Trying to stay conscious when meditating. Any advice ?

It seems that I blank out whenever I do 'meditation'. Now, I either go to sleep or I just blank out because when I wake up, I realise that I know nothing about the time I have just spent.

When I was young, I practiced Transcendental Meditation and I got to the stage where I would wake up feeling like my clothes were wet, like I was climbing back into a wet suit of clothes. I took this to mean that I had been out-of-body and I was coming back into my restrictive physical body. Thats as far as I got with TM although if I had continued with it I may have got further and taken my consciousness with me on the journeys.

So now, many years later, I still have no consciousness when I whizz off into the blue. I find it quite easy to calm myself into a quiet state and I soon lose consciousness/blank out but what I want is to retain all my vision/hearing/senses when I get into that medatative state amd learn from the experiences.

Maybe I am just lazy and cannot hold my concentration well enough to remain aware?
Anyway, I have sent off for a Monroe Institute Gateway Experience CD in the hopes that it will help me to fill in the blanks and to realise what I am missing.

Does anyone have any ideas what I can try to retain my consciousness please?

Don't try anything while meditating. That defeats the purpose. Let it all go.
Put the pieces together when you get back home.

im pretty sure when you loose consciousness you fall asleep lol then you dream. ive passed out before. but meditating is just trying to not think and just seeing how your mind reacts. same thing happens when you go to bed

Not trying anything results in what I am doing, so that does not give me what I want - which is to stay with it.

Possibly I should try one of the concentrating on something meditations rather than the repeating a mantra type. Maybe that way at least I can map my progress as to how often I blank out and 'fail'. Breath-watching or counting is too repetative for me I guess too.

a reply to: qmantoo
look for something long enough and you will find it. iis any answer better than no answer? even if that answer is wrong? anyways lucid dreaming can be very fun because you can imagine anything. thats basically training yourself to go to sleep but with enough awareness to experience what your subconscious id doing.

I reccomend letting yourself enter the sleep state its a form of meditation, focus on your third eye. They call the sitting sleep state tamasic samadhi your on the right track if your not in control anymore. Just let go and do not be worried about doing anything other than regular meditation. However I need to get off my arse and do some meditation myself.

a reply to: qmantoo

Any activity can be a form of meditation, if one is mindful of the moment.

For example, I pursue walking meditations. In order to block out the chaotic distractions of the outside world, I have a carefully selected playlist on my media player that I listen to on shuffle, just to add a bit of random free association into each day. The songs chosen highlight aspects of various thoughtscapes I wish to develop and enhance within my day to day. There is a mix of various lectures mingling with instrumental songs and lyrical explorations that I have trained myself to "switch gears" mentally as each topic plays during the walking exercise.

So, on one level - I'm meditating on what's playing....one another, I'm meditating on each footfall...one yet another I'm taking in the beautiful synchronicity of the natural world, and of course, I always have a level making sure I don't accidentally walk in front of a distracted driver in a crosswalk.

At the end of these meditation walks, one can then sit in silence and the mind naturally makes new connections and insights come of their own volition with minimal effort.

Granted, this is just one example of Active Meditation.

Most are only familiar with the sitting positions and "clearing of the mind" and awaiting insights and mental explorations. I have never had much success in that department unless I'm actively trying to go to sleep.

Active Meditation can be accomplished in any activity of your choosing, just start out being aware and present in the actions of the moment until it's become second nature....then you can start layering in whatever elements of self improvement, studies, disciplines, etc...as you so desire. The time tables vary for each step, but the more you practice the easier it gets.

Hope this helps.
Enjoy your mental travels whatever path you choose to pursue.

It's normal to fall asleep at first, for a while, or a looong while, it shows that you're brain is changing state (or frequency if you like...) and the sudden change or lowering of frequency makes you sleepy, this kept happening to me for months... but the brain learns to tell the difference between when you want to go to sleep and when you want to meditate and with practice or rather, repetition, you will start to naturally stay alert for longer and longer.

So don't worry my friend, falling asleep just shows you are doing it right and the brain is responding to what you are doing, just not exactly as you want it too. Yet. Patience is the key to life.

This worked for me
Not meditation but dream/sleep consciousness awareness.

Look for something long enough and you will find it. is any answer better than no answer? even if that answer is wrong?

I have been like this for as long as I can remember. If you are suggesting that I should listen to my own inner intuition, then yes perhaps I should, which is why I have ordered the Monroe Institute stuff.

As far as being normal to fall asleep when trying to meditate goes, I dont think it can be normal - because I have been doing it for ages, years, decades. I suppose it might be normal for me but others seem to keep aware.

Oh.. just remembered, when I was doing TM(see above), when I woke up, it seemed like my breathing had almost completely stopped and my body diid not need to breathe. Of course, as I started to come back to full awareness, my breathing got to be normal again. I must have been pretty deep then in those days. Perhaps I should start that TM again?

wow thanks mate, that's amazing share. I never tough i would run on so good share in this topic.

It contains 500+ pages and i liek how author writes. He is not trying to sell any crap to you. I have read many books about OBE or how this guy calls it phase. I liek this phase more ebcause OBE and other terms sound like crap. Like religious, mind control selling crap.

I recognize trough words what are people trying to achieve, those ocultists try to control masses with this new age things. Scientists want to scare people and sell them some crap.

Anyway i will read this book and i need to say i failed to have any phase. Mostly because what i read in those selling books was crap and i know it. So hopefully this free books will show me how.

originally posted by: qmantoo

Look for something long enough and you will find it. is any answer better than no answer? even if that answer is wrong?

I have been like this for as long as I can remember. If you are suggesting that I should listen to my own inner intuition, then yes perhaps I should, which is why I have ordered the Monroe Institute stuff.



