When Ed was living in India at a yoga ashram, he met an Indian man who said he had never ever slept in his whole life. One day, during a meditation session, Ed recorded the man snoring. It sounded like an elephant stampede. Ed played it back to him and the man never complained again.
Invariably, while leading a meditation class, we will see people nodding off to sleep. Which is one of the reasons why Zen teachers have a tendency to whack their students with a thin bamboo stick -- it doesn't hurt but it certainly wakes them up! We ourselves are just as likely to nod off if we are meditating in the evening and Deb remembers sleeping through many of her early meditation experiences. A lot of people think that this means they cannot meditate, but it doesn't -- it just means they need to rest!
Nor does this mean that the purpose of meditation is to put us to sleep -- the purpose is actually the exact opposite -- but it has made us realize just how helpful meditation can be to induce a state of sleepiness when needed.
Why? Because when we sit still and watch the natural in and out flow of the breath we begin to balance the chemicals and hormones in the brain, which calms the stress response and induces the relaxation response. We are also creating the space in which to complete and release any issues from the day, on-going difficulties, or causes of unrest and stress.
It is not that you will necessarily fall asleep while meditating, rather that you will find it easier to get to sleep and will rest more easily through the night when you do go to bed. Such easier sleep does not necessarily happen the first day you begin to practice. For some they notice the difference after a week of regular meditation, for others it may take two to six months.
And we don't have to do a formal practice. Meditation takes many forms. One of Deb's teachers told her that there are as many forms of meditation as there are people who practice it. However, generally speaking, watching the flow of our breath is probably the most conducive to calming the mind.
Normally, throughout the day, our attention is completely externalized, being pulled from one event or distraction to another, absorbed in the computer, twittering or texting, running errands, watching TV, etc. At the end of the day, when we want to rest, the mind is so over-stimulated that it can be hard to stop and just sleep.
Most of us think of relaxation as putting our feet up, having a beer, watching a good movie, walking the dog, or perhaps joining a fitness club. Certainly these activities help, but too often they only deal with the more superficial, immediate aspects of stress. They make us feel better for a while, until the next deadline or traffic jam begins to push us over the edge again. To make more lasting changes, we need to loosen and release unconscious levels of stress from where accumulated tension and resistance affect both our behavior and our health.
As Yoga teacher and HuffPo blogger Cyndi Lee says: "I would have these adrenaline rushes as if I were nervous about something -- kind of a little low-grade anxiety -- and then I would immediately start to get anxious. It would get all blown up in my mind. By meditating with it, I learned to recognize that I was not anxious, I did not need to go into drama queen mental mode, I could just let this be, let it rise, and let it pass."
Meditation internalizes our attention and brings the mind inward. Watching the flow of the breath also gives the mind something very calm and rhythmical to do, so that it begins to let go of the external stimulus and become quieter. If help is needed, then we have a CD available from our website www.edanddebshapiro.com.
Do you have a sleep story to share? Did you ever fall asleep during meditation? Do comment below. You can receive notice of our blogs every Tuesday by checking Become a Fan at the top.
You can order a copy of our latest book at: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World.
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Ed and Deb Shapiro's new book, BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors such as Marianne Williamson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Beckwith, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jane Fonda, Jack Kornfield, Byron Katie, Dean Ornish, and others is published by Sterling Ethos. Deb is the author of the award-winning book YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND. Ed and Deb are the authors of over 15 books, and lead meditation retreats and workshops. Enjoy their 3 meditation CD's: Metta - Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi - Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra - Inner Conscious Relaxation, available on their website: www.EdandDebShapiro.com
Follow Ed and Deb Shapiro on Twitter: www.twitter.com/edanddebshapiro
as usual a wonderful blog. so good
that it put me to sleep.
