Centering Prayer and Sleepiness

Posted on November 19, 2024

Q: I have been practicing Centering Prayer for approximately 8 months now. During the last few months I get very sleepy during the prayer (especially the second session) and I very often fall asleep, sometimes even for a few hours. I understand it is fine to fall asleep during the prayer. However, falling asleep after the prayer is inconvenient and it makes me feel the prayer is “stealing” my free time this way. It makes me even angry many times. It often happens I come from work and have plans how to spend my free time but then after the prayer, I have irresistible desire for sleep, and if I set the alarm to just nap for a few minutes, I ignore it and then wake up late, losing my free time again. I have tried doing the second session right before sleep but I’m usually too tired at that time. Note: I don’t feel good after coffee so it would not be an everyday solution for me.

A: Good for you, for persevering with your Centering Prayer practice, and for reaching out when it feels troublesome! All of us, as we take up the practice, encounter many things that have been going on with us for some time – such as recurring thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. These are all included under the umbrella term of “thoughts;” and as you know, as soon as we find that these thoughts, including sleep or sleepiness, have taken over our prayer, we gently and lovingly return to our sacred word as the symbol of our intention to consent to God’s presence and action. It sounds like you really get that, and can apply it during the prayer time.

From your note I hear that your main issue is what happens after the prayer time, when you feel you must continue to sleep. A couple of things come to mind – I would wonder about your body’s deep need for rest, that becomes more apparent after the prayer time. What do you think your body may be trying to tell you, with this call for more sleep? I notice in myself, when I am busy and moving through the day, that when I sit down to rest, it’s only then that I might notice how tired I am. And in response, I may try to go to sleep earlier – the first part of the night is where we get our deepest rest and sleep. You may want to try some sleep hygiene techniques and/or take up your fatigue with your doctor. I also wonder if, for a while, you might continue your morning Centering Prayer, and consider a more active contemplative practice later in the day: for example contemplative walking, yoga, or tai chi – you could keep the internal stance and intent of consenting to God’s presence as you do this. These of course are not Centering Prayer, but when done with intent they could nurture your relationship with God, building on a core element of our Centering Prayer practice.

Also, returning to the issue of sleepiness during Centering Prayer, I notice some times that if I am experiencing emotions such as anger, anxiety or fear that I don’t want to face, I may feel drowsy with a subtle undercurrent of sleepiness. I’ve come to recognize my desire to escape from these uncomfortable feelings.  Again, we are encouraged to tend to whatever we experience during the prayer, including any difficult feelings or desire to escape from them, with tenderness; returning to our sacred word and trusting that God leads us to this practice and through it, no matter what may come up.

One last thought – I notice that you mentioned your free time twice in your note. Freedom is indeed precious, and I pray that you continue to find more of it. And Centering Prayer can be central to this. As we see past what Thomas Keating calls the “emotional programs for happiness,” we find more interior freedom, to choose what nurtures and includes our relationship with God.  You can read a lot more about this in his Open Mind Open Heart, and more extensively in his short book, The Human Condition. The Contemplative Outreach website has resources that may help you as well.

Blessings on your practice and on your journey! Please reach out to us again with any more concerns.

With love,

Joy Andrews Hayter