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A lot of practitioners tell you to not fall asleep when meditating and to bring back focus when you feel sleepy. On the other hand, I find that inducing sleep through meditation helps me lucid dreaming or have a lot of thoughts going on in my mind when I sleep. It's like I'm in a state so relaxed that one could consider sleep, but since I meditated right before sleeping, my stream of thoughts is still going on, continuing on the dreams realm. Have you ever had such experiences, and if so, do you think it's any helpful? Any specific material/book is appreciated on the argument, as I would like to know more about this.
When I feel like falling asleep during meditation during the day, it's lack of sleep kicking in. I use those opportunities for lucid dreaming if I can fall asleep for that time... and leave meditating for later. The body just have to get its way...
Falling asleep completely shouldn't happen during meditation provided you sit up straight properly, unsupported by a backrest or wall. Classic hatha yoga also permits lying on the floor in the corpse posture (shavasana) while meditating, and Bardon even suggests a couch if I remember correctly but I would rather say lying down on a hard floor is great if you want to play around with
because the discomfort will wake you up again after some time. My own meditation go-to book is Culadasa's The Mind Illuminated (classic Buddhist samatha meditation) as well as his Practice Guide.
Of course there's the debate on what constitutes meditative states and what trances. It also depends on what you want to get out of your chosen method. For many including purist me, it's mental clarity, an empty mind free of streams of discursive thought, and you have to watch yourself like a hawk all the time for intrusive thoughts and guard against dullness and drowsiness, which takes discipline and determination; trances, on the other hand, require you to relinquish control, or go with the natural flow of your consciousness. Perhaps that's the main difference - meditation is about processes (or their cessation), trance is about experiences and informational content but like I said, it all depends on your definitions and your preferences.
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Forgot to add: when trying the corpse position while lying on the floor, it's important to keep the palms of your hands UP since that will make it harder for you to doze off completely.
