5 Ways to Combat Drowsiness During Meditation

It is time to meditate and you diligently sit on the cushion. You begin by focusing on your breath, feel your body relaxing and before you know it, your neck is bobbing all over the place and you're struggling to stay awake or worse still, you have completely nodded off. Sound familiar? Welcome to the club!

Reading time: 3 minutes

Feeling drowsy during meditation can mistakenly be attributed as a sign of deep relaxation or fatigue, the latter a by product of our busy lives where we are always on the go.

Unfortunately for meditators, drowsiness can be a serious impediment. It can waylay them from making forward progress in their meditative journey. So how does one actually deal with it? Are there any tips and tricks that can help one successfully navigate this phase?

The good news is there are plenty of things you can try. Here are the top 5 tricks that you can leverage to navigate drowsiness or sleepiness during practice:

Having a cold shower or washing your face with cold water

A quick 5 minutes of cold shower or even splashing your face with cold water will certainly wake you up. A cold shower in particular can tremendously boost your alertness levels, mood and can help to keep drowsiness at bay.

Going for a brisk walk

Although you might feel like you are interrupting your meditation session by stepping out for a walk right in the middle of it, an invigorating walk is just the ticket to bring some vigour and zest back to the body. It gets the blood pumping and the fresh air is likely to wake you up from your slumber.

Practice walking meditation

The Buddha stressed developing mindfulness in all four postures of the body, sitting, standing, walking and lying down. So if you feel dull and drowsy when sitting on your mat, don’t just persevere with it. Try and do something different. Walking meditation entails walking on a chosen path for about 15 paces or so with eyes downcast. It is difficult to fall sleep while walking, so a walking meditation may serve as a perfect antidote to combat sleepiness. Beware that the mind may wander a fair amount initially due to external stimuli, so simply persist with this technique patiently.

Sitting with a book on top of your head

It might sound terribly silly, but this is an excellent trick to use if you meditate in a group class or perhaps when you practice with your meditation coach. All you need is a book perched on top of your head. If you nod off, the book will drop to the floor. The chances are your vanity and ego will most likely keep you awake to avoid the embarrassment of being the one who nodded off in class.

Practicing with your eyes open

Most meditation techniques involve closing one’s eyes. If drowsiness has been a persistent issue, try meditating with your eyes open and focus on an object a 2-4 feet away from you. Sleep comes in waves, so as soon as you start feeling drowsy, your eyes will begin to droop and you will struggle to sustain your attention on the chosen object. Use this as a cue to splash some cold water on your face, to change your posture, or to do a walking meditation instead. Experiment to see what works for you in the moment.

If you still struggle to keep awake, despite trying these tricks, chances are that you are probably exhausted and you do need some rest. So have a restful sleep, wake up feeling refreshed and then start again. The key thing is not to be impatient with oneself but to accept the tendencies of the mind (drowsiness in this case) and to work with them gently and persistently.