47. Sleep Secrets: Understanding Sleep & Dreams

In this episode of Spiritually Hungry, Monica and Michael explore sleep and dreams from a kabbalistic perspective, which explains that true rest not only rejuvenates the mind and body but also elevates and cleanses the soul. Listen as they expound upon the spiritual journey our souls experience when we sleep and share tools for entering into sleep with consciousness, showing us profound insights in our dreams and recharging us with blessings for the following day.

Transcript

Why do we need to sleep? Because our soul needs a reprieve. Where the soul ascends to, How restful and regenerative it is, At least spiritually, How significant the messages that we receive, They all come back to what the day before was like. And also, Yes, How consciously we entered into sleep. Well, You get revelations I don't think you can get in waking state. I mean, I've woken up from dreams and have, You know, Profound answers to things in a dream, Right? And you're like, This was the message and it becomes so incredibly clear and that explains why. It's usually the first thing that we forego, Right? We'll say, Okay, You know, That I hate that saying, I'll sleep when I die. I mean, It's like, No, This actually needs to be a priority. Well, Matthew Walker in Why We Sleep says, It's actually a very ironic and sad statement because unfortunately lack of sleep actually precipitates all kinds of diseases and even death. Welcome to Spiritually Hungry Podcast, Episode 47. Sleepy? No. How cute. You're trying to be theatrical. Exactly. So as Mike tried to- What are we talking about today? Hint. Hint exactly. We're going to be speaking about sleep and all things related. I'm very excited. I started taking sleep more seriously a couple of decades ago now. I mean, I took it seriously, But I didn't actually really change my ways until probably five years ago or four. And every now and again, You know, I kind of want to slip into old patterns and then I forced myself to go to sleep. Although last night it wasn't that successful. So we're going to talk about sleep, As we said, But I want to talk about what happens on a physiological level, What happens to our brains, And then of course the spiritual standpoint as well. So I think it's not a secret that when we lose sleep and we deprive ourselves of sleep, It affects our moods. You know that firsthand from living with me. And- I never noticed. We have self-regulatory problems, Memory, Cognition, Attention. We make mistakes driving. Huge disasters happen because of lack of sleep. I find it interesting too, Your thought about this that doctors, When they're in residency, They are exhausted and I guess they're earning their stripes so to speak. But imagine, You know- Being their patient. Yeah, Exactly. How many mistakes must happen because they're very sleep deprived. And also, You know, As a mother of four, Moms actually lose statistically up to four years of sleeping time in the first six months to two years of a child's life. That's a lot of sleep. That's lost. You lost some too because you're a good husband. So sleep is imperative to a healthy life and the definition actually, Because I always like to look up, I mean, Obviously we know what sleep means, But Merriam-Webster says, It's the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored. And so some bizarre things happen when you're sleeping. One, You become paralyzed, Which, You know, Could be terrifying. I've ever had sleep paralysis during a nap. That was like the last time I took a nap was 1990. I actually enjoy it. I did not like that. My brain was like, Why can't I move? I want to get up now. And I'm like saying arm, Arm, Move. And nothing's happening. I really, It was like the last time I took a nap. So basically your brain temporarily suspends all motor functions partially. So the body can focus on restoring, But also for your safety, Because if not, We could physically harm ourselves and others, Right? If you're having a nightmare, You know, Like sometimes when I kick you and slap you in the night. Yes, I've noticed. The digestive system, You are sleeping. Yeah, Sleeping. I mean, I usually am, But then when I wake up, I'm not sure exactly when I tell myself to stop, But just kidding. The digestive system takes a break, Slowing down our metabolism and kidney functions. So that's why it's important not to eat too closely to bedtime. And in fact, When you do eat too closely to bedtime, Your metabolism metabolism has been slowed down for the entire next day. And eventually it's just a slower metabolism. Your breathing slows and your throat muscles narrow. I thought you would find this really interesting, Michael, Because this helps regulate the body while sleeping and it also causes snoring and sleep apnea. Well, I don't snore. Oh, Remember I recorded you and played it back for you. I actually do remember that. Yes, Proof. And then you needed that. So, But that's why it happens because your throat muscles narrow and it causes that. I thought that was very interesting. And during sleep, Many of our hormones get to work repairing everything from muscles and bones to our immune system. These hormones inhibit the stress hormone cortisol as well as our insulin production. And that's why those of us getting less than six hours of sleep a night or higher risk for type two diabetes. I love, You know, I love everything with the body. I remember that book that a friend gave me years ago, Lights out and it terrified me so much because basically in essence it was saying because of lack of sleep is the reason for every disease that there is. And I remember I was jet lagged when this good friend gave me this book. I was in London and it was like four in the morning and I'm like, I got to sleep. I threw the book across the room. I was scared and angry. So, You know, And it's also interesting because if you look at animals too, Right, Have you ever thought some animals look like they never sleep, But all sentient beings on earth need rest. Dolphins, For example, I thought this was fascinating, Utilize two opposing brain functions at once. One half of