An Akward Question...

[The Observer]

In all seriousness, what does it mean when you sit in full lotus meditation for a half-hour and your genital region gets numb? Am I sitting wrong in a way were circulation is being restricted or is it business as usual?

[NeiChuan]

In all seriousness, what does it mean when you sit in full lotus meditation for a half-hour and your genital region gets numb? Am I sitting wrong in a way were circulation is being restricted or is it business as usual?

 

Hm what it "sounds" like is your tucking in your pelvis a bit to much when being in Lotus position.

 

I may be wrong. The only reason I say that is if I sit to low on chairs my butt also goes numb haha.

 

Your anus is supposed to be touching the ground in Lotus, so just keep that in mind and don't put to much weight on the perineum, or tailbone.

[The Way Is Virtue]

In all seriousness, what does it mean when you sit in full lotus meditation for a half-hour and your genital region gets numb? Am I sitting wrong in a way were circulation is being restricted or is it business as usual?

 

I think it is for the same reason your legs can get numb when sitting for a long time is a certain position.

These sort of effects will start to go away as your joints open up more and as you progress in your meditation. I believe it is either caused by pressure on a nerve or reduced circulation. In the mean time you might try adjusting your leg position slightly or using a thicker meditation cushion, etc.

[trailmaker]

When any position becomes uncomfortable, you can change it - I just stand up, walk around,

meditate all the time, anyway...

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Jeez, it seems like common sense to me...

[LBDaoist]

Don't make the same mistake that I did of ignoring it. If you are uncomfortable, adjust your position. If anything ever starts to go numb or tingle, stop what you are doing. That numbness comes about because of a lack of circulation. That lack of circulation is the exact opposite if what you are trying to achieve.

[The Observer]

Haha thanks for all the replies guys, they were really helpful. Alot of it was really just common sense, should of thought about it before posting on the board.

[The Way Is Virtue]

Haha thanks for all the replies guys, they were really helpful. Alot of it was really just common sense, should of thought about it before posting on the board.

 

No worries Observer.

It never hurts to get some feedback from others if you are not certain about something. Either way, in the end you still have to use your best discretion.

 

BTW, unless you have leg or joint or circulation problems, I wouldn't worry too much about some numbness and pain in the legs or joints when doing sitting meditation. It's kind of unavoidable for most people unless your joints are already quite open and your muscles and ligaments and tendons are fairly flexible. For people with joint or circulation problems in the legs however, it is a different story. Consulting a doctor or physical therapist first would be advisable. For less serious problems one could consider either just sitting in a chair or doing a standing meditation like the wuji or taiji zhan zhuang stances. In more serious cases of these sorts of problems one should definitely check with a doctor to see if they think the posture you are intending to use would be harmful in the doctor's estimation. One always has to use their best judgement.

 

Over time the numbness and pain starts becoming less of a problem. However if you have numbness in the area that you mentioned, I would try adjusting your position or use a thicker meditation cushion until you find a solution where that is not happening. If numbness or pain in the legs starts becoming too much you can always move your legs out in front of you a bit and massage them a bit until you feel relief and then resume your posture if you still want to continue. I personally don't use full lotus, just use either normal leg crossing or half lotus. Full lotus can be pretty tough for many westerners unless they start when they are younger or have done martial arts or yoga or the like for some time. I understand that some teachers do teach sitting using full lotus though. Different teachers from different traditions seem to have varying views on this.

Edited October 11, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[The Observer]

No worries Observer.

It never hurts to get some feedback from others if you are not certain about something. Either way, in the end you still have to use your best discretion.

 

BTW, unless you have leg or joint or circulation problems, I wouldn't worry too much about some numbness and pain in the legs or joints when doing sitting meditation. It's kind of unavoidable for most people unless your joints are already quite open and your muscles and ligaments and tendons are fairly flexible. For people with joint or circulation problems in the legs however, it is a different story. Consulting a doctor or physical therapist first would be advisable. For less serious problems one could consider either just sitting in a chair or doing a standing meditation like the wuji or taiji zhan zhuang stances. In more serious cases of these sorts of problems one should definitely check with a doctor to see if they think the posture you are intending to use would be harmful in the doctor's estimation. One always has to use their best judgement.

 

Over time the numbness and pain starts becoming less of a problem. However if you have numbness in the area that you mentioned, I would try adjusting your position or use a thicker meditation cushion until you find a solution where that is not happening. If numbness or pain in the legs starts becoming too much you can always move your legs out in front of you a bit and massage them a bit until you feel relief and then resume your posture if you still want to continue. I personally don't use full lotus, just use either normal leg crossing or half lotus. Full lotus can be pretty tough for many westerners unless they start when they are younger or have done martial arts or yoga or the like for some time. I understand that some teachers do teach sitting using full lotus though. Different teachers from different traditions seem to have varying views on this.

