The scandal of me sitting in full lotus padmasana

[CCD]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

 

Take a beginners yoga class .    Trying something more advanced, at the start , could cause a strain .... or injury .

I'm pretty paranoid about screwing-up my knees. And last week I think I pulled a muscle in my leg just from sitting in a chair, with one leg crossed over the other for too long.

[Guest ezza]

Don't force it. You want to slowly work up to full lotus, it can take years but that's okay because you don't need it straight away (if ever according to some systems and lineages).

 

Here's a good start: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2019/03/flt-full-lotus-turtle-comprehensive.html

 

You'll want to stretch as often as you can throughout the day, not sit too much/too long (get up and walk around every 30 minutes to an hour or so and so forth)

 

 

[C T]

7 hours ago, CCD said:

I'm pretty paranoid about screwing-up my knees. And last week I think I pulled a muscle in my leg just from sitting in a chair, with one leg crossed over the other for too long.

 

This is your innate intelligence signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus. 

I dont think its a good idea to place too much attention to outer forms, especially in the presence of some form of physical challenge. 

 

Its one of those things where those individuals who can do it will tout its veracity and superiority. In doing so, they make others feel inadequate (some do this maybe unintentionally), so this isn't exactly a careful type of skilfulness expected of one who claims to be a long term full lotus sitter, is it? 

[Rakiel]

I've been practicing since 2015 and can only do 30-45 minutes (sometimes longer) comfortably, and I sit in half lotus every day all the time while sitting at home.

 

Sit often in half lotus and alternate the legs. Use pigeon pose to stretch the hip flexors (when you feel the stretch you'll know the sweet spot) and learn to actually rotate the hip when guiding leg onto other opposite thigh (again you''ll feel it) 

 

hope that helps

[thelerner]

On 2/9/2020 at 9:40 PM, Nintendao said:

..two immortals Ts’ao and Ch’iu devised a 
small round piece of wood with a convex top of the size of a 
(small Chinese) bun (man t’ou) and covered with cotton to 
sit on in order to close the anus and so prevent the macro- 
cosmic alchemical agent from scattering away

 

Since we're talking about sitting.  This reminds me of a sitting style Glenn Morris used.  It was half lotus with the under leg tucked in so much that it pressed against the perineum, thus putting some pressure on it, 'locking' it.  I tried it a few times, wasn't very comfortable.  At my (low) level, I assume the mental leaking is far more important then the physical stuff. 

 

At times its good to push, other times its good to go for comfort.

[CCD]

On 5/26/2020 at 12:29 AM, C T said:

This is your innate intelligence signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus. 

 

That sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

[C T]

11 minutes ago, CCD said:

That sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

 

You're the one with the paranoia, and i was merely suggesting that you listen to your inner voice. 

Let me rephrase in a more acceptable tone then.... "This is your paranoia signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus." 

Sounds better? lol

[SirPalomides]

You know that purple demon in the corner of your vision who keeps telling you to kill your neighbors and sit comfortably? Well listen to him about the second part.

[CCD]

3 hours ago, C T said:

 

You're the one with the paranoia, and i was merely suggesting that you listen to your inner voice. 

Let me rephrase in a more acceptable tone then.... "This is your paranoia signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus." 

Sounds better? lol

You see, "This is your innate intelligence signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus." seems less like a suggestion to give up & more like you trying to explain to me that I'm telling myself I need to give up before I even give it a try. I tell you that I'm new to this & just starting out, but rather than giving me even the slightest encouragement, you seem to be telling me to just give-up at the drop of a hat. 

Can you see why that raises a red flag?

[Nungali]

some people NEVER  are able to do full lotus and some find it a snap right from the beginning .  When I was younger, more flexible, didnt have arthritis  and  years before I had a hip replacement I could do full lotus, rise up on my knees and lie  forward on my chest and press my hip bones onto the floor, while still in full lotus . And that was not due to years of practice, I was just constructed that way . ( and in case you are wondering about my  problems now, I had a motorcycle accident that damaged my hips and pelvis, compounded by years of work heavy lifting after the accident . )

 

I knew a guy that just could not even squat , no way he could do it . I didnt understand this back then , I thought it was all a case of stretching .  Then a while back, here on TDBs ,  we  where having a similar discussion, either on lotus , or it might have been martial arts (? )  and people where giving various opinions , someone  posted a series of pictures of xrays of various peoples hips and femurs. The range of shapes and angles really surprised me , there was a great variation . 

