Meditation and sleep

Danny_Ben_Ishay

I've read that according to Buddhism, even when we are awakened we are in some sense a sleep. This corrosponds to my experience in meditation, where I noticed that the thoughts enter the mind not unlike the dream that takes over when you slowly fall a sleep. In both cases there is an illusion of freedom and truth, when really you are inslaved by the subconcious and are not experiencing true reality.

However, many times in meditation my experience isn't analogous to dreaming and waking up: I'm actually falling a sleep! This turned out to be a real problem. When it starts I can't shake it off, unless I disturb the meditation and wash my face or drink some water.

It may help to sleep more at night, but I know that Buddhist monks don't even sleep more than 6 hours a night (I usually sleep 7). So it can't be that I'm sleeping too little. This all seems very strange to me. I've expereinced shortage of sleep in the military, and from what I've learned there's no combating the sleep just with your mind: you have to stand up, slap yourself or SOMETHING. I have no idea how the monks handle extensive meditation with barely eating, no coffee and little sleep.

So here are my questions:

1) As you strengthen your mindfulness, do you also strengthen your durabilty to sleep? Is this how monks handle their rigid schedule?
2) Maybe that's what meditation is actually about: literally being extremely awake? This doesn't sound right to me, because that would mean drinking 10 cups of coffee is an alternative.
3) When I meditate and sleep starts to take over, should I take a break, or is fighting the dream conducive to mindfulness just like "fighting" the day-thoughts? Is going back to the breath when carried away by the sleep, the same as going back to the breath when carried away by thoughts?

I hope I was clear enough.
Thank you for any responses.

yangster58

Thanks for asking those questions.. i have the very same problem. Although, I don't think I get sleepy. My mind just gets lazy and stops thinking altogether, and everything goes blurry.

Sabre

1) Yes. When you have nice meditations, it will be like an alternative to sleep to the mind. Because the mind is very silent and still, it will rest. Also know that monks have very little things that take energy away. They don't have worries about jobs, a family, don't have to go here and there, etc. So you are not a monk and if you need more sleep, just sleep. It may be that this is what you need to improve your meditation.

2) No, it's not about this kind of being awake. It is about being aware, which is not the same as awake. Cafeïne is no replacement. It doesn't increase mindfulness and also the energy it gives is very unstable; No good basis for the practice.

3) Fighting in meditation is never good. First it creates restlesness and incontentment. Second, and in this case even more important, it takes energy. What takes energy makes you more sleepy. So fighting sleepiness is causing sleepiness.. I've meditated for many years and have been sleepy a lot of times, but never once did fighting it really help. Yes, maybe for a while, but sleepiness will always return.

It's often better to just be at ease with the sleepiness. I find that it often just disappears after a short period of sleepiness. When you learn about it, this becomes easier. Another thing you might like to try is opening your eyes to keep awake; this is often suggested and in some cases may be a good solution (depends on the cause of sleepiness and the situation, I think). But whatever you do, don't take a break. You need to learn about sleepiness too so you can take skillful manners to recognize it soon and evade it next time. Sometimes you can really see it coming and just not go into it.

This is all just my experience, although I think it is worth something, you should know I'm not a meditation teacher, so you might want to look further for other advice that may help you.

With metta,
Sabre

Sabre

Thanks for asking those questions.. i have the very same problem. Although, I don't think I get sleepy. My mind just gets lazy and stops thinking altogether, and everything goes blurry.

Dullness and sleepiness, although very similar, are not the same thing and therefore need different approaches. You might want to try to get the mind a bit more uplifted by -for example- cultivating more loving kindness or joy. If it is really happening very often, it may be connected with how you feel in general; it could be a slight depression or lack of joy in life. (just a thought, doesn't have to be true) I've once heard a nun say that she struggled with similar issues for months before she found out it had something to do with an issue she had with her parents or something. Don't recall what exactly, but it is important to know that dullness and sleepiness may come from not so obvious sources.

Again, disclaimer applies here too. Just based on my experience.

With metta,
Sabre

Danny_Ben_Ishay

Thank you Sabre, very interesting.