Meditation Instead Of Sleep? Is it normal? Or healthy?

[abminara 0]

My story of meditation started last year. For the past year I have been extremely stressed out for not doing as well in competetions as I wanted, not keeping the perfect grade in all of my classes, plus my widowed mom started dating some guy. So I was running away from reality in meditation. Then everything came back to normal and I just forgot about that period. I started getting all A's again, we won the City Championships in Ultimate Frisbee and got the second place in the state, won the regionals and the states in Science bowl, my ideas and suggestions for the school worked well, and a few were even brought to reality, I started the sudent council (that's why I have an account on Trap) and it is still popular among both parents and the administration. But the day before yesterday I was kinda tired, but did not want to go to bed - I was at a sleepover party and didn't want to sleep through all the interesting part of it (we were playing Mafia, and then, later, displayed our skills on the acustic guitar) - so I remembered that I've read somewhere a while ago that 25 minutes of meditation can provide as much relaxation for the brain as 6 hours of sleep (more than I usually get). So I just separated myself, and started meditating. i do not know how much time passed, it felt like a minute or 2, but I think it was actually significantly more than that - you know - you just don't feel the time when you are meditating/asleep/unconcious - but I did not fall asleep for another 26 hours. I didn't have any coffee, or anything - I just felt that my mind is so clear - it does not need a rest. I don't know, if I am able to do it again... but if I am - is it healthy? I mean... if it is - just think about it, how many advantages do I get - twice the time an ordinary person has in life - like I could study more for college, or do my homework at nighttime and spend afternoons with my friends without worrying about coming home. What do you think? Is it worth it?Thanks

[verdant 0]

oooh, this is intresting. i've done a few simular things like this, but not to the extent of not needing to sleep for over a day. its hinted at and mentioned in various texts that meditation can do things like sleep, the two can even be blended! much like the sleeping monks in china i read about and people who do different forms of dream yoga.now as for weather this is healthy or not... i'd say if you did this all the time it would be very unhealthy for you. the human body, regaurdless of the brain needs time for rebuilding and up keep of tissues organs and muscles. espesialy if youre an active youth like it sounds. you body is going to need at least 4-6 hours regularly to rebuild its self. now, if you were to do meditation, deep meditation for 3 hours regularly it might be a bit better depending on what meditations you are doing. but still you will need if not eventualy want time to simply "turn off" and go to sleep. im really becomeing curious as to what form of meditation you are using. but all that aside i'd like to suggest, if i may, that you get a bit more proficent with you meditation so that theres not so much guess work with what you are doing and havin to wonder if what you are doing is healthy. theres a lot of meditation horror stories, i even have a couple myself. but it helps to know for sure that what you are doing is okay and healthy. to lean these things either find a teacher, or some books to study from. or, find meditations that are very clear cut. things like contemplation of zen koans, pranayama and controled breathing or vizualizations. try to stay clear of the advanced medtiations that have to do with taoist alchemy or kundalini yoga unless you have a teacher/master/guru/person.also for an active person like you i'd suggest you start drinking specific teas. with bit of research you can find teas that will help you focus, stay awake, and active. you an also find teas that help with relaxation and memory. i am persoanly very fond of Wong Lo Kat tea. it is a blend of herbs that detoxifies the blood, excretes toxic substances from the blood stream, acts as an anti-bacterial and antiseptic effects, and helps to remove toxins from environmental pollution. also will reinforce the normal cleansing process of the Kidney, Liver, & Spleen and help body to clear away toxic substances effectively. This drink also helps gets rid of pimples, blemishes, rashes and infections of the skin.i am personaly a taoist, and most books i study have recipes for teas that do very specific things for the body. if you can find it i'd suggest going to your local boarders or barns and noble book store and looking for "Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life" by Ming-dao Deng. besides being a great realistic aid for understanding the taoist lifestyle, the book lists various recipes for teas and foods that can help you in various ways. it also outline a few different meditations.

[abminara 0]

oooh, this is intresting. i've done a few simular things like this, but not to the extent of not needing to sleep for over a day. its hinted at and mentioned in various texts that meditation can do things like sleep, the two can even be blended! much like the sleeping monks in china i read about and people who do different forms of dream yoga.
now as for weather this is healthy or not... i'd say if you did this all the time it would be very unhealthy for you. the human body, regaurdless of the brain needs time for rebuilding and up keep of tissues organs and muscles. espesialy if youre an active youth like it sounds. you body is going to need at least 4-6 hours regularly to rebuild its self. now, if you were to do meditation, deep meditation for 3 hours regularly it might be a bit better depending on what meditations you are doing. but still you will need if not eventualy want time to simply "turn off" and go to sleep.