 

So, in your case it might be some stretching and conditioning of  softer tissues is all thats needed  OR  maybe you are just not constructed in a way that makes lotus easy .   If your not , dont worry , lotus pose isnt the Holy Grail . You are not going to 'fail' if you cant achieve it .   I think the key is to gradually work to it and use conditioning , dont try to force it .

[CCD]

37 minutes ago, Nungali said:

I think the key is to gradually work to it and use conditioning , dont try to force it .

That was the plan. I wasn't exactly going to rush into it any more than I'd rush into doing a split, which is also something I'd like to be able to do.

[Neigongwiki]

On 11/12/2019 at 1:11 PM, voidisyinyang said:

For those of you who are PMing me questions you can first make a $20 donation to http://paypal.me/ecoechocultivation and then I will do a four hour full lotus meditation session for you to properly answer your question.

thanks for your interest.

 

 

Wow Drew youve seem to come a long way, but I think you should have just stuck to riding bikes in snowstorms, dumpster diving for food (whatever that means) and giving strangers remote orgasms from a distance at mcdonalds, i think theres more profit in those fields

[C T]

5 hours ago, CCD said:

You see, "This is your innate intelligence signalling you to drop the idea of full lotus." seems less like a suggestion to give up & more like you trying to explain to me that I'm telling myself I need to give up before I even give it a try. I tell you that I'm new to this & just starting out, but rather than giving me even the slightest encouragement, you seem to be telling me to just give-up at the drop of a hat. 

Can you see why that raises a red flag?

 

Yes, I think I understand the motivation behind the slightly (over)reaction. I can only respond according to what you've written, and the word that jumped out was 'paranoid' - thats a pretty hefty term indicating more than slight aversiveness - which led me to suggest what I did because I was thinking maybe there are steps you need to take to first address that mental challenge before even considering something as trivial (to me, ymmv) as learning to master an unnatural posture over a prolonged period. And the reason you felt that it went across as a discouragement was because it was exactly that  - I've seen enough people damaging themselves from such attempts, and have no wish for another added statistic. I don't have a habit of being presumptuous based on whats written here by members seeking advise or encouragement for attempting something quite alien to their comfort level, just as I would not goad a non-swimmer to get into a dinghy just because we happen to be at a whitewater rafting spot. Notwithstanding the donning of safety gear even. As a side note, concussions & knocks are quite common in whitewater rafting, even among seasoned kayakers. But such injuries mend easily - injuring the subtle body... well, thats an altogether different kettle of fish. 

 

The fact that you managed to pull a muscle just from sitting on a chair somewhat raised a red flag for me too. Why wouldn't it? 

 

In future, maybe it'd be better to just leave such posts well alone. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by C T

[CCD]

11 hours ago, C T said:

In future, maybe it'd be better to just leave such posts well alone. 

Follow that feeling. You seem to be a control-freak.

[C T]

2 minutes ago, CCD said:

Follow that feeling. You seem to be a control-freak.

Actually those intent on full lotus are the real control freaks 

[ilumairen]

41 minutes ago, CCD said:

Follow that feeling. You seem to be a control-freak.

Someone suggests following your own inner guidance, and you come to the idea they seem like a control freak? 
 

Were you only being jocular regarding pulling a muscle from sitting with your legs crossed for to long? Or is there some other reason you haven’t shared here which would indicate this sharing of experience should not have actually been considered in any reply/response to your query? 
 

[ilumairen]

51 minutes ago, C T said:

Actually those intent on full lotus are the real control freaks 

Those dang mirrors! Always getting in the way of perfectly good projections.
 

[C T]

11 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

Someone suggests following your own inner guidance, and you come to the idea they seem like a control freak? 
 

Were you only being jocular regarding pulling a muscle from sitting with your legs crossed for to long? Or is there some other reason you haven’t shared here which would indicate this sharing of experience should not have actually been considered in any reply/response to your query? 
 

