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Night time meditation

Oct 15, 2024

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Hello. Thank you for visiting my blog.

My name is Ikuko.


I have been talking about meditation and today, I would like to talk about night time meditation practice.


I do not recommend night meditation, especially before sleep, for beginners in meditation. This is because meditation is often a battle against sleepiness.

The reason for this is to talk about human brain waves.


Brain waves during meditation and shallow sleep are very similar.

Both of these brainwave states are called theta waves.

When we are awake our brain waves are in a beta or alpha wave state.


When you are in a state of intense concentration, your brain can be in a state of gamma waves.

It indicates that the brain is at its most active.


An alpha wave state is when you are in a relaxed state.

When you start meditating, you are often in an alpha wave state.

If you continue to meditate in this alpha wave state, at some point, consciousness

drops lower and lower, and you enter a deep meditative state.

In this state, the brain waves get closer and closer to the theta wave, then it goes into a theta wave state.


This state is the same as the brain wave state during shallow sleep.

As you continue to meditate, at first various thoughts will come to mind,

I think your brain will go back and forth between beta and alpha waves for a while.


However, as you continue to practice, you will be able to gently shift the thought to the side, or rather, let it go, even if the thought arises.


When you are able to do so, the state of alpha waves will last longer and the circulation of ch'i in your body will improve.

The circulation of Qi in the body also improves.

Then the Qi circulating in the body rises up into the brain.

Then consciousness naturally lowers and goes back and forth between alpha and theta waves.


This is the reason why meditation makes you sleepy.


Of course, if you are simply sleep deprived or tired on a daily basis, it will make you sleepy.

It is a sign that you need physical rest.

But there are many people who say, "I feel sleepy when I meditate," even though they

are getting good sleep and their bodies are not tired.


This is the reason that people feel sleepy due to their brain wave state.


So what should we do?


It first separates meditation from sleep.


If you meditate at night before you go to bed, then meditation and sleep become a set.

This will create a "meditate and sleep" mindset in your brain.


So while you are a meditation beginner, avoid meditating before going to bed at night.


But it is better to do it than not to do it.

If you have time to meditate only before bed, do it but avoid to do it in your bedroom.

Please find a quiet place to sit outside of your bedroom.


This should be a clue to successful meditation for beginners!






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