Funny, I feel like an expert on the subject of sleep reduction now...
Uh, right. First I’ll explain why I think it works, then why delta meditation is overall better, then I’ll attempt to integrate the two.
Why does it work?
a. Through the visualization of swirling leaves, you are cleansing your body of toxins (which takes up quite a bit of time during sleep. A similar effect can be got from eating alkaline foods or reducing acid or toxic foods.)
b. Through the velvet energy breathing, you are energizing your cells with vibrational energy or chi via the 'bubbling well' as Taoists refer to the concentration of nerve fibers at the center of the base of the foot. (you can also do this by listening to ‘noise’ such as the Tomatis Effect—qigong without the gong.)
c. Also, that 15 minute process is classified as a form of meditation and relies on much visualization, which involves intense theta, I conclude that you are resetting your sodium potassium levels in that time. The gravity position intensifies the imagery and the oxygen, thus intensifying the theta meditation.
I posted this elsewhere, but it is so juicy that...
A half hour of sleep in "deep sleep" or properly defined "Delta" range can replace 4 hours of the normal 8 hour sleep that you would otherwise need. Deep sleep in the Low Theta/High Delta range allows the body to truly rest, and heal itself by allowing the brain to reset it's sodium and potassium levels.
Your brain cells reset their sodium & potassium ratios when the brain is in Theta state. The sodium & potassium levels are involved in osmosis which is the chemical process that transports chemicals into and out of your brain cells. After an extended period in the Beta state the ratio between potassium and sodium is out of balance. This the main cause of what is known as "mental fatigue". A brief period in Theta (about 5 - 15min) can restore the ratio to normal resulting in mental refreshment.
Delta Meditation appears to be one-up on this technique, because not only do you spend about 15 minutes in theta going down, but you also spend 30 to 60 minutes in a deep delta state in which actual cellular healing occurs in addition to the release of human growth hormone, releases of repressed trauma (which accelerated enlightenment), pituitary stimulation, and a host of other mental, physical, and emotional healings. (just last night I went to sleep with dry chapped lips. After listening to a new delta mix I just made for an hour and then falling asleep, I woke up and the dry mangled skin on my lips just fell off when I touched it to reveal fresh, healthy, newly formed skin... pretty freaking amazing, if you ask me!) 
Plus, (my crackpot theory) delta meditation builds up tremendous 'delta resource' as I refer to it, causing the next stage of sleep to be ultra intense theta (if you go to sleep). This makes sleep that much more intense—you skip the initial phases of delta 1 and 2 and go straight for the goods. And if you forego sleep altogether, you'll have plenty of theta resource, but your body will literally be BEGGING you for a hit of theta, so you start to experience all sorts of hypnogogic activity as well as third eye activation and hallucinations.
Why the low success rate and why doesn’t it always work?
I think the major reason why the success rate is so low with technique and that it only works sometimes is because IT IS DOWNRIGHT DIFFICULT TO GET INTO A PURE THETA STATE!!! So, you could never make this a regular thing. You would be forced to use it during emergencies or on days in which you just wanted a couple more hours. It is further very difficult to enter a pure theta while you are experiencing stress or even just generally—it is a very elusive state of mind—unless of course you have some psychedelic drugs lying around or are into binaural beats or some other divergent method like color therapy.
Perhaps Dr. Wenger is complicating the procedure too much with the breathing and visualization? Both help to enter theta, to be sure, but to the novice, there is a lot of initial conscious effort involved in bringing those things about before they become automatic.
The key is to make this a habit... to try to get this to work five days straight or more. Another thing about sleep is regularity. When I was going without sleep, it was absolutely PARAMOUNT that I stuck to those times with fanatical rigidity, else I’d screw it all up... and that’s exactly what happened in the end. I tried refining the meditation as well as changing the times and then it was all over. Regularity is key.
How do you know if you are in theta / delta. How is it like, do you sleep, or do you have some sort of awareness of you ? Are you sitting or lying ?
I’m a lyer. Delta is the closest thing to Death I’ve experienced. Every fibre of your body and mind is still. Both the conscious and subconscious mind shutdown. All that is left is the unconscious or body conscious to automate vital functions and affect body/mind healing on a MASSIVE scale. It is incredibly difficult to enter without the aid of biofeedback or binaural beats. I don’t even know how one would go about doing it—other than going to sleep.
And now a synthesis?
From now on, I WILL always meditate in the gravity position. I’m sold!
I’ll also try out the visualization of dried leaves—hopefully that won’t be too much processing for a delta state to ensue.
I’ll also focus more on velvet breathing and breathing in energy through my feets’ ‘bubbling well’.
Many many thanks Balazs!
You have brought me new (w)insights!
[This message has been edited by Brian649 (edited February 03, 2001).]
