full vs half lotus

[starlight]

It's my first week to stretch my legs in a full lotus position for meditation (ouch) :D
It's difficult, just like any other sport for a beginner. I'm doing it gradually, 15-30 min/day. I'm just curious if is more beneficial to meditate in a full vs. half lotus position? (besides getting more flexible =)
Thanks

[Wyldrose]

Dear Starlight,

The only pre-req for meditation is a straight spine. The cross of the legs or hands only changes the way Prana (energy) moves within the energetic body. It is far more important to be comfortable. Otherwise the mind is so distracted with the discomfort of the physical body, you may as well try meditating in a room of crying kids. :shock:

Legs straight, crossed, in a chair, on the floor; it's all good.

If you want to practice your lotus, let your body be your guide as to how long you should hold. Remb, in the practice of Yoga, the philosophy 'No Pain, No Gain' does NOT apply!

Shanti (peace)

~ Wyldrose

[starlight]

Thank you Wyldrose,
I'd much rather meditate lying in bed but it usually puts me to sleep lol. The discomfort is the first few minutes and after with the full lotus position for now. Since I'm a beginner and working to project through meditation, I was wondering if the position would somehow affect/support in the process. I don't want to believe in the 'no pain no gain' concept on but did felt like it the first time sitting in the full lotus position :D
So, wanted to seek other opinions :)
Thank you

[Beekeeper]

Read this recently. Seemed appropriate to your question.

http://luthar.com/2006/12/

[ButterflyWoman]

I can't sit in any lotus or half lotus position. I have a knee injury that simply will not allow it, plus my thighs are too fat. ;)

I meditate sitting up in a chair. In fact, it's my office chair, which provides good back support and is comfortable enough to sit in for hours at a time (not that I meditate for hours at a time, of course).

I can't meditate in bed. I invariably fall asleep!

I can sometimes meditate sitting up in a recliner, but sometimes I fall asleep there, too. So, mostly I just sit here in my desk chair and put on the headphones (I like ambient music or sound loops), and off I go. :)

[Korpo]

When I'm not tired, I can meditate lying down.

Else I either sit with a straight spine or stand in a position.

Good postural alignment will enhance Qi flow by quite a bit and help identify places where we are put out of alignment by our bad posture habits and/or our blocks (we avoid pain so much we change posture and go out of alignment).

I don"t think the Lotus seat variations are that important - they may only be more traditional to cultures used to sitting like that. While some say these postures avoid losing energies from exercises like Small Circulation via the legs, others say this blocks vital grounding flows of Earth energy.

Personally I find sitting on a chair with a straight back is a good compromise - avoid falling asleep, no weird stretches people are not used to, comfortable enough to relax. At least IMO.

Take good care,
Oliver

[Wyldrose]

Haha! Lying down is viable meditation posture, however as some of you have pointed out you inevitably fall asleep. Which of course defeats the point of meditation. Savasana (corpse pose - lying down) is one of the most important yoga asanas (poses), it allows the body to assimilate all the energy that was raised and created during the asana (poses) practice.

The purpose of Yoga is to be able to sit comfortably in sitting mediation (traditionally lotus, but as noted NOT required) for a extended periods of time. So jumping right into one of the more difficult postures, may be detrimental, and I advise caution. In fact I would almost red flag this.

Find a place to sit quietly, find the breath... thats it. (well technically speaking away)

On the subject of Yoga, allow me to digress a moment. You don't need to be skinny, or flexible or in perfect health to practice Yoga. Only present.

I'm running a workshop on mediation this month, I'll make a few posts as I go, or link to my blog for some workshop and action items.

Be Well

~Wyldrose

[starlight]

Thank you all for the replies. I know this question may sound silly to some of you =)
If the position is just traditional, it makes sense :D
Thanks again.

[Aunt Clair]

It's my first week to stretch my legs in a full lotus position for meditation (ouch) :D
It's difficult, just like any other sport for a beginner. I'm doing it gradually, 15-30 min/day. I'm just curious if is more beneficial to meditate in a full vs. half lotus position? (besides getting more flexible =)
ThanksPersonally I dislike the full lotus .It is very uncomfortable for many people .

* The advantage of the lotus is that the male kanda at the perineum has contact with the floor . If one is in full lotus then both of the lower legs might have similar flow of energy from this advantage . But if one is uncomfortable ,then meditation especially trance is difficult .
* Kneeling is better to open the lower legs .
* The Monk pose is better for opening the forearms .
* The fetal pose opens one side of the forearms and lower legs which are called the Steles of Seth.
* The throne pose opens the feet and the legs .

I feel it is best to vary the pose . As long as the spine is straight and the position is comfortable , its all good .

[star]

It seems that the lotus positions hurt the legs and blood circulation so I decided against using those. What helps me is propping up my head just while sitting straight. so When I relax I don't fall over.

[0range]

i'd love to be able to do full lotus, but not yet. in time though, i will.
from what i read this position offers the best balance

[Astral1t1]

For those who achieved full lotus position can you tell me how to stretch my legs properly? I googled something but it's not very well described. Also found this book Becoming the Lotus: How to Achieve the Full Lotus Posture, but have no money to order it...if someone have it in electronic form I will be much appreciate that.

[darron]

i do stretches ive learned throughout my teachings in martial arts, so try looking in that area. :wink:

[Seeuzin]

I noticed something the other day that might pertain to your question. I was getting an influx of good energy from the universe through my crown, but it was draining right down my arms and out of my palms. So to stop this, I grabbed my own arms, so that my palms were flat against my forearms. I immediately noticed an increase in retention of the universe energy.

I can't sit in full lotus, so I'm not sure, actually, but I imagine that sitting with your feet against your own legs, with the soles not touching the floor, might have a similar effect for retention. I don't think it's necessarily good to be retaining energy in this way all the time, though; humans function better as conduits than as batteries. But it definitely seems like it could have its uses. Just some conjecture on my part.

[Craft]

I've been practicing ZaZen meditation for about a month now, and immediately I jumped into using the half-lotus position (I have a buckwheat Zafu and Zabuton, the round cushion placed on top of the big flat square pillow) while gradually working my way up from a fifteen minute meditation to a thirty minute meditation. Recently, due to the thirty minute meditations, the half-lotus position has, uh...slightly damaged my legs. At first, since my left leg is far less flexible than my right for some reason, I worked with the left leg up more often. Now, I get knee pains in my left leg whenever I bend it all the way, regardless of whether or not I'm actually in the half-lotus. After my left leg got bad, I've switched to my right leg (to give the left as long of a break as it needs), which is still healthy (and was better in the first place, so that might have something to do with it). I find that half-lotus is much more balanced for me than Burmese, or cross legged meditation, but again it could just be because I have gotten used to it. To practice with your flexibility to achieve full lotus (which I plan on arriving at eventually), use the "butterfly" stretch. For some very odd reason, though, the longer I practice the butterfly stretch the harder it gets to do the same action, and the less flexible I get...I figure I'll work through it eventually though, and have decided to work extra slowly to get to where I need to go. During my butterfly stretch, I'm usually able to press my heels very close to my base, bring my knees down as close to the floor as they go, and drop my chin to my toes and hold it there. I was able to put my chin to the floor in front of my feet and hold it for half a minute a week ago, but no longer. :cry:
Anyways, I've been told that full-lotus is the most balanced of all the sitting poses, and clears out your energy pathways the best. After enough daily practice, your legs stop falling asleep (normally they'll fall asleep at almost exactly 20 minutes, but I've noticed that my right leg now is getting less and less asleep-sensations as I continue)