How many hours of sleep??

[herb ox]

I love sleep and dreaming. Why would anybody really want to cut it short?

mmm.... sleepy....


herb ox
(nodding off at work)

[GeneChing]

I remember reading (which of course makes it true ) that cats are in a kind of half sleep something like 90% of the time. I've lived with cats and care for a feral cat colony now, and this certainly seems to be the case. So I've taken a lesson from imitative boxing and try to be more cat like with my sleeping habits. Unfortunately, my daily life doesn't allow for it, but I can dream, can't I?

As HO will testify, the two of us have done a lot of hands on research in altered states doing volunteer work with drug-related episodes with the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. There's a lot of power to half-sleep states and trance states, a lot of stuff that hasn't really been addressed in research significantly. I imagine there's a lot on stimulants for their military functions, but not so much on the psychedelics and their effects on sleep. This becomes especially interesting when you consider what dreams may come. Seriously, what is the function of dreaming? Do animals dream? These are all very elusive to study since they are so subjective.

[fungjiaotasty]

Just to share what I understand about sleep...

As far as Chinese medicine goes, sleeping earlier is better for you. Your best sleep is generally between 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM. Yin is more prevalent at night, so I'm assuming that's the time where one replenishes most of their yin.

As far as western views go, I read that a university did a study on sleeping early; subjects that slept earlier were able to concentrate more during the day, remember more, etc. Subjects that slept at a later time weren't as focused.

[blooming lotus]

Originally posted by GeneChing
I remember reading (which of course makes it true ) that cats are in a kind of half sleep something like 90% of the time. I've lived with cats and care for a feral cat colony now, and this certainly seems to be the case. So I've taken a lesson from imitative boxing and try to be more cat like with my sleeping habits. Unfortunately, my daily life doesn't allow for it, but I can dream, can't I?

As HO will testify, the two of us have done a lot of hands on research in altered states doing volunteer work with drug-related episodes with the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. There's a lot of power to half-sleep states and trance states, a lot of stuff that hasn't really been addressed in research significantly. I imagine there's a lot on stimulants for their military functions, but not so much on the psychedelics and their effects on sleep. This becomes especially interesting when you consider what dreams may come. Seriously, what is the function of dreaming? Do animals dream? These are all very elusive to study since they are so subjective.

can't disagree with fjt, but as for altered states of conciousness etc...this is explained in some detail in buddhist method philosphy of jahnas...the 8 jahnas being the 8 levels of conciousness.......I assume ...with educated opinion, that these are very similiar in nature and academically break down identically.....

[CaptinPickAxe]

and if you read it then it must be true

Yeah, cause I obviously said I completely belive it...almost religiously.





























Oh....and that was sarcasm

[GeneChing]

There is a growing body of writings on altered states and buddhism. Even such venerated Buddhist publications such as Tricycle have devoted entire issues to psychedelia. There was such cross over in the west during the 60's. There seems to be a second wave emerging today. Some people have tried to map altered states on Buddhist levels of consciousness. I've yet to be impressed by this - but I'm open to it. There's a huge shamanic level of cross over, but in some ways, Buddhism was a reaction against shamanism, or at least against saddhu asceticism. Well, maybe not, it depends how you read it all.

All this discussion is making me sleepy again....

[herb ox]

Personally, I've found the state between being awake and just dozing off yields some of the most profound revelations (or, at least they seem profound at that moment). There were times in chemistry class I'd be dozing off and I'd have this revelation about the interconnectedness of what we were learning to the phenomenon of the universe - Like, realizing the rust and parts that fall off of my VW bug are a reminder of entropy - the tendency for matter to move towards a more chaotic state - as the engine that drives the universe. I began to look at the maintenance of my VW from a detached Zen state. It's all impermanent, man.

Perhaps the ascetics who don't sleep but rather meditate the night away are achieving this state for a prolonged period.

Perhaps some sleepytime research is in order....


zzzzz

[GeneChing]

Gotta keep waking me up, doncha? Don't think for a moment I don't know what you're up to....

The aboriginees put more value in their dreamtime than their waking reality. That's an interesting perspective, and perhaps a good coping mechanism for the harshness of life in the outback. Time to dig out that old digeridoo.

BTW, there's a good article on sleeping in our next isuue by Shaolin Monk Shi Guolin. And I can't remember if I mentioned Tu Jin-Sheng's Sleeping qigong already, but any good ad is worth repeating.

nighty-night, all.