Guest guest Posted January 22, 2003 Report Share Posted January 22, 2003 Avtar Kaur wrote: Sat Nam Avtar, After you posted about sleepiness or drowsiness during meditation, I gave it some more thought. I do Vipassana meditation too, and you learn different meditation techniques applicable to practically any form of meditation. Chiefly, you learn to observe and let go of sensations, thoughts etc..or explore pain, for instance to see where it might be coming from. "By the time I get to the fourth part, I start to yawn like mad, and can't stop. Yet as soon as I'm finished the meditation it stops. Anyone got any ideas on why this is happening ?" --regarding your Divine Mother meditation I found this on a Vipassana sight regarding drowsiness: It is quite common to experience drowsiness during meditation. You become very calm and relaxed. That is exactly what is supposed to happen. Unfortunately, we ordinarily experience this lovely state only when we are falling asleep, and we associate it with that process. So naturally, you begin to drift off. When you find this happening, apply your mindfulness to the state of drossiness itself. Drowsiness has certain definite characteristics. It does certain things to your thought process. Find out what. It has certain body feelings associated with it. Locate those. This inquisitive awareness is the direct opposite of drowsiness, and will evaporate it. I do 'witnessing' when I'm do any meditation. Its just that it never occurred to me that I should treat it as another distraction, so I tried watching the yawns yesterday morning and the drowsiness did evaporate. Blessings Deva > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 22, 2003 Report Share Posted January 22, 2003 By any chance, does the breathing gets shallow during these meditations? Yawning is a reaction to the decreased blood supply (therefore, oxygen) to the brain. Stretching of the facial muscles dilates the blood vessels to increase the blood supply. Towards the end of the day, we tend to yawn, as the heart has been pretty active during the day and cannot pump as much blood up to the brain anymore. So, we start yawning. This still does not help to increase the brain's blood supply (BTW, about 20% of the total blood volume in the body needs to go to the brain for it to perform well) to required levels as the heart still needs to recuperate to start pumping more effectively, and so we lie down. In this position, the blood flows easily to all parts of the body as all the body parts are held at level with the heart. The heart need not pump up blood to the brain or pump up from the legs, when the body is horizontal, but the blood supply to all body parts is still restored (and, you wake up fresh when that happens). During sleep, therefore, the heart gets the much needed slowing down to re-energize and is ready for the next day's pumping. In fact, a few minutes of lying down in savasana after meditations might help you to get over the sleepiness. gai Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 22, 2003 Report Share Posted January 22, 2003 Sat Nam Gayathri, My breathing deepens as the meditation progresses. I've been reading another source, that describes different types of prana, in particular a secondary type of prana called deva-datta, which is associated with sleepiness and yawning. Seems as good an explanation as any. At any rate, its a minor factor with me. Blessings Deva Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 23, 2003 Report Share Posted January 23, 2003 'It is quite common to experience drowsiness during meditation. You become very calm and relaxed. That is exactly what is supposed to happen. Unfortunately, we ordinarily experience this lovely state only when we are falling asleep, and we associate it with that process. So naturally, you begin to drift off. When you find this happening, apply your mindfulness to the state of drossiness itself. Drowsiness has certain definite characteristics. It does certain things to your thought process. Find out what. It has certain body feelings associated with it. Locate those. This inquisitive awareness is the direct opposite of drowsiness, and will evaporate it.' Sat Nam Deva, Thnaks a lot for this info. When I start my yawning during this meditation I'm not falling asleep. When I thought about the above I realize I find it much easier to meditate when I'm tired, it's much easier for me to go deeper, I'm sure because my resistance is lower at that time. So between all the posts there's lots to think about. Thanks to all, Avtar ______________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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