale indicators that you are under stress and in ‘fight or flight’
mode without even realising it. Considering that stress is the number-one factor
which affects sleep, this can be an enlightening realisation.
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MYTH 7
My stress is caused by my
circumstances, so if I can change those
then I will sleep better.
THE TRUTH
The crucial missing link is that stress is
caused by the way you react to certain
situations.
Many people think they will start sleeping better once they have changed certain
circumstances in their life, for example that job they despise or the relationship
that isn’t good for them. Before they started working with me on repairing their
sleep, many of my clients either changed or quit their jobs, thinking that would
solve the problem. Imagine their surprise when their sleep did not improve at all!
If you have developed a habit of stress or anxiety (and by doing so, unwittingly
damaging your sleep), or if you suffer from a racing mind, then you will probably
always find something to be stressed or anxious about, and your mind will
race regardless of your circumstances. The key, then, is to learn to change
your mental patterns – and once you solve that problem in the linkage, your
circumstances will be powerless to affect your sleep.
The first step is to understand our mental patterns, which most of us cannot,
because they’ve been part of us for our whole lives. And we’re completely
unaware of how these patterns are affecting us.
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MYTH 8
Reducing your time in bed will help you sleep once you finally get the chance.
THE TRUTH
For most people, this will actually cause sleep to deteriorate further.
Many people who struggle with sleep are advised to restrict the amount of time
they spend in bed, with the intention that they will be worn out and ‘forced’
to fall asleep at specific times. This methodology implies that there is a problem
with a person’s circadian rhythm. In the majority of cases, the wrong cause is
being addressed.
Most people who struggle with sleep are affected by an imbalance in their
nervous system, chronic stress, or a hypervigilant state of consciousness.
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MYTH 9
A diagnostic sleep study will reveal why you sleep badly.
THE TRUTH
Sleep studies normally examine what happens while you’re already asleep,
not why you can’t drift off.
It’s true that this condition is notorious for disrupting sleep and preventing a
person from obtaining the rest they need, and a sleep study can be a useful part
of the treatment for this. However, if your problem is being unable to fall asleep,
or waking during the night for extended periods, a sleep study is not likely to be
of much use to you.
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MYTH 10
Poor sleep is just something I have to
live with.
THE TRUTH
It is your birthright to enjoy revitalising,
sound, blissful sleep. Insomnia and poor
sleep are real and legitimate struggles –
but there is a solution.
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CHAPTER THREE
KEYS TO THE
KINGDOM OF SLEEP
Learn the seven vital secrets that will help you
reclaim a great night’s rest.
Now you’ve learned the truth about some of the common misconceptions related
to sleeping soundly and restfully, you probably have a better understanding of
why your efforts have not yielded the results you had hoped for.
Are your past frustrations with reaching the holy grail of blissful slumber locking
you into the conviction that nothing works? It’s so easy to become pessimistic
about your options when you’ve tried every method you can find: believe me, I’ve
been there.
Since discovering the seven secrets to a restful night’s sleep, I’ve been dedicated
to healing myself and others of their sleeping difficulties. So even if you feel like
you’ve tried everything... please, let me restore your hope.
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Amazingly, the fundamental factors underpinning sound sleep are hardly ever
spoken about, despite all seven of them being absolutely critical to achieving the
blissful and healthy rest we all need. If popular hype has been leading you up
the garden path – instead of along the most reliable route to the land of dreams
– then I’m here to reassure you that your sleep problems CAN be solved.
In response to all the myths that are floating around, I want to share
with you the seven golden truths about what really DOES work!
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KEY ONE: Increase your brainwave flexibility
Train yourself to shift from alert, waking brain function to the slower
brainwave state associated with sleep
The electrical activity of your brain follows a rhythmic pattern often known as
brainwaves, which can be measured using an EEG (electroencephalograph).
Depending on your state of mental activity, there will be an emphasis on one of
the five main brainwave frequencies that are constantly in motion in your brain.
When we fall asleep, we enter the slow brainwave state that neurologists have
named ‘delta’. However, many people today cannot shift into this brainwave
state easily. If meditation is something you’ve always found difficult, this might
indicate an inflexibility in shifting brainwave states. We inherently have strong
brainwave flexibility as children (unless you grew up in a stressful environment),
but we can lose this as we become older.
The good news is that neuroscience has shown us we can help our brains
become more flexible, and meditation is not the only way to do this. Just as
gymnasts perform a rigorous stretching routine to help them become supple
enough to perform incredible feats of grace and flexibility, there are many
kinds of exercises that can enable you to shift your brainwave activity naturally
and easily.
