Sleep Issues & Spirituality: 5 Reflections From My Journey

It never occurred to me to write about sleep issues and their correlation with spirituality until a kind reader, Blake, prompted me with his questions. This post is a dedication to him, and everyone else who is curious to understand how the two subjects overlap.

Of course, there are many reasons why you could be experiencing sleep issues, which science explains with great depth and complexity. For instance, the book Why We Sleep is a great resource to dive into the understanding of our biological needs for sleep. There’s also chemical imbalance (such as low levels of iron, especially if someone is pregnant!) which we should strive to rule out before anything else.

However, if you’ve looked at those avenues already, let’s explore the idea that your sleep patterns may have a common denominator for where you are in your spiritual journey.

#1 – A lack of sleep is directly associated with how energy moves through the body.

We have two kinds of energy designated to us on Earth – mental and physical.

These energy types depend on the type of soul contract we have opted for. For example, someone fulfilling the role of a labor-intensive human, like a farmer or construction worker, might naturally come with a bigger stock of physical energy. On the other hand, perhaps you’re like me and spend a lot of time behind screens, are more likely equipped with more mental energy. So, the distribution will vary from individual to individual.

And when we don’t exhaust our daily ‘quotient’, being restless is very common.

I have seen this happen personally too, where even years after my awakening, and working towards my purpose, I still had energy buzzing inside of me at the end of every day.

My mind would be exhausted, but I would toss and turn in bed.

It only became better when I learned about these two distinct energy types that we are required to spend, and I made it a regular practice to maximize the use of my physical energy every single day.

So, if you are having sleep issues yourself, see what you aren’t balancing, and then consciously try exhausting both energy types before bedtime. Find a form of movement that works for you and doesn’t feel like effort so you can keep up with it even when your mind doesn’t feel like it.

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#2 – Sleeping a lot, or very little, might have a spiritual meaning too.

Sometimes, the opposite of the previous point happens to people who sleep a LOT. And there are two causes that I am aware of:

The first is that, alongside completing our tasks on Earth, the soul may work in other realms while we sleep, to ascend faster. When you read profound books like Journey of Souls, you learn more about the evidence of this and how our soul has multiple lessons that it works through in parallel.

However, in contrast to the soul working in other dimensions for its growth, the other reason you could be sleeping a lot is that you might be rapidly ascending in your journey, which is taking a toll on the physical body. It’s normal to experience a lot of fatigue and exhaustion from all the healing you are undergoing in such a short span of time! This is also why I often talk about the importance of knowing your window of tolerance (nervous system lingo), and not pushing your physical body just because your mind thinks you should be healing faster.

Either way, know that it isn’t a pure coincidence, neither are you “missing out” on life – you are still healing in your sleep. I’ll be sharing more examples of exactly how that is in the next point.

In other cases where people feel themselves constantly waking up through the night, or getting little to no sleep, our soul may have been trying to get us to work here, in this lifetime, with more involvement.

As a result, your higher self could be declining sleep.

My experience is that as you awaken and align to your higher calling, your sleep should get better. Back in the day when the blog had just started, the Universe would stir me awake at odd hours to get my attention to write about one thing or the other!

Even if you don’t sleep more, you should sleep more peacefully. So if something is keeping you up at night, don’t try to push it back down anymore. Work with it!

Here’s a free, step-by-step tool I’ve created to help you find your higher calling.

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#3 – You are still healing in your sleep.

I’ve always been a vivid dreamer and maybe once every few years, I would have a prophetic dream. But I didn’t take them very seriously. However, there’s so much we’re missing if we don’t know about the spiritual power of dreams. For instance, in my initial year of awakening, my soul guides would often use the sleep state to send me guidance through my dreams.

Similarly, sometimes, you might see glimpses from a previous lifetime, or heal old karmic debts with your past relationships while you’re sleeping. But typically, we might not always understand how we are healing. This is because the information that is not relevant to this lifetime is omitted from us. Just like the amnesia we have for our past lives.

