Video: The birth of “the meditation defense”?

Is Harry Belafonte meditating in this local-news clip, or just getting some shut-eye?

Press appearances can be tiring affairs, not least of all when they take place on local morning news shows. So it’s no surprise that a celebrity or two have fallen asleep while waiting to go on-air. Nor would it be surprising if they instead took their waiting time as an opportunity to do some meditation. The question is, which is the legendary singer-actor Harry Belafonte doing here? His handlers have since said he was doing the latter.

Like we say, he really couldn’t be blamed for doing either, but let’s hope that he’d prefer to be an ambassador for meditation than to use the practice as an excuse for his dozing.

Though, then again: a few of us here at Mindful.org will admit to falling asleep during meditation. It happens! Maybe it has even happened to you…?

For information on how to get a better night’s rest, read this excerpt from Rick Hanson’s new book on Mindful.org: 9 tips for getting more sleep.