On Feb 25, 2008, at 6:51 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> On Feb 25, 2008, at 3:01 PM, ruthsimplicity wrote:
>
> > I still want someone to tell me what they believe are the signs of
> > "witnessing" sleep. Whatever the stage of the sleep.
> >
> > Vaj?
>
>
> The witnessing of waking, sleeping and dreaming parallel the
> meditative states of the calm state (no thought, dreamless
> witnessing), movement of thought (dream state fabricating itself
from
> thought forms) and collapse of dream/dreamless back to waking (or
the
> death of waking into sleep). There are "sandhis" or "gaps" in the
> transitions between these and very similar or the same as "dying".
The
> witnessing in deep sleep is like awareness witnessing a void,
although
> that dualistic witnessing can be further relaxed and it unifies
into a
> kind of 'luminous vacuity' where you simply rest, awake, aware. If
you
> can relax even further, you can see thoughts begin to shatter the
> surface of the calm and dreams emerge into existence. If you relax
> enough the state of luminous vacuity or clear light, the state of
> unification pervades all the states and you watch thoughts emerge,
> come and then go. Dreams become very under control--if you want to
> meditate for hours, you can--and only a couple of minutes will
pass in
> "waking time". Some people will use it to gain tomes of knowledge or
> simply to get answers to pressing questions or situations. If you
are
> able to relax enough to actually go through the "death" of falling
> asleep and embrace the spheres of dreaming and deep sleep by
expanding
> beyond them, you remain aware, seamlessly enjoying the whole cycle.
> The added advantage is resting in the bliss sheath of deep sleep is
> somehow miraculously healing and rejuvenating. You awake as if
cleaned
> from the inside out, clean and clear.
>
> And the interesting thing? You know that grogginess of emerging
from a
> nights sleep? Not only is it totally gone, there's no gap or seam at
> all between sleeping and arising.
>
> Some styles of witness, those associated with the head chakras can
be
> too "bright" for some people. If they fall into this type of
witness,
> it can develop into a sleep disturbance as it doesn't keep you wide
> awake, but it doesn't let you fall into real deep sleep either. In a
> case like that, I just place awareness in the hridayam and gently
fall
> asleep as I was taught. Not nearly as "bright" and supports deep
sleep
> easier. Once I get some rejuvenation, then I can raise it to the
head
> centers again and you can integrate the motion aspect (of thought
> energy). The heart center tends to habituate for the calm state and
> deep sleep, the head centers for "movement" of thought.
>
I can't grok this. Can you recommend a reading?
If you dig a more Hindu trip, try Enlightenment Without God by Swami
Rama. If a more Buddhist slant hits you, I liked The Tibetan Yogas of
Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Swami Rama's Yoga and
Psychotherapy: The Evolution of Consciousness explains a lot of what
I'm touching on from a Hindu POV. But be open to the possibility that
maybe of receiving some teaching on it and driving it for yourself
might be the only way to grok it.
