Day 3

Dealing with the Body

When I first started attending services at Still Point, I approached daily practice with my achievement mind. My achievement mind thinks there are things that I should do and it creates a lot of stress and drama around the doing and not doing of those things. I was very hard on myself for not sitting every day, and during rushed mornings when I'd overslept and needed to be getting ready for work, I'd rush to the cushion with my body still stiff from being inactive during sleep and I'd try to tough it out.

I call this sitting cold.

We all have a certain discomfort that replays itself when we meditate. Sometimes the discomfort is mild, other times severe. My particular discomfort was (and still can be) pain and discomfort in the legs. At times my legs would be so sore after meditation that I found it hard to get off the floor... so painful during meditation that they were the only things on which I could focus my attention.

For the past two mornings I've made the point to get a gentle yoga practice in before sitting. The particular program I'm doing is Rodney Yee's AM yoga program (part of the Living Arts AM/PM/Stress Relief Yoga DVD) Update: This is an old DVD program and it is no longer available for purchase. It  has been repackaged as AM/PM Yoga (Stress Relief Sold Separately). It is like a little magic for my leg pain problem. I find that I sit more comfortably after warming up my body. That particular program seems to have all of the right leg and hip stretches for me.

Do you have any particular nagging discomforts when you meditate? Have you found ways to deal with them?

Comments

[Maggie]

1/2 hour completed this morning before seven... yay!

Before I did my meditation I did my physical therapy (ankle strengthening) and my daily sit ups - I stretched a teeny bit after that, but I stopped because I tend to find stretching a lot more rewarding in the evening. In the morning I never feel even the slightest bit flexible. Maybe I should just warm up more?

When I got up after my meditation, my ankle was all pins and needles - and then I read this post and laughed at its appropriateness to my situation. I think I just need to work on my posture a little every day. For instance, yesterday my lower back was feeling stressed out, so today I sat on a pillow and had my legs (crossed indian style) a little below my butt, and that seemed to help my lower back a lot. I still have some issues with my shoulders, but I think that will work itself out as I learn to relax them more (both in meditation and on my road bike, where I think the real issue comes from).

Now, because I woke up late and decided to do my meditation anyway, I'm a little late for work - but I'm glad I meditated, it went well this morning (and work isn't a strict schedule, so it's not a big deal). Thanks for the motivation!

[Sudo]

Physically, I have a difficult time sitting on a mat and cushion. I'm a pretty big guy, and sitting in traditional postures doesn't work well for me. I'm also a bit pigeon-toed, which seems like it doesn't help, but who knows, maybe I'd have problems anyway. At any rate, my legs get very painful most of the time with a mat and cushion...ranging from irritating tingling and numbness to flat-out on-fire and panic. So, most of the time I just sit in a chair and do the best I can. I am quite bothered by this when I'm at temple, though. I prefer to be on the floor with the other members of my sangha. I feel isolated and a bit embarassed that I use a chair. I'm perfectly aware of this hang-up, but awareness of it hasn't kept it from causing me grief yet. :)

I do have the idea that the seiza position might work well for me, but my weight doesn't allow me to do it for long...I'm just too heavy on my legs and they end up hurting. So, perhaps I should investigate a seiza bench, which I could place on a mat.

[chalip]

Hello Maggie & Sudo...

Thanks for checking in...

I think gentleness is important while establishing a meditation practice.

It is ironic that you mention having a difficult time sitting on a mat and cushion Sudo because I was just asking myself about that yesterday.

Some yoga practices encourage the use of props to assist you until your flexibility increases and you can proceed without them. Somewhere along my yoga journey I picked up on the fact that you can sit very comfortably on a yoga brick (at least I can). I started to wonder yesterday... am I attached to my zafu and zabuton? If I can sit with less strain on a yoga brick, wny do I insist on sitting on my zafu for my "formal" practice period?

Still mulling it over...

chalip

[Ayurveda]

Hi.
This is very adorable blog.
Thank you to share this one with whole world.

This is one of my articles about Ayurveda..

http://healthmad.com/alternative/ayurveda-2/