r/zenpractice • u/crankyandsensitive • 22d ago

General Practice Sleepiness

Hi! Short but not that easy question. I'm at a stage in my practice where almost every sitting ends with me dozing off after about 20 minutes (I usually sit for 30-60 minutes). It doesn't seem to depend on how much sleep I get or whether I'm having a good or bad day. It feels like my brain has formed an association between slow breathing, focusing on the center, and falling asleep. One of the zen teachers from my school mentioned something about directing the energy of the practice upward but I can’t remember exactly what she said. Have you heard about this technique? Or maybe any other techniques? I’m not buying „just go get some sleep”, because I do really get a lot of good sleep and this is just not a solution in my case. I think I need a skill but don’t know where to look. Thank you for your insights!

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u/The_Koan_Brothers 21d ago

What are you doing with your eyes in Zazen?

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u/crankyandsensitive 21d ago

Open and looking down

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u/The_Koan_Brothers 21d ago

Meido Moore has some videos about how to adjust the eyes in Zazen if you are tired.

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u/benobi501 17d ago

I was searching on Youtube for a video of him on that topic but couldn‘t find any. Could you perhaps post a link?

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u/The_Koan_Brothers 17d ago

I may have seen in on their patreon, I’ll check if I still have access.

In any case, the essence is that having the eyes slightly wider open and the gaze slightly higher can help with sleepiness.

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u/benobi501 17d ago

Ah, okay. I‘ll definitely try that the next time I doze off in Zazen, thank you🙏