“If the beginner yogi sits on the hard floor to meditate he will find
his legs going to sleep, owing to pressure on his flesh and arteries. If he
sits on a blanket over a spring pad or mattress, on the floor, or over a hard
bed, he will not experience discomfort in his legs. A Westerner, used to
sitting on chairs with his thighs at a right angle to his torso, will find it
more comfortable to meditate on a chair with a woolen blanket and silk cloth
under him, extending under his feet which rest on the floor. Those Western
yogis, especially youths, who can squat on the floor like Orientals, will find
their knees pliable, owing to their ability to fold their legs in an acute
angle. Such yogis may meditate in the lotus posture, or in the more simple
cross-legged position.
“No one should try to meditate in the lotus posture unless he is at
ease in that position. To meditate in a strained posture keeps the mind on the
discomfort of the body. Meditation should ordinarily be practiced in a sitting
position. Obviously, in a standing posture (unless one is advanced) he may fall
down when the mind becomes interiorized. Neither should the yogi meditate lying
down, for he might resort to the ‘practiced’ state of slumber.
“The proper bodily posture, one which produces calmness in body and
mind, is necessary to help the yogi shift his mind from matter to Spirit.”
— Paramahansa Yogananda, God
Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita
It's not only important to be able to sit comfortably for
meditation; the way we hold the body has a profound effect on the emotions and
mental states that we experience. Something as subtle as the angle that you hold
your chin at affects how much thinking you do.
The Importance of
Meditation Posture
The first thing to learn in meditation is how to sit
effectively. There are two important principles that you need to bear in mind
in setting up a suitable posture for meditation.
* Your posture has to allow you to relax and to be
comfortable.
* Your posture has to allow you to remain alert and
aware.
Both of these are vitally important. If you are
uncomfortable you will not be able to meditate because of discomfort. If you
can't relax then you won't be able to enjoy the meditation practice and, just
as importantly, you won't be able to let go of the underlying emotional
conflicts that cause your physical tension.
From reading that, you might well think that it would be
best to meditate lying down. Bad idea! If you are lying down your mind will be
foggy at best, and you may well even fall asleep. From the most efficient
energy flow point of view, lying on the floor is also not recommended. The
energy flowing the best in the vertical direction, or close to that. If the
body is positioned horizontally, expect the higher amount of efforts to reach
the similar results.
Forget about meditating lying down. The best way to
effectively combine relaxation AND awareness is a sitting posture. You don't
have to sit cross-legged, or even sit on the floor.
We'll show you how to set up an effective posture in
three positions:
* Sitting in a chair,
* Sitting astride a cushion or on a stool, and
* Sitting cross-legged.
All of these methods work: the important thing is to find
one in which you will be comfortable.
Remember: you may think it looks really cool to sit
cross-legged, but if you do not have the flexibility it takes to do that then
you'll simply suffer! Make it easy on yourself. Choose a posture that is right
for you.
Meditation
Posture: Elements of Good Posture
There are many different ways to sit for meditation,
including using chairs, sitting astride cushions, using a bench, and various
ways of sitting cross-legged from the simple tailor position to the full lotus.
You need to experiment and look for the best position, which will be
comfortable to you and the most natural to your body. Listen to your body.
Discomfort will distract you from your meditation and is also your body's way
of telling you that something is wrong.
These are the general guidelines for you to consider:
1. Your spine should be upright, following its natural
tendency to be slightly hollowed. You should neither be slumped nor have an exaggerated
hollow in your lower spine.
2. Your spine should be relaxed.
3. Your shoulders should be relaxed, and slightly rolled
back and down.
4. Your hands should be supported, either resting on a
cushion or on your lap, so that your arms are relaxed.
5. Your head should be balanced evenly, with your chin
slightly tucked in. The back of your neck should be relaxed, long, and open.
6. Your face should be relaxed, with your brow smooth,
your eyes relaxed, your jaw relaxed, and your tongue relaxed and just touching the
back of your teeth.
Meditation
Posture: Sitting in a Chair
Sitting in the chair is considered as the easiest posture
for the beginners, and it should be considered as the most recommended for
those who has no previous extensive experience with practicing yoga and the
stretching physical exercises, helping to try the sitting on the floor
positions.
So, let’s review the posture, which can help you to start
meditative practice, and which can be practiced anywhere: in your office, home,
or on the public transportation (definitely, if you are not a driver).
