This is my serious attempt to clean out my email box from my hospital stay. My emails have a lot of great knowledge from people. I’ve been holding out on all the information in my email. I want to keep the knowledge and clean my inbox. So I came up with the idea to write a blog post on these emails. I personally relate to this because I fall asleep all the time.
Are you falling asleep during your meditation? Do you feel like you’re missing out on the benefits? Are you frustrated that you can’t control your urge to doze off?
First, understand that everybody falls asleep during meditation (though not all will admit to it). And it’s okay! It’s really nothing to worry about. Your body obviously needs the rest. Allow it to be this way.
There are a few things you can do to stay awake during meditation.
- Posture: sit up straight and tall instead of lying down. There’s no need to “try” to relax. It will happen on its own! The simplest trick to using your posture to stay awake is to make yourself ever so slightly uncomfortable. Yes, that sounds a bit counter intuitive but with a little experimenting, you’ll find that “sweet spot” where you have enough awareness of your body to keep gently nudging you to stay awake, yet relaxed enough to focus on your meditation. In fact, you can use mild physical discomfort as a point of focus to help you silence your mind!
- If you find yourself falling asleep practically every single time, you might try a walking meditation. In this meditation, you’ll be focused on the experience of walking — every nuance of the physical movement — as well as full awareness of the environment around you. It’s not a “from here to there” walk, it’s about being fully present. Walk slowly, feeling every single footfall from beginning to end; take note of all physical movements and sensations; notice the temperature, smells, sights and sounds around you. You can imagine that this is your very first time walking, and you’re absolutely fascinated with the whole experience.
- Use the most uplifting, energizing track for your meditation. Choose the one that is most energizing for you, and use the soundtrack itself as a point of focus. This will keep your mind engaged and make it less likely to doze off.
- Meditate when you’re fresh. Finally, you might experiment with meditating at different times of the day. Choose a time when you feel fresh and have energy, but not an excess of energy that you would want to burn off. Also, don’t eat a heavy meal before meditating!
But again, remember it’s okay to fall asleep during meditation. You are still benefiting from it! Thanks Omharmonics!
Hello! I’m Alesha! I’m a musician, actress, entrepreneur and writer and recent hospital patient (I still can’t believe that is real).Follow on Twitter. Let me know what you want me to write! Click here! I’m writing for Thrive Global, who’s mission is to change the way we work and live. As stated by Arianna Huffington, for far too long, we have been operating under a collective delusion that burning out is the necessary price for achieving success. This could be less true. All the latest science is conclusive that, in fact, not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, but performance is actually improved when we prioritize our health and well-being. It’s time to move from knowing what to do to actually doing it. With Thrive Global leading the way, I’m confident that we can have a mindset change on work-life balance. If you like what I’m writing, give me a heart and share! 🙂
Originally published at medium.com