Today during zazen, I accidentally fell asleep. Well, I didn't really fall asleep, more like I was drowsing. I was sitting with my eyes closed, and before I knew it, my body's weight had shifted off-center, so that I was slowly leaning backwards. But due to the sensation of falling backwards (think of the movie Inception, or sometimes when you fall of your bed, you awake just in time to catch yourself), I regained consciousness and returned my body to the correct position. Now this happening once isn't that big of a deal, in my opinion, but the thing is is that it kept on happening. Every time I woke up, a couple of minutes later I would drift back into slumber mode, and then re-awake to the feeling of falling backwards. Reflecting about it now, I've realized that there wasn't one time after the first 6-8 minutes that I was really trying to meditate. If I wasn't already asleep, I was trying to prevent myself from falling asleep. If I tried to count my breathing, I would feel my eyelids getting heavy, and I would try to keep them open, to no avail.
To try and combat this sleepiness, I tried to do some research, but found not a lot of answers. The only advice I found was that if you do find yourself falling asleep, then you might need to get up and splash cold water in your face, work up you muscles, etc. In reality, if you are really that tired, then the best advice I can give you is sleep more.
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