Trouble meditating

[eastcoastgirl]

Hi, all,

I've been trying to meditate recently for a number of reasons. I've never had much success in the past with it, and my recent attempts are no exception. My problem is that I fall asleep. I can fall asleep anywhere. I can fall asleep in the dentist's chair while he's drilling my teeth. I can fall asleep sitting straight up in an armless chair. I might start to tip over, but still, I doze. It makes meditating difficult. If I'm meditating to relax, then no problem (unless I fall off the chair and hit my head ). But if I want to meet my higher self and spirit guides, it's not going to work if I keep dozing. I've read Erin's blogs about meditating, but they don't address my problem.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[cylon]

I would say, start meditating to relax first. Soon you'll be able to do it without falling asleep. I tend to get lucid dreams after about twenty minutes, but I don't fall asleep anymore. It's something that takes practice. I think if you're meditating with a goal like that, and if you aren't seeing results right away, you could get stressed out, and might not think it's "working".

I've found the best way to meditate is the way I heard on "Ask and it is Given", for about twenty minutes, no necessary goal in mind. Ultimately you want to clear your mind. Then it carries into the rest of your day.

I'm sure there will be more technical answers for you, so my advice is, don't worry about it, relax, and enjoy the experience as a process, not an incident by incident success.

[MartialDev]

If you can't help falling asleep, then you should sleep and exercise more.

[eastcoastgirl]

I already exercise a lot and I get enough sleep, but thanks.

Cyclon, I'll try meditating to relax. I am probably worrying about it now just because I couldn't do it. Thanks.

[carlsbad032000]

i suggest you see a neurologist and get an EEG or functional MRI, if you fall sleep the way you indicated.

[Nneka]

I heard someone call that z-Zen :-)

Don't worry about it. Just keep your practice, when you realize you have drifted off bring your attention back. If you are falling asleep at the drop of a pin, your body is signalling that it needs more energy (more sleep, more food, less stress). It's a balance. Usually for me it means my mind wants a vacation.

Hope this helps.

In Spirit,
Nneka

[cylon]

I should add, that when I get lucid dreams when I meditate, it's not like I'm in some fantasy world, which is why I say I don't fall asleep. After about twenty minutes, it's like I open my eyes, and I see the room I'm in already, except a cat will walk by or something, and I don't have a cat anymore. I think that's half-way to falling asleep.

You have an end goal in mind, but don't forget that the practice of meditation, in itself, can be its own reward. After meditation, I find I'm still in a trance-like state for about thirty minutes or so, and it's a pretty cool feeling to have that happen while you're interacting with your normal, every day life.

[AndyMartin]

The problem is probably that you've developed a stronger ability to intentionally quiet your mind and relax your body, and they're responding by falling asleep. It's time to kick it up a notch: try to keep your attention alert. It's not just about quieting your mind and body; it's about observing the quietude of your mind and body. So little by little, try to bring more awareness to your meditation without creating activity. As thoughts arise, notice them but don't react; let them be and they will pass. Notice how awareness breathes: thoughts arise and thoughts subside. There is only activity when you respond to them. And let us know how it works out.

[eastcoastgirl]

Thanks for all the good advice. I'll give it a try. I think I'll pass on the neurologist and EEG, though.

[Eli]

eastcoast:
You boy friend must get really pissed in the bed room. I guess he has to get it over with quite quickly or you are dead asleep. ........Peaec..Eli........

[Anagogy]

If you fall asleep sitting down, you could always try standing up while you meditate. Or just make yourself progressively umcomfortable enough sitting down to stay awake. However, if you fall asleep standing up then....please, see a doctor, because you probably have narcolepsy .

On the other side of the coin, if you fall asleep so easily, you have a unique oppurtunity to get into an ultra deep state of conscious meditation known as Lucid Dreaming. Simply set an alarm clock for 15 minute intervals and let yourself drift off focusing on the idea that: no matter what I see from this point on till the time the alarm goes off is a dream. Keep practicing that and lucidity will be yours in no time. After you get in the habit of being lucid whilst your body is unconscious, I doubt falling asleep will be your opponent any longer. Cheers.

[eastcoastgirl]

Thanks, Anagogy. I like the idea of lucid dreaming. Cylon mentioned that, too. I've had lucid dreams before, but I didn't know that's what they were until I started reading about them on this site. I'll give it try.

And never fear, Eli, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment, but if I did, I'd be wide awake.

I may fall asleep when I'm trying to meditate because I'm bored. In order to quiet my mind, I try to stop thinking, which makes me kind of bored, which makes me relax and fall asleep.

I think the main thing I've gotten out of all the suggestions is to stay alert and focused but without letting my thoughts take over. Letting my thoughts run away is sometimes a problem in other areas of my life, too. For example, I love to read, but if something is on my mind, it's difficult to focus on what I'm reading. I can see that meditation would be a good practice for me because it would help me to control my thinking.

[Mike-2]

eastcoastgirl, what kind of meditation do you do? If your breath is the object of your focus, one common suggestion is to focus more attention on the inhalation to give yourself more energy and alertness. I have had the opposite problem: I would become restless and agitated during meditation, and then I noticed that almost all of my attention was on the inhalation.

If you have some measure of concentration already, another thing I have tried with some success is to make sleepiness the object of awareness. You can notice your mind begin to downshift into 'go to sleep' mode. Not getting involved with objects of awareness, but also staying present with them and not repressing them is one of those very tricky balancing acts that you encounter, similar to focusing equally on inhalation and exhalation.

[Andy]

I remember a bit about this one way of staying alert while meditating; every breath you count up from 1, and when you reach say 12 you always start back at 1 and repeat. If you find yourself counting past 12, you know that you're losing focus/drifting off. Then you can refocus.

[cylon]

Originally Posted by Andy

I remember a bit about this one way of staying alert while meditating; every breath you count up from 1, and when you reach say 12 you always start back at 1 and repeat. If you find yourself counting past 12, you know that you're losing focus/drifting off. Then you can refocus.

That's a good tip. I've noticed that when I've used affirmations in my mind, after a while, I forget what the words are and they start getting jumbled, and that's basically going into the dream state. Just counting sounds much simpler.