How to Beat Sleepiness & Stay Present

(mouse clicking) (gentle music) Headspace Studios. (soothing music) Hi, it's Eve here. Welcome back to "Radio Headspace." Thanks so much for joining me today. So I attended a silent meditation retreat in December last year, and it was a week-long retreat, and as you can imagine, there was a lot of practice time. And on the second day, in one of the afternoon practices, I started to hear some people snoring. One person snorted so loudly, I think they actually woke themselves up. I did chuckle a bit. You may have even experienced this yourself. That is, falling asleep in meditation, not snorting. Needless to say, sleepiness is one of the most common things that arises in meditation. So if you've ever struggled with staying awake or alert during meditation, let me assure you, you are not alone. When we give the body permission to relax and be still, some residual tiredness often bubbles to the surface. And it's not the meditation making you fall asleep. It's your body's way of saying, "I'm tired and I need to rest." But this sleepiness can also show up in our day-to-day life, and that's what we're going to explore today. The key to working with sleepiness is finding the right balance. One of my meditation teachers shared this phrase with me when I was discussing sleepiness with them: not too tight, not too loose. I really love this because sometimes, we do need to apply a little more effort, and other times, we need to ease up and give ourselves permission to rest. I recently experienced this when I was traveling for work and I was dealing with a lot of jet lag. During my morning meditation practice, I kept nodding off. Instead of forcing myself to push through, I decided to experiment. I switched my practice to the evening, when I knew I'd feel more awake. And I'd love to tell you, see, easy as that, I just switched, but that's not exactly how it happened. I did have to work through a moment of frustration and expectation that I should meditate in the morning, but once I was able to let that go, this change made a world of difference. It was a great reminder to approach challenges with openness and curiosity. One day, we feel like we're handling everything just fine, and the next, we're dragging our feet and struggling to find the energy to do the things that usually bring us joy. This might mean taking some micro, meso, and macro-breaks. So a micro-break could be few moments to breathe and stretch during your day. A meso-break might be an afternoon off to recharge and take a long, peaceful walk, read a book, or take a nap. And a macro-break, well, that's your PTO, the vacation or holiday time we often hesitate to take, but desperately need. Take a moment to reflect. Is sleepiness or low energy showing up for you right now? And if so, how might...