In the past week I've had pure intent and have been practicing a lot

In addition to applying sensuousness I've been investigating the mechanisms of the instinctual passions, the felt sense of being, and the affective veil

Something I've come up against repeatedly is a tiredness that overwhelms the mind and makes it impossible to keep investigating whatever it is at the time I am doing because I feel like I'm about to fall asleep

Has anyone else encountered this? It's possible I'm just physically tired but it seems unlikely given that once I stop practicing it goes away and it seems I've been getting what should be enough sleep. Also tiredness is not affecting my work which is very cognitive and requires mental energy.

Drowsiness and fatigue is a really disruptive aspect of my practice. What I have done, and this at least gives me something to do with it, is to investigate it very intently. Since it is easy to actually fall asleep, what I do is use noting to keep me at least a little above the water. Eventually the point is to be aware even when one is very close to sleep.

I don't know for sure that is the right thing to do, it is just simply what I must do if I am to follow the technique as it was explained to me. I am getting better at this as the time passes, i.e., I am more and more able to stay with the sleepiness without actually being taken by it. But I would still love to hear from someone who actually had this problem and solved it for good.

Tarin has given some advice on this in a previous thread, which I can't find.

I think there is tiredness due to excerising or having worked all day, and then there is the tiredness which comes up only due to a practice of some sort, I think it can be cycle related.

Being a Goenka practitioner for ages, I called that tiredness the "sleepy sankhara". It came up a lot when i started sitting a lot. It was triggered by a heavy flow of subtle vibrations at the chest. I just got really good at looking at the sensations without mentally reacting to them. It became very easy to see the flow as just sensations seprated from a mental reaction to those sensations. For an AF practcie, you could find the physical trigger for the tiredness somewhere in the body (maybe the chest?) and use your apperception abilities to develop a non-reactive habit towards the tiredness/sleepy sankhara's physical component. That is where I think you can cut the chain of reaction.

Just a thought.

my advice, if you want it, is to take a nap if you're too drowsy to be interested in investigating, and resume when you wake up. sufficient interest (in the immediate sense) will keep you awake on its own, but if it's not there, it's not there; either you then rouse it or you don't.

if that last statement stands out to you, you will just do what you do. if it doesn't (stand out), just make what seems to be the best choice available to you at this time. at some point, there may not seem to be anything to do, or not do.. or any direction to head (that you're not already going).

tarin

Hi,

Along with the other replies, I have the following to add:

Try to see through the tiredness in a way that cuts through it completely, in the sense of recognizing that it is (in this context) something you may have a choice in perpetuating (or not). I had a tendency to play out this scenario for a time: I would notice being a bit tired or weary. I would then think "man... I am tired as hell, and I'm just kind of tired of this damn practice in general." Due to the nature of how I noticed and fixated on the situation, I would become even more tired, sometimes drastically more so. I eventually realized that the problem was mostly "me," and "my" impatience, though it may be due to something else for you. Does that make sense?

Caffeine is not off limits, so long as you are careful not to use it too much (else you may then end up in an addictive cycle which essentially requires one to consume caffeine simply to stave off the withdrawal / maintain what use to be "normal" wakefulness). I drank coffee every two-to-three days, and I know other practitioners that use tea similarly.

Make sure you're getting plenty of rest and actually allow yourself to sleep when it is necessary (in those cases where it is not something to push through, though knowing which is which can sometimes be tricky). A healthy diet and exercise are, of course, a good idea. The process itself can at times require an incredible amount of energy, although how that actually manifests from one person to another can be quite different.

Trent

Hi Craig,

I used Gendlin's felt sense to investigate stuff. I think the whole process of using this technique, coupled with an strong intent to be my utter best led to a pce of some sorts. After that stuff happened, and I whenever I listened within/felt within, I found myself being tired. That said, tiredness was present not just while investigating, but also in many other situations (and still is.)

Bart

This is what I do and it works very well (coffee not tea). in my case the positive effects of one cup carry over to the day following the day I drank the cup.

I like to fill a big bottle with very cold water and wash my face, and ears. This really wakes me up.