Sleep meditation is a state between being awake and sleeping, where you put yourself in a ‘yodic sleep’, essentially a state in which the body is completely relaxed but mentally aware. Known as Yoga Nidra (meaning sleep in Sanskrit), it is used as a relaxation method (or meditation) for the mind, body and soul.

The primary difference between sleep and meditation is that in meditation, we remain alert, awake, and aware—while in sleep, we lack alertness, and instead fall into dullness and non-awareness. Over time, a regular meditation practice can enhance the quality of our sleep.

Meditation beats a nap for curing that mid-afternoon slump. That’s according to neuroscientist Bruce O’Hara from the University of Kentucky. He and his student Prashant Kaul tested vounteers’ alertness before and after 40 minutes of meditation in the mid-afternoon, when people are generally drowsy.

The emotional benefits of meditation can include:

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations.
• Building skills to manage your stress.
• Increasing self-awareness.
• Focusing on the present.
• Reducing negative emotions.
• Increasing imagination and creativity.
• Increasing patience and tolerance.

Boosts productivity. Daily meditation can help you perform better at work! Research found that meditation helps increase your focus and attention and improves your ability to multitask. Meditation helps clear our minds and focus on the present moment – which gives you a huge productivity boost.

Meditation develops various regions of your brain Your brain develops through neural connections. Neurons, the information processing cells in your brain, connect to make neural pathways, which are responsible for your thoughts, sensations, feelings and actions. This same process happens when you meditate.

During calmness, the body feels light, airy, flexible, and supple. Some mellow warmth spreads from the toes to the head, making the entire body feel peaceful and calm. At the highest point of meditation, the body is fully relaxed, free from tension and sleepiness.

The first and simplest way to know you’re ‘doing it right’ is to check your own body. If you’re moving around, shifting in your seat or fiddling with something in your hands, you might want to take a moment to settle those things. Some people imagine themselves as a tree or stone that simply stays where it is.

With a daily practice of 10 to 20 minutes, you should see positive results from within a few weeks to a couple of months.

40-45 minutes

Many people anecdotally report feeling jittery or nervous after giving meditation a go. In fact, a 2017 study from Brown University found that 82 percent of meditators experience emotional side effects like fear, panic, anxiety, and paranoia at some point during their practice.

One reason is that there really is something inherently hard in spending time alone with the clutter in our heads. It’s hard to avoid your internal contradictions, long-repressed fears, and incessant need for validation when you’re doing nothing but sitting still observing your breath.

How to clear your mind:

1. Get comfortable. Sit in a comfortable position, as comfortable as you can get.
2. Deep breath in. Take a deep breath in through your nose.
3. Slow breath out.
4. Deep breathing.
5. Eyes Closed.

As you meditate, focus your thoughts on the things that inspire you. This might be articles or books you’ve read, people who you admire or something completely random. Whatever it is, think about why it inspires you and see if it sparks some creativity.

5 Signs You Went Deep Into Meditation

• You forgot that you were meditating.
• You got lost in thought.
• You experience time lapses.
• Your entire body relaxed.
• You had shallow breathing.

First thing’s first: Falling asleep during meditation is an incredibly common occurrence. The same goes for the opposite end of the spectrum: If you veer too far to the focus side of meditation, you’ll typically feel a little tense. It can be really hard to find the perfect balance between focus and relaxation.

It revealed that meditation can cause surprising negative side effects, affecting participants’ emotions, sensory perception, social interaction, sense of self, and more. Some of the study subjects reported hallucinations, panic, a total loss of motivation, and the re-living of traumatic memories.

5-20 minutes is fine as long as you keep a momentum in your practice. An hour is better in most cases. This all assumes you meditate once per day. Many teachers also recommend that you meditate twice per day, once in the morning and once at night.

Popular media and case studies have recently highlighted negative side effects from meditation—increases in depression, anxiety, and even psychosis or mania—but few studies have looked at the issue in depth across large numbers of people.

When the Bible mentions meditation, it often mentions obedience in the next breath. An example is the Book of Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

Be Direct: Ask For What You Want

1. Get Quiet. Begin by sitting in a posture as for meditation.
2. Greet and Offer Praise. Spend a moment or two setting the stage with a prayer of invocation or praise, or an offering of gratitude.
3. Speak Your Truth.
4. Connect.
5. Make a request.
6. Let Go.
7. Immerse Yourself in the Sacred.

Christian yogis may find, however, that yoga changes their beliefs. Holy Yoga has certified over 1,700 Christian instructors. Christians who initially intend to worship Jesus through yoga may gravitate toward other religious and spiritual traditions.

‘ The goal of meditating and ‘worship’ (‘ibāda) for Muslims is to remember God, the Sustainer, Creator, and Caretaker of all existence. In traditional Islam, the knowledge pertaining to this meditative practice is ‘Iḥsān,’ or ‘Spiritual Excellence,’ which has been the preserve of Tasawwuf, or ‘Sufism.