Daily Dharma

The Six Points of Posture

Sitting meditation begins with good posture. Awareness of the six points of posture is a way to be really relaxed and settled in the body. Here are the instructions:

1. Seat: Whether you're sitting on a cushion on th floor or in a chair, the seat should be flat, not tilting to the right or left, or to the back or front.
2. Legs: The legs are crossed comfortably in front of you--or, if you're sitting in a chair, the feet are flat on the floor, with the knees a few inches apart.
3. Torso: The torso (from the head to the seat) is upright, with a strong back and an open front. If sitting in a chair, it's best not to lean back. If you start to slouch, simply sit upright again.
4. Hands: The hands are open, with palms down, resting on the thighs.
5. Eyes: The eyes are open, indicating the attitude of remaining awake and relaxed wiht all that occurs. The eye gaze is slightly downward and directed about four to six feet in front of you.
6. Mouth: The mouth is very slightly open so that the jaw is relaxed and air can move easily through both the mouth and nose. The tip of the tongue can be placed on the roof of the mouth.

Each time you sit down to meditate, check your posture by running through these six points. Anytime you feel distracted, bring your attention back to your body and these six points of posture.

[...from Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings by Pema Chödrön, pg. 15]

Comments

[Simon]

Hi, my names Si and I've been suffering from a lot of stress recently and it's affecting not just my job but my personal and family life.

I've heard that meditation can help a lot with combating stress, is this true? If so I’d be really interested in giving it a try as I don't particularly won’t to be taking drugs for stress!!! Like I said though if meditation can help relieve stress I’m willing to try it but I don’t know how to meditate or how to learn to meditate so I was wondering if anyone here could give me some advice or recommend a course to me?

I've done a little bit of research on the internet about meditation but haven't been able to come to anything conclusive. It's kind of hard to when I don't really know what I should or shouldn't be looking for. So far I’ve seen two courses that have caught my eye, they are http://www.squidoo.com/free-meditation and the other site I’ve seen is something called the Transcendental Meditation Program and the site for that is http://www.tm.org.

Does anybody know anything about either of these sites? They both sound really good although the Transcendental Meditation sites course is too costly for me but in the first one the guy is offering a free meditation course. What do you guys think? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards & thanks

Simon

[chalip]

Hello Si...

I do believe that meditation can help alleviate stress, but please don't take my opinion over that of a medical professional. Stress is a serious issue and it can lead to health problems. I understand the desire to avoid being medicated, but however you decide to combat your stress, please do so under the supervision of your medical doctor.

I am not familiar with either of the resources you alluded to... I have heard of Transcendental Meditation (TM) but have never tried it and am not even aware of what the technique requires. But I will say, you don't need to pay money to learn to meditate. There are plenty of resources out there to get your started for little or no cash.

The books I listed on the "How Tos" page are good primers for beginning meditators. Really, keeping it simple, this is all you really need to do to start:

1. Find a quiet corner

2. Sit with a straight back (the book Zen Meditation in Plain English has a lot of instruction on formal meditation postures, but if you keep your back straight and strong, you are off to a good start)

3. Count your breaths. Focus on the in breath and out breath. Count in/out = one, in/out = 2, and so on... When you get to five, restart at one. As your mind wanders, just return to the counting... begin again. Don't worry if your mind wanders. Everyone's does... especially if you are a beginner.

My advice? Just start there. You don't need to buy fancy cushions unless you just want to... A straight backed chair will do fine.

Best of luck to you my friend. We've all been there (finding productive ways to deal with stress). I hope a journey into meditation will serve you well.