Sleep Like A Monk And Never Go Back

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Sleep is the basic function of the human body and it is tremendously important for maintenance of good health of the great internal energy of intellectual clarity intuitional sharpness of emotional sweetness because when the quality of sleep poor is poor then we experience fear we experience anxiety we experience irritation so all around will fear really depends on the quality of your sleep my name is Dada Sananda I'm a practitioner of meditation since 30 years I'm a monk and a teacher of meditation and today I'm going to talk about the topic of sleep and in the end of the video I will present you with a protocol with a practices which are extremely efficient and by practicing those you will be able to fall asleep and not only sleep but to sleep well to sleep very very very deep myself I sometimes also suffer from insomnia you will you may ask why why Dada you are practicing meditation for 30 years I will tell you later why do I suffer from insomnia and how I handle it and that's why I know all those methods which I'm going to talk about today they all are working methods and if you will start applying them you will get very very good results so sleep is something very very ancient I mean it looks like everything sleeps even the bacteria not in the human sense because bacteria doesn't have a nervous system but it also goes into some sort of hibernation then it becomes active then it becomes inactive it looks like it is kind of sleeping or even the trees even the plants they in the morning they become awake they anticipate the coming of the sunrise and they become prepared because sunrise is the food for them they want to eat they they say okay now I have I woke up I took my bath I meditated I did all my practice I'm ready for the breakfast this is what trees and plants they all do so somehow everything is regulated by the sun and everybody is experiencing every every everything is moving with the circadian rhythms so the sun rises sun sets and we all respond to those things and with um with a sleep in the human sense of the term uh such ancient creatures as jellyfish which exist on this earth for 600 million years they also sleep they will sleep 8 hours then they wake up then they will function again they will sleep so and sleep for many creatures is different like some creatures they will sleep 20 hours a day some creatures like elephant for example African elephant it sleeps only 2 hours a day and it stands while standing it sleep and then it goes with the small intervals like 5 minutes sleep then sometime awake then again it goes to sleep so it is different for all different creatures but everyone who has neurons everyone who has nervous system must sleep uh so there was some research about jellyfish with a beautiful name Cassiopeia Andromeda so researchers studied it and they found out that while sleeping uh jellyfish repairs the DNA damages which has accumulated in its nervous cells and then researchers they deliberately damaged the DNA and in those cases the jellyfish had to sleep little bit longer so we are restoring um if we believe that it is universal we are restoring ourselves during the sleep also there was some research on mice and and rats and they found out that during the sleep the the blood blood vessels they are expanding 60% and while this expansions occurs then the blood is able to reach the and and wash all the all the all the vessels and take away the toxins which has been accumulated by the brain so it is the time of restoration and renovation of the body there are two types of sleep one is slow wave sleep we cannot survive without that type of sleep all creatures have the fish will have but fish doesn't have another kind of sleep which is REM rapid rapid sleep rapid sleep is when we when our brain is just like uh during the wakefulness state but somehow the muscles deactivated but the brain is working that is the the REM phase of the sleep and that is looks like for the all the developed creatures from the sea creatures the octopuses have it and even when they are dreaming they changing the colors interestingly because they are dreaming maybe I'm floating on very very blue oceans so they become adjusted to that color um yeah and all the animals they they they have this dreams so this during the dreams we process emotions we process informations that brain has accumulated during the day so sometimes people go through the nightmares and there is a theory that somehow the brain is trying to process some trauma some some extremely difficult psychological maybe painful information and rearrange it and somehow to find a way how to exist with that so then we go through the nightmares so I found out in practice that this phase of uh sleep it can be reduced with the practices like if you do meditation in if you do in a very very good if you if you maintain a very good psychological state you are relaxed your focused your your thoughts are very very high there is no disturbing emotions like fear like stress like anger then your need in sleep becomes less but sometimes also I want to share you that it's not all very pinky color because sometimes when we do intensive spiritual work like when you do intensive meditation there is a lots of stuff comes out from your unconscious mind you are basically purifying your mind and then you get very very tired actually and then you need to sleep to restore yourself sleep is actually basic is best medicines for many psychological things one time I remember something I was translating some lecture and somehow I got so conflicted with those ideas I got so reacted inside like at the at the spot I I thought that I don't want to continue practicing meditation something like that then I thought well this is very unusual for me then I went straight to sleep then I slept 3 hours when I woke up everything was fine my brain completely processed this whole thing and then I arranged information in my brain in a proper way I found some uh synthesis for those conflicting ideas and I was completely totally fine so many times sleep is a medicine for physical illness and for >> [snorts] >> psychological also for psychological unease so during meditation it will help you to sleep little bit less but don't get uh excited that I will sleep only 2 hours and that will be enough for me I know some people uh who sleep very very little like my friend um he's great spiritualist he's practicing extremely extremely powerful and high meditation and I observe him for 15 years and during all that time he's sleep sleeping like 4 hours 5 hours uh I cannot do like that I need minimum um 6 hours I can maintain for a long time but for me really uh which is enough for my health and the best performance I need 7 hours one time I remember I came to India with group of my students to visit our projects we are building in small town of Jamalpur it is the birthplace of our guru and this my friend he is meeting us at the station it's some like something like 1:00 or 2:00 in the night so he comes with the flowers and then he gives to every student one flower and then he says Sananda I'm so happy to see you we have not met for 3 months I'm so happy I want to show you all the project pro progress of our project come then we came and then he's I said Dada it is 2:00 in the night let's sleep he said Sananda please indulge me I just want to show you how much we have achieved I said okay then we go first floor second floor third floor then he accommodated all my friends all my students he gave them water gave them some fruits flowers this and that they all happy they all accommodated they are going to sleep.