 

Never mind that it was achieved while sitting on a chair  

[CCD]

1 hour ago, C T said:

Actually those intent on full lotus are the real control freaks 

I'm just muting you now. You're clearly have no intention of ever being helpful.

[C T]

There's being helpful & then there's mollycoddling. 

As far as I know, there's very little of the latter happening here. 

Sigh. You can't even say anything nowadays without being zapped by one projection or another. 

The entitlement camp claims yet another life member. 

[silent thunder]

This thread is not about full lotus, it was posted by a sexual stalker and generated to respond to the accusations leveled against him for publically bragging about assaulting young and underage women energetically. 

 

If you're serious about asking for help, I'd suggest you Open a new thread if you're sincerely asking.

 

Perhaps when soliciting advice from strangers on the internet... expect you may not agree with all of what you hear.  But to assume people mean you harm right out of the gate is rather striking.

 

CT is one of the most caring and devoted cultivators on this site CCD, with years of experience in both cultivating and communicating here, at length about it.  That any of the advanced practitioners spend their invaluable time here is a boon beyond measure.  Try and be respectful, when you disagree.  No one here needs to reach out and reply to your query for help.  If they do, why leap straight to accusations and assault when you don't agree?  Why not inquire why they say what they say first and see what develops?   Or why not ask yourself why you bother posing such questions to strangers in the first place, if answers are tough to integrate...

 

CT and now ilumairen have reached out and offered friendly advice from a place of experience.  If that advice doesn't match your world view, why not simply thank him and move on?  So tired of these attacks on folks lending their valuable time.

 

I strove for years to achieve full lotus and got it. 

I found I prefer half lotus.

 

I have a catalog of stretching routines that allowed me to get there which i sit in as i respond to you... and getting it was a real grind for me you see, I store tension in my kwa, knees and ankles and so even in my Martial days, I've always been less limber, had to stretch longer than other students, for less flexibility.   But I kept with it and it bloomed in time.

 

Now, Normally in a post like this, a person sincerely seeking lotus, I'd add links to some of my more appreciated and effective stretching routines... but in this case, I'll decline to help you directly after seeing how you respond. 

 

You can either use the search function, or be on your way.

 

Peace.

 

 

for the record:  my most advanced teachers (multiple 18th generation lineage holders) have all downplayed the need for lotus to progress.  Chair, standing, lying down, lotus, full or half... matters little.  The internal process is the alchemy... not how tightly folded one is in a physical shape.

[thelerner]

Too bad saunas are closed.  To me they're a cheat for better sitting.  Not that you want to spend too much time in one, but the heat relaxes all the muscles.  It's like an instant flexibility upgrade.  One that only lasts while you're in the sauna.

 

When the world opens, and you wanta work on full lotus, hit the sauna.  On the other hand its good not to be too reliant on a position.  Meditation at its best should be accessible, without formal sitting, ie don't leave it on the zafu.

[silent thunder]

This thread could benefit from being closed.  It churns up nausea, recalling it, or maybe it's just my sensitivity levels lately.  And my vivid memory of its reason for being made, its source and its past.

 

C'est la vie.

 

I share your appreciation for saunas lerner and my experience of their benefit mirrors yours... I have a solution as well, while they're all closed up.

 

I got a personal sauna, after trying one out.  It uses far infrared panels and heat to induce a potent sweat.  Then folds up and stores in a closet.  I use mine during winter to induce relaxation and limbering before engaging in sitting or moving forms.  That far infrared really penetrates into the soft tissues and joints, warming the them from within just as the infrared from the Sun will. 

 

Mine has been invaluable.  They're very reasonable too.

 

Ok, enough of this thread for me.

 

yuck.

[ilumairen]

3 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

This thread could benefit from being closed. 
 

 

I was just contemplating  the same, and was considering making a request for it to be locked - or even pitted.

 

What about it @thelerner? If you don’t have the permissions to do it, could you perhaps bring the idea to @Trunk’s attention for consideration?

 

[thelerner]

Thats not an altogether bad idea.  Let me bring it up to Trunk

 

This thread got pretty ugly pretty fast, way too much mockery.  Then a few bright points that could be just as well made elsewhere.

 

<for the record I'm sorry to see Void not active here, eccentric, knowledgeable, manic, troublesome, always interesting, rarely malicious>

Edited May 28, 2020 by Welcomer