when exhaustion becomes noticeable

pic620

my mediation practice usually consists of two main problems. while emptying my mind is surprisingly easy for me to do, i soon notice how tired i am. i try to get a good night sleep every night, but at times this is not possible. however it seems even after being caught up on sleep i still am quite drowsy. any tips? oh and for back pain, do you think its a good idea to just sit through it, or lean against a wall ?

FoibleFull

Our teacher says that if we are feeling drowsy but still want to meditate, we could try getting up and moving around, taking some fresh air, splashing some water on our face. Then returning to meditate.

If you find yourself consistently sleepy, especially whether meditating or not, there may be an underlying problem that could be corrected (such as sleep apnea).

aMatt

Lack of energy could also be nutrition, have you been taking your vitamins?

Dazzle

pic620 wrote: »

my mediation practice usually consists of two main problems. while emptying my mind is surprisingly easy for me to do, i soon notice how tired i am. i try to get a good night sleep every night, but at times this is not possible. however it seems even after being caught up on sleep i still am quite drowsy. any tips? oh and for back pain, do you think its a good idea to just sit through it, or lean against a wall ?

Hi pic62,

If you are feeling tired all the time then I suggest you visit your doctor and maybe have a blood test to see if you have a deficiency of some kind.

Regarding back pain - don't try to sit through it, if you have difficulties its perfectly ok to sit in a straight backed chair or to support your back with something.


Kind regards,

Dazzle



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fivebells

pic620 wrote: »

my mediation practice usually consists of two main problems. while emptying my mind is surprisingly easy for me to do, i soon notice how tired i am. i try to get a good night sleep every night, but at times this is not possible. however it seems even after being caught up on sleep i still am quite drowsy. any tips? oh and for back pain, do you think its a good idea to just sit through it, or lean against a wall ?

The medical explanations posited above are worth looking into, but if this drowsiness is coming up primarily in meditation, it is almost certainly a kind of emotional reaction, probably a dullness which has arisen to defend against full awareness of some aspect of your experience. Such reactions are the hardest to work with in a way, because it feels like there's nothing "there." The best way is to attend to physical sensations as the drowsiness arises. Whatever's coming up that you're trying to avoid, the body won't lie about it.

Glow

Seconding the looking for physiological causes. Sharon Salzberg recently wrote an article about her teacher Dipa Ma's struggle with sleepiness: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-salzberg/sleeping-meditation_b_419975.html

When I started doing the meditation, I was crying all the time because I wanted to follow the instructions with full regard, but I couldn't because of sleepiness. Even standing and walking I needed to sleep. So I was crying that for five years I could not sleep, due to sorrow, due to lamentation, due to weakness, due to other suffering. But as soon as I started meditation, I could only sleep.

newtech

Maybe the problem its about "emptying" your mind rather than replacing.

Victorious

What is your object of bhavana? Without an object, just emptiing your mind will make you drowsy. The solution is to refoucus on your objective in bhavana.

/Victor