[00:09:57]And I'm going to sleep also. I said, "Oh, tomorrow what time we have to be awake?" He said, "Yeah, I will wake up 5:00.

[00:10:07]But you you are tired, you are from travel.

[00:10:10]Rest as much as you want.

[00:10:13]Rest as much as you want."

[00:10:16]I say, "Okay."

[00:10:18]And then next morning 6:00 he's in my room. And then he's waking me up and he say, "Sananda, so did you rest? Did you sleep enough? Is okay?

[00:10:27]Let's talk." I say, "Dada, you said I will sleep as much as I want." And he say, "But I already wake up, I already did my morning duties, I did my meditation. I'm now ready full of energy, I want to work."

[00:10:40]So, he's a very special kind of person.

[00:10:44]He needs to sleep less, but recent research might shed light on that. I always felt like he is a huge superhuman and I think part of it is this his spirituality. But also some people they have a a special gene that allows them to rest fully during 4 hours or 5 hours of sleep. And some other people's don't have that gene. And you cannot expect from them the same kind of performance.

[00:11:12]In when I was in the monastery, we had one brother, very very good brother, very intelligent brother, very kind of strong will power.

[00:11:21]And then he read somewhere that yogi doesn't need so much sleep. He can manage with a very very minimal sleep.

[00:11:30]So, he started to practice it. He would sleep only 2 hours, 3 hours per day. And then we would just be in awe. We would feel like, "Wow, what a superhuman person."

[00:11:41]And sometimes feel ourself very inferior because we cannot do like that. Because we slept 6 hours and for me honestly it was just like not enough. I always was hungry for the sleep. And we go to sleep and then he is just, you know, preparing to study something. And then in the morning he is already awake, he already took bath, he already did meditation. Again he is studying some sutras, some shlokas. So, we were really admire admiring him. But our trainer he was saying, "No, you should not play with this kind of things. It is dangerous."

[00:12:16]And at some point this brother he start to lose somehow the mental equilibrium.

[00:12:20]He start to be little bit, you know, strange behavior.

[00:12:23]So, at the time trainer told him, "Now you go back to your country, you restore yourself, you restore your health. And then after that you can come back to the monastery. But now you cannot be here because this is dangerous for you."

[00:12:38]So, he went back home. Then I I guess he slept and then again he became totally normal, he restored his health. So, but that time I understood it is not a joke.

[00:12:49]You cannot just deprive yourself from the sleep. And the researchers they show that it is very very damaging for the health. And some people they sleep very little, but during the holidays they sleep in. They they sleep for 12 hours or, you know, whatever 10 hours.

[00:13:09]And that it it was found out that it is harmful for the health also.

[00:13:15]Because they increase the chance of the heart disease by 57%.