the brain puts to sleep areas that are not being used while the other half stays focused on migrating, Hunting or main meeting. I think sometimes people do this when they're having a conversation with others. Quite honestly, Giraffes have a tough time physically resting because of their next, Um, But they'll sleep standing for five to 15 minutes at a time throughout the day. That sounds exhausting though. Other animals like deer and horses sleep cyclically throughout the day, Keeping their eyes open. Even fish go into physical rest similar to sleep. They can't close their eyes because they don't have, What is it, Michael? What did you say? There you go. So they basically swim at a slower pace. Um, So basically my point is everything and everybody has a system for restoration and repair. And then I also want to go into what the brain does. I, And I thought this was fascinating also. We consolidate memories while we're asleep, Especially procedural, Like learning how to do some things. When we go to sleep, Our brain locks that in. And funnily enough, The brain also clears out things. So the clearing house is a way that our memory is able to, The brain's really concerned with keeping the things for our survival, Right? And all the other things that we don't need kind of like leave at the night. And that's why if you're going to cram for an exam or a lecture or whatever it is, It's better to do in the morning because at night your brain goes to this clearing house. And then of course we're going to get to sleep from a spiritual standpoint. I just want to touch upon that quickly and I'm sure you have a lot of thoughts on it. Um, And then I want to do a lot of unpacking very deeply a little bit later, But just generally we know couple of stickly that sleep is the closest we'll ever get to death outside of illness or accident. And it happens every single night. The Talmud explains that during sleep, Only one sixtieth of our soul is present in our body. Our soul goes to the upper world to rejuvenate. And our body uses this time for deep rest and repair and renewal. According to Kabbalah, The soul's essential powers are in fact strengthened and more apparent while one is asleep because it's united with the source from above. So I do want to unpack that later, But what are your thoughts, Michael? You're really good about sleeping too. I mean, Catching up is that you don't sleep. You have odd hours, But I feel like you, You're going to take care of yourself in that way. Well, Interestingly, You know, Even from a scientific perspective, It really is only recent science that has discovered the necessity and the importance of sleep. Really? How recently? The past, You know, Really probably the last 70 years, 80 years. Um, It's not really recently, But well, Yes. Um, And even for myself, You know, There is a lot of, Um, Important, Um, Importance for instance, Kabbalah's like to wake up in the middle of the night and study. There are very important times, But, And I have to say that for the most, Most of my life, I did not give, You know, Very much importance to, To the, To sleep, But in reality, Both physically and certainly spiritually is great importance to, To sleep. And I'd like to touch upon the- Well, Do you want to just share why it's important to wake up in the middle of the night to study? So I don't think most people- Yes. Well, Because there's different times of day, Have different types of energy. The time from after midnight until sunrise are seen as times that are most opportune to attain wisdom and understanding. One of the simple reasons for that is because there are less people awake, Less people therefore means less static spiritually. Um, As a matter of fact, Actually I was having this conversation, Maybe it was with you or with somebody in the world, Actually walking the other day that being awake past midnight and doing, Let's say negative things is actually much worse than being awake during the day and doing negative things because it's this very special time after midnight and before sunrise. But isn't it also that there's different energy available at those times? So, Right. But why is that? Is it because there's different angels or negative or positive or what's actually happening? Well, One of the things that the Zora teaches is that as night falls, There are negative energies that become awakened. And one of the important reasons we, And maybe it's a good time to talk about, Consciously falling asleep. So most of us, I think when we fall asleep, We just fall asleep. We don't, You know, We're hopefully we're tired and we just fall asleep. But the Zora says that there's actually a spiritual, It's not that complicated, But a spiritual meditation that one should have before they go to sleep. And the idea is that when we fall asleep, And let me take a step back, Why is sleep important spiritually? During the waking hours, We are in this physical world. Now the reality is, And this is both spiritual but also science supports this idea that we live in a world of illusion. So much of what we see, So much of what becomes important to us, It's not real. It's a lie or lies that have become an unconscious part of us because we live in this physical world. Our ego, What we call it, Decided to receive for the self alone, Becomes very strong and and buys into the lies of this world. I mean, You know, In the simplest level, The fact that we care what other people think about us, That is not truth. That is a lie. But living in this world where all the stimuli and knowledge that comes into our mind tells us, Oh, It's important when people think about you, Even if we try to disregard that, We become overwhelmed. So if we understand that the soul in its purest form, Our essence in its purest form, Is not of this world. As a matter of fact, The illusionary reality of this world is the exact opposite of a spiritual awareness. So in order to make sure that there's a chance to once again latch onto truth, The system is set up in such a way where we must sleep. What happens when we sleep? The soul leaves this reality. Goes back to the mothership. And goes back, Yes, And