I recall once in my early days of meditation I struggled a lot trying to keep my body still, due to itches I would often give up.
So one night before falling asleep, I decided to remain absolutely still and not give in to any urges to itch or shift my sleeping position and focus on my breathing. I used this thinking it would help me get deeper into my meditation. It did and took an agonising 45 minutes. I was unable to percieve my body - I felt like a tiny dot in this vast universe.
I've since not practiced this due to the effort required. After some quick research online I've found out it's a technique used to trick your body to fall asleep while you keep your mind awake.
Here's a link to a forum post I found at dreamviews that discusses this technique further: How to trick your body to fall asleep while keeping your mind awake.
I will attempt this soon at night time before going to sleep.
As you speak about tricking the body to fall asleep while the mind stays awake, you may be interested in checking this out:
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.dreambuilders.com.au/journal/2009/1/5/fall-asleep-and-maintain-consciousness.html#comment2643985