How do you avoid falling asleep?

[Mercedes]

*Points to title*

I tend to have this issue, regardless of how much or little sleep (including REM) I tend to get.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should listen to Beethoven when I try to meditate, at least some of the time. He's the only composer I can't fall asleep to, so maybe music would help.

[Solya]

I tend to sit upright when I meditate, so I am less inclined to drop off to sleep. I'm generally someone who can only really sleep at night, though, so when there's some form of light in the room I find myself incapable of dropping off to sleep. Music tends to lull me into nothingspace really easily, which is not always desirable, but it would be good if you are very inclined towards falling asleep during meditations.

[mtpathy]

people tend to fall asleep during meditation because of the technique they choose to use while meditating, if you meditate with your eyes closed relaxing the body is appropriate but fixating the mind on a repititous pattern such as counting breath without a visualization aid wont help keep you awake.

count your breaths, then once the rythem and reptition has been implamented forget about your breathing and fixate the mind on a visuale aid such as climbing a ladder, walking through a hallway, walking a woodland path. this will force the mind to keep active as the body relaxes into the correct state.

a combination of the above technique as well as looking for that moment in your meditation between when your awake, and when your about to fall asleep and learning to keep yourself just on the outskirts of that line will greatly help you in your visualization techniques as it'll give you full access to your subconcious mind and directly stimulates the region where the 3rd eye chakra is thought to reside.

[Mercedes]

I also sit upright when I meditate. ...Unfortunately, I'm one of those that tends to be more likely to fall asleep during the daytime than the night time. (Any time I have an extended break from college and/or work, my schedule inevitably turns "vampire"-like.) Knowing that, I try to meditate during the evening hours rather than during the day, but that doesn't entirely correct the problem.

Oh, I'll try the repetition + visualization combination. I don't think I've tried that for meditation, though I have tried other visualizations to make me fall asleep. (I have a hard time shutting my brain off; I'm a high-strung person with a lot of stress.)

Hmm. How does one learn to suspend oneself in that sort of state? Is it something everyone figures out on his/her own?

[Mithrea]

I can't sit up while I meditate because of chronic pain from a car wreck. The pain is severe enough that instead of helping me focus, it distracts me and makes me focus on the physical--which is not where I need to be. So I started crawling into bed to meditate with pillows all around me and for a while I did fall asleep. But, I read somewhere that with practice, that will stop happening. If you are fighting falling asleep, you aren't focusing on the right thing. So, just let it happen if it does (maybe you want to set an alarm lol). Eventually, with practice, it will stop. It did for me :)

[Tanya]

lay quietly in the dark beside my husband and listen to him snore loudly.... as his snores get even louder, I add a layer upon layer of worry about my student loan, the meeting on Thursday, errands I forgot to run, concerns about the gas fittings on the stove, global warming, the drought...... etc.... never fails.... up all night....

[Lunacie]

I have a very busy ADHD brain, and do my best meditative thinking by keeping physically busy which allows a different part of my brain to let the thoughts flow where they need to go. Never understood why it was necessary to try to stop the thoughts. So I do my best meditation when I'm mowing the yard, or taking a walk, or in the shower washing my hair. Even just sitting in a chair and rocking seems to help my brain work out the kinks and allow the insight to flow into it.

Taking a nice long drive in the country where you don't have to be concerned about traffic also helps me.

[Rowan Darkmoon]

I have a very busy ADHD brain, and do my best meditative thinking by keeping physically busy which allows a different part of my brain to let the thoughts flow where they need to go. Never understood why it was necessary to try to stop the thoughts. So I do my best meditation when I'm mowing the yard, or taking a walk, or in the shower washing my hair. Even just sitting in a chair and rocking seems to help my brain work out the kinks and allow the insight to flow into it.

Taking a nice long drive in the country where you don't have to be concerned about traffic also helps me.

I would agree with this, I meditate better by doing a "physical" meditation. I've read some information that discussed how if you fell asleep while meditating, it was okay...let me see if I can find it!