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Set aside a few minutes every day to do an activity which frees you from feeling
constrained by space and time. For some people this may be knitting, painting,
origami, or going for a walk in nature: these are the kinds of activities that
slow your brainwaves down. You can even stretch the abilities of your mind by
stretching your body – for example, through yoga. At The Sleep Expert, we have
developed a number of techniques to effectively and quickly teach you how to
shift brainwave states with ease.
Bringing your nervous system back into balance is one of the keys to a great
night’s sleep. It might seem obvious that we need to stress less and relax more,
but that’s a huge part of the reason why we overlook the significance of this
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problem. We start to take it for granted that this is ‘one of those things’ we
need to get around to, so we never end up making a deliberate and conscious
decision to draw our attention away from what stresses us, and towards what
relaxes us. Many of us have also lost the art of true deep relaxation.
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For example, if you are anxious about losing your job, or worrying about the
state of your relationship, you release stress hormones into your body which
prevent you from drifting off into a deep and easy sleep. It stands to reason that
your self-preservation instinct will not allow you to fall asleep when your body
chemistry is behaving as if you are in danger – even if the danger is not actually
real. And it’s not just the thoughts we have during the evening that affect us: the
build-up of stress hormones from these types of thoughts throughout the day
has a huge impact on our ability to settle ourselves and sleep deeply at night.
Everybody has several key thought patterns they repeat hundreds of times a day,
affecting their body chemistry. And these patterns are not even based on what
we think, but how we think. Once you learn how to change these, your stress
levels will be drastically reduced, and sleep will come much more easily.
The problem is, you’ve lived with your own thoughts all your life, so it can be
very difficult to look at them objectively with awareness and clarity. This is where
getting help from an expert sleep coach can be a valuable way to supplement
your own efforts: think of it as being a bit like having a personal trainer for your
sleep. Sure, you can do those crunches perfectly well by yourself, and nobody
else can lift your weights for you. But it does take your workout to a whole new
level when there’s a qualified professional guiding your efforts.
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KEY FOUR: Work on your sleep strategy.
Many people don’t know what to do when they are lying in bed, awake, with
their mind simply doing its thing. Sleep is all about going inwards – but for many
people, this can be a scary process. It is not something we are good at as a
society. However, there are ways you can learn to get comfortable with directing
your attention inwards, and the more you grow to enjoy it, the easier it will be to
fall asleep.
Instead of simply going to bed and lying there with a racing mind, hoping
your body will drift off to sleep somehow, take the initiative to experiment
with various strategies until you find one that works reliably for you. One
possible option is to focus on the sensations inside your body: anchoring your
consciousness to what you are physically sensing, rather than thinking, helps to
slow your brainwaves down. This in turn spreads the energy of your attention
throughout your entire body, and helps initiate the sleep process.
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Transferring attention in this way can be difficult for many people, as we spend
so much time in our minds, rather than in our bodies. But as you work on
practicing this skill, it will becomes easier and easier.
Another strategy might be to focus your attention on things that you associate
with pleasant sensations and ideas, such as a favourite book or memorable
holiday. At The Sleep Expert, we have developed a number of strategies that
actually mimic the process of falling asleep, gently guiding you into a sleep state,
one step at a time.
Fine-tune the various factors in your daily life that can affect your ability
to sleep soundly and peacefully.
Unfortunately, a lot of the advice related to the lifestyle factors affecting our
sleep can be false or misleading, and the central problem is that different stimuli
can have different results on different people. For example, it is commonly
asserted that watching TV before bedtime is ‘bad for sleep’ – yet for many
people, zoning out with their favourite series can actually help them turn down
the volume in their minds and eventually nod off.
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With regards to screen time, it is actually more important to block out the blue
light from your device or TV. This can be achieved by using display-altering
software designed specifically for this purpose, or by placing a physical filter over
your screen. Kooky as it may seem, there are even glasses and goggles available
that only transmit light in the sleep-friendly part of the visual spectrum.
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at night. Others literally lie awake worrying about not being able to fall asleep,
or that they will wake up in the middle of the night. These thoughts alone may
produce sufficient stress hormones to prevent your body from falling asleep,
making sleep fear a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A closely related problem is that many people today believe taking time out
to relax is ‘wasting time’. How often have you been made to feel guilty about
getting the rest you need? As young adults, we’re often pressured by the
glamour of a party lifestyle; when we have kids, we instinctively put their needs
before our own; if we work in a particularly ambitious or competitive industry,
we might be told that ‘lunch is for wimps’.
Learning how to shift these patterns can work wonders for a good night’s sleep.
If we don’t prioritise exercising our ‘relaxation muscle’, we can lose our ability to
indulge in the rest we need, when we finally have the chance to do so. When
we are deeply relaxed, we produce bliss hormones in our body, giving us a subtle
‘high’ – these are the hormones which help us drift off into a nice deep sleep.