goes back to its source, It goes back to truth, To reality. If we did not have to sleep, If we were able to remain awake for a week, For two weeks, We would be so, Most of us would be so overwhelmed by the lie of this physical world, We'd lose all touch with our soul, With our essence, With truth, With our spiritual purpose. Really a person goes mad after three days of not sleeping. Right. And there's a reason, Right? So we always view the physical as an effect of the spiritual. So the spiritual reason for sleep is that it gives us a break from the illusionary lies of this world. Now, Again, I'm not sure we want to go into this now, But in order to fully receive of the gift of sleep, There are a few things you have to do. I also want to ask you, You said that there's a preparation before sleep. Right, Right. That's what I want to get to. Exactly. I want to get there. But I want to first clarify, Which I think this is so important that we realize sleep is not just a physical imperative. Like a physical need and a demand of the body. It's more a demand of the soul. Exactly. And spiritually, We always understand that the spiritual causes is the cause for the physical reality. So while it is true that the physical body needs rest and sleep and all the processes that it goes through sleep, The real cause and root of why we need sleep is because the soul could not handle staying in this world uninterrupted forever. So sleep is a reprieve for the soul, Really. The body holds the soul down. I mean, We talked about this when we did our reincarnation episode, Right? The soul's natural desire and state isn't to stay in the body anyway. Right, Right. So sleep, So at sleep, Exactly. The soul is allowed, For the most part of the world, Leaves, You know, The Zoro- in the Aramaic words are, Kista de chayuta, Which means a piece of life of the soul remains in the body. That's the difference between death and sleep. Is that in sleep, A part of the soul remains in the body that calls back the soul in the morning. Right. I wanted to bring that up later, But we're here now. It's the small percentage of the soul. Could you equate how much that is? Well, You said before that the Tsar and the sages speak of sleep as a taste of death or one sixtieth of death. Or a whisper of death, Right? Yeah, Exactly. So it represents, Again, Depending- it's a little bit more detailed than this part, But the most basic or lowest part of our soul is what remains in the body. So this is where we begin our understanding. Why do we need to sleep? Because our soul needs a reprieve. And if we lived without sleep, Which means we lived uninterrupted in this illusionary slash reality of the physical world, We would lose complete touch with our source, With our essence. And therefore the necessity for sleep is first and foremost a spiritual necessity. Once you accept that, It also gives us, I think, And we know consciousness is so important, Excitement towards the possibility of what happens when we sleep, Which then brings us to the Tsar making it clear that one should enter into sleep consciously. There's one verse that the Tsar uses as a foundational meditation. For entering into spiritual sleep. The verse is, Be yadcha afkid ruhi. It's really just three words, Which means in your hands, I rest or I put my soul. Because when we go to sleep and the soul exits the body, There are many forces that it could get lost in. And that's why often we have lost in. And that's why often a person could be in bed for six hours, For eight hours, And wake up not rested. There are physical reasons for that as well. But spiritually, If the soul does not ascend peacefully, Then it does not get the reprieve we spoke of before. As a matter of fact, When a person sleeps and is not really awakening the spiritual purpose of sleep with the consciousness that the Tsar speaks about, That we're speaking about, Then he or she can actually wake up more exhausted than when they went to sleep. So the meditation is before we fall asleep, Before we're going to sleep, Is we consciously ask that our soul be put in, It's called the hands of the creator. What it means is in that resting place, Which is the totality of light. So that it's almost like now today we have electrical vehicles. When it's run out of energy, You have to connect it back into electricity to recharge the battery. That is what can happen, Does not always happen in sleep, But that's what the Tsar says you have to consciously. And this is a very practical and an important meditation for every single person to have every single night. The Tsar says, Again, Because if you don't do this, And not to scare our listeners, If you don't do this, The soul can go in other places, Places that are not regenerative, Places that do not recharge our soul. Is that connected to nightmares? Also, Of course, Of course. So those three words, Be'yadcha afgit ruchi, Which literally translated as in your hand, I rest or I deposit my soul. So even if a person just says it in English, They think it- In English, Yeah, It's powerful in the original be'yadcha afgit ruchi, But it's also more importantly is the consciousness. That as I go to sleep, I ask that my soul find its resting place amongst the light of the creator and receive its regeneration, Receive its recharge, Receive its reconnection to truth and to light. Because again, If we view sleep's main purpose is to give us a reprieve from the lies of this world that we buy into by dint of living here, It's important that we consciously ask as we fall asleep that our soul does not remain in what we call the lower levels or in places of lies or darkness, But rather ascends to a place of light. I just want to add one more thing before we move on is that when we wake up, The Kabbalists teach that those first moments, Those first waking moments are very important as well. So if you bookend sleep with the meditation or the consciousness you must have, You should have before you go to sleep, There's also an important consciousness that you should have in the first waking moments. How you enter it and how you exit it is very important. Because as the