One of the classical ways of staying awake is to sit on the edge of a cliff. We can't really do it here in the hall although some of you might try sitting as far back as you can near the gate. If you have any tendency to fall asleep and jerk backwards, that might help you stay awake. Some of the practical hints that Rosemary speaks about are splashing water in your face, and walking at a quick pace before a talk. Never do standing meditation before a talk if you're prone to sleepiness. Keep one hand on the floor, your fingers actually pushing a little bit on the floor. Some of you have seen the Buddha statues were the Buddha has his right hand on the floor. This is the "fingers touching the earth" posture, which is a very important posture in Buddhism. So actually copy that posture and push a little with your fingers when you're listening to a talk. Never close your eyes. When listening to a talk, always look directly at the speaker. Sometimes it helps to get close in front. It's hard to fall asleep when you know everyone is behind you. But some of you will do that anyhow. So, at any rate, fingers down, splash water, and keep your eyes open.
Another thing that you can also do is to develop some moral shame. Bring up a little bit of that "I am not trying hard enough" attitude. We are not saying to hit yourself over the head and say you're terrible, you don't want to do that. However, it won't hurt to reflect that if you don't try harder then you'll be wasting a valuable opportunity. Understanding how precious your opportunity is, may stimulate more energy and determination to use the mindfulness techniques. You want to have more pride that you are a meditator, and you want to learn and get this, this is a wonderful opportunity and you don't know if you're going to get this tomorrow. This is pride in a good way. So bring in a little bit of moral shame that may generate some effort, but in a soft way, that, "This isn't good enough. I don't want to do it." Bring in a little pride that "I want to stay awake, I want to hear the whole talk, even if I don't understand it. I want to stay awake. I want to try to absorb that." Bringing up this determination will help.
Some people find that the hand touching posture is also good during the sitting. Get your fingers down and push a little bit. When you're sleeping one of the main things that starts to happen for almost everybody is a body jerk. This shoots sensations right up your arm. If you don't put your hand down, you're not doing enough to combat sleepiness. That works very well.
Changing the posture in other ways can often help. Sit on a stool even though you don't usually. It's so awkward, especially if you don't usually use a stool. Get up on one while trying to listen to a talk. It's pretty hard to fall asleep. The stool is more dangerous than sitting cross-legged. Same thing with if you always sit on a stool, if any of you do, then sit cross-legged instead, have some pain. That will wake you up.