[Sleep and meditation]

[tueminh]

Hi,
I'm just curious about why people sleep in lectures or during reading
or meditating, but not when they check through facebook... Is there
any idea about it?
Minh-Tue

[eep]

Who is 'people'? I started falling asleep while checking facebook, so
I stopped going to facebook =P

On the other hand, I *stopped* falling asleep during meditation after
the first few years. It started getting more interesting after I
started to see all the gunk in my head.

If you search around, there are two theories of Facebook addiction,
both of which I think sound credible:

http://www.bnet.com/blog/entry-level/facebook-self-esteem-booster-or-killer/4287

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1310230/Facebook-users-narcissistic-insecure-low-self-esteem.html

The first is that, for Facebook addicts, it is actually an emotional
mirror of sorts -- some people are addicted to facebook because they
find it reassuring to see how many friends they have and how good
their lives look. Basically, it's stroking one's ego, with far more
immediate gratification than classes or meditation.

The second is that other people are addicted to facebook because they
can spend their time vicariously living other people's exciting lives;
it's an escape from their own unhappy or dull existences.

Under those theories, both approaches amount to feeding one's low
self-esteem, and both of them would basically then be self-reinforcing
traps that bring about immediate social gratification with no real
long-term development of self-awareness.

I can understand that it's also a good place to stay in contact with
people. But one doesn't need to be in constant contact with everyone,
all of the time... Self-development may not be as fun or stimulating
as constant social contact, but I think it's a lot more valuable in
the long run.

[Jeff Zira]

While there are plenty of techniques to prevent "sloth and torpor" in meditation, don't forget about the most important one -- getting enough sleep!

For the longest time I was sleeping much less than I should have been, and meditation felt like a chore, as I was basically struggling to stay awake the whole time. I was making zero progress in terms of meditation/focus. 

Then I started sleeping 30-60 minutes more a night, and the change was profound. I started making a lot of progress (able to focus more in meditation, settling the mind much more quickly, achieving samadhi quickly, more effective mindfulness, able to try approaching jhana, being generally happier, etc). I continue to make a lot of progress, and realize now that you just can't get past step 1 if you're falling asleep all the time!

jeff

--

Jeff

818-512-0456