It might take a lot of unlearning and rediscovery to start associating rest with
bliss once again. But this goal is definitely possible, and one way to achieve it is
to consciously make it a priority and ease yourself into the habit of honouring
your need to rest.
If you do suffer from sleep fear, it can be very difficult to let go of, which in
turn makes it so hard to sleep, and the vicious cycle begins again. This is why
implementing all seven pillars at the same time is so important – as you begin
to sleep better, and your sleep confidence grows, your anxieties around sleep
will naturally diminish. To make this easier, we can offer specific and effective
techniques at The Sleep Expert to help people reduce their fear of not sleeping.
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KEY SEVEN: Set your emotions free
The only thing it’s full of is built-up emotional energy: fortunately, there are a
number of ways you can neutralise this error, allowing your body to relax and
prepare for sleep. One thing that can help is physical exercise, but this isn’t
always the solution. There are other techniques available, such as neurogenic
tremoring, that are aimed specifically at releasing this energy. Once it’s gone,
your nervous system can return to a state of balance, and you can sleep again.
Especially if you’re a person who tries to keep everything under control, you
might be inadvertently impeding the natural flow of your feelings. Another
solution you can try straight away is to consciously check in with your emotions,
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and explore whether there are any you have bottled up or repressed during
the day. If there are, feel into them, make a deliberate choice to let them flow
through you, acknowledge them, and let them go.
This is an incredibly valuable skill which most of us are never taught, and by
becoming more connected to our emotions, we can release the ones that are
stopping us from sleeping soundly.
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CHAPTER FOUR
It is true that once in a blue moon, a single, straightforward change can make
all the difference to a person’s sleep problems. For example, if they have a habit
of consuming caffeine too late in the day, then addressing this factor alone may
solve the problem. However, that hypothetical example is the exception that
proves the rule, and in the vast majority of cases, resolving insomnia isn’t as
simple as correcting a vitamin D deficiency.
The human body is a delicate ecosystem, and rarely is this more noticeable than
in the field of sleep health. We can’t just fix one small aspect of the problem and
expect everything else to fall into place, when the individual factors that affect
our ability to sleep are interconnected and interdependent.
The only ‘single’ issue common to most people’s sleep struggles is a lack
of awareness.
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“I thought I was signing up to get help with my insomnia but
I got so much more ... I feel calmer, less stressed and more in
control of my life.”
– Carmen, Canberra, Australia
In today’s society, many people are disconnected from what their body is trying
to tell them, so they don’t even consciously realise when they are stressed or
anxious, for example. When one of the factors that is damaging to a person’s
sleep is particularly pronounced – such as a racing mind – the usual response is
to focus on trying to solve this problem, without the awareness that it’s only one
part of a complex and interconnected web.
The good news is that this puzzle consists of only seven pieces.
As soon as you have them all in your grasp, the big picture will jump straight
out at you! It’s true that the theoretical concepts underpinning the solution are
rather involved and intricate once you start looking at them in depth, which is
why we’ve done the hard work for you.
The Sleep Expert System will help you resolve your sleep struggles in a way that
is simple, easy and enjoyable! I love seeing the joy and understanding on my
clients’ faces once they have that light-bulb moment about how all the pieces fit
together.
From there, all the changes support one another, allowing you to reimagine
and redesign the way you sleep.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Now that you have a better understanding of why your endeavours to reclaim
your sleep might have been disappointing in the past, why not try some of
the ideas in this book to help you take the first steps back towards the land of
dreams?
Knowing how to reinforce the seven pillars that ensure quality sleep, and helping
people achieve this goal quickly, easily and seamlessly, is what we do best. No
two people respond the same way to the techniques we use, and that’s why
we need to consider your general health, mindset and personality, and the
circumstances of your life when tailoring a program that is perfect for you.
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It doesn’t have to be a struggle! We have the experience and understanding to
support you by making this an easy, pleasant and rewarding process.
Go this this URL and reserve your session on the next available date. Please be
mindful that during this book promotion, the calendar fills up quickly. So, go
here now so you don’t have to wait 3-6 weeks for the next appointment time. If
you can’t wait another day to get a good night’s sleep, go here now:
https://secure.scheduleonce.com/TheSleepExpert
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About The Author
thesleepexpert
Re c l a i m y ou r s l e e p: t ra n s f orm y ou r l i fe
PHONE:
Within USA: +1 323 529 3002
Australia & International: +61 1300 830 640
GENERAL ENQUIRIES:
support@thesleepexpert.com
WEBSITE:
www.thesleepexpert.com
Contact us here:
http://thesleepexpert.com/contact/
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