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Talk: 2011-07_24 The Way Of The Breath - Anapanasati as a complete meditation practice. #7.json Start_time: 01: 15:51 Display_question: I noticed that I needed less sleep on this retreat, how can I continue this? Keyword_search: sleep, retreat, awareness, wisdom, food, dharma, mind, Korean Zen monastery, Americans, Westerner, Navy Seal, Marines, nun, Krishnamurti, yoga, enlightened, training in sensitivity Question_content: Questioner: All my life I thought I needed more than a little, more than average amount of, sleep. And on retreat, it's always been just a killer for me to get up really early, and then I'd always take a nap, or something. I've had an unusual experience here, in that I had no problem getting up. And I have felt very wide awake the whole time. I don't want this to go away. Larry: I see suffering in your future. Questioner: Is there a connection between… Larry: There can be, but I don't want to make it. The question is, through experience, there's a conclusion, that you need more sleep than many people. But on this retreat, you found that you don't. Here's a use of awareness, for everything. Find out if you give yourself too much sleep. That's not so…that's not wise. If you don't give yourself enough sleep, that isn't…too much food. Not enough food. Awareness, aside from wisdom, on a much more recognizable, ordinary level, you can begin to learn about food. This food tends to make the mind sleepy and dull. Don't eat it before the sitting after lunch. This food makes me agitated. Or this drink makes me… eliminate or only drink it, at certain hours. This food, not just amount, but particular food, seems to incline the mind, to be much more calm, and clear. Fine. Maybe trust that. It's not reading diet books, which are endless now, and then mechanically applying it. You can study things that experts know. There's nothing wrong with that. But finally, test it with your own experience. So, it's the same for sleep. Now, often in Dharma circles, people will be at war with sleep. It's sort of like that's weakness. Break_line: I did a three-month retreat, in a Korean Zen monastery, where they made us stay awake for a week. I'm not kidding. And you do it. You do it or you leave. And we all did it. There were three Americans. We did it. And would I teach it here? No, not because I think Americans can't do it, or Westerners can't do it. It's because what I saw was, you brutalize the body. And they have some... it's a kind of tremendous ego rush, greed, macho. It's good if you're getting ready for the Marines, to become a Navy Seal. Next step, they'll sign you right up, because you already know how to do that. So, to me, what's much more valuable, in the long run, are not these mechanical pushes. Everyone has to do it. It's a tradition, they told us. But there was one 80-year-old nun, who did it. Okay, she could do it. But for some people, one guy who was with me, he was sleeping through half of it, and he sat next to me, and I would just, oh, no, we take turns. You whack the person and they wake up. Was it hard on the body? Absolutely. Break_line: And so, since I value the body, it isn't sort of like life sucks, I got to get out of it. I'm getting enlightened that question. And who cares about sleep, diet? Just get me out of here. In the short run, that might be impressive. In the long run. I don't see the wisdom in it. So, what I would say is, I've discovered I need much less sleep when meditation came in. And…but each day is different. Krishnamurti, who was a main teacher of mine, I asked him something like this once, and he said, well, when I wake up in the morning, I'll invite the body to tell me how it is. And he did yoga every morning, and he would say, I gave a lot of interviews yesterday. No yoga today. The body just doesn't want to do yoga. So, it's training in sensitivity, into all the different issues that make up life. End_time: 01:20:00
