Do you ever fall asleep while meditating?

Do you ever fall asleep while meditating?

Yesterday I had lunch with Buddhist priest and novelist, Catherine Gammon. Ten Sweet Briar students gathered with me, pausing in the middle of a busy day to hear her story. Catherine gave away her three beloved cats, sold her house, and drove across the country to take up residence at Green Gulch Farm, a Soto Zen retreat  in Northern California. She did so because she wanted to find a way to live that made sense in the midst of layers of violence.

At one point in our conversation, a student asked, with some urgency "Do you ever fall asleep while meditating? You know we're all thinking it!"

Catherine gave us a technical answer, describing the position of the spine in meditation and the triangular folding of one's body on a cushion that awakens her not if, but when, she sometimes begins to nod off. 

And then she said something like this: After seven days of deep practice in community, the world around you changes. It becomes brighter, more vibrant, more alive.

What practices do you have that keep you awake to the world around you? What practices do I engage that make my world  brighter and more alive?" Those are the questions with which Catherine's visit left me. You can find more about her and her books here. http://catherinegammon.wordpress.com/writing/