Love, zzzzzz
You must be needing rest
as a film producer you must know the importnce of sound sleep
your latest film project will knock em dead
Ed
Just doing it is helpful
meditation is like a beautiful flower
You water a plant... put it in the sun and the flower bloom on it's own
do your best and leave the rest
Ed
You may want to use our relaxation CD before you bed it may help with being always tired.
As meditation is best when you are at ease
If you would like help with it do let us know
Big Love,
Ed
I don't know who said this but I think it sums it up: "Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing."
Sure something to meditate over - like a Zen Koan
I do love it
already it is playing in my mind as there is so much there and so few words.
Enjoy the journey,
Ed
It's really been interesting to be focusing on "sleep" lately...especially my sleep! I often have trouble falling asleep...One of the things that helps me the most is actually focusing on my breath with an exercise I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh in which he describes the in-breath as calming, and just like drinking cool water on a hot day...feeling how the breath cools the inner organs of the body. For some reason that image does it for me... I begin to feel a soothing calmness that helps me go into sleep.
Thanks a million for your great inspiring blog!
Love,
AndiG
Viet Namese monk Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.
He contributed to our book THE WAY AHEAD.
His meditations are brilliant
I love his - Telephone Mediation!
Cheers,
Ed
I love this post! There are times when I "lose" consciousness in my meditation, but still benefit from it anyway. Once I leave this realm, who knows what goes on.
A theme I work with is awakening. There are many facets of the Awakening Diamond that I appreciate. I never had anyone wake me up with a bamboo stick. That would be a bit different.
This morning, I woke up "too early", but was definitely awake. So I did some very focussed and conscious meditation. Even though I might not have slept so much, I felt very connected today.
The blessings! Thank you for your humour and joy!
With love,
Anne
Meditation is such a blessing! A secret gift that when revealed will make you smile even jump for joy!
May all people meditate- it is worth every moment
and let's do our best for others - keep on giving!
Ed
This issue of calming the mind and body without falling asleep seems paradoxical at first. We're so used to being entertained, that meditation seems boring and we have a hard time keeping our attention on a "blank screen". To me, the first step is to move away from expecting something "interesting" to happen and to settle into a "cat purring" state of relaxed awareness, poised midway between wakefulness and sleep. This has been shown on EEG machines to produce the alpha and theta brainwaves associated not only with relaxation but also insight.
Edison claimed that many of his best ideas came to him while he sat relaxed in a chair, holding a ball above a pie tin. As he got drowsy, his hand would relax, the ball would fall on the tin, pulling him nearly instantly out of the "in-between" state. This dipping down into the well of inspiration thus has profound potential for problem-solving. Another giant among inventors, Tesla, claimed that all his greatest inventions, down to the schematics, came to him while dreaming.
It seems that we begin by observing our own mind and that somehow leads us to observing the one mind that is not immediately perceptible when the awake mind is going full-throttle. Meditation is our individual opportunity to experience this fountain of well-being and creativity for ourselves.
Thanks for bringing meditation out into the light!
William
you comment is enlightening -
I hope viewers read it!
I like what you say here
"Meditation is our individual opportunity to experience this fountain of well-being and creativity for ourselves."
Meditation is the greatest gift you can ever give yourself as it reveals the mystery!
Ed
I find it very surprising that the truth can be simultaneously so simple and still so much subject to wars in the trenches.
This release of issues from the day is also a major part in Freud's dreamwork. Which is another tradition or theory that gave rise to lots of wars of interpretation and justification - while it is ultimately among the most basic truths of common sense. Which fails to be available only to those who are ... guess what? ... too entrenched in their daily business.
Hah!
Very interesting comment
I do recommend viewers read this
BE THE CHANGE - MEDITATE
Ed
Thank you for allowing students to let their natures take a natural course of drifting off as they practice meditation. I find that if I have triggers to return, ... the end of a recording, or a gentle timer, ... that it allows me to meditate in whatever form I need at the moment.
It is my HuffPost Pick!
This is very helpful!
