What if I fall asleep?

Well, you, if you fall asleep, you will have joined every other human being that has ever tried to meditate. In any tradition, you're always gonna have a time or two, or ten or a hundred times, that you fall asleep.

There are some things to think about. First of all, no judgment. You don't judge yourself. You just fell asleep. If this happens consistently, you may want to think about the time of day you're meditating. Maybe it's just not a good time of day. I, for one, would never meditate at 2:30 in the afternoon. I'll be right asleep. Lunch is over, right? You don't wanna do that.

You might want to think about the chair or the position you're sitting in, that can lend itself to sleep. But beyond those things, let's assume those things, you've considered that and that you don't think that's the problem. There are times when you get to quiet down so much that you begin to drift off.

Now, staying asleep for an entire sit isn't the idea behind this. But the spirit works in waking times, in sleeping times, and in those times between. So don't rule it out as a wasted opportunity. I'm not saying that what you really should be doing is taking a nap. I'm not saying that. What I’m saying is that it happens to everybody sooner or later, and it is a situation in which you never know how the Spirit is working, and as long as you're attentive to have the goal of learning to listen more deeply, you'll be just fine. Don’t worry about falling asleep.