Rest

The body needs rest. More than that the body's energy system needs rest. It is not enough to sleep! The quality of the sleep has a profound effect on whether or not we really achieve a state of rest.

Dreams are wonderful aren't they? I sometimes see our cats napping and twitching and wonder what they are dreaming about. But some dreams can be stressful. Nightmares can shake the body's energy system up. And then no amount of sleep is really rest.

We can use our imagination to go to bed in a positive state that will induce rest. As a child I used to suffer from nightmares which I cured by the time I was 11 by imagining a white dog very vividly. I would go to bed and imagine him walking down our street in Bombay and after about 20 minutes he would come to me. The white dog was my imaginary friend and I have slept restfully ever since I conjured him in my mind.

When I am not fully happy, content, and cheerful at bedtime, as happened recently with the terror attacks on my beloved Mumbai, I invite the white dog back. He walks down the streets of Berkeley taking his time, examining life around him with wisdom and compassion and by the time he gets to me I am fast asleep.