Finding Rest in a Restless World with Sleep Queen Monica Le Baron
Finding Rest in a Restless World with Sleep Queen Monica Le Baron
Sleep expert Monica Le Baron reveals how prioritizing rest transformed her from a burned-out corporate climber to a woman deeply in love with her own life—and why your relationship with sleep might be the key to everything.
Monica Le Baron thought she was living the dream when she moved to Beijing in her late twenties. International embassy work, Mandarin studies, a master's degree—she was checking every box society told her mattered.
She was also slowly falling apart.
"I was that person who was a people pleaser, trying to take care of everybody else," Monica reflects. "I was never on top of the list." The combination of cultural adjustment, language barriers, and relentless productivity created a perfect storm her body couldn't ignore.
What started as jet lag became chronic insomnia. What felt like extended PMS revealed itself as something much deeper. Monica found herself unable to sleep, profoundly sad, and completely disconnected from herself.
Sound familiar?
The moment everything shifted
After psychiatric treatment yielded limited results, Monica discovered yoga therapy. The change was immediate and undeniable.
"On my third session, I was like, wow, I feel so good," she remembers. "I had this flashback of when I was a little girl thinking, yes, one day I want to be a yoga teacher."
But here's what makes Monica's story so powerful—her path wasn't linear. She didn't quit everything and become a yoga teacher overnight. Instead, she started incorporating the tools that were healing her into the work she was already doing.
The breakthrough came when she realized everyone around her was struggling with the same thing: sleep.
"I really wanted to help people with depression, but if you tell somebody, 'if you're depressed, come to me,' they're like, nah, that's not going to happen. But sleep? Everyone can relate to sleep struggles."
Monica had found her calling hiding in plain sight.
Rewriting the rules on rest
Here's where Monica's approach gets revolutionary. In a culture that worships productivity, she's reframing rest as the ultimate power move.
"Society told us that we had to take care of everybody else and we forgot about ourselves," she observes. "Moving from being the last in the line to the first—it's not easy."
The transformation happened when Monica stopped seeing her early bedtime as a limitation and started seeing it as radical self-love.
"When I started changing this mindset from feeling like a martyr to 'I'm the most important person in my life and I love myself'—Madeline, I've been like a little girl in love."
This isn't feel-good fluff. This is strategic. When you're well-rested, you're more creative, focused, and resilient. You make better decisions. You show up differently in relationships. You literally transform your life from the inside out.
The science behind Sleep Simplified
Monica's four-step framework cuts through the noise with science-backed simplicity. It starts with something most people are doing wrong: breathing.
"There's a lot of people who are reverse breathers," Monica explains. "They're taking that deep breath that everybody's suggesting, but they're doing it backwards, putting their system into fight or flight mode."
Next comes completing stress cycles—a concept most people have never heard of but desperately need.
"Getting rid of the stressor isn't enough. You need to finish that cycle in your body. Back when we had to hunt for our food, we would release all those hormones. But now we just take a pill or binge-watch Netflix and forget about the problem."
The beauty of Monica's method? She doesn't ask you to overhaul your entire life. She works with your existing routines, simply "plugging in" healthier practices where they make sense.
It's accessible. It's sustainable. It works.
The cultural revolution hiding in plain sight
Something profound is happening in wellness culture, and Monica is witnessing it firsthand.
"Five years ago when I started, people were picking on me because I would go to bed too early," she recalls. "Now I see it more as a community. COVID made us realize that our mental health is so important."
From "hot girl walks" during the pandemic to young women choosing Pilates over partying, there's a growing recognition that self-care isn't selfish—it's smart.
We're watching a generation of women reject the hustle culture that nearly broke the ones who came before them. They're choosing rest. They're choosing themselves.
And they're inspiring others to do the same.
What transformation actually looks like
Monica's personal transformation reveals what becomes possible when you prioritize rest.
"I stopped being that person who is rushing all the time. I trust myself more," she shares. "I'm the essence of me, like a young me, but with the maturity and emotional intelligence."
She's learned to live in the present rather than feeling "anxious about the future or depressed about past choices."
Most importantly? "Now I don't think anything is impossible for me anymore."
This is what happens when you stop apologizing for taking care of yourself and start owning it as your superpower.
Your permission slip to rest
Monica's story isn't just inspiring—it's an invitation. In a world demanding more, faster, better, she's offering something radical: permission to slow down.
"I hope people are giving themselves permission to love themselves more, get better sleep, and just enjoy their life," she reflects.
The revolution starts with a single breath. A commitment to rest. The radical act of putting yourself first. Your body has been asking for this. Your mind has been craving it. Your future self is depending on it.
Monica is offering Finding Fearless listeners an exclusive gift: purchase her book "Sleep Simplified" and send her a DM on Instagram or email at sleep@monicalebaron.com to receive a complimentary 30-minute session where she'll share the top three tools to transform your sleep that very night.
Connect with Monica:
Instagram: @MonicaLeBaron
Website: MonicaLeBaron.com
Email: sleep@monicalebaron.com
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