It is recommended to adjust slightly your chair from the
standard, raising its back legs by maybe an inch or so (2.0 to 2.5cm) if that
is possible. This allows you to sit upright without having to either hold your
back rigidly, or leaning against the back of the chair. Blocks of wood, or even
telephone directories, can be used for this.
Rest your hands on your thighs, palms down. Have your
feet flat on the floor if you can. If your legs are very long or very short compared
to the chair, then this might not be possible. If your feet don't reach the
floor, then you can use another phone book to rest your feet on, or adjust the
office chair sit height. If your legs are too long, then ideally you should
find another chair, or make the height adjustments again if available.
Some office chairs are perfect for meditating! Set the
seat so that it is slightly tilted forward, and make sure that the backrest is
only making very slight contact with your lower back. Adjust the height so that
your feet are flat on the floor.
Follow the simple steps:
1. Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet on the
ground. If your feet don’t touch, use a pillow, or folded blanket under your
feet.
2. Feel the two sitting bones beneath you (your butt
bones).
3. Open through your sitting bones by reaching back to
the gluteal flesh (your butt) and pulling it back and out from underneath you.
When you do this, you’ll feel the two sitting bones more firmly connected to
the chair beneath you, and you’ll feel a wider base of support while sitting.
4. Feel your connection to the chair through the two
sitting bones as you lengthen through your spine. Place your hands on each side
of your body and lift up, so you create space between the hips and lower ribs.
5. Lengthen through your spine and imagine space between
each of your vertebrae to create length in the spine.
6. Gently drop your chin down and in, so your neck is in
alignment with your spine, and lengthen through your neck to the top of your
head.
7. Make sure your low back is not overly arched, if it
is, gently tuck your tailbone and gently draw in on your abdomen.
8. Place your hands on your legs either palm up or palm
down. Or you may fold them in your lap.
9. Take a moment and make sure you feel comfortable. Make
any adjustments you need to make to get comfortable. Stay relaxed, even as you
keep your body nice and upright (this is a real feat).
10. Gently close your eyes and prepare for meditation.
Meditation
Posture: Kneeling, Using a Cushion or on a Stool
Although you can use a chair to meditate on, for some
people it is not as satisfying as sitting on the floor. Somehow, being on the
floor gives a more "grounded" feeling.
Finding good cushions is important. They need to be
really firm, and most pillows just compress too much and can't give you enough support.
The same goes for most ordinary, household cushions.
The important thing is to get the right height. If you
sit too low, you will end up slumping. Slumping interferes with your ability to
stay aware, and can lead to discomfort. If you sit too high, then you will have
too much of a hollow in your back, which can lead to pinching. When your back
is relatively upright, without you having to use any effort to keep it that
way, then you've got the height about right.
You can either have another cushion in front of you to rest
your hands on, or you can tie something round your waist and rest your hands on
that.
Meditation
Posture: Sitting Cross-Legged
Not everyone can sit cross-legged. There's no particular
need to be in a cross-legged posture to meditate. In fact if you may force
yourself into an uncomfortable cross-legged posture then you may do long-term
damage to your joints, and you certainly won't be comfortable enough to
meditate effectively.
However, if you have the flexibility, then sitting
cross-legged is a very stable and grounded posture. There are a number of ways
of sitting with crossed legs.
Meditation Posture:
Tailor Position
The tailor position is the simplest cross-legged
position. It is also probably the most common cross-legged posture.
It is very important for you to have both knees on the
ground, to give you adequate support. Having three points of contact (your
butt, and both knees) gives you a lot of stability. If you can't quite get both
knees on the floor, then you can use some padding (a thin cushion or folded
scarf) under your knee to keep you stable. If one, or both, of your knees is
more than an inch (2-3cm) off the ground, then use a chair or try sitting
astride cushions or a meditation bench or stool. You can always do some yoga to
loosen up your hips, and then come back and try a cross-legged posture later.
Again, if your hands don't rest naturally on your lap,
keep them supported, perhaps on a cushion or on a blanket. You might want to
alternate which foot is in front from time to time. This is a good thing to do
because any cross-legged posture is slightly asymmetrical. If you alternate the
position of your feet, then you'll even out the imbalances and not "build
them in" to your posture.
Meditation Posture:
Lotus and Half-lotus
These postures are only suitable for those who are very
flexible. If you feel any pain in your knees, or this posture becomes very
uncomfortable, then try one of the earlier postures that we looked at.
