I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

[Madrone]

Almost every day I wake up before my family and make a cup of tea and sit. Inevitably, I have these moments where I start to sleep, and I just catch myself and come back to the present. Some mornings my zazen is just a process of doing this over and over.

Hypothesis: I am just not an early morning meditator.

Experiment: sit midday and see what happens.

Results: now I am crazy sleepy zazen man at Noon!!!

!!!???

Anybody else encounter this problem?

[gilles]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

ahaha ...did a lot myself when i started sitting but it went without noticing it

[Kyotai]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

Perhaps adjust your posture? I have had periods where I felt as if I was waking up early and just going through the motions with my meditation. I usually make sure that I am fully woken up, before sitting. Also, an overly darkened room may contribute to the sleepiness in the morning, maybe light a few extra candles.

[Kyonin]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

This could mean you need more sleep at night?

Before sitting check if your position es too comfortable. Sometimes this has happened to me and it's very easy to fall asleep. Also, check your posture because when your back gets too relaxed, sleep will come and get cha!

Also taking a shower helps a lot.

I am an early sitter and I sometimes get very sleepy while on zazen. What I do is just gently go back to meditation. I know it could be hard at first, but in time you'll get comfortable doing that.

Hope this helps

[natezenmaster]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I sit in the afternoon / evenings. I know morning sitting is often touted and has its benefit but sitting is sitting. Run with your experiment and see how it goes - if you're still falling asleep then perhaps another issue is there. Regardless of falling asleep or not, I have to repeatedly check my posture as I am a life long sloucher.

Best wishes... _/_

[Amelia]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I always tend to get sleepy after or during my sit, no matter what time of day. I just sit with that. 8)

[Shujin]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I'm in the same boat as Amelia. I find that mid-day is the best time to sit for me, with the least drowsiness. Unfortunately, it's not the best time for everyone else in my life. So, I do what I can with evening sits.

gassho,
Shujin

[Amelia]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I know it doesn't make much sense, but sometimes when I am feeling sleepy and have that urge to close my eyes, closing my eyes actually makes me less sleepy and puts me in a deeper state.

Not always, though. Every sit is truly different.

[Omoi Otoshi]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I'm always busy in the morning and I'd hate to set the alarm to earlier than 6 am, so I sit in the afternoon or evening. If I sit late in the evening, I can get really sleepy sometimes. Other times, more alert and awake than I could ever be off the Zafu! I often go through phases during Zazen, starting with restlessness and many thoughts and ideas popping up (sympathetic nervous system), proceeding to a kind of middle ground (balanced autonomic nervous system), often progressing into a slightly drowsy half-trance in which I sometimes have to correct my posture (parasympathetic nervous system). This is about 10-15 minutes into sitting. After that, anything can happen! On rare occations, I sort of wake up from drowsiness into being completely awake and calm, aware, not thinking. Most times I get back into the middle ground of thoughts coming and going, sometimes restlessness again and sometimes I just get sleepier and sleeper until I have to get up or fall asleep...

/Pontus

[michaeljc]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

Almost every day I wake up before my family and make a cup of tea and sit. Inevitably, I have these moments where I start to sleep, and I just catch myself and come back to the present. Some mornings my zazen is just a process of doing this over and over.

Hypothesis: I am just not an early morning meditator.

Experiment: sit midday and see what happens.

Results: now I am crazy sleepy zazen man at Noon!!!

!!!???

Anybody else encounter this problem?

I will throw a spanner in the works: So what? You fall asleep - then sleep. You will wake up eventually. We are not going anywhere. It is not a journey. What’s the concern? I never control my eyes, except for their target which I keep to very rigidly, along with posture. I believe the posture to be of prime importance. If the posture is correct we can fall asleep without losing it. Sometimes my eyes close, at others they open. Some sits will be 50% closed and others 0% . They decide. Well, that’s the way I’m do’n it and see no reason to change. Yet.

Cheers

m

[Omoi Otoshi]

I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

Yes, but if you sleep, it's not Zazen. If you aim to sit for 20 minutes and instead doze off or even sleep for 20 minutes, continuing for 20 minutes more may be difficult. But if you can keep the posture for 40 minutes without much difficulty and feel 20 minutes of Zazen after the sleeping part is over is enough, no problem! But in that case I'd rather take a 20 minute power nap before sitting!

[Marek]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

I share point of view of Amelia and Shujin.

I think It 's impossible to fall asleep if You' re not exhausted by job, lack of slip, annoying neighbourhood or... saving the World.

Maybe durring Zazen You keep Yours eyes lower than You should - I had that problem often sometime before. If so try, while feeling sleepy, to risem them. But not to much to not look like : :shock:



Gassho

[Omoi Otoshi]

I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

He he, that's what I must have looked like when I had this really vivid visual hallucination a few weeks ago!

[Marek]

Re: I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

Yea...I had once vivid visions :roll: when I' ve started meditation in vipassana style some years ago. That was a moment when realised that I' m more interested in reality and that zazen with open eyes (or half open, half close, I should probably say) is more proper for me ( with do all respect for Vipassana guys of course )

[Omoi Otoshi]

I am crazy sleepy zazen man!

Yes, nothing wrong with reality!
I have myself to blame for sitting in darkness... I had just put the kid to bed and was too lazy to take the Zafu with me to another room.