Meditation Postures...Is the straight spine vital to effective meditation?

[Spectrum]

quicky: don't throw the baby out w/ the bathwater

 

sitting stacks the spinal COLUMB one on top of the next: sometimes a small pillow allows the tail bone to be free, a chair is good as the butt bones contact and the tail bone is naturally suspended

 

standing ELONGATES the spinal columb, so the "precedure" to get there is a little different, though wuji standing is fast and effective, especially if the proper "load" is engaged (gung) such as holding the ball or baby.

 

Either or spinal alignment is the most important aspect and people who have kinks get to experience the path between the root and the fruit of those kinks until they have worked through them to resolve.

 

release compression fatigue on nerves, inversions, lower back do dip position let the lower body HANG FREE breath deep

 

 

[doc benway]

Chunyi Lin says 20 minutes of full lotus is worth 4 hours of any other meditation practice. As long as you use the yin-yang principles then you are fine -- only full-lotus is the most effective. There are a zillion methods to be sure -- but full-lotus is the best for the yin-yang resonance. Yin-yang-emptiness is the Tai-chi -- not a method -- but the complementary opposite resonance.

My point exactly!

Enjoy.

[Blume]

So regarding full lotus do you gradually increase from 20 minutes onwards, to until 2 hours.

[hyok]

Some of the most profound meditation sessions I've had happened in my chair in the midst of playing a video game. Basically whenever I felt an energy surge in me, or whenever I took a break, I'd sit there and meditate for about 20 minutes to an hour and just lose myself, and then wake up and start playing games again.

 

I don't see why we should physically suffer in odd positions to reach some heights. I dunno, maybe it proves something for some people? maybe there is merit in it on some level that i'm not familiar with.

 

Honestly, I don't think form matters as much as what's inside of a practitioner. The moral intelligence that lives within us, the Inner-ego, knows why we meditate; knows the intentions that beat within our hearts. The development of those intentions towards understanding and embracing compassion towards all beings is the way.

Edited January 27, 2010 by hyok

[voidisyinyang]

Good question. I recommend using the Level 1 Sitting meditation practice of the small universe -- you can just sit in a chair -- the goal is to increase the chi or electromagnetic fields and from that you can develop the full lotus. Just scroll down on this to find the c.d.

 

http://www.springforestqigong.com/instructional_tools.htm

 

So regarding full lotus do you gradually increase from 20 minutes onwards, to until 2 hours.

[Spectrum]

Half lotus circles till the hip frees the Kua spinal mobility is key to undulating the breath aparatus

 

the four point tetrahedron is the full lotus energetic memory rewiring the conduits of the seat you sit on thrones and forget the earth you are standing to sitting upon make her your throne she lifts from where you squat to dig when breathing is being breathed playing the silent flute rings a Long sounding common bell.

[Blume]

I think i can crank out full lotus for twenty minutes.

 

and do the MCO.

 

I don't think there might be hazards in doing that.

 

Its not the same thing as one fingure push up or one finger handstand, i guess.

 

cannot purchase anything right now.

[z00se]

Diet, exercise, posture ... all these things can HELP, but it is the mind that must be overcome. You can only do that by observing the mind.

 

Theres a book "Who Am I" freely avaialble on the net. It has good hints for anyone at every stage of practice.

[~jK~]

Hello,

 

I have been meditating off and on for years, more on than off, and have gotten good results by simply sitting at my computer chair, loveseat, couch, etc. with my back relatively straight. I am able to relax at will, concentrate for nice, long, extended periods of time and enter some pretty powerful altered states of consciousness.

 

Having said that, I have for some time been practicing Spring Forest QiGong and am working with Glenn Morris' Meditation Mastery program and am trying to do things "by thr book" which admittedly is making me feel like a newby to the whole practice of meditation. I'm fine with having a beginners mind in regards to all this. However, one thing is rather troubling to me....traditional meditation postures.

 

I use the sitting on the edge of a chair, gentitals hanging over the edge of the chair position because my physiolgy doesn't agree with lotus and half-lotus positions. I am somewhat comfortable at first in this position, but I find that just being able to relax and let go into the process of meditation is very difficult. My breathing becomes more shallow (not in the good meditation causes the body to utilize less oxygen kind of way, the my body is stressed kind of way), my diaphram tightens up, I find it difficult to concentrate on anything other than my discomfort which is rooted in a full-body stress reaction. This "stressed out" sensibility can last throughout the whole meditation and sometimes for a few hours afterward.

 

How important is it to have one's back completely (as much as possible) straight during meditation? How important are these postures anyway? My meditations have become worse since I decided to get more traditional in my practice and it is very, very discouraging. I rather miss the qaulity of my old meditation style and wonder if I should continue to "go by the book" and work through my discomfort hoping for a breakthrough or should I go back to my old, more relaxed style.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sundragon

My ancestors were Scottish highlanders of which most were double jointed - the full lotus took me about a week to get used to - which I still do when I want to show off but when I go for serious hours of meditation - I do it in a chair, on a park bench, on a bus, on a plane - all of these have engineered back rests to keep the back straight. I still do meditate in the morning in bed with a half lotus while sitting on a homemade zafu to do kundalini. I also do walking and 'standing in line' meditation

'without' the exotic horsee styles.

 

To me the full lotus is more of a deterrent to meditation than an asset but the straight back is an absolute must. As far as the: 'sitting on the edge of a chair, gentitals hanging over the edge of the chair position'... I guess - do whatever floats your boat...

 

One other that I have found to be -very- helpful is to do a bit of mild to heavy aerobic exercise before meditating. T5T is a goodie for staying at home but for some not understood reason I meditate exceptionaly well in crowded areas. A bus ride is perfect for daily - But to get into the serious 2 to 8 hour meditation, hill walking is even better, as my true home is in the deep Appalachian forrest.

 

Almost all Buddhist monestaries and Taoist temples are on mountain trais with resting spots along the way.

In the photos is a walkway to the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas in ShaTin, Hong Kong where lived (not in the temple but in a private house) for 2 years. I watched the monks meditate as I also meditated - none of us used the full lotus but the older ones had a perfectly straight back.

Edited January 29, 2010 by ~jK~