If you continue to sleep in meditation

One of my more popular guided meditations in the Insight Timer app is intended to help people fall asleep. I’ve listened 900,000 times in the two versions I have available. Many people struggle to switch minds at night, suggesting that meditation can be helpful.

Unfortunately, many people find that meditation switches their minds when they don’t want it to happen. They continue to nod during meditation. Here are some pointers if this happens to you. This is primarily aimed at people who regularly struggle to stay awake in meditation, but even if it rarely happens to you, there are some advice for you too.

First, if you’re falling asleep a lot during meditation, there are a few possibilities.

It could be a health problem. It may be that you are chronically sleep deprived. It may be diet-related. The time you are meditating may also be a factor.

health

Firstly, health issues: If you have long covid, chronic fatigue syndrome, or other energy aspiration conditions, you may have trouble maintaining vigilance or just waking up during meditation. Some of the things I have to say later will probably help at least a bit. But as long as you continue to be, you will always be suffering from fatigue.

I’m generally healthy, but my energy drops whenever anyone has a cold or other infection. When this happens, one thing I think will help is to practice accepting that I am tired. It’s not that I surrender to sleep. And it’s far from there. I will try to stay calm and awake as much as I can. But I accept that fatigue is just part of the mix of experiences I have. I nod in and out of my dreams during meditation, and perhaps a temporary nod. I keep telling myself, “This is what it is now.” Saying those words doesn’t tire me too much, but it’s a great relief as it frees me from the assumption that I should be able to wake up and stay vigilant.

Don’t fight your fatigue. Instead of trying to force yourself to be vigilant, you work gently with it. It looks like it will work for about a minute with force, but it requires energy. This increases fatigue in the long term. When you pay more attention, cherish those moments.

Adjusting your posture is also helpful. See the following sections.

One of my students, who was suffering from fatigue, recently got him to check his health and found out he had developed diabetes. It’s a rare case, but these things happen. If your health is unknown and there is nothing in your meditation that will help you stay awake, then seeing a doctor is not a bad idea. Most of the time, they probably shruggle, but certainly the best.

Lack of sleep

Many of us are sleep deprived. Maybe we can’t sleep at night. You can find a lot of information online about sleep hygiene and more. You can also try the types of sleep meditation mentioned above.

Sometimes we just burn candles at both ends of the night. Too much sleep may have something to do with seeking stimulation through television and social media. One solution to being too late is to be empathetic and considerate of your future self. Essentially, treat your future self (you have to stand up for work tomorrow) as a real person whose suffering is real and kind to them. Help them by going to bed a little earlier.

There is an entire section of advice on social media enforcement called Social Media Sutra. I’ll jump in. There are many useful things out there.

If you continue to wake up in the middle of the night, this is often associated with ultravision and anxiety. I encourage you to recognize and celebrate Mala. Mara is an anthropomorphism of thoughts and emotions that disrupt our happiness. Even the thought of “Oh, no, I’m never going to sleep again,” is Mara, by recognizing this and congratulating him for tricking you into believing what you think you’ve stopped believing in it. I can’t tell you how many times I have had that idea and I was asleep again soon. These feelings of awakening and recognition become pure illusions.

diet

When I moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh years ago, someone gave me a small espresso maker (one of those little octagonal Italian things) as a gift to warm up the house. I was happy to start my day with a rich, dark, very strong shot of coffee. It took me a while to make the connection, but I found out that drinking espresso at 3am had a collision of energy. During these crashes, a powerful wave of fatigue will hit me. It was almost impossible to keep me awake in meditation at the time.

Shortly afterwards, a friend reported that he was experiencing an energy conflict at work in the afternoon. I knew he consumed a ton of sweet breakfast cereals first thing in the morning, and I suggested that something like him was happening. At first he put my suggestion in hand, but a few weeks later he realized that it was actually bulking up the early morning sugar that was causing dips to his energy levels later that day.

Heavy diets tend to tire us out.

So there may be a reason for eating that will make you fall asleep.

time

Dieting and caffeine aren’t the only things that can cause energy loss. At retreats, it is very difficult to stay awake, so you may be afraid of meditation in that slot. For some reason, if that’s when you normally meditate, you may find it difficult.

Interestingly, the only thing that worked at the retreat to prevent afternoon nods was to do yoga first. Stretch made his body live and released energy, so those positions were wary for Snoozy.

posture

However, one of the main causes of sleepiness in meditation is posture, and adjusting your posture is one of the main ways to combat sleepiness.

If you sit down with a habitual drop, and your back bows slightly, you will be exerting pressure on your ribcage. This will prevent you from opening completely. Many people do this without realizing it. You need to make sure the back is fairly straight so that you can breathe freely.

If you are sitting on a cushion or bench, make sure you are sitting well. I sit too much and bow.

If you sit in a chair with your back facing the chair, you will likely be sitting with your chest compressed.

My trick when I’m sitting in a dining chair is to bend as far as I can from my waist forward. I then turn my butt and stand upright until I come into contact with the back of my seat. You will see that the back of the seat makes firm contact just above your butt. This means that your spine can be more comfortable straight without resting behind the chair.

Office chairs tend to have better designs suitable for upright positions, but I still find it convenient to do Batwiggle things. In contrast to dining chairs, my office chair provides a bit of support just above the top back and just above the butt. Your chair may be different.

The position of your head makes a difference in your energy level. Make sure your head is balanced and your chin is not lowered to your chest.

In fact, I recommend playing with a head angle. Instead of moving the entire neck, pivot towards the first vertebra. Note how the ability to breathe completely in the upper chest changes the head into different positions. Even if your chin is just too underneath, you will notice that the top of your chest is not moving much. You need to be able to breathe completely in your upper chest to maintain oxygenation in your body and brain. Without it, you cannot be wary.

Other tips

Paying attention to higher breathing in the body (chest, throat, head) promotes arousal.

Paying more attention to the breath also encourages vigilance.

Finally, try to notice the nonpersistence of each breath and how it only appears once. This is only once to appreciate each breath. That perception can bring you a sense of urgency that will help you stay vigilant.