Let’s not even discuss what I’ve been up to during seated “meditation.” One of these days I’m sure I’m going to roll right off my chair! Jack Kornfield, the renowned Buddhist teacher and author of A Path With Heart, recounted somewhere his experience of meditating while sitting on the edge of a well. His attention stayed “on” and focused since of course, he did not want to roll forward into the well!

What are the YOGA POLICE supposed to do in such a situation? Amnesty!!! If someone is in class and needs to sleep, well, what can I say….there’s nothing like a good ole savasana rest. Afterwards the student feels incredibly refreshed and hopefully, not too embarrassed.

Only once have I ever needed to touch a student’s toe when they didn’t wake up from the general movement around them as the class returned to sitting.

The senior Iyengar yoga teacher, Francois Raoult, has said that in times past teachers were known to (I cringe at the thought) kick students if they were found falling beneath wakeful consciousness. Now he says, don’t try to fight it so hard. If you find yourself really sleepy, relax into it. Usually after a few minutes, I find that that mini-rest did the trick and I can maintain my awareness for the remainder of the time left in savasana or in whatever relaxation pose I happen to be practicing then.

If students are sleeping, and I remember a really warm day last summer, when all of us in a “seasoned” class fell asleep during savasana.
Again, the teacher can decide if h/she wants to let it go, or wants to speak more to stimulate and guide the student’s awareness. Something such as “Bring your awareness to your heart center and invite the breath to open that place of perfect contentment and peace…..” Alternatively, the teacher could play some soft music, though music can have a sedating effect and may backfire on you.

All of these tricks you can use in your own home practice as well. Learning to stay awake and focused comes (at least it comes more often) as the practitioner grows more seasoned. Remember, I like to remind my students, the point is not to sleep, the point is to become more fully awake to all aspects of our lives, so that we can live more deeply, less reactively.

I’d love to hear what happens to you, Medium Yogini, and what tricks you use and how you self-talk during relaxation as you try to awaken to this moment.