Discussion at Club Med Live tonight was about sleep during meditation, specifically Vedic Meditation. If sleep comes during meditation, welcome it. In the 20 minutes of meditation, we’re handing over control of what happens to our body’s natural intelligence, and if that intelligence decides the best thing for us is to offload some of the fatigue we have stored up in the system, then that’s a good thing. We get the experiences we need, not necessarily the ones we want.

But while we’re happy if sleep is the result, we shouldn’t encourage it by being too horizontal in our posture. A relaxed upright position with back supported and head and neck free is what we’re looking for. And remember that you can always set a safety net alarm for 25 minutes if you’re worried about nodding off and missing an appointment.

If you find your head has tilted forward in meditation and think you’ve been sleeping, it’s more likely that you’ve transcended or had a very deep meditation. This is the most common position when you’ve transcended and as we have no experience of the absence of thoughts we often mistakenly think we must have been asleep.

But instead it’s that deepest state of the process where we’re directly experiencing the pure conscious state, consciousness without content. It’s this contact with the stillness of our essential inner state that we’re looking to bathe in and then bring back into our waking life. And whether we fully immerse ourselves in it or just approach it, it’s having the same rejuvenating and evolutionary effect on us. Happy meditating!

Want to learn more about Vedic Meditation?

The best way to learn Vedic Meditation is to visit a teacher near you in person – I’m in Sydney, Australia and would love to teach you. Book into a free intro session here.

But if you can’t get to a Vedic Meditation teacher near you, I’ve put together an online introductory course for you.

Vedic Meditation is traditionally taught in-person only, with the student bringing offerings, witnessing a gratitude ceremony and then receiving a personalised mantra.

To respect this tradition, while offering a taster of the technique, in these online sessions I use a universal mantra and don’t perform the ceremony.

What is Not-Quite Vedic Meditation?

You will learn the same effortless technique with the same ability to remove stress and help you connect with the quietest aspects of yourself. 

It’s taught in seven 15-minute guided meditations, with instruction to start and close the sessions and a period of silence in the middle.

You also won’t receive any personal coaching or feedback but you will get a good idea of how powerful and life changing this technique can be.

I hope when you’re able to make it to an in-person course, either with me or a teacher local to you, that you do it.

What you’ll learn

• A SIMPLE MEDITATION TECHNIQUE TO REDUCE STRESS 

• A WAY TO DEAL WITH THOUGHTS DURING MEDITATION 

• HOW TO GO DEEPER WITH YOUR MEDITATIONS

• A METHOD FOR DEVELOPING RESILIENCE AND SELF CONTROL

• A COUNTER-INTUITIVE SECRET TO HAPPIER MEDITATIONS

How it works

• REGISTER WITH YOUR EMAIL BELOW

• YOU’LL RECEIVE A DAILY EMAIL WITH A LINK TO GUIDED MEDITATION FOR A WEEK

• LISTEN TO A 15 MINUTE RECORDING GUIDING YOU THROUGH A STRUCTURED MEDITATION COURSE

• LISTEN ANYWHERE YOU CAN SIT QUIETLY – YOU DON’T NEED SILENCE

• EACH RECORDING BEGINS AND ENDS WITH A FEW MINUTES OF INSTRUCTION AND HAS AROUND TEN MINUTES OF SILENT MEDITATION IN THE MIDDLE

• AFTER THE 7-DAY COURSE YOU’LL HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MEDITATION AND BE ON YOUR WAY TO CREATING A DAILY HABIT

Sign up by clicking on the product link below.

The course fee (A$75 – approx £40 | US$55) is deductible if you go on to take an in-person Vedic Meditation course with me.