Sitting in Full Lotus

[konchog uma]

Happiness! I have been doing stretching of my left hip/leg for a couple months, not much daily, just five minutes or so. My right leg was already prepared by all the half-lotus i sit.

 

This morning, I sat in full lotus for the first time that wasn't just a test to see how long i could hold it. My feet weren't solidly up near my hips, they were more like this:

 

 

but i still felt a powerful stability and an ease of staying upright and stable. I felt energy rise up my central channel, and i felt somehow more stable throughout my body in a way that seemed mystical, but i could easily have been vibing with joy for being able to sit in full lotus for the first time, and mistaking that for some mystical stability ahhaha

 

I held the posture for about 20 minutes, and noticed a natural tension that i had to consciously relax in order to keep the posture. The letting go was awesome, and as i relaxed my legs again and again, the discomfort went away (at about 10 minutes or so). At about 20 minutes it came back full force and i got out of the posture, and just sat quarter lotus to finish my meditation. I was so relaxed that i finished my kuji-in, sat in absorbtion/emptiness for a while, and then said a slow mala round of mantra. Then i sat some more! I didn't want to get up! I think the full lotus does do something weird to me, but i don't want to start sounding like a zealot. Or even a fanatic.

 

The best thing about it is that i have had 2 major surguries on my legs (following being hit by a car) and i have 11 pieces of metal in there and a lot of bone bumps and irregularities. In short, i Never thought i would be able to sit full lotus in my life, so this is a really major breakthrough for me!! I am so happy right now i just wanted to share it with you all!

 

blessings

[joeblast]

all it takes is a little diligence to surprise oneself good job!

[Jamyang Dorje]

Nice. That's a great development after your injuries.

 

Congrats to you

Edited March 7, 2012 by Jamyang Dorje

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Tonight is the back of the van night for me, and with the free time i will have after starbucks closes, ending my available time to study/do homework, i will be working out and doing stretches, and this is also a great idea

 

 

 

Time to meditate on the chakras and light in full lotus! Let's see if i can go 20 minutes...? I wont know, no clock lol

[Mokona]

We have previous full lotus threads you could add to instead of starting new ones. Not to be picky but this subject comes up so often it might be better to consolidate these sort of posts or make a sticky thread for everything full lotus.

[konchog uma]

A better title for this thread? --

 

"Anamatva Sits In Full Lotus Now!"

 

Congrats A!

 

thanks rainbowvein, and thanks everyone!!

 

:wub:

 

thanks too for your inspiration everyone (on all those other threads ) without you bums i would surely not be stretching and sitting the FL now.

 

@mokona: if there was a sticky i would have used it. There are so many previous threads, i didn't really care for any of them, and didn't feel like resurrecting the beast which is drew hemple on top of that. No disrespect to DH, its just how i felt at the moment! so i went with it...

[Mark Foote]

 

This morning, I sat in full lotus for the first time that wasn't just a test to see how long i could hold it.

 

 

 

Congrats, anamatva. "Take your time with the full lotus", so said Kobun Chino Otogawa, a teacher I respect very much. I think it's great advice!

[konchog uma]

Congrats, anamatva. "Take your time with the full lotus", so said Kobun Chino Otogawa, a teacher I respect very much. I think it's great advice!

 

thank you mark! I have been sitting in it each day

 

Sometimes up to 20 minutes or so, sometimes 10 or 15, but my left ankle is finally starting to loosen up and stretch out.

 

thank you for your advice, i will take my time with it.

[InfinityTruth]

NICE! That's an excellent achievement. I usually just sit regular cross legged, but it gets to be hell on the outward protruding ankle bone after a while. I'm inspired to start doing some of those stretches.

 

You learn the stretches from Youtube? I saw something on that a while ago, but at the time I didn't really think much about it.

 

Shit like this is inspiring and deserves a thread of its own. Otherwise it gets lost in all the bullshit of big threads. Fuck the haters.

[jacklantegi]

Very inspiring!

 

I had been doing a rigurous stretching regimen for about a month and got to half lotus and I sort of gave up....

 

This thread has made me decide to keep on truckin'!

[NeiChuan]

Very very impressive Anamatva. I know I don't know you (at least yet) but im proud to hear.

 

Good job.

[konchog uma]

thanks all of you! i feel awesome about it. Its different than sitting half or quarter or burmese.. i see why its said to be best for energy and stability

 

@InfinityTruth: i didn't learn the stretches from youtube, but i bet i could have

 

i found this page helpful,

http://www.movingintostillness.com/book/asana_padmasana.html

and on top of the regimen there, i did pigeon stretches and deep lunges to work my psoas

 

the stretch i focused the most on, was just sitting with my right leg (which is flexible from years of sitting half and quarter lotus) down, knee on the ground, and bringing my left foot up into the right hip area and just putting my left hand on my left knee and working it down very gently and slowly. If i didn't do any other stretches, i would do that one every day. At first the knee was angled upwards, then gradually it was level, and now it goes down. It doesn't go down to a stable half-lotus on the other side yet, but it goes down far enough that i can sit in full lotus. If i push on it after a couple minutes stretching i can touch the ground, but it pops up so i can't sit lefty half-lotus.

