Transforming the Character Of Sleep

Giving the body the rest and recuperative time it needs, the spiritual aspirant still has to deal with the effects of what is normally a descent into a more tamasic status that can have its impacts on the waking consciousness. If we wake up tired, groggy or cloudy, we have not only not fully recharged the body, but we have put a drag on our waking consciousness. How many people need to resort to coffee or tea first thing in the morning so that the caffeine helps to offset the dullness or grogginess? How many people report strange and disorienting dreams that may incorporate various reactions such as fear, desire, sexual pressure, or other elements that represent the otherwise suppressed energies of the lower vital nature? These things can be modified and uplifted.

It is a well-known phenomenon that an individual can go to sleep with something unresolved on his mind and then wake up with the solution he was seeking. This shows that the consciousness is at work subliminally during sleep and that it can provide positive, not just negative experiences and results.

We know that oftentimes spiritual aspirants report uplifting dreams and experiences in sleep. Sometimes they are visited by a spiritual teacher who imparts various teachings during sleep. Other times they have the experience of flying up into some heavenly realm where they learn about and see things normally restricted from their waking minds. Sometimes they find themselves in a location that has a special healing and uplifting atmosphere during sleep. These experiences provide the encouragement that sleep can undergo changes that can aid the sadhana, rather than obstruct or hinder it in some way.

The question then comes down to methodology. There are many known methods for improving the quality of sleep. First, the waking mind must be set at rest and not be intoxicated or otherwise impaired. Second, electronic devices that disrupt the normal brainwave patterns should be turned off for some time before bed. Third, taking time for meditation or prayer or a feeling of consecration can set the mood for a peaceful and restful sleep. Fourth, focusing an aspiration and an affirmation for the sleep to be uplifting or safe in the company of revered teachers in an atmosphere of well-being will help to move the subconscious parts to the desired energetic place. Fifth, the individual should avoid vitally disruptive atmospheres before sleep, such as nightclubs or loud, vital venues which leave the nerves frayed and on edge, and don’t allow the being to relax properly. Sixth, a calming ritual before bed can help the individual to shed any residual energies of the waking consciousness so that he can move peacefully into the sleep state. Seventh, reading some inspirational literature can aid the individual in focusing the mind and quieting it at the same time. Eighth, practices such as yoga nidra have been found helpful in systematically relaxing all the muscles of the body and quieting the mind. Ninth, not eating too late, or too heavy foods, or foods tend to inflame or dull the system, particularly without sufficient time to digest the food fully prior to bedtime.

There are of course many methods and many known practices, and these are simply some illustrations to aid in the process, not at all intended to be fully definitive. Each individual can find out for himself what works best to achieve the desired result.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Sleep cannot be replaced, but it can be changed; for you can become conscious in sleep. If you are thus conscious, then the night can be utilised for a higher working — provided the body gets its due rest; for the object of sleep is the body’s rest and the renewal of the vital-physical force. It is a mistake to deny to the body food and sleep, as some from an ascetic idea or impulse want to do — that only wears out the physical support and although either the Yogic or the vital energy can long keep at work an over-strained or declining physical system, a time comes when this drawing is no longer so easy nor perhaps possible. The body should be given what it needs for its own efficient working. Moderate but sufficient food (without greed or desire), sufficient sleep, but not of the heavy tamasic kind, this should be the rule.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pp. 101-102