Kabbalists teach, The first few seconds, Moments that one is awake will influence the whole rest of the day. So if a person wakes up and he or she is angry the first second, That's not a great omen as to the way the rest of the day will go because everything goes after the beginning. So therefore, Kabbalistically we say the most important first thought to have is a thought of appreciation. And therefore there's a meditation, There's a prayer that is said, Whereby we give thanks for our soul returning into our body. With all of its faculties. With all of its faculties. And the reason why that's so important is because those first few seconds, Those first few moments of wakefulness will decide how the rest of the day is going to come. And if you begin your day, Not one minute after or five minutes later, A half hour later, The first moment you have conscious wakefulness, You are awakening appreciation for your soul's return for life renewed, Then that really shines onto the rest of the day. It's like the seed for your day. Exactly. Exactly. So the meditation before we sleep is the seed for the sleep, For the night. And the meditation that we have with the consciousness that we have when we wake up is the seed for the day. And those two bookend the perfect spiritual sleep and therefore the recharge that occurs. Also, Isn't it kind of like when you're sleeping, It's going back into the embryonic state, Right? Before you were in a physical body. Right. And we do that again and again. I really do believe it is like, I mean, I made a joke at the beginning, But going back to the mothership where you have renewal and recharge. And I just want to add one more thing from the czar, Which is also really important, That where our soul goes when we sleep is dependent on the day that we live. Yes, That's. So in a day where an individual spend most of the day being selfish. Mean. Mean. Harmful. No matter how much meditation and conscious, Again, I don't want to scare our listeners. You know, We do our best. But I think it's important to be responsible. It's almost to the degree where no matter how much consciousness you have entering into sleep, You can't really take away the energy you created during the day. And therefore, If you want to have a great sleep, You have to have a great day. And a great day, We mean a day that is at least more outwardly focused, Meaning in caring for others in all the spiritual ways that one can live. If a person, Just to put it in the extreme, If a person lives a day that is filled with selfishness and hurting other people, There's no way that their soul can then ascend and recharge at night, No matter how much consciousness and meditation one has entering into. So if somebody is listening to our podcast at four in the afternoon and they had a horrible day. They still have. But by the way, Horrible, I want to be clear, Just because it was stressful or challenging. No, They acted. Oh, They acted horribly. They acted horribly. So they're supposed to write the night off. No, No, No, No. You still have a few hours. You go to sleep one at nine, Ten. So you better go and balance the scale out by doing positive actions. Exactly. Yeah, I just want to make sure. Exactly. Because, And again, There's a lot to be said here, But the power of sleep is that not only can it be a recharge, It actually allows our soul to elevate to great heights. One of the purposes of sleep, And this is again, Both beautiful and inspiring, Is that we are given, Our soul is given all the wisdom, Direction, Assistance, Blessings that it needs for the next day. So if a person has the proper spiritual sleep, Then he or she will, When they wake up, Feel the wisdom, Support, And then throughout the day, Being able to manifest the blessings that are meant to manifest to them throughout the day. Well, Let me ask you, Are there different grades of dreams? Like for instance, Like a low level dream, Where we dream of something silly. And then sometimes we have visions and other times we feel like we have prophecy. What is that dependent on, Do you think? Well, So certainly there are many levels to dreams. This is again, A whole important topic, But dreams at its lowest levels, There's a phrase, Which literally means dreams are filled with lies. Because on the lowest level, We are dreams, And this is often a way, If you want to try and ascertain whether the dream that you recall is one with truth, One with the message, Is, Was it an effect of your own thoughts? Meaning the lowest level is just, And again, There's scientific reasons for this as well, Which we might get into, When it is an effect of your conscious thoughts of the day before, Then it's most likely not of a significant nature. It's just your brain in some way reminiscing of the day. Your subconscious coming out in a different narrative perhaps with the same feelings of a person, Let's say cheated on their partner, And then they dreamt that night that they were cheated on, Whatever, Or that they were doing that, Then that might be connected to, I mean, Of course it could be, Or connected to a fear that they might have that the partner is cheating in fact, Or they're not. But so it's connected to that. That's the lowest level. And also, Isn't it true that there's different hours of the night that make a dream more powerful? Yes. Yes. Though, Like we said before, Those hours really after midnight before sun, Until three or four, Are depending on the time of year, Are the most significant ones. So the second part of significant or insignificant dreams, More importantly significant dreams, Is that depending on the day and depending on the person. So if a person lived in elevated state, Then their soul ascends to a place of light when they sleep. And the Zara specifically says they are shown truths, Truths of themselves, Of the world, And of things that will come. Isn't there a verse in the Zara that says a person's soul testifies at night about whatever he or she did on that day? Right. So that's related to what everything was saying until now. And this is, Our soul has, Even though we live for however many years, However many