Well it's wasn't much of a challenge to sit in lotus because I did a bit of hatha yoga before so I was fairly flexible already, so as soon as I was able to do it I came to love it compared to other sitting postures for the great stability it gave me.

However now I'm mulling over whether I should stop using it for a bit because of a nagging pain in my right knee joint...I would try some standing meditation but I heard from another post in the forum that it's better to move on to that after building up the energy in the dantien through the microcosmic orbit/other exercises...so I don't know. What do you think?

[The Way Is Virtue]

Well it's wasn't much of a challenge to sit in lotus because I did a bit of hatha yoga before so I was fairly flexible already, so as soon as I was able to do it I came to love it compared to other sitting postures for the great stability it gave me.

Nice!

 

However now I'm mulling over whether I should stop using it for a bit because of a nagging pain in my right knee joint...I would try some standing meditation but I heard from another post in the forum that it's better to move on to that after building up the energy in the dantien through the microcosmic orbit/other exercises...so I don't know. What do you think?

As far as the pain in the knee, that is something that you will kind of have to watch and judge for yourself if it is just minor and temporary as the knee gets used to the new stretch, or whether it is a bit too much and then you would probably want to take it slower or take a break for a while. You can always do half lotus for a while alternating on each side as well as a way to ease into full lotus with a little less stress on the joints in the mean time.

 

Hmm, haven't heard that one should necessarily do sitting before standing. In some internal martial arts traditions standing meditation is the main kind of meditation that is used to build up qi and help open all the channels. Some may do sitting meditation as well though and also moving qigong forms. You can always try alternating to standing when you want to give your joints a break.

[The Observer]

Nice!

 

 

As far as the pain in the knee, that is something that you will kind of have to watch and judge for yourself if it is just minor and temporary as the knee gets used to the new stretch, or whether it is a bit too much and then you would probably want to take it slower or take a break for a while. You can always do half lotus for a while alternating on each side as well as a way to ease into full lotus with a little less stress on the joints in the mean time.

 

Lol the joint pain/injury actually had nothing to do with the lotus itself. It was from me falling out of a yoga shoulderstand too quickly. At first it was so bad I was limping. Eventually it got better after a day or 2, but for the past month (maybe more) it has remained as a dull, bruise kind of pain inside my knee. It tends to come up when I put a lot of weight on my knee (IE kneeling, squatting).

 

 

Hmm, haven't heard that one should necessarily do sitting before standing. In some internal martial arts traditions standing meditation is the main kind of meditation that is used to build up qi and help open all the channels. Some may do sitting meditation as well though and also moving qigong forms. You can always try alternating to standing when you want to give your joints a break.

 

Ah I see. If you don't mind me asking, is it effective to perform more conventional strength-building excercises (in my own case hindu push ups, hindu squats, lateral squats, sit-ups) as well as moving qigong exercises (i.e dedicating a day to one, the next to the other)? Or am I better off focusing my efforts on one or the other?

 

Many thanks for the helpful replies

Edited October 13, 2010 by The Observer

[The Way Is Virtue]

Ah I see. If you don't mind me asking, is it effective to perform more conventional strength-building excercises (in my own case hindu push ups, hindu squats, lateral squats, sit-ups) as well as moving qigong exercises (i.e dedicating a day to one, the next to the other)? Or am I better off focusing my efforts on one or the other?

To keep things moving along in qigong, it is good to try to do at least a little qigong practice every day. Depends on your goals and free time though. Various other practices can be complementary to qigong so you may just have to experiment a bit to see what schedule seems to be working for you. When I am really short on free time, I try to do at least 10 to 15 minutes of standing meditation. Seems to help for me.

[The Observer]

To keep things moving along in qigong, it is good to try to do at least a little qigong practice every day. Depends on your goals and free time though. Various other practices can be complementary to qigong so you may just have to experiment a bit to see what schedule seems to be working for you. When I am really short on free time, I try to do at least 10 to 15 minutes of standing meditation. Seems to help for me.

 

Any good sites/tips for teaching correct standing posture/attitude? I have a few myself I just wanna see what others say.

[The Way Is Virtue]

Any good sites/tips for teaching correct standing posture/attitude? I have a few myself I just wanna see what others say.

 

This video series (Days 1 to 10) by Lam Kam Chuen called "Stand Still, Be Fit" seems to be a pretty good overview, although I have only watched the first video so far and skimmed through some of the others. Seems to contain some good info and tips:

Here is the link to the "Day 1" video:

You may see some variation in the forms from teacher to teacher, but the principles should be

fairly similar. The first video shows the wuji standing posture.

Edited October 14, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue