Page 82 - Dhamma Practice

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are very light. There is no sensation—if there is, sleepiness would not emerge. Therefore, the way to address sleepiness is whenever it appears, take our mind and move it into the sleepiness. Then send it far away or expand it widely. Try it—whoever is sleepy now, expand the mind widely—how does it make our brain feel?
Sometimes after we have expanded our mind and our brain is now uncluttered and our eyes are brighter, but if we observe well, there are still remnants of the sleepiness in the periphery. As we lose our awareness, it will rush back in and our sleepiness re-emerges. If this happens, we go back in again and expand our mind again. The key is to move the sleepiness far faraway, without any remnants. If we can expand it to the extremity and there are no remnants left, our mind would be fully awake, immediately. This is the way to battle sleepiness. As the mind awakens, it becomes brighter. And, as we add more calmness, concentration increases and the awareness becomes more powerful. Then, sleepiness will disappear. This is a way to battle sleepiness—in addition to washing our faces or change our activity or our position by walking.
The way to address sleepiness that is caused by intense concentration is to increase the feeling of alertness. To increase alertness is not very easy as we do not know what it is. What is alertness—can we think of it? (A practitioner answers: To contemplate in a quick