1
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When I start my meditation session, I pretty much start to yawn straight away a number of times through the short session.

2
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When this happens, I just say, yawning, and continue on this way.

3
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Is this the right idea?

4
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NICK BUTCHER- What do you think, Owen?

5
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Owen?

6
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I think noting it is fine.

7
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but I'm not too sure on the reason for the yawning.

8
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Maybe the meditation's been taking place at the end of the day.

9
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Are they physically tired?

10
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Or are they finding that when they're meditating, they're going more into a relaxed state rather than a state of concentration and focus?

11
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Yeah, sometimes you might want to do walking instead if you're tired.

12
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Yawning can be rapture as well.

13
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Apparently, you can get into a state of piti and start yawning.

14
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We had this question about what is a yawn.

15
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This Israeli monk, he sent me an email, and he asked me, what is a yawn?

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And I went to one monk and got an answer.

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And then he asked what did another monk said, so I went to that monk and got an answer.

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And then he asked what did Ajahn Tong, my teacher,

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say and went to my teacher and got another answer.

20
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And I actually went to the Tipitika as well and looked it up and there's not much about yawning.

21
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What is yawning?

22
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Where does it come from?

23
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Yeah, yawning is fine feelings.

24
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Go ahead.

25
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Yawning physically means that your body needs oxygen.

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That's why the body tends to yawn.

27
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So maybe some deep breaths or get some fresh air before meditating.

28
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Yeah.

29
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If you're doing stressful mind work, it can cause you to yawn when your brain is working too hard.

30
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You find when you start to meditate, you yawn because

31
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the oxygen's not getting to the brain or something, so something's triggering that.

32
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It can be when you're thinking too much.

33
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So yeah, you don't always just have to acknowledge everything.

34
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That's the key to it.

35
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But

36
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Especially with fatigue, when a person is nodding off, you can get up and walk, you can pull your ears, you can wash your face, you can recite chanting.

37
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I don't know, when I was living as a meditator in Canada, I would try to do driving meditation, which is of course dangerous, especially at night.

38
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because you can enter into states of concentration and fall asleep.

39
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So in order to combat that, I was thinking about what can I do with trying to think of different ways, you know, massaging my arms or something.

40
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Nothing was working until I started doing really loud chanting, which is, of course, what people have been doing outside of the Buddhist teaching, right?

41
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They put on some music and sing along.

42
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That really helps to wake you up.

43
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Anyway, that's not what I would do if you're yawning, but...

44
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But yeah, you can start doing chanting.

45
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That is something that can help.