Extreme Sleepiness While Meditating

[dice]

I’ve been meditating since one year now and everytime i meditate i’m very sleepy after 20 minutes. It didn’t matter when i tried different daytimes. What should i do? Should i resist it? Or should i allow it? Because if i allow it, i fall asleep. But on the other hand resistance is not the goal right? Maybe i stand up after 20 minutes and move a little bit und do the next 20 minutes, but then i can’t do long sessions straight.

Edited September 11, 2016 by ElenaO
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[123456789]

Try washing your eyes with cold water before meditation, it might help. By the way are you meditating with closed/open eyes?

Edited September 9, 2016 by mr lenny
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[Azrael]

34 minutes ago, dice said:

What should i do?

Check out how Zen monks sit in a cross-legged posture on a zafu, slightly pushing the ass behind (like it wants to see the sun). Also, keep your eyes open and look 3 feet in front of you (e.g. on a wall) - or / and drink a green tee before your meditate. This will keep you generally very alert. However, there are sometimes just sittings in which you naturally are sleepy, so don't resist it. Let it happen.

[Guivs]

Check that your spine is upright, this is closely linked to the level of sleepiness in my experience

[Capethaz]

@dice @dice Make sure that you meditate when you are rested, so sleep well. Check your posture, mantain your body aligned.

[Markusl]

@dice @Azrael You could do as Azrael instructed (staring into a wall), however, in my meditation experience, i have found staring out into an open space with lots of objects to be helpful too. If you do this, you can try to detach from your vision. You'll eventually manage to keep your eyes open, without being bothered by anything happening in your visual field, much like how focusing on your breathing during ''regular'' meditation helps you to not be bothered or attached to arising thoughts.
The main point i'm trying to present is that by keeping your eyes open, you're very unlikely to get sleepy. However, if you're a novice at meditation, you might find it hard to enter a meditative state without closing your eyes. You'll have to figure out which solution works best for you yourself! 

[Rahul yadav]

@dice allow that sleep..u wont sleep because u r not that one whos sleeping but witness of that..just try to be aware of it while Meditation..nd u can see even when ur sleeping u are not sleeping 

[Neo]

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allow that sleep..u wont sleep because u r not that one whos sleeping but witness of that..just try to be aware of it while Meditation..nd u can see even when ur sleeping u are not sleeping

As someone who has the same problem, this has the effect of causing mini sleeps with awakening over and over because the skills are not fully developed yet to watch thoughts, so watching yourself dream is more difficult and not practiced.