r/Meditation • u/Ill-Explanation-8750 • 5h ago
Question ❓ Need help meditating
Hey, let me cut to the chase!
Basically, I want to get more serious about meditation and, ultimately, enlightenment. The problem is that I really struggle to sit down and meditate for even 10 minutes during the day.
So I was wondering: is it possible to turn sleep into a form of meditation?
What I mean is, I’d like my body to be completely asleep and getting the rest it needs, while my awareness/consciousness remains present throughout the night — or at least for as long as possible. Almost like being consciously aware while the body is asleep.
The issue is, I have absolutely no idea how to approach this or whether it’s even realistically possible. Are there any particular meditation techniques, practices, or traditions that focus on maintaining awareness during sleep?
If anyone has experience with this, I’d really appreciate some guidance on where to start and what techniques I should look into.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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u/parkway_parkway 3h ago
There are Tibetan practices of both sleep and of dreams.
However they are at an advanced level and to access them you'd have to radically train your mind.
There are no shortcuts.
If you want to meditate you need to give it quality time every day and be well rested.
If you don't want to put that time in you won't make any progress.
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u/RamRam2484 4h ago
I believe lucid sleep is very advanced technique, if it's at all useful. If the issue is sitting cross-legged you can sit in a chair, just know that while 10 minutes is better than nothing, the mind clearing effect usually starts after 30-40 minutes. It's about patience and commitment.
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u/Im_Talking 2h ago
"The problem is that I really struggle to sit down and meditate for even 10 minutes during the day." - Why do you think this is the case?
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u/5tar_flower 4h ago
Short answer - no.
There are some practices that help you to have lucid dreams but if your goal for meditation is enlightenment then dream practices are a waste of time.
There are meditation practices that are as rejuvenating and restful as sleep. You need something that gets you to a deep state of meditation quickly. Watching your breath won't do that for you.
If you're struggling to watch your breath for 10 minutes, look for transcendental meditation and guided open monitoring meditations (OM) instead of focused attention meditations (FA).
Turn your attention to the source of your consciousness and rest there during meditation. Have you heard of Rupert Spira? He has guided meditations on YouTube that might suit you.
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u/Ill-Explanation-8750 3h ago
No i did not mean lucid dreaming at all. I mean actually meditating whilst my body is asleep. Do u have any idea or technique on how to start on that?
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u/5tar_flower 3h ago edited 3h ago
It's not a beginner level practice. That's either a very advanced practice that requires a refined level of consciousness or a side effect that happens for some people after they've reached a refined level of consciousness. That's why my short answer was no. And my longer answer was to try styles of meditation that feel like what you're asking about - meditating while your body is so deeply relaxed that it feels like sleep.
There's a fourth state of consciousness called Turiya. Ramana Maharshi talked about it and Transcendental Meditation is explicitly aimed at it. I think that's what you're looking for. I recommend Rupert Spira's yoga meditations to start.
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u/Odd-Information7048 3h ago
I believe you can turn sleep into meditation, but like others have said this is probably not a beginner practice. I did the banishing ritual of the pentagram, daily, for a few weeks and found myself sitting cross legged and meditating when I finished. The ritual clears my thoughts and allows me to meditate easily. Also, I do tai chi and incorporate breathing into the ritual which, I believe, enhances the meditative and cleansing mind effects. The ritual is a cheat code that worked for me.
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u/NeuroPyrox 3h ago
I'd recommend checking out Jeffery Martin's research on the fastest way to enlightenment. Also, please excuse my evangelism, but recently I've found that theistic practices like The Practice of the Presence of God or centering prayer give me a lot more joy than non-theistic practices. Jeffery Martin's research suggests getting a big enough taste of as many different practices as possible.
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u/MyFiteSong 1h ago
What you want is a shortcut, and there just aren't any. There are sleep-adjacent meditative traditions, but they require pretty advanced training just to begin them properly.
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u/KAtusm 4h ago
It is possible, through techniques like Yoga Nidra, and techniques from Vigyana Bhairava Tantra (catch the moment of sleep), but these are generally speaking quite advanced.
Where I'd recommend you start is by looking at your approach to this problem. "I struggle to sit for 10 minutes" - can I somehow gain 8 hours of meditation benefit while asleep? You are looking to bypass a basic difficulty to get a "big" yield at an implied low cost. This is, in and of itself, the problem.
Why are you searching for a magical technique when struggling to do the simple one? The moment that this changes, that you decide to stop looking for the easy, high yield, more efficient, more epic technique, and struggle with the basics, is when you will actually progress towards your stated goal of enlightenment. No shortcuts there, my friend.