Sitting Postures

[Neophyte]

Hi again,

 

I have an important question on sitting postures. One part of my daily training is Embryonic Breathing, as described in "Embryonic Breathing" by Yang, Jwing-Ming.

 

I'm confused about what sitting postures are best when practicing different types of meditation.

"Taoist Yoga" by Luk, says that the best meditation posture is:

 

"The left leg should be placed outside and close to the right one; this means the positive embracing the negative. The thumb of the left hand should touch its middle finger and the right hand should be placed under it (palm upward)with its thumb bent over the left palm; this means the negative embracing the positive. This is what the ancients meant by forming a circuit of eight psychic channels."

 

I currently practice sitting in this posture and focusing on, and counting my breathing--And I currently use Normal Abdominal Breathing, with raising and lowering of huiyin with each breath.

 

When my mind is focused, I then fix my mind on upper dan tian, which is the very first step of embryonic breathing, according to Yang, Jwing-Ming.

[Neophyte]

Question: Is this the best sitting-style for what I'm doing? Or would it be better to sit in full-lotus position (with hands positioned as described)? Yang, Jwing-Ming suggests a very different sitting style. So how should I sit?

[Maddie]

Question: Is this the best sitting-style for what I'm doing? Or would it be better to sit in full-lotus position (with hands positioned as described)? Yang, Jwing-Ming suggests a very different sitting style. So how should I sit?

 

I'd suggest that if you are learning Dr. Yang's style, then do what he says as to avoid confussion. Then once you become a pro at that, then prehaps experiment with differant stuff. I really like Dr. Yang, his explinations are good, and his methods work well.

[balance.]

 

When my mind is focused, I then fix my mind on upper dan tian, which is the very first step of embryonic breathing, according to Yang, Jwing-Ming.

 

 

You should actually be holding both the upper and lower dan tians in your mind... If you refer to the texts that Dr. Yang has translated in there, you'll see what I'm talking about.. It's about maintaining attention at both polarities.

 

Optimal posture and hand position change from practice to practice and teacher to teacher... Though it's also important to consider what comes most naturally to you.. There is a personal aspect that shouldn't be overlooked.

 

But what Matt said is good advice. Walk with the teacher until you acquire technical, conceptual and experiential mastery of the material... At which point, you can make you're own decision if you'd like to continue or try something new.

 

 

balance.

 

*Though I'm sure if you wanted to sit in full lotus that that would be just fine. I hear it's tremendous... I can't get into it myself yet.

Edited September 6, 2010 by balance.