anywhere—well, almost anywhere, the airport is just too noisy and energetically congested to meditate effectively.
First, it’s important to find a comfortable chair or sitting place to meditate in a seated position. Make sure you have enough space and are not too cramped. Some students complain that it is too difficult to meditate while in the seated position because their back hurts. The reason for this is that the back is not accustomed to much more than slouching. It took the muscles a while to get used to slouching and it may take a bit for the muscles to feel comfortable sitting with the spine as straight as possible. Although I have heard numerous times from students that their back hurts when they try to meditate in a proper seated position (without leaning on the back of a chair), it is important to sit with a space between your back and the back of the chair. Our slouching, curved back habits result in most students wanting to sit and lean against the chair back, but leaning against the chair back impedes the flow of energy. Ultimately the leaning on the chair back causes more stress and imbalance to the physical body as well as the energy body, which is the very thing meditation is meant to relieve.
Although in the beginning, many students feel discomfort in their spinal region when sitting with a straight back in the proper-seated position, the back and body begins to self adjust. Most of us spend our entire day, every day slouching, and thus the back complains by sending messages of ache and pain. This discomfort is only temporary when using the spine straight and seated meditation posture because the back becomes increasingly more comfortable and relaxed. See diagram on page 17.
Take a moment and let’s try the seated position posture. Sit in the chosen chair, straighten your spine, shoulders back, chin sightly lowered allowing the head to align on the shoulders so there’s no tension or pressure. Feeling fantastic? It is likely that you will feel fantastic because the energy is flowing and the body is truly in alignment. Is your body telling you to slump because it is too uncomfortable to sit this way? Don’t worry. The body rebels against the seated position because it has lost strength in the mid section, which has weakened the back muscles along the spine. It is important to tough this out and just go with it for a while. The best and ultimate way to sit while meditating is with a straight back/straight spine. Over time and put into practice, the proper seated position is more enjoyable because your muscles in your mid section and back increase in strength. You may even get a flat stomach if you practice this regularly enough.
Take another moment and think about how you are seated? Are you slouching? Is your head tilted back, because if it is then the neck is going to ache. If you place your bum toward the edge of the chair and you will notice how the back self adjusts so that the spine is straight, without so much effort. It can be helpful to use a pillow or a wedge underneath your bum if sitting on the edge is too uncomfortable. Using a pillow or wedge is similar to using strengthened muscles. The pillow or wedge helps your spine to not tire so easily and thus you sit in a more aligned and proper meditation posture.
Believe it or not, the seated position is not only fundamental for meditation; it is also essential to improving all aspects of your life, which you’ll learn about in later chapters.
Now that you are sitting with a straight back/straight spine, there are a few more basics to the seated position that are highly beneficial for meditation. In meditation books, there are diagrams or photos that show meditation practitioners in seated positions holding their thumb and first finger closed or their thumb and second finger closed. Buddha himself is often shown with his hands clasped in different positions. These hand and finger positions are called mudras, which are any of the various positions in which the hands are held in Buddhist or Indian/Hindu yoga, meditation, dancing and even ritual practices. There is nothing wrong with using a mudra; however, unless the student is aware of the specifics, energy implications, and intentions of the mudra position, as well as the movement of energy as a result of the mudra, I recommend a different position for the hands and fingers.
While meditating in the seated position, leave your hands in an open and upward facing position. Keep your palms facing upward toward the sky and all fingers open and receptive. This is the most receptive position for your hands and fingers and allows your body to release any excess energy that you might accumulate during meditation. Keeping your palms open allows your energy channels to be open and the flow of energy in and out is without break or obstacle when there is no mudra or closed finger position.
Next, it is ideal to place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth during meditation. Remember when you were a child and you curled your tongue backwards—this is the position you want to use. Placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth allows energy to balance the left-brain and the right brain, as well as the left body and the right body. Although most students think that their tongue is naturally in this position, for most, this position is not the resting position of their tongue. Allowing the tongue to rest on the roof of your mouth all day, every day allows you to be more connected to all things and to everything. It also allows your brain and body to function more effectively as a whole. By placing the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth an energy channel called the central meridian, which is a pathway in the body along which the energy of the body is believed to flow, is connected and complete.
There is one side effect to placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth—the sensation that you are going to yawn. Feeling like you are going to yawn is normal. To yawn is to take in a long deep breath. The tongue connection technique creates the sensation of a yawn because the position of the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth actually allows more oxygen in your system as if through a yawn—a long deep breath. Breathing without the tongue connected to the roof of the mouth is like getting one-fourth of the lung capacity for air. Placing the tip of the tongue on the roof of the mouth actually allows the body to rest and to breathe in and out through the nostrils allows the lungs to expand more fully and receive more oxygen.
There are other benefits to placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth that are experienced during everyday activities. Try the tongue connection technique while driving. It allows you to get to your destination more quickly. Really, I’m not kidding. Try it and experience the ease in which you move through traffic. Having the tip of the tongue connected to the roof of the mouth actually allowes for greater capacity of oxygen into the lungs and body systems.
The reasons for using a seated position with a straight back/straight spine, keeping your palms facing upward and open with fingers in a receptive position, and placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth during meditation or daily activities are twofold.
1 A prolonged awareness. Achieving prolonged awareness helps the mind to have a break from the daily tasks and all the mind chatter. Prolonged awareness re-charges the mind. Therefore, it is something you want in life. With the practice of meditation, prolonged awareness will develop and grow. It is as if your mind has experienced repeated naps that refresh and rejuvenate the mind, the organs and the body.
2 The down pouring of energy. When meditating in a seated position with hands in an open and upward (palms facing the ceiling) position, and with the tongue connection technique the brain is more easily re-charged with energy that comes into the top of your head. This is the energetic place (the energy from the top of your head or your crown chakra) that plugs you into source, spirit, God, the creator, or whatever it is you call this origin of energy current. It is a goal to allow this energy into your body so that you reap the most benefits from your meditation and this particular seated position is key. See below. When new fresh energy pours into your crown then you have more peace and longer periods of internal calm. As the new energy pours in, then the pineal gland activates and there is access to higher wisdom, access to more intelligence and ease with problem solving.
Correct vs. Incorrect Posture
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