1h daily meditation practice: Day 1
I've started a new meditation practice and I've done the first 1-hour session today.
I've been trying to practice daily meditation before. At first, it's usually ok. But after a couple of days or weeks, I always start to fall asleep and it starts to become super uncomfortable. So I give up.
Then I come across an article or podcast where some smart person praises meditation and how it changed their life. And I become again motivated to try again. This cycle has repeated a few times already.
Before I've always started gradually with guided meditation for 5 minutes. Increasing to 10 and then 20 minutes after a couple of days. Now I'm trying out a new approach of unguided meditation for 1 hour for at least 60 days (based on Naval's approach).
Today I've done the first 1-hour session. And it wasn't that bad as I thought it would be. I didn't get to any deep meditation state, but of course, I didn't really expect it to happen after the first try.
What's your experience with mediation?
I've been meditating on and off for quite a few years (more than 30). I've recently started meditating (mostly) regularly again. I don't do an hour session every day, but I've been trying to do more and more of them per week.
Sleepiness is, in my experience (IME), something that happens sometimes for everyone who meditates, even experienced meditators. The best way (again, IME) to deal with sleepiness when meditating is just to regard it as what's happening now (since that's what meditation is about - paying attention to the present situation) and just keep going. Don't try too hard to fight it, but also try not to give up - even though it's frustrating. And remember that, like everything else, this state of mind is impermanent. If you keep meditating regularly, you will likely not continue to have this "problem" regularly. (Of course, you'll have other "problems" - wild, distracted mind; soreness in your back or legs or etc.; and so on. Again, these are temporary.) Doing an hour a day is good. I encourage you to just keep doing it; but don't be hard on yourself if you find that you're not able to, since even a few minutes a day is much better than nothing.
Regarding getting into a deep state of concentration, you're probably aware that it can be counterproductive to make this a goal. (I'm assuming you're doing a type of mindfulness and/or awareness meditation. If you're doing something else, like transcendental meditation, that's out of my field of expertise.) And, as well, I believe that a "successful" meditation session does not necessarily need to include reaching such a state. It will happen sometimes, and that's fine, but (IME) it doesn't help to try for it or even hope for it.
Also, one thing that can help, if you live somewhere where this is possible, is to meditate with other people (such as at a zendo or other meditation center). And, if you're so inclined, it can help to do a retreat (such as one of these: https://www.afar.com/magazine/best-meditation-retreats-in-the-united-states
[This is simply a result I just got from googling: "vipassana retreats in the usa".])
Good luck, and don't try too hard :-)
Thanks for sharing!
I don't try to push too hard and the deep state is not necessarily my goal. My main goal is to do it consistently for at least 60 days and see if it has been beneficial at all.
I've read a lot on how to combat sleepiness in meditation and so far haven't found a method that would work for me. When I get sleepy, my head starts to fall, which wakes me up, and that is super uncomfortable. I'd rather deal with the soreness tbh. Now with this new attempt, I'm sitting on a bouncy ball and hope that will prevent me from falling asleep.
Hey - sorry for the late reply. I don't think sitting on a ball would work for me - I'm too used to my flat, stable meditation cushion. But if it works for you, that's great. If you don't mind sharing, where are you located - which country?
Right now, I'm in the Czech republic. Why? Do you think it's related?
Yes, people in eastern Europe are known for their sleepiness. (Just joking, of course!) ... No particular reason other than curiosity. And, I suppose, it's good to know that people are meditating all over the world - I think that creates a bit of positive energy for this confused, suffering planet. I'm in the US, but you probably guessed that.