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Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 4:16 am
by Digity
Do you meditate in the morning? If so, what time do you meditate? I've thought about going on a retreat, but I heard the wake up time is 5:30 am! I'm the type of person that sleeps in if he can. I'm a bit of a night owl. I do meditate in the morning before I go to work, but that's usually around 8 am. Do you think I should train myself to get up early and meditate or just stick with what I'm doing now. Also, how am I going to deal with waking up at 5:30 am on a retreat? I feel like I'll be exhausted from waking up so early and won't be able to meditate...I'll probably be sleeping more than meditating.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 5:43 am
by Feathers
I'd also love to hear an answer to this. I'm considering trying to train myself to always get up at 6am and practice for an hour right away. Anybody else done this? My natural tendency is to sleep until lunchtime! So any tips would be great!

Good luck Digity if you try it :-) Maybe we should start a night-owl rehabilitation club :p

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:23 am
by LonesomeYogurt
Remember that most retreats will have you going to bed around ten or so - it only takes a day or two to really get used to that schedule if you work towards it in the week or so beforehand. In general, one needs less sleep during a retreat. After all, you're not doing much but sitting!

I don't think there's a great need to alter your sleep schedule in your daily life, but I would recommend easing into an earlier wakeup time if you know a retreat is in your future. That way it isn't quite as much of a shock on your body.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 9:55 am
by Spiny Norman
Digity wrote:Do you think I should train myself to get up early and meditate or just stick with what I'm doing now.
Find the time of day which works best for you, and try to make meditation part of your daily routine.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 10:08 am
by binocular
Feathers wrote:I'd also love to hear an answer to this. I'm considering trying to train myself to always get up at 6am and practice for an hour right away. Anybody else done this?
Yes. It went horribly.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 10:29 am
by Khalil Bodhi
I have trained myself to wake up between 4am and 4:45am (it varies by season and workload) so I can meditate for at least 45 minutes in the morning. Yes, it is difficult but I have learned a lot about about effort, persistence and determination not to mention about the nivaranas (hindrances) especially sloth and torpor. In the end, though, only you can tell what is too much or not enough. Still, it helps to remember how ideal our present conditions are and just how unlikely it is that we ay ever enjoy similar circumstances again any time soon. May everyone enjoy success in their practice! :anjali:

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 5:55 am
by kmath
Funny story on the topic of morning meditation.

I used to live at a temple where we'd meditate as a group at 5 am, and then we'd bow three times to end the session. Sometimes I'd start nodding during the sit. As my head whizzed toward the floor, my semi-conscious mind would awaken and assume I was bowing, so naturally I would commence my three bows. Only to realize, of course, that no one else was bowing and the bell had not yet rang. So while the rest of the group continued to meditate, there I was half-awake bowing in the middle of the hall. Then I would just keep meditating as if nothing happened...

:zzz: :bow:

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:06 am
by purple planet
when i was in a retreat the sleeping and also the eating part where very easy for me and now i try to not eat after noon and wake up early and its very hard

i dont think you should worry because of it - yes its good to try to fit the hours to a retreat before but really there is no need to worry like it was said after a day you will get used to it- and even if you dont it would be a great opportunity to deal with sleepiness

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:01 am
by Kim OHara
Feathers wrote:I'd also love to hear an answer to this. I'm considering trying to train myself to always get up at 6am and practice for an hour right away. Anybody else done this?
Yes - it went really well BUT it only works when there is no-one else in the house for a few weeks and I could set my own routines without cutting across other people's plans. When the family is home, which is most of the time, I grab times later in the day but it's not as good.

:namaste:
Kim

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 11:26 am
by Feathers
Thank you :smile: I have my last exam on Wednesday, so after that I think I might give this a shot.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 3:38 pm
by Sekha
You can train yourself progressively. Fight sleepiness with wakefulness. Morning meditation will become easy. You may even start to wish to meditate longer than one hour when you really get into it.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 9:17 pm
by jadborn
Digity wrote:Do you meditate in the morning? If so, what time do you meditate?
I usually wake up around 5:00am! In my natural state I usually sleep much later, but I have found that my body and mind work much better when I get into the habit of waking up early. I've only recently began to get back on the wagon meditation-wise, but I do try to do at least a quick ten minutes before I get up and cycle to work. I think it's been very beneficial for me to start going to bed and rising at earlier times, and meditating.

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 3:12 am
by manas
I've heard it said that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after. If you go to bed at 10 pm - which also seems to be the recommended time designated in the suttas for lying down and taking rest - then rising at 5 am or even 4 am becomes easy, so long as you go to bed without lots of (or preferably, any) food in your stomach (which in my experience disturbs sleep and also means that one's digestive organs (including the liver) don't get to rest).

Regarding having to have an empty stomach, my recommendation for a rumbling tummy at bedtime is some hot milk with spices and honey if you wish, which alleviates the hunger pangs, helps one to get sleepy, but is soon digested and won't disturb one's sleep. But it has to be hot, not cold. I've been drinking organically produced, unhomogenized milk in this manner and it's been great for this purpose.

If you are finding the early hours hard to adjust to as regards wakefulness, remember also that as a temporary measure, some coffee or tea first thing in the morning doesn't break the five precepts. They do have their uses sometimes.

:anjali:

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:32 pm
by Kabouterke
binocular wrote:
Feathers wrote:I'd also love to hear an answer to this. I'm considering trying to train myself to always get up at 6am and practice for an hour right away. Anybody else done this?
Yes. It went horribly.
Ha. Yes, same here. I cannot tell you how periods in my life I have resolved to get up at 5:45 AM and get an hour of meditation in before work. Lack of sleep and proper rest and inability to pay attention at work were definitely big factors that made me drop that habit... quickly... mutliple times. :zzz: The best time for me to meditate is in the middle of the day. It's just a shame we don't have meditation hour at work... :P :jumping:

Re: Morning meditation

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:11 am
by cherrytigerbarb
I wake up at 5am and meditate until my alarm goes off at 6. Most days I wake up automatically at 5 unless I'm extra tired for some reason.