 

The whole process has actually gotten me inspired to learn yoga! A friend of mine taught me sun salute and some raja yoga asanas and breathing in exchange for some qigong basics. Now i am looking to learn and practice more! He kept saying "breath of fire" and i thought he was saying "breath-ifier" like "now do the breath-ifier"... i was like what kind of new age crap is this?!? hahaha then i got it

[Mark Foote]

 

the stretch i focused the most on, was just sitting with my right leg (which is flexible from years of sitting half and quarter lotus) down, knee on the ground, and bringing my left foot up into the right hip area and just putting my left hand on my left knee and working it down very gently and slowly. If i didn't do any other stretches, i would do that one every day. At first the knee was angled upwards, then gradually it was level, and now it goes down. It doesn't go down to a stable half-lotus on the other side yet, but it goes down far enough that i can sit in full lotus. If i push on it after a couple minutes stretching i can touch the ground, but it pops up so i can't sit lefty half-lotus.

 

 

For me the lotus is a lot of different stretches, but also the action generated involuntarily out of stretches that tends to reciprocate from one side of the body to the other, forward and back, and around. You can read my description here, if you're interested. The left knee for me responds to my awareness of motion at the sacrum, and the relaxation of the activity generated out of stretch in the motion of the sacrum.

[Rishi Das]

I have found this link too be very useful for opening up the hips/legs.

 

Growing up a Lotus

 

Congrats on your Lotus anamatva.

Edited March 16, 2012 by don_vedo

[konchog uma]

You can read my description here,

 

i'd love to but i get a 404 not found msg when i click that link

[konchog uma]

I have found this link too be very useful for opening up the hips/legs.

Growing up a Lotus

Congrats on your Lotus anamatva.

 

i like that link too

 

thanks!

[konchog uma]

i'd love to but i get a 404 not found msg when i click that link

 

i just got it to connect to your site, thats an awesome site! really cool info, thank you

 

i will try rocking to stabilize the legs. But i can't sit lefty lotus yet, my left leg isn't loose enough yet.. i am still working on it every day.

[mantis]

You're going to have to become friends with pain if you ever wish to sit in the full lotus for an extended amount of time, I know I have

[konchog uma]

You're going to have to become friends with pain if you ever wish to sit in the full lotus for an extended amount of time, I know I have

 

yeah i find a balance between taking it easy on myself and pushing myself. This morning was the first time in 3 days that i could do it because i pushed it too hard wednesday night. My ankle screamed at me every time i tried so i just gave it a little break. So I am learning where my limits lie and how hard i can push it, but i am not really looking at extended periods of time yet. Still taking baby steps

[Mark Foote]

yeah i find a balance between taking it easy on myself and pushing myself. This morning was the first time in 3 days that i could do it because i pushed it too hard wednesday night. My ankle screamed at me every time i tried so i just gave it a little break. So I am learning where my limits lie and how hard i can push it, but i am not really looking at extended periods of time yet. Still taking baby steps

 

You can always sit half-lotus, or Burmese, meaning legs flat on the floor crossed in front. The movement of mind opens feeling, so long as you do nothing. The opening of feeling generates activity. I'm talking about the ability to feel, like when they run a pin down your leg to determine if vertebrae are pinching nerves in the lower spine; if your skin is numb in an area on the legs, there are charts to correlate that area with nerve exits between particular spinal vertebrae. So look for the movement of awareness to develop an ability to feel, right to the surface of the skin. This is the movement of awareness like just before you fall asleep; you can have this experience waking up.

 

The stretches at the sacrum are the limiting stretches. The sacrum moves forward and back, pivoting on the attachments to the pelvis; that's easy to feel. The sacrum also tilts left and right, and rotates counter to the pelvis; this morning I found it helpful to distinguish the vertical axis of the sacrum, meaning the motion of the sacrum around the centerline of the spine.

 

The place of mind, or the sense of location in the occurrence of consciousness- that's where waking up and falling asleep meets falling down:

 

"Do you ever wake up suddenly to a falling sensation and a strong muscle twitch just after you have fallen asleep?

 

This strange falling sensation and muscle twitch is known as a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch or “Hypnic jerk” If this has happened to you on more than one occasion, don’t worry, you are not alone. Close to 70 percent of all people experience this phenomenon just after nodding off, according to a recent study at the Mayo Clinic.

 

Most experts agree that this is a natural part of the sleeping process, much like slower breathing and a reduced heartbeat. The occurance is well known and has been well documented. However, experts are still not completely sure why the body does this.

 

 

The general consensus among researchers is that, as your muscles begin to slack and go into a restful state just as you are falling asleep; your brain senses these relaxation signals and misinterprets them, thinking you are falling down. The brain then sends signals to the muscles in your arms and legs in an attempt to jerk you back upright. This misinterpretation that takes place in your brain may also be responsible for the “falling” dreams that accompany the falling sensation. These “dreams” are not really normal dreams, as they are not produced from R.E.M sleep, but rather more like a daydream or hallucination in response to the body’s sensations."

 

(link to article here)

 

In my estimation you are looking for those signals that jerk you back upright to sit the lotus, while you wake and sleep with the place of occurrence of consciousness. Ok, maybe the signals are not quite as strong as that, but same principle, action generated autonomically because you are not holding anything, not doing anything in the face of falling down.

 

I would sit so that you can be half-way comfortable, and look for the sense of location as consciousness takes place.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

My own struggle is to overcome some numbness in the top foot. I hope to learn to relax into waking up and falling asleep and let it happen; experience with the place of occurrence of mind, I have to believe will get it.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Mark Foote