3am is the magical hour, supposedly... The reason that I chose that hour has more to do with biology, and the sleep cycle. Once the body has a couple of journeys from alpha sleep through to theta, and back again, (basically going to sleep and waking up again) then your practice will be much more smooth and natural. Your body is ready to become fully relaxed and your mind can be more easily trained to stay still and awake. During regular meditation, we generally stick to the alpha sleep range. After a couple of sleep cycles, we can move our meditative state into the delta/Theta range. That's when the body goes to sleep.Posted by HikerChick (here)
Thanks Jake for offering this! I'm very interested, but just have a logistical question about waking up at 3am.
Since the scamdemic started I've been working in a different job in my workplace, I do a block of three evening shifts that finish at midnight so I get home 20 minutes later. I'm wide awake still and don't have lights out before 1.30. I'm naturally an early riser so this has messed up my sleeping pattern. So... if this practice would be every night, on work nights I'd only get about an hour's sleep before waking up again.
Would this have to be every night of the week or could I be excused class after my shifts?
I'd say that if you get 7 or 8 hours of sleep on average, the time to best practice is about 3 hours before you would normally wake up for the day. Whatever time that is, That is your witching hour. That is your best time to practice. Phase 1 will not include waking t 3am. (Or whatever time your witching hour is)
You can, of course, do these practices at your leisure. If you have a day where you take a nap, it is good to practice OBE afterwards. Let your body and mind go through a couple of sleep cycles, then practice is more natural. That's the idea...
Jake.