In the full lotus, the feet rest on the opposite thighs,
with the soles pointing upwards (if you have pain in your ankles then stop! and
find an easier posture). In the half-lotus, one foot is on the opposite thigh
with the sole pointing upwards, while the other rests on the floor, as in the
tailor position.
Full lotus is said to be the best position for
meditating. The meditator who is able to sit comfortably in full lotus is close
to the ground (which, for some reason, seems to be helpful in feeling
"grounded"), and is also in a very balanced and symmetrical posture.
Sitting on a chair or kneeling with cushions or on a
bench are even more symmetrical postures, but there is less contact with the
floor.
Meditation
Posture: Shoulders
In order to create good conditions for being aware, you
need to have an open chest, with a sense of spaciousness across the front of
your chest between your shoulders. You can encourage this sense of spaciousness
by taking a few deep breaths and filling your upper chest. As you breathe in,
the front of your body with rise. Feel the openness across the front of your
upper chest and, at the same time, relax your shoulders, letting them fall and
roll back.
If, while sitting, you feel any stretching in your
shoulders, it probably means that you need to have you hands supported higher.
While meditating, you may have the sensation that your shoulders are rising and
falling as you breath in and out. If you tune into the sensation of your
shoulders falling on the outbreath, you can encourage your shoulders to relax
more deeply.
Meditation
Posture: Hands
Your arms weigh a lot. If your hands are not supported,
then your shoulders have to carry all of that weight. That means either that
your shoulders will tense to bear the weight of your arms, or your shoulder
muscles will be overstretched. Either way it is going to be uncomfortable.
Make sure your hands are supported. If you're in a low
cross-legged position, then you may be able to rest your hands comfortably in
your lap. However, you may want to have your hands supported higher.
This will allow your shoulders to roll back further and
be more relaxed.
If you're sitting in a chair, you can usually rest your
hands on your thighs, but some people with long backs may need something to
support the hands. If you're kneeling, using cushions or a stool, then you may
need to have some substantial support for your hands. In this case another
meditation cushion, or perhaps a sweater or blanket tied round the waist, can
be used.
Meditation
Posture: Head
The position of your head is very important. Your head
should be balanced, and should almost seem to float effortlessly on top of your
spine. You can imagine the crown of your head being drawn upwards, as if the
string of a balloon were attached to it. Your chin should be slightly tucked
in, and the back of your neck should be long and relaxed. So as you tuck in
your chin, feel the muscles on the back of your neck relaxing and lengthening.
If your chin is tucked in too far, so that your head
hangs forward, then you'll find either that you tend to feel dull and sleepy,
or that you become caught up in circular, and often not very positive, loops of
emotions. If your head is tilted too far back, so that your chin is in the air,
you'll find that you tend to get very caught up in thinking, and that you become
rather "speedy."
But when your chin is nicely tucked in, you're able to be
aware of both your thoughts and emotions without getting lost in them.
Meditation
Posture: The Eyes
Many people wonder whether the eyes should be open or
closed during meditation, and different Buddhist meditation traditions vary in their
approach on this point. In the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana
practices, it is recommended having the eyes closed. This allows for greater
one-pointedness of mind. The exception to this is when you find you are tired,
when the eyes can be opened to provide more stimulation.
The eyes should be lightly closed, with the muscles
surrounding the eyes as relaxed and soft as possible. Even though the eyes are
closed, you can think of having an "unfocused gaze." This soft,
unfocused state is more conducive to relaxation and mental calmness.
General Guidance
There are several additional notes on the sitting
position for meditation which might help to start it right:
ü
Eat a simple, light meal an hour or two before
meditating. It is very difficult to achieve and sustain good meditative
positions if the body is too hungry or too full. In his meditative instructions,
yoga meditation teacher Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati frequently reminds students
that food is for our cells, not for us. It’s not about what we want but rather
what our bodies need. To prepare yourself for meditation, eat enough to
maintain your strength but not so much that your body positioning and breathing
will be compromised. Foods recommended for consumption prior to meditation
include vegetables, beans/legumes and brown rice or other whole grains.
ü
Wear loose clothing. Loosen your belt if
necessary. Material should not gather behind the knees when you cross the legs,
inhibiting circulation.
ü
If it hurts, don’t do it!
Sources and
Additional Information:
