I’ve been meditation almost daily for 15-20 minutes the last 1.5 months. I enjoy the pratice, and it is nice and relaxing, however I find the changes, if any, to be very subtle (to the point that they might as well be placebo).
Curious to hear your experiences.
@dandelion with a bell call at 4am, definitely means less sleep… 😅
and with intensive periods of practice, the benefits of meditation means that both mind and body need less sleep to recuperate. pretty obvious. still not a negative ‘side effect’.
thanks for the article 🙏
Ah, the losing of sleep I’m describing is not due to the bells, but it is a good point that not sleeping is practically institutional at a monastery.
I think whether losing sleep is negative depends on the framing.
In Buddhism, it is taken as a sign of progress, but in secular contexts lacking sleep like that can be a problem, esp. when meditation is mistakenly suggested to help with insomnia.
Mostly I struggled to have equanimity towards the lack of sleep - losing sleep also impacted my meditation, making it harder to concentrate or have good sessions. I would say mostly it felt like I just needed less sleep, but even so it was hard to lie awake every night for several hours, unable to lose consciousness.