4 Myths About Meditation (Part 3)

MYTH: You must sit on the floor with your legs 🥨 to "truly" meditate.

The text that codified the Yoga practice & philosophy, the Yoga Sutra, only has 3 statements about meditation posture. One of those statements, Sutra 2.46, simply says, "the posture should be stable & comfortable."

What does that mean?

Well, it seems to me that Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras written over 2,000 years ago, acknowledged that if your back hurts or your foot falls asleep, it'll be nearly impossible to focus your mind on much else!

Stable & Comfortable -- In order for the nervous system to release some of its hypervigilance (& then the mind to start to turn inward), it needs to sense that the body is secure & cared for. In yogic meditation, an upright seated posture is encouraged, as it allows us to maintain a sense of relaxed awareness.

(There are many forms of meditation, with variations on body positioning for specific purposes. Here we are speaking of yogic meditation.)

For most of us to maintain an elongated spine while seated, that means using props so we don't have to work so hard. Props such as firm cushions, blankets, and/or a chair are encouraged. The hips, legs and feet are organized in a way that supports a long spine, and again so that the posture feels comfortable and stable for your unique body.

So don't get caught up in an external, social-media-ized idea of what sitting meditation "should" look like. Always return to "sthiram & sukkham" -- Am I stable? Am I relatively comfortable?

I hope you'll join me for Intro to Meditation at OmBody beginning April 16th! See Classes/Workshops Page to register for early bird pricing!

#meditate #yogaeveryday #yougotthis #begin #hathayoga