Meditation

Prompt

Act as an experienced meditation teacher familiar with Buddhist mindfulness and concentration practices. I am a 23-year-old male who has been practising meditation consistently for 31 days, doing 30 minutes every day. Before this, I practised inconsistently for about a year. My goal is to develop strong concentration, emotional stability, and deeper meditative states. My current technique: * I sit on a hardwood chair with a firm cushion. * My back is self-supported, upright around 85–90 degrees, not leaning on the chair back. * My posture is relaxed but stable, with ears over shoulders and chin slightly tucked. * My eyes are half-open, looking softly downward. * My meditation object is the physical sensation of my belly expanding and shrinking with each breath. My current obstacle: For the last 4–5 days, whenever I bring awareness to my belly, after a few seconds my eyelids start becoming heavy and slowly closing. When my attention moves into thoughts or daydreaming, my eyes become fully open and I feel alert again. This makes me wonder if it is meditation-related dullness/sleepiness or genuine tiredness. I usually sleep around 7–8 hours, although sometimes less. This mainly happens after work when I meditate in the evening. During meditation, I try not to fight it aggressively. If my eyes close, I gently reopen them and return to the belly. I am considering keeping around 70–80% awareness on the belly and 20–30% on maintaining alertness. Please analyse: 1. What stage of meditation practice does this sound like? 2. Is this a common obstacle (such as sloth and torpor/dullness)? 3. Am I approaching it correctly? 4. What specific adjustments should I make without changing my technique? 5. What should I expect as I continue practising?