Thanks so much, Shari - this is gold. I'm going to copy and save when this conversation comes up again - as it no doubt will. I'm starting an 'Effortless Sleep" course in a month or so, and ALL of the practices we (my wife and I) are teaching involve this kind of letting go of control. The longest guided audio we will have is 30 minutes. Most of the practices are meant to be done very briefly, like 30 seconds to a few minutes.

I do think it's amusing when people focus on research to "prove" potential adverse effects of mindfulness itself. I think it's quite clear that it can't possibly be mindfulness done appropriately.

Nearly every human being, every night of their lives, does the following;

1. Get their bodies into a still position, arranging for the room to be dark and queit.

2. Relax the body, and slowly, allow thoughts of the past and future to settle down, and gradually, let go of all thoughts all together.

Gosh, what does this sound like?

It sounds like instructions for advanced meditation.

And people do this every night, for at least 4 or 5 hours, hopefully (though not often enough) for as long as 7 or 8 hours.

The thing is, if things are going well, not only are there no adverse effects, it's one of the most beneficial activities - psychologically AND physiologically - any human being can do. In fact, if we go without it for as little as 4 days, we become psychotic!

Of course, the big difference is after the body relaxes and the mind's thoughts calm down, we become unconscious (there is a practice, which I've taught, that maintains awareness into dream and deep sleep, but that requires such a level of letting go of control few of us control addicted humans can do it:>))

But it's something I often talk about with people who insist, "Oh, I can't meditate. I can't sit still for even a minute." To which I'll say, "Really, you've never gone to sleep?"

I've chosen in the last year or so to focus on teaching effortless sleep rather than directly teach mindfulness or meditation. It's VERY hard to get people to understand that the secret of mindfulness is to let go of control

But so far, everyone immediately understands how letting go of control can quickly lead to much improved sleep.

Interesting world, eh?

And as a Minister, I'm guessing you may be familiar with the line from the Song of Solomon, "I sleep but my heart waketh?"