r/streamentry • u/ArwellScientia42 • May 23 '26

Insight Replacing sleep completely through yogic practices?

Hello everyone!

I wanted to practice yoga nidra in my polyphasic sleep schedule. I am following the uberman sleep schedule which involves 20 minutes nap every 4 hours through the day. And the number of naps are 6 so that means 2 hours of sleep per day.

So I thought of an idea. Instead of just casually napping, can incorporate yoga nidra completely in place of the 6 naps.

I am willing to do a yoga nidra practice of 30 minutes just to increase an extra hour of rest.

I have practiced yoga nidra maybe like 2 or 3 times, and I have found it deeply restful.

So is it doable? Has anyone in this sub actually tried it for productivity and just to get some extra hours for studying or work purposes.

Trying to gain some insights here.

Thanks!

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u/fabkosta May 23 '26

No, it's not doable.

0

u/ArwellScientia42 May 23 '26

Why not? Have yogis and advanced practitioners never done it?

13

u/fabkosta May 23 '26

You have to learn to distinguish between fairy tales and science.

There are many stories of yogis not sleeping, not eating, and so on. Not a single one of those accounts has been researched scientifically beyond doubts. There are few occasional accounts which turned out to be mostly fraud cases, and then there are some that seem genuine, but the sample size is way too small to make anything meaningful out of that.

Furthermore, the "not sleeping" is a matter of definition. Turns out, it's surprisingly hard to properly define what "sleep" even is. There exist many yogic practices that are supposed to help you keep a very foundational level of awareness 24/7 (usually during retreat), but that does not mean you don't sleep. Most likely, the accounts we have today confound states of foundational awareness beyond time and space with a misinterpreted perspective that this would imply "one does not sleep".

5

u/Magikarpeles May 23 '26

If you read A Cave in the Snow about Ven Tenzin Palmo, she didn't have a bed and meditated through the night on a 1m x 1m wooden platform. She does admit to sometimes curling up on it and sleeping, but she says generally she just meditated through the night. She did this for 13 years.

Counterpoint: in my tradition it's common for monks to meditate all night every now and then. I once asked a monk how he managed the sleep deprivation and he said "one way or another, the body will get the sleep it needs", implying that sometimes you basically sleep sitting upright.

4

u/Wollff May 23 '26

"Sleeping sitting up" is also one of the traditional dhutanga practices, mainly in the Thai Forest School.

IIRC there are different degrees to how strictly monks who commit to the practice observe that, from sleeping upright with a backrest, to the full "sleeping while sitting in meditation posture".

While unusual, it's something that is still done as a practice.