months, However many weeks, Each day is seen as an entire entity. So that whatever I am meant to do today, I can only do today. I think we spoke about this in previous podcasts. What I'm meant to do tomorrow, I can only do tomorrow. If I miss the opportunity tomorrow to do it, I can't really do that again. I could do something really important in the third day, But not what I was supposed to do in the day before. So when the Zara speaks about, And it does, That what part of the process that occurs at night is that our soul ascends and gives testimony of our day to the light, To the creator. Right? But it really, It's much more important of the internal aspect. There's a real assessment of the soul. And the reason it's important daily is because the question is how much wisdom am I going to get for tomorrow? How much blessings? But also, Isn't it how many more days you'll have on the earth? That's not the daily purpose of this- The sleep restoration. Right. Right. But what is assessed is what is my day tomorrow going to look like? And that is dependent on what my soul says my previous day was. And therefore you realize that all these are related, That where the soul ascends to, How restful and regenerative it is, At least spiritually, How significant the messages that we receive, They all come back to what the day before was like. And also, Yes, How consciously we enter into sleep. Is that why also when people find themselves in a rut or a cycle, Right? Where each day and they're like, Oh, I've been in this rut for two weeks. It's kind of like that, You can eventually get out of it and kick it, But it's really, If you find yourself being sad and depressed for a whole week, You go to bed at night and then you wake up again in the morning each day. Right. It's very possible that the soul's not getting the recharge that it needs to be receiving. And again, That recharge, As we said before, Is really made up of two parts. One is really a reprieve from this world of lies, From the illusionary world, The physical world within which we live and a new light inspiration. And that's why, Again, It's important to understand that what we can receive in sleep, We cannot receive in wakeful, In the wakeful state. This, For instance, A story that is told about the great Kabbalist, The Ari, That one afternoon on a Shabbat, On a Saturday, He was sleeping. And as he was sleeping, His students saw that his mouth was moving. So the student went a little bit closer to try to hear the words that he was saying. And he woke up, His teacher, The Ari woke up. And the student, He asked his teacher, Asked Ari, What were you saying? Your mouth was moving. He says, When I sleep, My soul enters into places, What they're called the halls of study or the halls of wisdom. And I get new wisdom. I get new wisdom revealed to me. And the student said, Can you tell me what you were learning or what was being revealed to you in that moment? He said, If I lived for a thousand years, I can never explain to you what I received in that one moment of sleep. Because one of the beautiful and powerful aspects of sleep, Because we are divorced from the limitations of this world, Is that in a moment, And that's why often you'll experience this, Most of us experience this in dreams where you could be asleep for five minutes, But it feels you've had a dream for five hours. Why? Because time that we know of in this physical world, Which again, We spoke about a different podcast, Which is an illusion, That illusion does not exist in the elevated state of our soul when it leaves this world. And therefore, You can receive so much more in your sleep. And therefore, Really awakening a spiritual cycle for sleep is so important. Well, You get revelations I don't think you can get in waking state. I mean, I've woken up from dreams and had profound answers to things that I had thought about for years or understandings that I could have never. And just in a dream, And you're like, This was the message. And it becomes so incredibly clear. And that explains why. In the podcast we did a few weeks ago on reincarnation, I shared about a past life dream that I had had about the mother and the child drowning. And funnily enough, Today I was on somebody else's podcast and I didn't even know what we were going to talk about. You were cheating on me on a podcast. And I didn't know where we were going to go with it. And I'm always kind of just open. I think that's just, I like to put myself out there and see what unfolds and what's revealed. So we got on the topic of death and reincarnation. I know things I've been talking about a lot lately, But I told him this story about, Because he asked me if I'd ever recalled any of my past lives. And I told him about this dream. And then he asked a question nobody ever asked before. And he said, For me, By the way, Having this revelation in a dream, It's like I went under hypnosis or regression therapy. We're assuming everybody heard us. Maybe just give it one minute of the dream. Go back and listen to that. I think it's important. So I had a dream at least 15 times, Maybe 20 in my youth. So before we were married, Once we got married, I didn't have the dream anymore, Funnily enough. But so I was a woman, Like in a Roman time, Looking over those kind of stone columns and with a beautiful dress, With a rope sash tied. And I'm looking out into the ocean searching for something longingly and worried. Every morning, Every night in the afternoon, I would just go out and look. And then later in the dream, I am now in the body of a child, A boy. And I'm worried I'm drowning. And I keep trying to hold on to the side of the cliff and the waves keep coming over me. I'm far out, Like deep in the middle of the ocean, But I happen to be close enough to a cliff. And I keep looking for land and I can't find it. Miraculously, I'm able to get out of the ocean from the side of the cliff. And as I'm stepping out, I remember feeling relieved, But also worried that there's someone looking for me and doesn't know I'm okay. And what I came to understand with working with the medium was that it was one of my past lives