im really becomeing curious as to what form of meditation you are using. but all that aside i'd like to suggest, if i may, that you get a bit more proficent with you meditation so that theres not so much guess work with what you are doing and havin to wonder if what you are doing is healthy. theres a lot of meditation horror stories, i even have a couple myself. but it helps to know for sure that what you are doing is okay and healthy. to lean these things either find a teacher, or some books to study from. or, find meditations that are very clear cut. things like contemplation of zen koans, pranayama and controled breathing or vizualizations. try to stay clear of the advanced medtiations that have to do with taoist alchemy or kundalini yoga unless you have a teacher/master/guru/person.

also for an active person like you i'd suggest you start drinking specific teas. with bit of research you can find teas that will help you focus, stay awake, and active. you an also find teas that help with relaxation and memory. i am persoanly very fond of Wong Lo Kat tea. it is a blend of herbs that detoxifies the blood, excretes toxic substances from the blood stream, acts as an anti-bacterial and antiseptic effects, and helps to remove toxins from environmental pollution. also will reinforce the normal cleansing process of the Kidney, Liver, & Spleen and help body to clear away toxic substances effectively. This drink also helps gets rid of pimples, blemishes, rashes and infections of the skin.

i am personaly a taoist, and most books i study have recipes for teas that do very specific things for the body. if you can find it i'd suggest going to your local boarders or barns and noble book store and looking for "Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life" by Ming-dao Deng. besides being a great realistic aid for understanding the taoist lifestyle, the book lists various recipes for teas and foods that can help you in various ways. it also outline a few different meditations.

Wow. Thanks. I didn't even imagine the process may be as complicated and in-depth. I didn't even know there were different types of meditation ) All I do is lie straight on a hard surface (usually floor), control my breathing to about one deep breath every 4-7 seconds, relax every part of my body one after another, and "erase" the thoughts in my brain. All but one that I need to concentrate on. If it is relieving headache - then it's that, if it is lowering heartrate after running - it's that. If I need to relax (aka sleep) - I just do not think about anything at first, and in the end concentrate on exciting my brain before coming back to work (sometimes if I cannot concentrate well/other issues arise I may lie at 10 degrees feet up to increase blood circulation in the area close to the brain while not putting too much pressure there.)

[OpaQue 15]

There was a time when I used to meditate about 2 hours easily becoming a part of a universe. The feeling is something like, your body is left alone with its eco-system and you (your conscience) is getting free and released by every minute from the schedules, worries and tensions of day to day life.There are types of meditation but in the end, the most perfect student is the one who can listen to his guru (or his inner voice) and follow the body. Meditation is nothing but keeping your mind fixed. You cannot say "Concentration". Meditation is more of "Surrender". A Person in deep meditation "surrenders" himself to the universe. He accepts everything in his mind and feels the silence and calmness within himself. This is the art.As you go deep into meditation, you realize there are different gates within your body. We all agree that practice makes a man perfect and the body has its own way of training itself. So the more you meditate deeper and deeper, the more your conscience spreads from inside and unlocks different levels of mental alertness from within. Your thinking changes from "you" to "us". Because, you act more by the nature and less from yourself doing selfless actions.To you Abminara, I suggest that you meditate before early morning sunrise for 30 min. and if in the evening, before sunset. Meditation can however been done at any time of the day. But, if one understands how much our bodies are made according to the natures timetable, we can follow the time suggested by great saints who were masters of meditation and yoga.Yoga is a science which helps your body and mind(the physical part) to optimize its journey towards the inner self. So, with good yoga practice, you get your body ready for pranayam. With the science of Pranayam (the art of breathing), you welcome more oxygen into your system and also push it to remote nerve cells thereby energizing every cell of your body and feeling life to its fullest extent. The science of Pranayam is like fire. Its a blessing if used correctly under the good guidance of a guru. Or with ones own discipline, one can follow the spiritual path and step ahead with your journey into meditation.

[kapuk99 0]

Meditation is hard; you have to be able to concentrate on your thoughts, or nothing at all. It is said that if you practice looking at the heart of a flame and focusing on something you love, including someone, nonstop for about an hour, for about 20 years, you will be able to see with any part of your body.

[Starluv 0]

Meditation is hard; you have to be able to concentrate on your thoughts, or nothing at all. It is said that if you practice looking at the heart of a flame and focusing on something you love, including someone, nonstop for about an hour, for about 20 years, you will be able to see with any part of your body.

Human nature has the tendency of following the least resistance path. When we are just born we are completely dependent upon
our parents. But as we grow we keep learning & start becoming independent. Things which are impossible for new born to do, now look too simple. Because we have learned & they have become our habit by repeating them again & again. Similarly meditation is hard (for beginner it may appear to be boring) when we start to concentrate & try to relax. But as we practice it consistenly for few days at the same place & at the same hour of the day. It statrs becoming spontaneous & soothing. You feel heavenly & relaxed. We can do it for 10 minutes daily increasing gradualy to 45-60 minutes. With practice we get control on our physical as well as mental health. Everything looks so beautiful.

