What to do if you are falling asleep during meditation practice?
(And that bugs the hell out of you)
During my second Vipassana retreat, on the 4th day I had my second interview with the teacher. She mentioned to me that I was nodding off during most of the sessions and I ought to stop taking the medication I was on. She said that the medicines were making me very dull and I am not able to be alert and falling asleep, thus wasting my time at the retreat.
I found that to be a very curious remark. I knew that I was feeling drowsy most of the practice sessions. However, I was having this experience of watching myself as a third person, seeing me nod off, then remembering that my practice was to watch my breath, get back to watching my breath. I thought I was doing a pretty decent job of getting back to my breath, despite feeling sleepy most of the time. Yet, the teacher thought at my inability to remain alert throughout the practice was not satisfactory, and she wanted me to go off the critical medication that shouldn’t be done without a doctor’s advice.
This is the trap that long time and new meditators fall into - thinking that when we fall asleep during meditation practice, it is a bad thing. It is something needs to be avoided. When we fall asleep, the practice is wasted. Falling asleep during meditation means that the mind is dull and numb.
There have been times when I have slept off during a meditation session. During my initial years of practice, sleeping happened a lot more than meditating. When I was meditating, I was constantly restless for the “end of the session” timer to go off. It was a heroic effort filled with willpower along with which came its inevitable companions - frustration and exhaustion.
Whenever I fell asleep, it was quite frustrating that I did not have even an ounce of control over my monkey mind to be able to stay alert even for a few seconds. I did give up my practice out of sheer frustration quite a few times, but thankfully, have gone back to it after a break.
I have gotten better at being able to keep my mind alert for practice but that said, the mind is a different “thing” every time I sit with myself. There are times when I get drowsy and fall asleep during a practice, and I have learnt to accept it as part of what my mind is at the moment - drowsy and probably needing to shut off.
I am going to explore a few techniques over the next few articles that you can use to work with when you are consistently falling asleep during meditation practice and you are worried that your practice may not be effective in the way you would like it to be.
Sleep, Rest & Relaxation
For most of my life I thought sleep meant rest and relaxation. That true rest and relaxation happened during the time I was asleep. This brought untold misery to me when I had chronic sleep problems that did not let me sleep for many nights. I had to reframe sleep as 3 things sleep + rest + relaxation. Getting all of them done at one shot was a jackpot, and it was a rarity for me. So I focused on ensuring that rest and relaxation were things that I could work on during my waking hours and hoped that sleep would sort itself out.
This is a reframe that is useful when you find yourself falling asleep during meditation practice.
Rest The Body That Needs It
Whenever there is physical fatigue, it is hard to sit in meditation and stay present with whatever is coming up. So you might not be getting enough sleep. Falling asleep consistently could indicate that you need more physical rest. You could accomplish this by getting more sleep. Or you could do something like a Progressive Muscle Relaxation or practices like Yoga Nidra to ensure that your need for physical rest is met during the day if falling asleep or catching naps is harder to do.
Relaxing the Infinite Labyrinth Of The Mind
If you think you are getting enough sleep during the night, then chances are that the mental fatigue is causing you to fall asleep during the practice. We are all hyperconnected to our devices, specially for the past 2 years. Most of us get at least 10-12 hours of screen time during the day. (If you find that incredulous, try monitoring your screen time for a week across all your devices) There is certainly mental fatigue from so much stimulation from the devices, passive consumption of information from the “infinite scrolling” apps like news, Facebook, Social Media, WhatsApp, etc etc.
If this is the case, it is useful to try mindful breaks from technology for some time before sitting for a meditation practice could help in relaxing the mind and make it conducive for practice. I do my meditation first thing in the morning before I am assaulted with notifications and the vortex of email and social media. This has worked out for me on most days to be able to focus my mind clearly and do the practice staying alert or at least awake.
What lurks behind the sleep?
If there is a recurring experience in the meditation practice that leaves you emotionally drained out, then falling asleep might be an unconscious way of the mind resisting the practice. It would help to be curious about what is that resistance and what is it telling you.
It could be something that is happening in your life at the moment, or a reliving of a past experience or your mind projecting itself into the future. In that case it may help to try journalling after the practice for a few days and see what is coming up for you. If journalling is not your thing, it would help to speak to someone who you trust and can hold the space with empathy and non judgement for you about what is going on.
Next time you are coming up with consistent sleepiness during a session try one of these 3 things for a week and see what comes up for you. Be curious about what your mind, body and heart are needing at the moment, and what is bringing up sleep when you would like to be alert and aware.
Physical rest in the form of sleep or deep relaxation.
Mental rest in the form of breaks from technology and hyperconhnection.
Emotional rest in the form of processing what is coming up using journalling or speaking to a trusted person.
In one of the future articles, I will examine another way of dealing with falling asleep during the meditation practice.