[00:13:20]So, you should not sleep little, you should not sleep much. In Bhagavad Gita it says exactly the same.

[00:13:27]Those who sleep too little they are not yogis. Those who are sleeping too much they are not yogis either. You have to find optimal time. You have you have to find your time, how much sleep you need.

[00:13:41]And we all little bit unique in that sense.

[00:13:44]Like between the creatures and between the human beings also. So, how to from whatever time you have, how to intensify the efficiency of the sleep. Okay, let's go through the ways. Number one is regularity. Even we slept during monastery time we slept maximum 6 hours and then for 3 years.

[00:14:08]For me is not enough, but regularity it really plays a crucial role. Our body loves regularity.

[00:14:16]Mind sometimes doesn't like regularity, but our body loves regularity. When we came to the monastery, our trainer said, "I know now you hate routine, but I guarantee you when you finish this course in the monastery, you will love routine, you will love discipline." And true, after after 3 years in the monastery I really felt so much energy, so powerful I felt, so radiant I felt.

[00:14:43]And then after that after I finished the monastery, I worked for I was moving like a itinerant monk for for 5 years without stop. Three three days one city, three days another city, three days another city, like that. And I did a lot of work, I did a lot of things. So, because I had that energy from the discipline and the routine. So, if you establish the regularity, if you go to sleep not 1 minute late, not 1 minute earlier, your body is going to love it. So, go to sleep like 10:00 or 11:00 in the night.

[00:15:17]That's the best time. Best time actually if you go 10:00 because your your body starts to produce the melatonin and then it is a very very high quality of the sleep that time.

[00:15:28]If you go very late, like 1:00 in the night, you can sleep, you can even sleep long, but still you will not feel rested because the melatonin production is already diminishing. The melatonin is one hormone produced by our pineal gland and it is the signal of the body to relax and to go into into the sleeping mode. So, if you missed the peak of the melatonin, then your sleep is not going to be very very deep one.

[00:15:57]Second thing, darkness. If you are talking about melatonin, you need to maintain darkness of the room. Because melatonin the production of melatonin increases when it darkens. So, if you remove all the lights, all the electronic devices you switch off. There should not be any photons, you should not be catching any kind of light. And then put a very thick curtain on your window. Then you can deepen your sleep. Or you sometimes you put the mask, no, on on your eyes.

[00:16:31]Then coolness of the room.

[00:16:33]The best sleeping temperature is 18°.

[00:16:40]Also it helps me personally I found out that if I take cold bath before sleeping, very extremely cold, then I relax and I fall asleep very well.

[00:16:53]Sometimes it is I'm, you know, it is lazy to go to take a complete bath. So, do half bath. Half bath is special technique. I will leave the link on that technique. You can see the entire video I'm explaining the benefits of the half bath and the technique of the half bath.

[00:17:12]So, it it goes like this. You you cool down extremities from knees down, from elbows down. And then you take mouth full of cold water. It is cooling you from inside. And then you are splashing 12 times into the open eyes.

[00:17:31]Activating the divers reflex.

[00:17:33]You know, we think that if I do like that I will be very very fresh, I will be very very alive, so I will not be able to fall asleep. No, it actually helps to fall asleep better.

[00:17:47]Then content.

[00:17:52]Try to avoid internet, try to avoid computer devices, television for at least 1 hour before you go to sleep. Because the brain gets excited with the content.

[00:18:06]If you want to entertain yourself, try to read something very beneficial, very useful and little bit boring, like a very high spiritual philosophy. And then slowly slowly, you know, you nirguna brahma, saguna brahma, sanchara, prati sanchara.

[00:18:24]>> [laughter] >> While you are reading all those things, you will very very nicely fall asleep.

[00:18:29]Yeah, sometimes spiritual literature also gets excited. Like this is my problem. I told you that sometimes I also suffer insomnia. Sometimes I become so excited with some idea or just in general with the experience of blissful state of mind which is induced with the spiritual practice. So, I just cannot sleep. Until 1:00 I cannot sleep.

[00:18:52]I don't want to sleep. My body wants to sleep, but my mind want to enjoy that kind of spiritual state.

[00:18:58]So, and but I understand rationally that I need to sleep. So, I do certain things.

