Today’s Yoga Challenge topic is: Sleep.
Here’s the scenario: You can only come to 6 AM yoga due to your schedule, but when the alarm goes off you’re exhausted because you only got 4 or 5 hours sleep.
What do you do?
Some scenarios:
You don’t even hear the alarm, so you never make it to class.
Or,
You do drag your sorry ass out of bed and get to class, but then walk around like a zombie the rest of the day.
So what’s the answer?
You want to know what I think?
Your discipline is not getting up, it’s getting down. Into the covers. At a reasonable hour. It’s all about what you do the night before. The discipline does not involve getting up. The discipline involves going to bed. Early.
So if your alarm rings and you’ve only gotten 5 or fewer hours sleep, admit defeat and don’t get up. Sleep in.
Because sleep is the key to happiness, equanimity, beauty, and compassion.
Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, is a one-way ticket to hell. When you are sleep deprived the world is an ugly place filled with monsters and gargoyles and wicked witches and flying monkeys. Everyone has it in for you. You get a flat tire, spill your coffee on your best pants, trip on the steps and sprain your ankle, and bounce a check.
Because when you are sleep deprived the world is just a gauntlet of pain. When you’ve only had 4 hours sleep, there are jagged edges around the perimeters of the day ready to slash you to ribbons if you so much as look at them.
Am I right about this?? Am I right??
So if you want to come to early class, resolve go to bed in time to allow for no less than 7 hours sleep, (hopefully more.)
The discipline is the going to bed early, not the waking up early.
And on that note,
Good night.
Inspiration Location 
Kathleen:
I love your delicious sense of humor. You are such a fabulous writer and a wise soul. Thanks so much.
I could not agree with you more, but I lack the skill to write such a lovely blog post about it.
Sleep is a basic necessity, folks, don’t neglect it.
And it can only worsen if you have insomnia like I do. I figured out a way to deal with insomnia.
A nightly ritual helps. Take a shower and slip into loose, comfortable clothes. Brush your teeth. Drink a glass of water. And then meditate on a mantra. Just keep on chanting it, again and again.
I go to sleep before my head touches the pillow and I sleep like a baby. And I wake up feeling refreshed and raring to go for the day. Try it?
Taking a short nap in the afternoon also helps me to rejuvenate. I feel like a new person after waking up. It’s great to know there are people out there who are sailing in the same boat. Cheers!
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Amen.
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Kath! You are BRILLIANT! I need to reverse my thinking like this! So So So True!!!
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Comment 1,000?!? Did I just make Comment 1,000?!? I’m seeing that in the browser window at the top!!! Holy Cosmoly!!! Do I win something for this?!? A Willy Wonka Chocolate Bar, perhaps??? Or, maybe just a good night’s sleep?!? … yes, yes, THAT is what I have been getting since April 1st due to the Yoga Challenge!!! Thanks my dear Yogamama!!!
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Kath, you are brilliant. Can I post a link on FB for my fellow sleep-deprived mama friends to read this? I think Mark-Daniel would also love to pass it out to his highschoolers, many of whom are up on FB, etc., until the wee hours and then complain the next day how tired they are.
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Jennifer, Of course! Post away! And I got my present!! Love it! Love YOU!! It is on my Buddha shrine right now. Kisses!
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DAY 15!!!! HALF-WAY!!!! HURRAY HURRAY!!!! I’ve been so hopeful to get here … & … here we are! Yahoooooo!!!!
April 15th … 15th day straight – and twisted!!! This morn, I did 20 minutes, facing East, candle lit as the sun was not up yet. Was a little sleepy & humdrum at first and then I thought, “Holy cosmoly! This is DAY 15!!! I need to PERK UP!!!” Then, tonight, at sunset, facing West, I honored the half-way-day with 30 glorious, luscious minutes. (Actually, I warmed-up for 5 min. prior to this in the flat-on-back-on-couch-with-purring-cat-on-chest-legs-open-birthing-sunset pose.)
I truly have not been this consistent with anything healthy in eons … so this is a joyous day!!! Thanks Kath!!! 🙂
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amen. I do believe my mind told my body unconsciously to keep sleeping on Monday when my alarm sounded I rolled over and waved goodnight to the sensor on my alarm then went back to snuggling my furry friend Cleo a few hours longer…
sleep is truly precious and if the consciousness drifts so far off while in Savasana that you fall asleep you are probably physically and mentally fatigued! Savasana can reduce fatigue but not make up for the lack of sleep the body needs!
zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz
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