Sleeping during meditation

[Jitendra Hydonus]

Meditation relaxes you so it is quite easy to fall asleep during meditation. This is a poor practice. Being in a passive state it is possible you may even invite tramp spirits into your practice. I remember Brother Turiyananda telling me that he would meditate standing up if he didn’t feel like meditating or was too tired. The problem is that we may think we can meditate when we are exhausted but sleep is subtle and we can dose off easily and upon wakening realize we were not meditating but sleeping. For this reason and because I find it quite difficult to meditate and relax while standing up…… if I am very sleepy I may do a short meditation while in the shower. Because the water keeps me awake. The more cooler the water the less
likelihood you will fall asleep.