However, conscious sleep is possible in non-REM sleep as well. In fact, in Eastern meditation traditions, conscious sleep is taught as a way to maintain self-awareness, but without being aware of the body or environment, during deep non-dream sleep, Teitelbaum explains over email. According to a review1 published in the journal Progress in Brain Research, the concept of conscious sleep was highlighted by Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. The couple teamed up with the Indian master of yoga meditation Swāmī Rāma at the time, to further explore how a person could find themselves in their deepest, non-REM sleep but still have a sharp awareness of their surroundings. From the yogi’s perspective, conscious sleep was (and still is) considered to be a form of deep meditation that teaches those who practice how to sustain their meditative state, regardless of what’s happening in the world around them. Next, focus on ridding yourself of any psychological clutter clouding your mind. According to CEO and founder of YogaFit Beth Shaw, without any mental blockage, your mind is able to wander toward a higher awareness of your physical and emotional bodies. By quieting the mind, calming the body, and entering a deeper inner peace and mental state, you are able to succumb to a complete physiological and psychological reset “Within this relaxed mental state, you will find you are more in control over your thoughts, allowing them to pass as you focus on your breath until you drift off into a non-REM conscious state of sleep,” Shaw tells mbg. “It is in this state of sleep where we can become one with our inner selves.” For example, Teitelbaum tells mbg that the process of conscious sleep can be worthwhile as it gives you the opportunity to break out of your daytime point of view. “This can dramatically expand our awareness,” he says, “and help us to not take things too seriously in life.” For Sadhguru, conscious sleep invites you to become your best self. “When we are awake, we are conscious, but our energies are involved and engaged in many things. We have to sit up, we have to speak, we have to do some work, we have to do something else,” Sadhguru writes on the subject. “But if I sleep consciously, my energies are completely consolidated, and I am still conscious—that means I am at my peak performance level.”
