Meditation Amsterdam - Does posture matter in Meditation?

Hello and welcome to today’s Amsterdam Meditation blog entry.

This time I would like to discuss the topic of posture in meditation and as with most, if not all topics in this blog, there are several angles and no simple answers but I’ll do my best to convey what I know so far from both books, experts and my own experience.

Posture is, in general, quite an interesting topic not just in the area of meditation but when talking about interpersonal relationships, social status and business.  There’s been much said about how our posture affects our state of mind and wellbeing.

It is therefore interesting to point out that the method of Yoga does not really start with meditation, but it begins with postures.

Given that the objective of the Yoga method is to have its practitioner grow progressively into a state of meditation, it’s pretty clear that its early emphasis on posture says everything about its importance as part of that method.   Postures have an effect on our immune system, our hormones, and can cleanse our internal organs.

It’s been demonstrated how taking up more space in any environment releases testosterone for example.  This is one of the reasons I believe the so-called “warrior” poses have an invigorating effect that boosts confidence.

So it seems to be that the Yoga method recognizes that in order to follow the more subtle goal of meditation, we first need to master the gross aspect of our being, which is our bodily posture.  As within, so without, and the other way around.

It is said that the objective of all the different postures or Asanas is to make the practitioner able to sit perfectly still in the lotus position, which is believed to be the most conducive to deep meditation due to several factors such as its stability and the elongation of the spine.

As we  consider this, it becomes clear that for ancient yogis, going straight into the practice of meditation was such a steep challenge, that it could not be approached directly and without mastery of things such as posture. 

At this point, one might be tempted to believe that the lotus pose is indeed the undisputed best and all else are poor substitutes.

However we have to remember one point that I’ll keep reinforcing and that is meditative techniques are not meditation itself.  They are exercises or methods, or approaches to place oneself in meditation and should not become a goal in themselves.  They were developed by people and yes, tried and tested but we cannot claim that they must work for everyone.

The deceased guru Osho wrote a book in which he provides dozens of different meditation approaches, aware that what might work for one person fails miserably or has lukewarm results for another.

This is not a putdown of the lotus posture, just an invitation to think of it in terms of an excellent posture that works a lot of the time, for a lot of people, nothing more.

Some of its advantages for meditation, as mentioned above have to do with the stability and grounded feeling that it provides.  The person is sitting more or less like a pyramid with a very broad base.  This in itself already puts the body and mind in a relaxed mood where keeping balance is not a constant distraction.

The other important benefit is that of a straight spine. This as far as I can see has a dual benefit.  For one thing, it facilitates deep and effortless breathing, which is a vehicle for meditation, and secondly it helps fight one of the big challenges of any practitioner, which is dullness and feeling sleepy.

That straight spine is a signal to the body and mind that even though we are relaxed, this is not a time to doze off.

I was given such advise by a seasoned meditator and though I cannot claim it’s the final cure for sleepiness, at the very least it is an indicator of your level of alertness. 

Striving to maintain a straight spine is part of that hard training that your mind-body need to go through to understand meditation, the act of being perfectly mindful just observing, without the need to do things or be stimulated in order to remain alert.

All this said, I have found two extreme alternatives to the sitting posture that seem to have interesting effects for me personally so I will share them just for the sake of offering some variety and impress upon the reader the idea that meditation can be approached from different angles.

One of them is the walking technique, which I often practice in my Amsterdam Meditations.  I tried this technique for the first time during a trip I made to Croatia a couple of months back.  One night after dinner I started my walk back to the hotel and the streets were totally quiet, no cars, no people.  I found this quite relaxing after being in the busy streets of downtown Zagreb.

So I figured why not meditate while walking and so I started focusing on my inner body, as well as being perfectly aware of all things around me, such as a window, the pavement, etc.  Some 5 minutes in, my inner sensations and outer stimuli started to merge and I was probably experiencing some kind of runner’s high. 

I tried very actively to observe things around me while always maintaining my inner focus.  Never loosing myself in the objects being experienced outside.

Different rhythms were intermingling, my footsteps, my breathing, my heartbeat.   I also found it helpful to synch my breathing with my footsteps, with 6 steps for the in breath and 6 for the out breath.  I’m guessing this is not too different from a trance-inducing ritualistic dance, a light version of course.

The sensations were so pleasurable that I ended up doing a couple of extra loops around the long block where my apartment was located.  After I came into the apartment I felt I could sit and meditate and so I did, experiencing a very steady and deep state of meditation that lasted for a few minutes.

My conclusion from the experience is that the walking meditation has the advantage of almost completely eliminating sleepy feelings, as well as inducing a state due to the rhythms involved.  While practicing one must take the “Vipassana” approach, which is to say, observing everything openly and with awareness, and not considering anything to be a distraction but rather a vehicle.

From that perspective this is not a meditation that facilitates deep single-pointed attention, but rather it grows presence and awareness.   It’s an excellent practice to do whenever walking (in fact all the time) to grow day to day awareness until it becomes our normal state of being.

The other method I wanted to briefly mention was meditating in bed.  I do this when I wake up and also as I go to sleep but I think this one probably deserves its own post tomorrow :0)

Namaste

Pablo Bran

www.meditationamsterdam.com