sunshine Posted February 6, 2005 Me again, although I am sure any of those practices available sooner or later will help with reducing sleep-time & strengthening the brain I wonder if you girls & guys know any special techniques to speeden up the process, as these two areas are currently my major concern. I know. It it not very "spiritual" but it would be verrrrrrry helpful on the way. looking forward to any ideas available Harry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda Posted February 7, 2005 I haven't bought the ebook at www.powerfulsleep.com but I was told that it recommends exercise and sunshine to bring the serotonin/melatonin production into balance for people with sleep disorders. The author says that we only need 6-7 hours of sleep per night. If you are getting that much and still feeling sleepy in the daytime, you need to take more walks. Also, he cites that long term, megastudy on longevity and hours of sleep you get every night and people who get 8+ hours are more likely to die than people who get 6-7 hours a night. Apparently, that's the gist of it. -Yoda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RedKooga Posted February 7, 2005 Regular exercise and fresh air yeppers. Also, having a definite routine can help. Always wake up at the same time regardless of whether you slept well for a while and your body learns the pattern pretty well. If you have trouble sleeping at the set time then go into meditative state. I've found it can considerably take the edge off missed sleep and in some cases even mostly replace it. Something to try might be these things called 'natural alarm clocks'. If you Google around I'm sure you'll find one. You set a time for sleeping and waking and they imitate the setting & rising sun in tune with that. A friend introduced me to them and waking up was a case of springing to my feet almost as soon as I opened my eyes. No promises though. I only got to borrow it from my friend because it didn't work for her. Heightened memory and sharp focus can be side effects of meditation practice. There is a particular exercise I know that can enhance those in particular but I don't know that they could be called a quick route. It takes some time and quite a lot of effort. If you want I could post that meditation exercise I found really helped those two plus the kind of mindset/attitude that worked with it if it sounds like something you might wanna try. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunshine Posted February 8, 2005 Yoda. That's really cool. Seems to be exactly what I looked for. Will get the book soon... Talking_Pebble: you can bet that I would like to know about that special meditation... bowing to the devine in you both Harry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mbanu Posted February 18, 2005 The amount of sleep you need is directly proportional to the amount of prenatal jing one has. This is why babies can sleep as much as 18 hours a day, while the elderly require less and less sleep. A half-assed anology is that of a gas tank. The bigger the gas tank, the longer it takes to fill, the smaller the gas tank, the shorter it takes to fill. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
... Posted February 20, 2005 mbanu you are the shit. a real fucking taoist man... I average about 4-6 hours of sleep. the best thing... if you meditate all the fucking time. keep an empty miind. times when I spend a few days in decent meditation... keepng my mind silent... then your mind is empty when you sleep... and so that sleep you get is outstanding. I would wake up SO refreshed and rejuvenated after 4-6 hours ... when the drill sergeant or fireguard turns on the lights, I'd immediately hop out of bed with no grogginess whatsoever and continuemy day. when I am NOT meditating for most of the day... I dont sleep as well.. I wake up totally groggy. so there you go. probably not the answer you're looking for... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda Posted February 20, 2005 Mbanu-- What's going on with older people who train themselves to sleep longer and younger people who train themselves to sleep less? What do you think of sleep efficiency training like what "..." is doing or what they teach at powerfulsleep.com, etc. -Yoda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RedKooga Posted February 23, 2005 Sorry for the delay on this. Anyway, the meditation is basically to focus on an imagined shape and keep it held in the mind. Any simple shape will do. Blue square, red triangle, yellow circle, etc. Like in most meditation exercises when the mind wanders just bring it back. That also means keeping the shape stationary with the same dimensions, hue, and features. Because you focus the mind on an imaginary shape rather than your own breathing, body or some externally solid object like a candle it builds up the mind's ability to hold (often abstract) visual information and hence a great improvement to visual memory is possible. As you get better, based on your own judgement you can make the mental object of your focus more complex. Thats it! Thats all. When i say, "improvement to visual memory" it can be quite significant. For example, when I was using this meditation a great deal building up to my first year exams I was surprised to find that when the exams themselves came around I had a photographic memory. Not only could I recall the actual pages of my notes in their entirety that referred to the question in hand but also all the little details like smudges and coffee stains too! Just a further point. At that time having a fierce concentration was my principle aim. Instinctually I changed my diet so to avoid foods that seemed to 'dull' concentration. I wanted 'sharpness' and for some reason this mostly equated to avoiding diary products, anything too high in sugar, caffeine, etc. in favour of fish, salads, plenty of water, lalala. When I wasn't meditating I would often imagine a point on my forehead of infinite sharpness that projected out to anything I was looking at. It was like a walking meditation. This seemed to help too. I'm not suggesting you try those things as well, what I'm trying to get at is if you've really made your mind up to do a certain thing your instincts will suggest ways to go about things that will help you. None of that would ease the sleep problem of course, but, divide and conquer! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
... Posted February 24, 2005 I am not actively practicing sleep effieciency... I just dont get to sleep. :cry: it wont be for another 6 weeks until I enter back into a lifestyle where meditation is even plausible. what is with the fascination with concentration red kooga? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mbanu Posted February 24, 2005 People who sleep less than they need to either stay up less (ie, take frequent naps instead of staying up long and sleeping long), thus always preventing themselves from "running on empty" or draw upon their jing reserves, thus accelerating the process of depletion. People who force themselves to sleep through drugs and such when no further sleep is beneficial end up waking feeling no more refreshed, anymore than trying to put an extra gallon in your full gastank will give you more miles. Unless you are privy to alchemical secrets, there is no way to naturally restore spent pre-natal jing. "Imagine you were only able to sleep 5 hours and woke up feeling absolutely energized, filled with a passion for life and bursting energy for the rest of your day." In TCM, this is called heart yin deficiency. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NeiChuan Posted September 24, 2009 Mm Over sleeping and sleeping at night leads to memory lapses.. Funny thing though I was sleeping fine and my memory pretty much completely depleted.. I barely have short term anymore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
