SLEEP: A CREATIVE MUSE
Yogi Shereen Daver on the creative power of great sleep.
If someone had told a younger me that a third of my life would be spent asleep and used to unconsciously converse with creativity, I’d have willingly gone to sleep earlier every night. Drawing, art, and music were my loves. In fact, they still are. Yet accolades and reward for not needing much sleep encouraged me to be “always on” and sleep very little.
Never fully appreciating the natural benefits of sleep on the creative mind, the closest manifestation of this osmosis was when I had to commit something to memory. Placing revision notes, speeches or drawings under my pillow the night before an event, in the hope that the knowledge would seep into my mind. My belief in this ritual, the shift of perception and the magic of it continues to this day.
There is creative power in the vulnerability of sleep. This genius was not revealed to me until reading the research of mind craftsmen like Wagner, Paller & Voss, Cai and C.G. Jung. They explain that as we sleep, specifically during REM, our brain is activated and memory structures form new connections. Once these links are made the mind becomes an incubator for creativity, said to inspire creative insight.
They speak of a world where the unconscious dwells, sharing its wants, wills and desires. A place were fantastical imaginings and thoughts that cannot be controlled reside. Here, repressed instincts and thoughts influence the conscious mind. A magical realm where the unconscious and conscious mingles and meets, inspiring us to create something new in the world.
In discovering the creative guidance and solutions that can come from sleep, it struck me that this is one way to deeply nurture ourselves. That sleep requires self-compassion. Finding the time to sleep, so as to connect deeply with ourselves. In doing so we can free those big creative thoughts, and wake from sleep with renewed curiosity and purpose.
6 ways to nurture the creative musings of sleep
1. Focus on the Breath – Look up Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 Breathing Technique. It will help you achieve a state of relaxation towards sleeping well.
2. Find the inner Yogi - Experience a Jivamukti Yoga Class, a vigorous, rounded (physical, spiritual and ethical) practice, connecting body and breath.
3. Go into the Body – Try the ancient practice of yoga nidra, known as yogic sleep. A powerful deep relaxation.
4. Know nothing is left behind - Don’t hold onto the creative problem, let it go. The solution will come back, in a different way from before.
5. Believe in magic & mystery - Write down the creative question before sleeping. Upon waking, write what has come into your head. Even gibberish leads us to where we need to go.
6. Put it under the pillow – After reading them, place those notes, speeches, sketches, information to commit them to memory under the pillow. Let the unconscious do its work.