"When I was caring for patients on ventilators as a respiratory therapist, ... I would have patients visualize lying on their back in snow (the work of breathing under duress creates tremendous heat in the body) particularly if they were extremely frightened or anxious. Eyes closed, ... once they detached from the thought they had to "drive" their own breathing, ... their breathing found them instead. When they could observe that breathing required no thought, and had a cadence of its own, ... they would often experience a release of anxiety, and drift asleep as you describe. Often, they would awaken later, better able to manage their thoughts about breathing. While there are medications that achieve the dissociation, ... there are none that allow the patient to experience trust in their own breath in quite the same way, without dissolving that lesson into amnesia.:
Treasure yourself,
Ed
can't be sure if the Awaken-One was caught napping
but from what I do know
He had a headache
Treasure yourself,
Ed
Oh wait! That was a different awakened one and a different tree. And a different millenium.
And Newton wasn't even right about his theory of gravitation. Maybe he should have taken a nap to clear his mind.
I love that 'inbetween' place of sleeping and waking and when meditating, I savor those moments of being just rested enough not to fight the desire to nap, to slip into the place of seeing images, colors and insights I could simply not reach during the normal course of my day.
I have plenty of "bamboo sticks" in my life these days that can keep me from even getting started- let alone a deep slumber!
Love
kari
wasn't god having fun when she created a mango? The pit is bigger than the fruit.
I recommend viewers read your comment. It is worth savoring
BE THE CHANGE - MEDITATE
Ed
Glad someone else enjoys the "inbetween" time. It's a gift to us.
Are those memories vivid? What were those “experiences†like? Sleeping?
“It is not that you will necessarily fall asleep while meditatingâ€
Wanna bet?
Enjoy the snooze,
Deb
Loving you.
Janny
Yes I agree:
"holding onto that moment between wake and sleep and then noticing the moment between sleep and wake! The in between moments are delicious!'
and then I love entering into the day with a smile and as a friend
Keep spreading love,
Ed
Your sense of humor is intoxicating
having you as our homeopath is a delight
In Joy,
Ed
Dear Deb and Ed:
As you know, I'm a firm believer in the power of sound to shift and change our consciousness. I know you both are as well. Whether it's chanting of a mantra or listening to soothing music, the ability of certain sounds to assist us in achieving powerful states of meditation cannot be overstated. External sounds that we hear have the ability to affect our heart rate, respiration and brain waves. Depending upon what these sounds are, they can either stimulate us (sometimes inducing the release of adrenaline, such as when we hear a loud sound such as the siren of a fire engine) or they can calm us (such as very slow pulsed ambient music).
Just a note for your readers that my wife Andi & I utilize recordings all the time--not only for meditation, but as we prepare to go to sleep. Soothing sounds really seem to help release our thoughts from the busy activies of the day.Our recent favorite (the one we've been using for quite a while now) is "WAVES OF LIGHT", something I created several years ago. It's extremely relaxing ambient music featuring the otherworldy tones of the "Holy Harnony Tuning Forks" that embrace you with a soothingly spacious ambient sonic environment of deep peace and tranquility. If anyone is interested, they can find that and many other Healing Sounds recordings at: www.healingsounds.com
Many Thanks & Blessings!
Jonathan
Your sound has enhanced many lives:
Just a note for your readers that my wife Andi & I utilize recordings all the time--not only for meditation, but as we prepare to go to sleep.
www.healingsounds.com
Sound is life,
Ed
A little background, ... I once ran a real estate sales office of 35 people, and grew frustrated when they would drift asleep in my "inspiring" sales meetings. In the end I came to know that my voice was a bit like the viola, or cello, ... or oboe. It was not meant to waken the audience or the world to go out and sell, ... or kill. It was given to me to put the world to sleep.
Once I finally understood the music I was give to share, I used my voice as the music you describe, ... and tuck them in, and leave the room on stocking feet to let them rest, ... even my boss over the internet!