Taomeow Posted July 8, 2009 Really, why not? I am stuck in half-lotus with foot on thigh right now, as an intermediate step, until I can go into a full, full-lotus later... You need to rotate the hip (and the hip joint has to be loose enough) in order to get into full lotus. If you put your feet on your thighs you're not moving toward this goal at all -- the hip joints will still be tight, the qua "semi"- or completely locked, and the knees will be pressured on by some tight fascia while tendons supporting the knee which need to be supple will slacken. It's like in taijiquan -- the knees need to be aligned just so, they are vulnerable to misalignments more than any other joints of ours and are quite easy to throw off with misapplied pressure and/or incorrect rotation, and quite difficult to mend. There was a good tutorial someone (Smile?) posted here a while ago teaching the correct ways to gradually ease your body into the full lotus. Look it up in the archives. It's all about the hips! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gendao Posted July 8, 2009 You need to rotate the hip (and the hip joint has to be loose enough) in order to get into full lotus. If you put your feet on your thighs you're not moving toward this goal at all -- the hip joints will still be tight, the qua "semi"- or completely locked, and the knees will be pressured on by some tight fascia while tendons supporting the knee which need to be supple will slacken. It's like in taijiquan -- the knees need to be aligned just so, they are vulnerable to misalignments more than any other joints of ours and are quite easy to throw off with misapplied pressure and/or incorrect rotation, and quite difficult to mend. There was a good tutorial someone (Smile?) posted here a while ago teaching the correct ways to gradually ease your body into the full lotus. Look it up in the archives. It's all about the hips! Oh I agree, the less flexible the kua is, the more pressure gets put on the knees... But unfortunately, my kua does not open fully overnight, lol. And until it does, I think I will have pressure on my knees whether my feet are up on my thighs or hips. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted July 9, 2009 Oh I agree, the less flexible the kua is, the more pressure gets put on the knees... But unfortunately, my kua does not open fully overnight, lol. And until it does, I think I will have pressure on my knees whether my feet are up on my thighs or hips. But there's ways to "get there" without upsetting the knees, and that's what I was trying to encourage. The half-lotus if I remember correctly (I might not... I mean I remember the asana but I'm not one hundred percent sure about its name -- did my last yoga with names eons ago --) is done with ONE foot fully in the qua, the other one on the floor, its instep touching the first one's knee or thereabouts. This is easy enough if you go about assuming this position by placing one foot -- e.g. the right one into the left qua -- with both hands, any which way -- the knee might be pointing to the ceiling in the process -- the other foot bent, just lying on the floor -- then twisting your body from the waist to the right, putting your right hand behind your back and grabbing your right big toe from behind! You may feel the eager opening of the qua -- then ease your right knee onto the floor (or a little cushion if it won't reach), relax and enjoy! It's not a difficult position once you get a feel for it. Easier than feet on thighs, and safer, plus conductive to the full lotus -- once you've trained your both legs, one at a time, in this manner, then one day -- with your one foot in the qua, you just twist your waist in the opposite direction and grab the other toe from behind your back and put the other foot in the qua too... and, arms crossed behind your back, hold both toes... this is full lotus in full bloom. Wonder if Drew can do it -- this one is a bit different from the "just full" -- sheesh, I should have asked him what happened to people around him when he was in full bloom (if he was) ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrokenFist64 Posted July 9, 2009 How to get into Padmasana Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted July 9, 2009 How to get into Padmasana This is excellent, thanks. All the stretches shown are part of the regular TKD stretching routine, by the way, and are likely to aid any MA, not just peaceful meditation. Whoever said you can't kick any ass with yoga may have been wrong after all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
宁 Posted July 16, 2009 I tried both ways: semi-full and full lotus. My experience is this: - in semi-full the ankles may hurt a bit, but not the knees - in full, the pressure on the knee is rather big I'd say that the full lotus is a step worth pursuing... i've seen the pictures with WLP, he's doing them in full, not semi-full. One thing i don't get is: do the guys above have some cushion they are sitting on? Because i can sit in semi-full without a cushion, but i didn't try the full without a cushion. Maybe that would take some of the pressure that builds in the knees. FYI, now i'm doing a posture that is neither semi, neither full, somewhere in between, and working my way up on the kwa, bit by bit. I have to add that, to me it makes a lot of difference whether i practice meditation in lotus or half-lotus. Alot of minor differences. God is in the details, you know Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simple traveller Posted July 16, 2009 Good day I have heard that the lotus sitting serves an energetic purpose. It serves to lock the energy in during meditation, sort of an infinite loop. This helps in the grounding for your energy. Also there is the heaven energy above and earth energy below. When lying down the potential difference, within the body, between heaven energy and earth energy is the smallest. Standing produces the greatest potential difference, sitting is somewhere in between. So it all depends what your intention and goal is during meditation, at least from the energy point of view. Thank You Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zhuo Ming-Dao Posted July 16, 2009 Good day I have heard that the lotus sitting serves an energetic purpose. It serves to lock the energy in during meditation, sort of an infinite loop. This helps in the grounding for your energy. Also there is the heaven energy above and earth energy below. When lying down the potential difference, within the body, between heaven energy and earth energy is the smallest. Standing produces the greatest potential difference, sitting is somewhere in between. So it all depends what your intention and goal is during meditation, at least from the energy point of view. Thank You This is more or less true, but keep in mind that when you are doing any lotus position energy meditation, you are making it so that you are no longer receiving earth energy through the bubbling spring in your feet. You are instead pulling in heaven energy from multiple places and the earth energy is coming in directly through the huiyin point (base chakra), and so the energy is more intense but also less refined. This can be unbalancing if you only do energy work in the lotus position. I would balance it with standing and other positions that allow the bottoms of your feet to touch the ground. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
