Falling - Into Sleep and Meditation

A teacher once described meditation as similar to sleep. In that, you “fall’ into both.

We’ve all had nights we’ve tossed and turned, almost screamed out of pure frustration for not being able to sleep. Try as we might, we can’t “do” sleep. That brink, that super fine edge – there is only so much we can do to get close to it. After that, sleep has to do us! And we can’t even fully describe what that feels like. Sleep is described more as a reduction of somethings – inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity, reduced interaction with the surroundings – than the occurrence of something. The altered state of consciousness that sleep is – is almost like another dimension. We know we’ve been there but can’t really say how or what happened on our visit.

Meditation is very similar. It is not the chanting, or the staring into a flame, or the focusing on the breath. All of those are techniques which we can practice till the crows come home. Meditation is what comes after – being able to rest in the silence, in the just “being”. Like sleep, no one can fully describe what that feels like. It needs to be experienced. Having a good night’s sleep and being able to rest in a meditative state even for a short period of time, also lead to similar results. More clarity, better focus, improved mood and energy. Something that all of us could use more of.

So, how do we set ourselves up to fall, to surrender to these incredibly restorative altered states of consciousness? Unsurprisingly, the techniques are the same. Having a regular schedule, exercising and keeping the body supple, eating appropriately, taking care of our finances, regulating our emotions, having healthy relationships, finding balance in our lives. The same grease seems to lubricate both portals. And that makes perfect sense – we are given this one body, this one mind – to leap beyond them means to settle them into to a state where we can just as easily let go of them as they can of us. Like a well fed, healthy, joyful child – whom we are happy to let run off to the swings – and who will in turn allow us to read in peace while we sit on the park bench.

Falling in love, falling asleep, falling into meditation. All the good things in life happen so naturally, effortlessly – once we’ve built a state of readiness, once we’re primed to surrender.

Love and light, Prasi.