[heavensounds 0]

Well if you manage to connect with your inner self or the divine nature within you while you are meditating, you are actually doing the same thing as real sleep. Just think about it! When you sleep, most of the time you dream and that certainly ain't resting! The part of sleep where you really refresh or restart is in a matter of minutes and this is called the deep sleep - but what happens then? Old scriptures say that you merge with your inner self for just a few seconds and you get enough energy to live through the day...Imagine the state of being one with divine nature and your true self, which is nothing else but my and his and hers true self????The state is called nirvana..

[masrawy 0]

Balance in life is the best solution to all out problems...balance between material and spirit...between work and sleep...

[sonesay 7]

I have to agree with the above you need a good balance between everything, work, play, exercise. I just woke up from 5 hours of sleep and I feel like *BLEEP*. but I have class in a few hours. I been up working all night on some java programming. Its paying off and I'm learning new things all the time except sometimes I think I'm over doing it. As soon as I get into town the tiredness will kick in and I'll be sleepy during classes . I'm pretty sure everyone needs at least 8 hours of sleep each day.I've never mediated before but I'm sure you need physical rest no matter what. tricking your body that its rested is not right.

Edited March 10, 2008 by sonesay (see edit history)

[haberjj01 0]

Thats kinda cool. I'm really interested in meditation but haven't yet given a real effort towards doing it. As for meditation instead of sleep, I'm not sure if that would work. After a few days of doing that you would probably just fall asleep while meditating. But I do have a solution for you. It's called polyphasic sleeping. Basically, polyphasic sleeping involves sleeping for 15-25 minutes every 4 hours. By sleeping this way you would only sleep 2-3hours total per day and have an incredible amount of time to do whatever you want. The reason that this works is because it trains your body to fall into R.E.M sleep immediately. R.E.M sleep is were your body rejuvenates during sleep. You would typically enter this phase about every 90minutes. Sleeping this way is not easy though. You CANNOT MISS NAPS, AND YOU CANNOT OVERSLEEP! Expect to feel like crap for about 14 days before your body fully acclimates to this sleep cycle. I will post a more detailed topic of this in the life experiences section.

Edited March 10, 2008 by haberjj01 (see edit history)

[AuronX 0]

Meditation and yoga (yes, they are seperate), have great beneficial effects on the body and mind, but in no way are they an alternative to sleep. As mentioned above, the body needs time to prepare itself for another day of working and living the life we have put ourselves into. Both meditation and yoga teaches the mind to stay focused, which in turn, allows us to take an outside perspective on everything in our life, and see a much brighter light than others. That's the basic form of meditation. It can later be taken to great lengths in becoming one with the Divine, and opening up, and clearing blocked chakras, the major energy centres of our body. But even with that, nothing comes close to the benefits of having a full rest. Full usually being 8 hours, as dictated by science.Meditation does help make us feel more awake afterwards (considering you have grounded properly), but only for a short time.All in all, meditation and yoga is best used in balance and conjunction with proper sleep. And I wouldn't recommend doing anything other than that, for your body's sake.

[.:Piper_2051:. 0]

Meditation can be quite refreshing in my opinion, it can help you recover lost sleep, however can never be considered as a substitute. Buddha came to find during, his self exile, that deprevation was not the answer. One must Eat, Sleep and Exercise properly to be truly happy and enlightened.

[moutonoir 0]

Have you read any of Wayne Dyer's work? He has written some interesting things about meditation, and he supports what you are saying about how you can medidate for 15 min and feel as if you just woke up from a nice 8 hour sleep. While I think that it is definitely possible to feel rested and calm after meditation, especially if you really are able to get into it, I think that it should be considered a temporary solution to a lack of sleep rather than a permanent practice. Biologically, sleep serves many different functions, such as repairing tissues and storing facts to memory. By neglecting to sleep, you may not be allowing your body to do what it needs to to keep you healthy. You may feel okay, even great, for a little while, but after awhile it will probably catch up.Bottom line is, meditation is great stress relief and definitely good for you, but I dont' think it's good to get carried away and have it replace sleep on a regular basis. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't all make it a part of our daily lives

[ultimate_vikrant 0]

Well the main difference between meditation and sleeping is that meditation is a state of super consciousness while sleeping is a state of sub consciousness.

But you may say that we get refreshed after a long deep sleep and like wise after meditation. (Here what i mean by getting refreshed is increase in the degree of alertness and increase in the performance of our intellect) . This is because our body the greatest machine ever gets itself repaired and reset as we aren't giving any work to it or forcing it . But the main difference between sleeping and meditation is we spiritually travel towards a blissful state of ultimate or GOD consciousness as stated in Pathanjali's Yoga Sutra the source book of the science of Yoga and Meditation. This is the ultimate state of bliss or being the GOD. But on contrary sleeping is something like shutting yourself in a sound proof room in order to escape from the noise of the outside world. Well , if i have been too much complex or if it seems that i have blabbered something please do forgive me and please send your feeds to d_sriram@msn.com with the 'subject' of the e-mail as 'yoga'.

[iGuest 3]

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