where in that dream, I was able to see the perspective of the mother, Which was me, And also the child. So the child was worried that his mother actually thought he drowned. And that was the past life that I had, That I was always longing in this life for another child, Another child, Another child. So I told him the story today and he asked me a question nobody's ever asked. And that is, He said, Did you ever do work in this life to find the child, The soul of the child? And I said, No, I didn't think, I was okay leaving it where it was. But as he asked that, I remember two days ago, Sometimes I just go into a space where I'm thinking about my father and the thoughts lately are not really of sadness, But kind of worried or concerned, Like how is he, How is he in transition? Even when he passed, I was really worried about his journey. Is he okay? Is he scared? Which I don't think is typical for a daughter to feel for her father. Usually a father would feel that for his child. So when he asked the question, I fully, And when I shared this with you a little earlier today, I wrote down crying as I was like, Oh my God, My father is the child. And my father was terrified of water. He was terrified of drowning. And I remember one trip him and I took to Israel, I took him to the Dead Sea, Which is all salt water, Right? It's impossible to drown. And I remember holding him and like, Dad, Just trust me float, Float in my arms. I have you, Trust me. And so I'm like moving my fingertips, Trying to like make him understand and have the courage, Right? Again, Not a daughter father kind of, So I'm holding him and I slowly remove my hands and he panics and there was a rusted railing there and he cut himself and then the salt. And I mean, Of course I started laughing because he was like wailing around, Lopping like a fish out of water, But to that extreme was his fear. And so, You know, That's just an example with sleep, Right? I really, And even if this sounds far, I fully know that that is a truth for me. I know that my soul has experienced- That's the child in your dream. Was my father. Yeah. Now I'm going to cry. And I never even, I never thought about that. And I didn't fully understand my relationship with my father until he passed, Right? I had all of these new epiphanies, But when that person today, The person I've only met, Right? In that hour asked me the question, It was like, Everything came to the full front of my mind. I never would have had that access to any of that, If not for the dreams of my sleep. Beautiful. Beautiful. And you mentioned also that therefore it made sense as he was leaving this world. Yeah, I would go to the hospital every day and I'm like, You shouldn't be scared. You've got this, You know, This is who you're going to meet when you go there. This is what it's going to look like. I kept rubbing his chest and playing music for him and praying for him out loud. I'd say it out loud to him, Squeezing his arm, Like, But really it felt foreign because I haven't really done that ever, But it also felt so natural, Right? And that's when the roles, Right? Became clear to me only fully now that he's my father, But he's also not my father. Like there's something that it's just soul to soul connection. And that's why his passing affected me as profoundly as it has not just a daughter losing her father, But a soul connection that's been around for many lifetimes. Absolutely. One more thing on, It also relates to sleep and to dreaming, Which is really interesting. And I always like when there's a correlation between something, You know, The czar or the great sages wrote about thousands of years ago and science today. And I'll start from the scientific side, Which is interesting. We all know about the circadian cycle, Right? That our body knows basically a 24 hour rhythm. And that's why most people become tired towards the night and wake in the morning. That also explains why so many diseases occur when we break that rhythm up and we don't follow really the feedback our body's giving. It's set up really very much for our survival and our health. Right. But there's another, So we get tired at night because our circadian cycle is telling us that it's time for your body to, And therefore the body temperature drops down and so on. All the aspects that are awakened when the body knows it's time to at least start getting ready for sleep. The other element, Which is also really interesting, That is not related to the circadian cycle, But is one of the great drivers of sleep and the need for sleep is something called adenosine, Which is a chemical from the moment we wake up in the brain begins building up. And after about 14 hours, There's so much adenosine in the brain that we, That's sort of the force of sleep is from that. What does this chemical feel like? In the brain. It's literally this, And it builds up slowly. It starts building up in the first hour we're awake, Second hour, Third hour, And so on. And then after enough hours, There is such a build up of adenosine in our brain that the body says, You must sleep. You must sleep. And then when we sleep, The brain purges the adenosine from us. And then it's, We're going to go down to hopefully almost zero, And then you wake up and the cycle begins again. So there's a cycle of a buildup of this chemical, Which forces sleep. When you sleep, And the circadian cycle and the adenosine, Although they work very much in line, They are not connected physiologically, Which is interesting. So this idea, And by the way, When you drink caffeine, What happens is- Yeah, Do I want to know? Well, What happens is that the adenosine still builds up, But the brain receptors for that message are now taken over by the caffeine. Interesting. So your brain is still creating the force for sleep, But the caffeine is masking it- Overriding it. Because it's taking over the brain receptors for the adenosine. And that's why there's a caffeine crash, Because when the caffeine gets removed from the system, Then the adenosine that's been there all along in great numbers now just overwhelms the brain. Fascinating. Right. So which leads