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Any method for lying down meditation

JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
in Meditation
My teacher is away for now on retreat. Sooooo I hoped someone could answer me??

I am on a lot of drugs that make me sleepy and sometimes sitting and even walking meditation is too uncomfortable. You'd have to be on my drugs to understand. It just feels like being drowsy and crushed at the same time.

Anyhow I did 30 minutes of lying meditation to day and I think I instinctively had some ideas how to do it. It's so restful feeling the belly rise and fall. I didn't fall asleep but I did go off the breath a huge amount. Anyone have info on lying meditation techniques?
ThailandTom

Comments

  • CoryCory Tennessee Veteran
    I think I will try it myself so my step-brother will stop calling me a weido when I'm meditating :lol:
    blu3reeThailandTom
  • BhikkhuJayasaraBhikkhuJayasara Bhikkhu Veteran
    I'm amazed that with drugs that make you sleepy you did 30 minutes of meditation in that position.. I always fall asleep doing it that long even in the middle of the day.
    Invincible_summer
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    Corpse pose meditation is a perfectly good form of formal posture but it's downside is the potential to get sleepy so I find it an interesting choice given your circumstances. Hand mudra positions are your main option with what ever is the normal focus of your meditation
    Why is sleepiness in your sitting meditation that uncomfortable? Corpse pose meditation is usually chosen as an alternative to positions that would otherwise cause a distracting amount of physical pain. (eg. serious back or spinal problems)
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Haven't we had this conversation?
    corpse pose, Shavasana, walking meditation?
    http://www.freesangha.com/forums/meditation-forum/meditating-lying-down/

    Reverse corpse, pose of a child
    http://www.divinewellness.com/yoga-asanas/the-reversed-corpse-pose.html

    I have been doing some meditation on a sofa, buttocks lower than knees, and spine not poker straight . . . But hey . . . :wave:
  • ZenBadgerZenBadger Derbyshire, UK Veteran
    I have a bad back which sometimes makes sitting painful so I meditate lying down. I find that raising the knees to put the feet flat on the ground can help the lower spinal pain and makes me a little more alert. A trick I learned from a druid was to put a small stone under each shoulder or a couple of books on the stomach, just something to make you slightly uncomfortable and unable to drop off but which won't actually distract you from meditating.
    Jeffrey
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    @Jeffrey -- LOL. It sounds to me as if you are offering perfectly good instruction instead of needing any. :)
    Jeffreyblu3ree
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    The drugs make me drugged but not like how you feel when you are tired. If I am trying to do too much stuff I get this crushed feeling and lying down relieves it, but since I am not really tired I don't go to sleep.

    It's not sleepiness in the sitting posture that is the problem. It is not pain. It is a subtle energy problem. It's like no feeling. And then I can be unsteady walking. It's not like that every day though, thank Buddha.

    It varies sometimes doing a lot of housework burns through the depression of the subtle energies but sometimes it's like too much sensitivity and lack of energy in the subtle energies to do much of anything. I go to sleep at like 8 - 10 because by that time I don't feel good. My meds actually make it harder to sleep because of the crushing feeling, even though I feel drugged. Relaxing things like lying down (ding ding), taking a hot bath, getting a backrub, sometimes walking meditation all help out.
  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    My teacher is away for now on retreat. Sooooo I hoped someone could answer me??

    I am on a lot of drugs that make me sleepy and sometimes sitting and even walking meditation is too uncomfortable. You'd have to be on my drugs to understand. It just feels like being drowsy and crushed at the same time.

    Anyhow I did 30 minutes of lying meditation to day and I think I instinctively had some ideas how to do it. It's so restful feeling the belly rise and fall. I didn't fall asleep but I did go off the breath a huge amount. Anyone have info on lying meditation techniques?

    I have not heard of lying meditation but vipassana meditation, yes- It is your mind observing the rise and fall of the belly. Maybe, you could do that lying down instead of sitting down in the lotus position. The same principle would apply, I suppose,nothing the unpleasantness, pain, numbness etc. etc that arise and bringing the mind back to the rising and falling of the belly, each time.
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    edited February 2013
    Check out the corpse position meditation (yoga)
    Ive found it very effective as a stress releaver/sleep-enducer

    Sitting Meditation with your handpalms down on you're knees (earth) can help with the energy 'issue'.
    Palms up,for uplifiting energy (heaven)
    palms down dor relaxing energy (earth)
    (Ive practised tai chi for many years)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Thanks for the thread and posts everyone in here, I often try this when I feel like it and end up falling asleep or not focusing whatsoever.
  • shadowleavershadowleaver Veteran
    In my sangha there's a guy who can't sit, a long timer too. So during practice he lays down on a sort of a matress. So I suppose that can work.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    Anyone have info on lying meditation techniques?

    It's not any different than sitting meditation. You bring your mind back to the breath. Or to whatever you're visualizing. It's a great option for people with illnesses or handicaps that prevent them from sitting for much of any length of time. The challenge for you is the meds that cause sleepiness. Maybe that's a good way of working on mindfulness of the breath.

    Just keep practicing, you'll get better at dealing with the sleepiness.

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