Meditation and Sleep
Let’s rewind a bit here before we go on further.
By now, we know we can’t expect good meditation unless we can sit immobile for an appreciable length of time. The minimum target time to sit ‘like a stone’ seems to be around 1 hour. I couldn’t find a lower figure anywhere. And an optimistic time estimate to get to this goal is 1 year. The progress varies from person to person and patient and persistent effort is the key.
Since we need to master holding the Asana, let’s use the time to work on the other aspects. Yoga is a lifestyle, and a wayward lifestyle can’t go hand-in-hand with a disciplined mind.
Sleep is treated like an unwanted burden in modern-day society. Unless you are ‘burning the midnight oil’, you are not getting anywhere in your career. There is too much to do and too few hours in a day to accomplish that. But if you wish to preserve your health, sleep. Sleep for adequate hours. Make your choice. And make peace with your choice. I am going to sound very high and mighty, but if you plan to binge-watch the latest Netflix series till 2 am and can’t give up the urge to send a few Whatsapp messages before drifting off to sleep with the mobile phone next to your face, chances are you won’t get far ahead in meditation. In fact, I can almost assure you that you will end up with a plethora of problems ranging from hormonal imbalance to cardiac blockages. How do I know? Because I have been there, done that. Maybe a tired body can be pushed a little more. But a sleepy mind is never in a mood to serve anyone. One of my friends in college signed up for an expensive two-hour meditation program starting at 7 pm, after attending a whole day of classes. When I enquired the next day, all he remembered was the first 15 minutes before drifting off to sleep. Ah! His lamentation on losing the money and the experience he had hoped for. The rest of the class had to pacify him by highlighting he at least got the much-needed rest during the session. That might sound lucrative to insomniacs, but putting the mind out of service is not what we intended while designing a training program for it. Deep relaxation in meditation is accompanied by awareness. One can either doze off completely or can drift in and out of sleep. The micro-sleep happens a lot to me when I force myself to wake up and meditate without completing my required sleep quota. I realize I have been sleeping only when my spine goes off-balance and the free-falling head jerks me awake. The requirement of sleep goes down AFTER meditation, not before it, and certainly not by planning to meditate the next morning. Ask anyone who has tried meditating with a tired body and exhausted mind. The result is always the same. You just can’t meditate when you are sleepy. If you wish to meditate, prioritize sleep. Do you think you are sleep-deprived? (If you regularly sleep more on weekends, then you are.) What activities can you cut down on to make time for adequate sleep? Share your ideas with all your fellow readers.
Meditation for Beginners. Build concentration. Build resilience. Practice yoga. Start your spiritual journey today.
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