I go into the depths of this in my Dream Alchemy masterclass, in case you’re looking to go down that metaphysical rabbit hole:

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#4 – You can significantly improve the quality of sleep through various spiritual practices.

I briefly told you how butchered my sleep was, but what worked for me right off the bat was meditation. I used to doze off at night while meditating on one of the binaural beats or Celtic songs on YouTube. And I would wake up better rested, less overwhelmed by my dreams.

There are innumerable benefits of meditation already spoken of across the internet! But speaking firsthand – meditation definitely does support your sleep by helping you process old thoughts and creating space for clarity in the conscious state.

A lot of people also enjoy listening to Yoga Nidra meditations on Youtube, which you can consider trying too.

The point of meditation to better sleep is that when you do finally sleep, your mind has less to deal with because it has consciously processed some of the pervasive thoughts.

If you haven’t already found out how to create a meditation practice that works for you, don’t sweat it. You can also try these other spiritual practices to help you quieten the mind, that are not meditation.

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#5 – The transition into sleep (hypnogogic state) can also be used for healing.

When someone is new to meditation, it can be difficult to stay awake for long periods. While it can seem like that person is not made for meditation, the truth is that it’s about building our muscles to enter the gate to our subconscious mind.

So if you’re quick to become sleepy, know that there’s nothing bad about that – in fact here’s how you can heal even then.

The state right before we fall into light sleep is called Hypnagogic State. In this phase, our logical brain begins to quieten and we are more receptive to anything we hear.

Using positive affirmations in this state can really help you bypass the overactive logical mind, and reap rewards for pretty much anything: from confidence building to healing your body. Even manifesting more money!

If you’re new to the world of using affirmations, I highly encourage you to read the book Power of Your Subconscious Mind which beautifully explains how using affirmations when you’re drowsy, right before bed, can help you change your life. And if you find your affirmations NOT working, here’s my in-depth article with tips to help you unblock the true potential of these positive statements.

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BONUS Lesson as a New Mom

If sleep was an issue during pregnancy, it became a nightmare (essentially non-existent) once baby Urvi arrived. I was always on edge, and even when she slept, I’d barely be able to relax for 5 minutes before waking up again. These power naps felt refreshing, but started putting my chemicals out of balance. And with this, kicked in extreme anxiety. 

I am grateful to have had years of training and self-coaching to have continued doing my inner work every single day. One night, I struggled to sleep even though my kiddo had consistently started having 2-3 hour stretches of sleep. I started crying: my body wanted to shut down, but my brain would just not let go.

So, I got up and went next door to sit by myself.

I realized: trying to clock 8 hours every day (and never hitting that number) was draining me. I had been “tracking” and never reaching that desired outcome.

Just like “income goals” gave me more anxiety than motivation, so did “sleep goals”.

I realized full nights of sleep were also a part of my old identity and that was no longer here – it was time to let go. It was time to embrace this magnificent mom body that was biologically designed to wake up every 3 hours and feed its baby. In this way, the lesson was to recognize how my identity had shifted with respect to sleeping and allowing myself to work with the new rythem of my body, versus trying to cling onto the old one.

With all these insights, the release happened. First, a lot of crying, and then clarity and peace. The internal alarm that had been constantly creating anxiety finally shut down. I could hear the silence of the night, with the occasional car passing by outside.

That night, I, too, finally fell asleep next to my snoring baby and husband. The bear family, as I lovingly call us, finally got some rest.

Here’s what I know now, as my latest revelation as a new mom: our relationship (physically and spiritually) with sleep, just like all other things, is constantly evolving. What if you also leaned in with curiosity to see where your sleep issues may actually be serving a deeper purpose for your physical and spiritual journey?

Concluding Thoughts

I hope looking at all those pictures of sleep helped induce some for you! And at the same time, this article ‘awakened’ you with new insights.

Over the years of exploring the different effects of a spiritual awakening, I often notice that sleep issues and spirituality are closely linked. And for many people, simply being more aligned with their true nature has taken these issues away.

What other observations have you made that could help other readers understand their sleep issues in the context of spirituality? Do share in the comments below!

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