Falling Asleep vs. Meditation

[mochafrap]

Hi all

I am newer to mediation in terms of actually doing it, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who has felt herself accidentally falling asleep during sessions ?

I recently put my finger on a distinguishment between the feeling of falling asleep verus that of meditation. Getting sleepy feels like a pull toward a certain point, while meditation (open awareness) does not. Meditation feels like spreading out (but NOT *being* spread, more like the spread is just happening). 

The reason I find this interesting is because, to me, it lends credit to the idea that sleep is an egoic thing and an activity. We just don't notice that it is an activity and instead write it off as somethint different. Analogy: The falling asleep is akin to drawing out a sketch, and being asleep is akin to the finished drawing. Falling asleep is a process that leads to an end result (sleep), and then sleep itself would not be a total release or a total stop. The idea would be that sleep pulls the ego into a certain state. I think an enlightenment experience, then, would be said to be the release of all states.

Idk if this is important or what, and I have further thoughts on it. I'm just curious to see what others may say.

 

? I'm very tired, speaking of, but did my best to explain all this!

[Leo Gura]

Seems like you're creating unnecessary stories about this issue. Keep it simple instead: stay as alert and conscious during meditation as possible. If you find yourself falling asleep a lot, then do your practice after a nap. That's all.

Calling sleep an "egoic activity" sets up an adversarial relationship with sleep, which is needless.

[mochafrap]

16 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Seems like you're creating unnecessary stories about this issue. Keep it simple instead: stay as alert and conscious during meditation as possible. If you find yourself falling asleep a lot, then do your practice after a nap. That's all.

Calling sleep an "egoic activity" sets up an adversarial relationship with sleep, which is needless.

If you happen to be interpreting my post as me saying I should defy sleep - and that is where the adverserial tone comes in - that's not what I'm saying. I've simply noticed a difference between the feeling of falling asleep and the feeling of meditating and am curious about it. Otherwise, would you mind explaining what you mean by adverserial?

As far as a story, I see what I'm exploring here just as story-like as saying that ego doesn't exist in the absolute. Words pointing to the real. ??‍♀️ Maybe I'm missing something though.

[Ar_Senses]

I've got a period when I was often falling asleep while meditating in the middle of the day. Psychotherapist doesn't helped with it, but endocrinologist does. Check you Vitamin D, free T3, free T4, TTG, antibodies to thyroglobulin and thyroperoxidase.

In my case there was a critically low level of Vitamin D, because of lack of sun, proper nutrition and lack of supplements.

It's can be as that simple.

Also double check your vision. Are your really motivated do the practice? For me it's can be hard when I'm forgetting the purpose and benefits of meditation., and even if I'll still do it mechanically, my mind will be all over the place or I'll just fall asleep.  It's should be valuable for you.