Sleeping Too Much

In The Japa Room one of the things we instruct devotees about is sleeping enough, and also not sleeping too much. I really got a strong reminder this morning of just how much of a problem sleeping too much is.
For reasons that aren't important to mention, I had to sleep much more than I usually do yesterday.  Well, this morning, trying to chant, was one of the most difficult times I've have in ages. I felt drugged.  I felt dull.  I didn't feel like chanting at all.  I had no taste for chanting.  It seemed like a total chore.  I was tired (even though I had slept extra).
Most of all... my mind was a total nightmare!  It was all over the place, totally uncontrolled.  This thought, that thought, any thought.  Complete distraction.
I fought and struggled, using every technique I have learned over the years, just to try to accomplish some attentive japa.  After about 12 rounds this way, fighting and struggling to "pay attention", I was finally back to the state of consciousness that I am usually in when I START chanting on any "normal" day!
So, I was really thinking how important this is, not sleeping too much.  We get so many people in The Japa Room asking about controlling the mind, and not having a taste for chanting, so it occurs to me, after this struggle I just went through that perhaps they might be helped by reducing the amount of hours they are sleeping.
I have found that we really don't need as much sleep as we think we do.  When you sleep a lot, you have to work really hard at chanting.  Much harder than if you sleep less.  Why make it harder than it has to be?

Hare Krishna

Navasi

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