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Every living organism goes through cycles of sleep and activity. The average human being
sleeps about 6 to 8 hours a night, almost 50 hours a week, and more than 2,600 hours
a year. We spend almost 21 years of our lives asleep. In a normal person, the optimal amount
of sleep is about 8 hours per night, of which at least one third is deep sleep. This deep
sleep is interrupted every 45 minutes or so with dream sleep, followed by light sleep.
Dream sleep is responsible for discharge of emotional stresses that have accumulated as
a result of experiences during the day or experiences in the past. It is during this
stage that our brains process memories, and during the deepest phase of sleep, which is
deep sleep, our long-term memories and short-term memories are both processed and stored.
When we are deprived of sleep, we are more susceptible to every kind of illness. And
because sleep regulates hormone levels, lack of sleep can also cause disturbances in metabolism
that lead to obesity and weight gain. Besides the physical damage caused by sleep deprivation,
there is also loss of mental clarity and inability to focus. A person deprived of sleep and a
person intoxicated with high levels of alcohol can display the same lack of neuro-muscular
coordination and loss of focused attention. In fact, sleep deprivation is now believed
to have been a major factor in the Challenger space tragedy, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,
and also the in Exxon oil spill.
Most people in western societies look at sleep as a reparative mechanism for our biology
– which it is – but understanding the spiritual dynamics of sleep can also give
us a clue to the mysteries of enlightenment. In the eastern spiritual traditions of the
world, deep sleep is a non-local state of awareness. It is a return to the original
spirit or consciousness from which we incarnated as human beings. That is why deep sleep results
in a feeling of freshness, just like a baby is fresh when it incarnates from the same
domain!
When we are in perfect harmony with nature's rhythms, then our sleep is effortless, joyful,
and blissful. The movement of the earth as it spins on its axis, the earth going around
the sun, the sun, moon, and earth moving in relationship to one another, and the stars;
the push and pull of ocean tides…These are the cycles and seasons that are programmed
into our bodily rhythms, and we dance to this music even though we can't name the tune.
The harmony, the music of the cosmos is imprinted in our bodies.
Now let me ask you a question. When you wake up in the morning, does your body feel joyfully
energetic? Is your mind restfully alert and clear? In other words, did you sleep well?
If not, what are you going to do about it?