me, And by the way, There's a great book- Not quitting coffee though. No, No, No. Yeah. But by the way, You know the half life of coffee, I think it's about eight, Six to eight hours, Which means that if a person has a cup of coffee, Let's say around seven, By 1 AM, They still have 50% of that caffeine in their system. And then it probably takes to get the other 50%. That's why I have the one cup of coffee first thing in the morning. And that's why it ruins if a person has it too late- Too late. . . . Because it keeps inhibiting the brains- Just in. . . . Recepting the adenosine, And therefore the sleep is not as it should be. But then now, And by the way, I was going to say this is a great book on sleep. I know you recommend, I believe Lights Out, Please, You would recommend it. It's a book called Why We Sleep by a very famous scientist. His name is Matthew Walker. So if you want to learn more about it, Which is fascinating, Just the physical processes and the importance of sleep. Which brings us also to another spiritual understanding about sleep. It doesn't only regenerate. It doesn't only, As we said before, Give us access to greater wisdom, Greater blessings that we need for the next day, But it also cleanses, Purges the soul of any type of negativity that we've brought upon it during the day. Oh, Tell me how that happened. So let's say a person was selfish today, And we all were selfish to some degree, Or reacted, We hurt other people. We did negative things. That energy we know is now part of us, Right? Remains with us. There's other ways to remove it. But one of them is that when the soul leaves the body, It enters into this realm, Hopefully, Right? If you've lived a good enough day, If you are conscious and going into sleep, Then the body enters a realm of spiritual light, And it's encompassed by it. There's a concept, There's a spiritual tool we call mikveh, When one immerses in water, Because water represents mercy and purifying light. And therefore, It actually creates a purification for the soul. Same thing. By the term, You'll feel better after a good night's sleep, Right? Exactly. People think, Oh, You'll just be rested. But in fact, This is what's occurring. Exactly. And what happens is that there's a cleansing, Just like there's an adenosine cleansing that occurs when we sleep. I believe that's a physical manifestation of a deeper spiritual cleansing that occurs when we sleep. So at a, I don't want to say basic level, But there's three very powerful and the more consciousness we have around it. One, As we said, Is that it gives us a reprieve from the lies of this, Lies of the illusion of this world. Second, It brings us to a state where we can attain wisdom, Understanding, And blessings. And third, It's a cleansing process, Like being bathed in light of any residual negativity that we created for ourselves. So powerful. Sleep's awesome. I feel a little bit mean to myself if I deprive myself. It's like a cruel thing to do, Honestly. Oh, It's one of those things. And again, If you read, Again, I'm sure in light sandwich, I haven't read through, But in why we sleep. If you put all of the things we've talked about together, It's just, It's usually the first thing that we forego, Right? I've got to prepare and I have to do this and I'm going on a trip and I've got to stay up all night. It's like the first thing we'll say, Okay, I'll cut, You know, That I hate that saying I'll sleep when I die. I mean, You know, It's like, No, This actually needs to be priority. Well, Matthew Walker in why we sleep says that's actually a very ironic and sad statement because unfortunately, Physiologically, Lack of sleep actually precipitates all kinds of disease and even death. Sorry. Well, No, I was going to deviate a little bit, But no, No, We're talking about something really interesting now. I think entertaining that I want to share, But go ahead. I'm sure it was going to close with a quote from Matthew Walker. Oh, We're not closing yet. I want, I do want to share, I think two really fascinating things. I won't go really deeply into them, But I do think it's interesting when people have sleep disorders, Like sleepwalking known as somnambulism. So it's when a person's asleep and they can perform different tasks. Even their eyes might be awake, Like sleep talking. They may do things and they have no memory of them and appropriate behavior such as urinating in a closet. Mostly children do that when they're younger and sleepwalk sleeping, Night terrors and violent attacks on other people. Some people laugh in their sleep. There is a restless leg syndrome. I just think all of this is really fascinating, But there was an Australian woman who would regularly get out of bed and have sex with strangers at night while she was sleepwalking. That's a problem. And we knew somebody, I won't say who, But she would wake up in the night. I mean, This is a horrible one. And she would eat in her sleep and she'd wake up with like, The first one was worse. I think so too. I should have changed the order, But she'd have chocolate covered all over herself. Imagine like she's getting fat in her sleep, Not even enjoying it or remembering it. And then she wakes up feeling horrible. So she, They started locking the cabinets and then you would hear this rattling in the middle of the night. She's trying to get into it. There was a former chef, Rob Wood, Who cooked spaghetti bolognese and fish and chips at night. He didn't eat it though. So in descending order of true. It's true. This one's really the worst of them. It's the Kenneth Parks case. He actually was convicted of, He was accused of murder and acquitted. He did in fact murder his mother-in-law and he injured his father-in-law. He drove 12 miles in the night from his house to there as he had a key to their house. And he took a tire rod out of his trunk, Hit her, Then stabbed her numerous times in the head, Shoulder, Whatever. And he said he did it all while he was asleep. It's a terrible story. It is, But I just think it's so fascinating with all the things that we said today, Where what people can, Because the thing is if it's only