In this post, I would like to address two things that Jenny brought up in her comments from yesterday's post. First of all, I want to talk about posture for meditating. Secondly I want to talk about "public" meditation, and using "tools" during meditation.
One of the things that my Hindu guide was extremely stern on was posture. He made it absolutely clear how I should sit and where I should sit. I spoke about the importance of sitting on the floor yesterday. I'm not sure what all of the benefits of sitting on the floor during meditation are, but Raj was insistent that I sit on the floor. He also noted, that if for some reason I was physically incapable of sitting on the floor, I should sit as close to the floor as possible.
He also described posture to me. During meditation your legs need to be relaxed. Now this means that they could be in front of you, but sitting in the crossed position (we called this Indian-style, how ironic this seems to me now) will allow the most blood flow and will also encourage the proper back position. Your back should not be slouched. You should be sitting as up-right as possible. You should also be prepared to sit for a long time. Sitting upright in Indian-style can put strain on your lower back and legs. To relieve some of this strain I suggest sitting with your butt on a blanket or board, to open up the blood flow a little more. Your arms should simply be sitting on your legs in a resting position. No funky finger/hand signals are required :)
Now if you are anything like me, this isn't the most comfortable position. What I find the most amazing about the meditation posture, is how it encourages a healthy body. I have found that my lower back gets tired and sore very quickly. This is most likely due to the excessive weight on the front side pulling me down, in order to compensate my back has to do twice as much work to hold myself upright. Damn gravity!
I try to maintain a good posture as long as I can. When I get tired I try to shift a little to be more comfortable, but ultimately my discomfort breaks my concentration and ends the session. The point; keep practicing, get in better shape, and live to meditate again.
Remember, the point of good posture is to unify your body with your mind and spirit. Your mind should be as free from distraction as possible, and that includes your flesh. Can I get a woot woot from the Christians in the house?
Now on to meditating in public. Learning this simple fact was very humbling. I shared this briefly in my first post on meditation. The fact is, my mind is incapable of meditating in public. I am simply too immature and ill-equipped. When I first heard that, I was arrogant. However, after trying meditation I have realized that it does take practice to fine-tune your mind for concentration. There is really no other way to say it than that.
We must practice and dedicate ourselves to be mentally capable of removing the distractions of a public setting.
The same rule applies to tools such as prayer beads, incense, etc. We don't want the tools to take precedence over the experience with God. There are tons of these things that can make our experience richer, however we have to be prepared first. Personally, I am not quite there. But that's a blessing, because it will give me more time to think of my prayer for the prayer beads.
Again, I just want to remind you I am not an expert. I am only speaking about what I've tried and what Raj told me. All of the things Raj told me I cite, so unless I say...Raj told me...then I'm just speaking from experience. Hopefully by the end of the work day I'll write a post about the thought process of meditating. That should be my final meditation post.
Peace and Grace, Zane
