Sleep, Rest and Yoga Nidra

Why do we sleep so much and still wake up tired? Umesh Guruji starts from the day itself: eight to ten hours of sleep, eight at work, the rest for food and errands, and no time left to think, for ourselves or for our family. For him the reason is tension: a tense body asks for more sleep, because it wants to relax and feel prana, the energy of life.

Deep sleep and prana

In deep sleep the conscious mind rests, Umesh explains, and the body takes in prana more easily; worry and thinking burn it away. This is why, in his experience, the deeper you sleep, the less you need to sleep, and why people who meditate often need less sleep. His advice for the evening: light food at night and heavier food at lunch, as he also teaches in Vegetarian Food and Spiritual Practice.

Yoga nidra: relaxing the body part by part

For those who lie in bed and cannot fall asleep, Umesh suggests yoga nidra, the yogic sleep. You speak to your body one part at a time: tell your leg "you are relaxed, no tension for you", then your hand, your ears, your eyes, your mind. With this self-suggestion the whole body lets go, and slowly, slowly, you slide into deep sleep. Even when the mind does not accept the order, he says, telling the body to relax brings the mind along.

Before you sleep

Umesh adds three small practices. Review your whole day like a story, from waking up to what you ate: a simple meditation that relaxes. Give five minutes of love to your body with a little oil, as Ayurveda suggests, because the body carries the tension of the mind. And go to bed as if you were dying: hand every problem to God, say thank you, and know you will rise again tomorrow. Tension, he reminds us, never solved tomorrow's problem. More on the day's rhythm in Daily Life and Spiritual Practice.