CHAPTER 4: Why Sleep Is Important

Although “sleep” and “dreams” are different concepts, the importance of sleep is worth discussing, especially since abstinence from sleep (as well as food and water) has recently become fashionable. While the outcome of an experiment depends on the conditions under which it is performed, experience shows that practically no one can go without sleep for long, regardless of the conditions.

The fact is that science has not yet studied sleep and dreams extensively enough for us to know exactly what functions sleep performs. We only know that certain biological processes are activated in the body during sleep and that brain wave frequency changes. However, this scientific data is limited, so we have to look to various esoteric sources for more information. While some sources provide varying information, many agree that, while the physical body rests from active participation in the “illusion,” a connection is formed between the conscious mind and the rest of creation during sleep. In our usual waking state, this connection is hidden from us by a “veil” that divides our world into “conscious” and “unconscious,” or physical and metaphysical. In other words, during sleep, human consciousness merges with creation, with the Source, with Unity. This merging is immense power, and depriving oneself of it is foolish and destructive.

“The activity of dreaming is an activity in which there is made a finely wrought and excellently fashioned bridge from conscious to unconscious. In this state the various distortions which have occurred in the energy web of the body complex, due to the misprecision with which energy influxes have been received, are healed. With the proper amount of dreaming comes the healing of these distortions. Continued lack of this possibility can cause seriously distorted mind/body/spirit complexes [human beings].”
(The Law of One, Session 86)

Of course, a person’s lifestyle plays a significant role in determining the “proper amount of dreaming”. If someone spends several hours a day meditating, for example, this state can replace some of the sleep they’re missing. However, for someone who lives a typical city life and whose brainwave frequency is mostly in the high beta range during the day, only occasionally dropping to the quieter alpha range, for such people depriving themselves of sleep—when brainwaves drop from alpha to theta, etc.—is unwise. Because it is during these “dreaming” frequencies of brain activity that the aforementioned bridge is created between a person’s conscious mind and the vast area of consciousness beyond it. This is a vital process during which blockages and distortions in energy flow, which occurred during the day in response to certain catalyzing events, are diagnosed and healed.

We need to take a small step aside here. We will be referring to the concepts of energy and energy blockages frequently in this book. Understanding that all of this reality is nothing but energy organized into various patterns is a fundamental principle for any serious healing and self-healing work. This includes dream work.

Nowadays, the idea that energy underlies this material world is no longer rejected by science. Numerous scientific experiments demonstrate the connection between consciousness and reality, or the immaterial and the material. Albert Einstein’s famous equation, E = mc², mathematically expresses the relationship between matter and energy. Therefore, the idea that everything in the world is energy is not confined to philosophy or esotericism; rather, it is physics. Now, after this brief detour for skeptics and science-only believers, let us return to our topic, which science has not yet explored.

Clearly, sleep alone is not enough to fully restore disturbed energy in the body and heal it. Otherwise, everyone would wake up completely healthy every morning. Long-term energy unblocking is a process that takes time. It requires a person to make a conscious effort over time. Even if we assume that a night’s sleep (or a healer) could remove a blockage, then the patient’s unresolved psychological traumas, personality distortions, and unfavorable habits that initially caused the blockage would bring it back the next day. This means that a person who wants to be truly healed must consciously identify the unhealthy mental and emotional patterns and traumas that block the healthy flow of energy, and then heal and transform them to remove the blockage fundamentally and long-term. Therefore, even good, healthy, restorative sleep alone is not enough.

This is where another component of the dreaming process comes into play: the visions we receive when our consciousness merges through a “bridge” with the super-consciousness and receives information from there. Dreams can reveal the nature of energy blockages and how to work with them. They can also bring information, that has been blocked, to the surface of the conscious mind, where it can be re-examined and worked through. Dreams can educate and warn, frighten and entertain, relax and train, and much more. In essence, dreams manifest in diverse forms, serving a myriad of purposes. While it is not possible to portray them in full, we will address them in the subsequent chapter.

Author: Margarita Alsaker ©2025
(from the book “Living the Dream Yoga: Physical & Metaphysical in One Yoke”