Sleep Interruption & A Good Night's Rest

Sleep interruption on the meditative path is actually.

I would say not uncommon.

Particularly at retreats, but it can also sort of spread into daily life.

We can look up on the meditative path as.

A journey from the surface of consciousness to the source of consciousness. Another way, we can. Look up on it is that we are sort of pouring concentration clarity and equanimity from the surface down into the depths actually those 2 metaphors refer to exactly the same thing.

If we take the second metaphor that here we are on the surface and we're sort of shining the flashlight of mindfulness on the surface of consciousness and some photons are trickling down into the depths.

Giving the depths what they need to rewire themselves.

If we take that metaphor, then it's not surprising that.

There should be some interruption in some impact on sleep, sometimes as the result of meditating a person may find that they sleep deeper an better than they ever dreamed possible.

Other times, there could be exactly the opposite effect. There's consciousness inside the sleep. You don't really you may have difficulty falling asleep or there's still awareness going on during the sleep and so forth.

I should say that the long term effects will be to sleep.

Uh both deep and consciously so if in the short term, you find that you're not sleeping deeply because some consciousness is coming in there, then there's no need to freak out there's a very senior vipasana master named SN gohan cop.

Who teaches in the Uber kin Lenny edge of Burmese be personal?

He gives some very good advice to students about what to do, if you have any disturbance in your sleep patterns.

He says do 2 things 1st.

Continue to lie down with the body very still so that the body physically gets rest. In other words, don't flail around don't get up actually don't even get up and sit and meditate make sure the body gets well rested by being lying down and still that's

Guideline number one guideline #2 Make sure that consciousness gets rested by maintaining a continuous meditation technique.

So those are the guidelines. I give to People if they get disturbances in their sleep, due to the practice as I say it's not inevitably. The case that you're going to get disturbances like that. Meditative practice may make you sleep deeper than you ever dreamed possible. But on occasion. It could have the opposite effect in fact.

The guidelines of keep the body still in relaxed and keep consciousness engaged in a meditation technique. I apply not just to the effects of meditation in disturbing sleep, but it's my general guideline for anybody. That's having insomnia or difficulty sleeping for whatever the reason maybe including emotional turmoil or physical pain or just some sort of sleep disorder.

I say

Part of the negative cycle that People get into is the.

Have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep and then they're freaking out because well if I don't get a good nights sleep. I'm going to have a crummy day and then worry over that further agitates and prevents them from getting sleep. So how to break that vicious cycle is a cognitive re framing instead of the notion. I've got to get a good nights sleep you.

Entertain the notion I've got to get a good nights rest, which may or may not involve actually losing consciousness. It's possible to get a good nights rest without losing consciousness at all, and in fact, in very experienced meditators. That's indeed what happens, I had one Taiwanese master that I lived with for about a year in southern Taiwan in the city of Tainan.

And he attempted never to lose consciousness at night, he would would sit for 4 hours.

From 8:00 to 12:00.

And then he would lie down for 4 hours from 12:00 to 4:00. During that period when he would lie down. He would maintain am udra like this, which would be a biofeedback device. If he lost consciousness. It would collapse and wake him up and he attempted every single night to spend the entire night conscious, but deeply deeply resting and I've trained people with chronic pain and whatever who can't get to sleep.

Really ever very well, I trained them to get depressed keep the body still keep a technique going so if the disturbance in sleep happens for any reason, either because these photons are trickling down, causing the unconscious to rewire itself and so it you have weird dreams or difficulty sleeping or just.

Whatever the cause, maybe that's disturbing the sleep in terms of dreams or not or not falling asleep So what you do is you simply keep the body still and keep your technique going and as the result of that you will train yourself to get deep rest good rest and in very experienced meditators.

Yes, it is true the difference between waking and sleeping sort of goes away In other words, like the Christian Mystics used to stay in the Middle Ages. Eggo Dormio set core Mayan Viggle. It I sleep. But my heart wake. Auth you have the depth of sleep, but there's consciousness there.

And that is very fulfilling state of consciousness to put it mildly.