Sleep, Meditation and Spirituality

There are different types of ‘sleepers’. But the most distinguished ones are the ‘light sleepers’ and ‘heavy sleepers’. Who are the lucky ones?

I personally know couple of people who can sleep at anytime they want. If they want, they can spend the whole day and night sleeping, except for waking up for eating and answering natures call (saw this happening during weekends). I know one person who can fall asleep within 10-15 seconds, if tired.

By saying someone as a heavy sleeper, I also include those who go to a very deep sleep and can sleep for about 10 hours in one go without waking up in the middle. Some people don’t have any issue going to sleep even if the room is lit or people are moving around in that room or even talking. I have seen people falling asleep while watching TV or reading (am not talking about watching/reading some boring stuff). Some can fall asleep while texting on the mobile!. Worst, some people can sleep even while standing (in a train etc)!!!

I being a light and troubled sleeper, many a times I thought the heavy sleepers are the lucky ones. Did God show a partiality by creating light sleepers and heavy sleepers? Are the heavy sleepers the blessed ones and the light sleepers ‘less blessed’ ones or unlucky ones?

The practical aspect of spirituality can never be understood without meditation. Yep, even a person with mediocre brains can understand the theoretical aspects by listening to some talk or by reading relevant books. But to personally experience it, one has to undergo through some process where meditation plays the biggest role.

What is the feel we get after meditating for two hours? We need to meditate to get the feel. And to meditate for two hours, one needs to practice meditation for months or even years. It is like me telling about Gulab Jamoon . Indians and those who already tasted it will understand how sweet it is. For others, I can just tell how it is made, looks like or how sweet it is. But those wonts help. If one want to know how it tastes, one need to taste it. Meditation is a must tool for spiritual growth and this tool can be used for other purpose also; like a hammer can be used to powder/crush something, flatten something, hammering a nail or even kill a person ! But what I am talking about this time is the meditation used for the purpose of spiritual growth.

How can the heavy sleepers manage meditation? I observed and talked to some of the heavy sleepers I know. They fall asleep as soon as they start meditating. They can not meditate easily. And for some, it’s almost impossible to meditate even for 5 minutes without falling asleep.

Is it normal to fall asleep during meditation? During the very early days/stage of practicing meditation, many beginners’ falls asleep, that’s normal. This is coz of experiencing deeper relaxation for the first time. I had witnessed even a ‘snoring competition’!

Is there anything wrong in falling asleep while meditating? If we ask this question, we get a mixed response. Those who can meditate well might say “YES” and those who tried and fell asleep might say “NO”. And some might say “It depends”. Yes, it depends…

There are situations where meditation is used to manage sleep related issues (meditation is not sitting alone and daydreaming or keeping silence). That is, here, what the practitioner is trying to achieve is better sleep and that is the only aim. In such cases, falling asleep while meditation is good since it can offer a more relaxed sleep and one can wake up more refreshed (troubled sleepers usually do not wake up fully refreshed). Even heavy sleepers can use meditation to improve the quality of sleep.

What if the person is after spirituality? Well well well…

Those who fall asleep during meditation (almost all the time) can not progress in spirituality. Here I am considering only the practical aspect of it, the ‘getting the feel of it’ aspect. One interesting thing I observed is that heavy sleepers are hardly/rarely spiritual ( though we can find many religions ones, including ‘I will die for MY faith’ types, among heavy sleepers).

(Here, we need to make a note that being spiritual and being religious is different. Religions always can be used as the stepping stone for spirituality but one need to grow further if ones path is spirituality. Just reading scriptures or chanting/shouting (!) God’s name or praising the God won’t help. It’s an evolution. One need to evolve through many stages, one need to evolve through experiences. This process is common for people from all faiths and it’s beyond religion).

Staying awake during meditation is very important for a person who is in the spiritual path. If we fall asleep during meditation, we can not fully make use of the benefits of it. The level of awareness (brainwave frequencies) in the conscious, sub-conscious, meta-conscious and super-conscious mind is different during sleep, meditation and hypnosis.

If a person falls asleep during meditation, that will lead to dreams and many people misunderstand it as visions. I am not talking about those who are using meditation get better sleep. Once they fall asleep, a dream is dream for them. But for the hardcore religious ones, these dreams can be confusing. Sometimes the dream can be the result of a deepest desire a person has and it could be mistaken for God’s will !! Same is applicable for the voices heard during the dream. It could get misinterpreted as God’s voice !!

So?

So, it all depends on the path. If one is after spirituality, being a light sleeper is lucky; it’s a blessing. In the material world, a heavy sleeper enjoys the 'blessings'.