[00:19:03]First of all, cooling down the body, then breathing slowly.

[00:19:08]You breathe 1 2 3 4 breathe in.

[00:19:12]And then 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 6 7 8 you are breathing out.

[00:19:21]So, twice you breathe in and twice as long you breathe out. So, in that way you are activating the parasympathetic system and you start relaxing. Another way to relax is metacognition.

[00:19:36]You observe your body as if you are observing something external.

[00:19:43]You look at your body from a distance. You look at your mind also.

[00:19:49]The mind is working, thinking something, but you're are the mind.

[00:19:54]And in that way you will slowly slowly slowly relax.

[00:19:58]There are two postures that I can propose to you to practice. One is called Yoga Mudra.

[00:20:06]Another one is called Shashangasana.

[00:20:08]Shashangasana. Shashangasana means rabbit posture. Uh you are bending forward, and finally you are pressing your top of the head against the floor.

[00:20:19]That you know, you are you are doing the reverse posture. Your your head is down, and the blood flows to the head.

[00:20:27]And it stimulates the pineal gland.

[00:20:30]So, and the pineal gland is the melatonin. So, it helps to sleep not only at the moment, but also if you do this posture regularly, it will in general improve the quality of your sleep.

[00:20:42]Another posture which I practice if I cannot fall asleep, it is called Yoga Mudra.

[00:20:49]Uh you are sitting in this position holding your wrist behind your back, and then slowly slowly slowly you are bending forward while breathing out.

[00:20:58]And then finally you lie down on the ground, and then you hold your breath for 8 seconds. And then while breathing in, you are coming up.

[00:21:11]This is extremely relaxing position.

[00:21:14]Uh exercise. If you do that, you will uh the cycle of this um posture you need to do eight times as per prescription.

[00:21:24]But when you are you want to fall asleep, you can do it 20 times, 30 times. And as you do it, you can also in your mind repeat uh mantra, for example.

[00:21:35]Uh and again practice this uh metacognition. You look at your body and look at your mind as if you are just witnessing it. You are not the body, you are not the mind. You are just the witness of the body and the mind. And you are doing that, and slowly slowly your nervous system will start uh relaxing. Another thing that I found out, which is extremely effective, uh is not moving.

[00:22:01]You know, when you are sleepless, you want to turn from one side, then turn to another side, then again turn, then again turn.

[00:22:08]Uh don't do that.

[00:22:11]I understand there is an impulse. The body wants to move, and you think that when I will change the position, then I will be able to relax and I'll fall asleep. Don't do that.

[00:22:21]Some It is a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning, but just observe the body. Not go with that impulse. Let that impulse fade out.

[00:22:32]And if you don't move, you will go uh asleep very very fast.

[00:22:37]So, these are the methods that you can practice. And I'm quite sure if you practice them, your sleep will the quality of the sleep will improve. But also there is one but, caffeine. Many people take coffee, and it takes time for the body to uh eliminate the the the caffeine from the bloodstream.

[00:23:00]So, try not to take coffee after 12:00 during the day. Let the body completely eliminate the caffeine from the system.

[00:23:10]And even better, don't take coffee at all.

[00:23:13]I have recorded one video. I have uh lived for 20 years 28 years without taking single cup of coffee or coffee or taking single cup of tea. So, and I maintain high level of energy, high level of creativity, and clarity of the mind. So, I recorded video about that. You can check it out my experience. I'm sharing my experience living without the stimulating substances in this life. And I find uh actually for me the sobriety is the most powerful substance. Uh when you are living very clean, your brain become very very full of energy, and full of bliss, full of happiness. So, many times people are sabotaging themselves by taking different stimulating substances.

[00:24:04]So, I advise uh stay away from that.

[00:24:08]So, yeah, that is the video about the sleep. Uh if you have anything to say, I would like to read in the comments. If you have some methods developed to fight the insomnia, uh please write in the comments. That will will be very useful for me and for the other viewers.

[00:24:27]Yeah.

[00:24:28]Thank you very much for the attention, and namaskar. And see you soon again.

[00:24:39]Namah Shivaya.

[00:24:42]Namah Shivaya.

[00:24:46]Namah Shivaya.