As far as being normal to fall asleep when trying to meditate goes, I dont think it can be normal - because I have been doing it for ages, years, decades. I suppose it might be normal for me but others seem to keep aware.



Oh.. just remembered, when I was doing TM(see above), when I woke up, it seemed like my breathing had almost completely stopped and my body diid not need to breathe. Of course, as I started to come back to full awareness, my breathing got to be normal again. I must have been pretty deep then in those days. Perhaps I should start that TM again?

When the breathing stops you can be sure your on the right path! I have had some of those meditations and they are indeed the best your on the right track if breathing naturally stops!

a reply to: qmantoo

Abandon TV Abandon Facebook Abandon any facet of multimedia for an extremely extended period. Unfortunately that is very hard to do. I was thinking of paying someone to leave me at an island for a month effectively paying an individual to drop me off and bring me food periodically through my solitude once a month every year. I need my alone time and my vacation is all that seems to fit it.

originally posted by: FormOfTheLord


When the breathing stops you can be sure your on the right path! I have had some of those meditations and they are indeed the best your on the right track if breathing naturally stops!

It is not that breathing stops completely, it is just that you stop breathing and the body does it itself. There is a very deep seated and mostly unconscious fear that if one stops breathing one will die - there is a holding on to breath. At some point whilst relaxing the breath seems to stop as all the air is released. A friend once told me that he panicked when he stopped breathing while meditating and insisted that it is important to breathe, because he panicked he did not wait to see the body doing the breathing itself.
When there seems to be someone doing breathing it does not feel so relaxed. When there is contraction there seems to be a person doing life. When the contraction goes it is found that all happens quite naturally, breathing happens, thoughts arise and pass by and there doesn't seem to be any one who any of it matters to.

In true meditation there is no one to be conscious of any thing and nothing to be conscious of.
It is only when there appears to be a you and some thing else that there is any thing to be conscious of - there is nothing in deep sleep, you do not even know you are.
The light that appears (the morning star) when the eyes open is the light that makes it possible for to know you are - but what you are is not.
To be or not to be?? That is the question.
In deep sleep you are not being - in wakefulness (consciousness) you are being all that is. Non being and being and not two - they are the ONE. Non being and being appear together - the absolute and the relative are never not here.

I have the same problem.

I used to be able to meditate, but now I just get sleepy.

Another method of practice Buddhist monks do is Satipatthana.

en.wikipedia.org...


While the practice includes sitting meditation, it also includes mindfulness/awareness (or careful attentiveness) 24/7 on what is described as the Four Frames of Reference.

The 'Four Frames of Reference' are:

1) The Body - in regards to bodily events or action (for example if you extend your arm, you are aware of it).
2) Feelings and sensations
3) The mind - in regard to its various conditions
4) Mental objects or contents

The objective is to become aware of these things.

Sitting meditation also helps you become aware of these things, such as concentrating your mind on the breath (which is what makes me sleepy). But I think sitting is still important since it helps develop the discernment needed to observe yourself throughout the day. The objective is to gain understanding into your own nature in regards to suffering and well being.

sit up straight...

try a position that isn't "comfortable" enough to fall asleep...

a reply to: MindfulBuddha

Or just go to a Goenka Vipassana center.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I enjoyed reading that post and want to ask if you have any good links to read. I wasn't aware what you described was active meditation and I think I might be able to expand on that a bit.

I found the deepest thinking during a walking meditation as you say, came from when you`ve walked/ran to far and the entire return trip you just want to be over because of pain or being tired. While forcing yourself to take that next step I find myself "outside" of my mind while still focusing on one step at a time. I think if you can overwhelm the mind with something you can easily focus on a more direct thought. Maybe that's why throughout history so many painful methods have been used for meditating purposes?

originally posted by: qmantoo

Does anyone have any ideas what I can try to retain my consciousness please?

A few things come to mind.

1) Make sure you are well rested, and start meditation in the morning. What you should do is wake yourself up about 1 hour prior to your typical time that you get up, this does a few things. You are well rested, and you are still in a state of relaxation, so it's easier to focus on meditation without falling into a deep sleep.

2) Do not lay in a position you typically lay in to fall asleep. Find a position that keeps you semi-alert, but still comfortable enough to maintain meditation.

3) Always have a pen and paper handy to write things down after you wake up, and at the end of everything you write down say "Thank You". Saying Thank you establishes a gratitude for the information and the state of being, thus building a more solid connection every time you meditate.

Peace,

RT

Don't be restrictive of the meditation and if its sleep or that missing time feeling of just blanking out, as has happened to me, let it happen, don't put walls up, or meditate in rules and boxes. Just wear the armour of Love and Positivity and Compassion for all because that puts you in safety, that IS ARK.

However, being more aware of what occurred means spending a bit of time writing out, speaking and thinking before sleep, meditation, and throughout the day, that you will remember, that you give yourself permission to remain conscious during your meditations or to remember. Also, this is akin to waking up and remembering your dreams, and growing more conscious or lucid during them. Some can just spend some time during the day programming it, such as saying, "is this a dream or am I awake?" and yet for those with thryoid or health problems or alternate consciousness, that doesnt work. What made my dreams more active and memorable was doing what a friend said. He wrote it down, so he kept a artist's sketchbook and pencil/pen near him when he slept and before you open your eyes, or let the light take away your memories, let the current paradigm in, you start to think back deeper layers of your dream time and without opening your eyes try to record it on the sketchbook.

I just forgot all about the sketchbook part and just spent time thinking back without opening my eyes and found that for a couple of weeks this gave me more lucid or aware dreams before I woke up as your subconscious seems to honor the wish you make that way, or you efforts.

Try to make sure this is happening without alarms, because for me it doesnt work for long, suddenly on the alarm and have to jump out of bed because can't risk keeping eyes closed and falling back asleep again.