a small part of the soul that's left in the body, Right? If the person is sleeping, Many people doubted that he was actually asleep, You know, For different reasons, But we really can't control our hearts or our minds in that state of being. Right? You'd agree. Right. But I do think just to make it a little bit more uplifting, There are also, It's not going to sound uplifting at first, But there are hallucinations people have during their sleep too. This one woman, Alison Blair, She was 31 years old and from Idaho, And she was having a nightmare that she was deep in water drowning and so much so that she woke up and she was actually in water drowning. She had sleepwalked into a river and woke up from it. But this one I thought was really fascinating as well. He was a 36 year old Welsh Australian artist. His name is Lee Hadwin, And he'd get up in the night and in his sleep, He'd produce surrealist and fantastical artworks. He usually would not have any recollection of having completed these works overnight, But he'd find them the next day. Can you imagine doing that while you were asleep? And he's had several requests from galleries now to be, To have his work there, But this is what's interesting. He's not a painter in real life. He cannot paint like day to day when he's awake, But only when he sleeps, He's able to do this. You don't sound like you believe me. Yes. So I think that's pretty fantastical. What do you think about it? Spiritually, Why would you, What do you think that there's a reason that some people do those things in their sleep? Cause they don't really ever get rest while others don't have that. I'm sure that I'm sure there must be. You want to unpack it? So I thought that was pretty interesting and now you can go to your closing. So we were saying before that, Um, When a person sleeps, There's a cleansing process that occurs. So in, In the book, Why we sleep, Uh, Matthew Walker says, Not for these porcelain that I just talked about, Not for them. Right. Yeah. A consoling neurochemical bath, Which happens to be a sleep when we dream that mollifies painful memories and a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, Inspiring creativity. Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day. Mother nature's best effort yet at contra death. And we know, As we said, This is both, Um, On a physical level, But maybe even more importantly on a spiritual level. I was thinking about, Um, Once when we were sleeping and, Uh, I woke up and I saw what looked like you, Um, But was translucent walking back and forth in the room, Like praying or studying. And you kind of, You know, You are a rabbi. You look like other rabbis sometimes, Especially Ravash. Like I wasn't sure if that was your soul out of your body or that there was somebody else in the room. So I remember I woke you, I shook you pretty hard because I was scared at the time. And then that, That spirit left and then you woke. So, No, Yeah. No thoughts. You're so quiet, Michael. Interesting story. Um, So I wanted to share, Uh, We haven't shared, Uh, Uh, Letters from our listeners in the past few weeks. So I wanted to share two, One relatively short, One not so short. Um, And before I do that, I just want to, Uh, Remind our listeners that we are very much inspired by the letters that you send in. So please continue to send in your letters, Questions, Comments to Monica and Michael at Kabbalah. Com, Monica and Michael at Kabbalah. Com. Monica and Michael at Kabbalah. Com. So this first letter from Anissa, Dear Monica and Michael, Thank you for reading this letter, Which undoubtedly confirms there's a purpose for everything in this world. I've been listening to your podcast for about nine months now, And have fallen in love with the lessons I've been fortunate enough to listen to. I found myself in such a dark place prior to your lessons, Wondering when I would tap into my purpose. First, I must say, Monica and Michael, How I admire the relationship you two share. I can only hope that my relationship with the love of my life will also become like yours. This consciousness that you introduced to me allows me to live in an entirely different world than I've ever lived in. One filled with hope, Love, And true joy. A world I'm finally living in, Not just existing. Your lessons have saved us in more ways than you could understand, And have been a guiding force in helping us understand our true purpose. Thank you for sharing your light always. Love always, Anissa. So nice. Thank you. And then another relatively short one, So even if you don't have time to write longer comments, Emails, Please make sure you send them. You really, Again, Are inspired, And I'm sure our listeners as well are inspired by hearing your stories and you are sharing. Monica and Michael, Just wanted to say I recently discovered your podcast and it is like a breath of fresh air. And yes, I listen to them when I walk the dog and work out, Exclamation points. I have been sharing your wisdom around and I feel you're my friends having a great conversation. Rita, Thank you, Rita. That's very nice. And thank you to all of our listeners and all of you who share this podcast with your friends and family. We record this because we want to inspire. It gives us great pleasure to inspire and share wisdom with all of our listeners. If you receive anything with this podcast, Please make sure to share it with everybody you know. Go to Apple Podcasts and write five-star reviews and write reviews and send all of your questions, Comments, And stories and inspiration to monicaandandmichaelatcabala. Com, Monicaandmichaelatcabala. Com. And as always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this podcast as much as we enjoyed recording it. Sweet dreams.

Reviews

I enjoyed this talk very much as it is filled with knowledge and tidbits about sleep and resting the soul and spirit. I am curious if you would consider doing a second talk on interpretation? You have already shared so much wisdom, thank you! I know I would benefit from more. Thank you 🙏

Thank you so much for this podcast, it was really amazing 🥰. I leaned so much 🥰

Amazing