What do we do when meditation hurts? Explore alternatives to seated shapes. Then discover how to find neutral hips and spine in your body.

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In this episode, I discuss:

• 00:56 - Grounding and Check-In
• 03:13 - Visualization Exercise
• 04:05 - Meditation Postures in the Media
• 08:35 - Many Options for Many Bodies
• 10:18 - Problems with Seated Meditation
• 13:03 - Working Toward a Comfortable Seat
• 13:31 - Neutral Spine, Neutral Pelvis
• 14:42 - Find Neutral Pelvis Standing
• 18:53 - Find Neutral Spine Lying Down
• 21:26 - Practice: Mindful Body Check-In

Episode transcript:

"...I want to muse a little today on the physical aspects of meditation, particularly seated meditation postures.

But let's do a little check-in first. Let's ground and center, see how we're feeling, find our baseline. Go ahead and bring a subtle awareness to the points of connection between your body and whatever you are resting on. Maybe that's your feet connected to the earth, parts of your legs or glutes or hips in a chair, parts of the back body if you're resting lying down. Notice pressure, texture, temperature, feeling the weight of your body resting down toward the earth. Notice if there are places feel more at ease. Are there places that are holding on to energy, tension, discomfort? Just a gentle noticing without expectation or judgment.

And then perhaps, invite a little more softness to the shoulders, a little more softness to the brow, to the jaw, and anywhere else where you feel you could use a little more letting go, a little more surrender, a little more relaxation.

Take a moment to check in with the sense of your breath. Notice a natural inhale. Notice the feeling of a natural exhale. Then take a fuller breath in, and a slow, complete breath out. Notice how you feel.

Let's do a little visualization exercise together here. So as always, no expectation, no right or wrong. Get a little curious. When I say the following words or phrases, what comes to mind?

Seated meditation.

Someone meditating.

A monk meditating.

mindfulness Meditation.

Meditation Posture.

When we think about the really common imagery, the really common associations that we make around meditation, often there's a pretty narrow idea of what that might look like. If you've been practicing or studying for a while, if you've been working with or listening to me for a while, you might already be pushing the boundaries, so to speak, of what we consider, quote, normal meditation posture. But often we see this idea of someone seated on the floor in a cross-legged position with their hands in their lap, perhaps in a mudra. Perhaps there is a bit of stoicism or austerity. Maybe they are straight-faced. Maybe they are in a very simple environment. Maybe they are wearing robes.

Similarly, when I am looking to make content for work, I use Canva, and I search for pictures of meditation. There is this very, very narrow presentation for nearly all of the media that's available of people sitting on the floor, perhaps on a yoga mat, in a cross-like position, hands almost always in the same particular mudra, index finger and thumb touching, rest of the fingers gently extended, and very, very often the people depicted are thin, able-bodied, younger folks, I would say more disproportionately women, and often wearing what look more like workout clothes.

And perhaps this is absolutely the way that many folks meditate. And also, I wanna push back a little bit on the expectation of this being the primary approach.

Talk about what the downsides, the pitfalls, the cautions around some of these seated meditation postures could be.

Talk about maybe what some other options could be within the realm of staying seated.

And then also even beyond that, how could we mix it up even a little bit more to really make it a practice that works for us, for our bodies, our tissues, our skeletons, our joints, our shapes, our pre-existing conditions?

Because the more we can expand our idea of what is possible, the more likely we are to find that practice that really does serve us.

The first place that I ever sat za Zen, seated meditation in the Zen Buddhist tradition, was at the Ithika Zen Center in Spencer, New York.

And I was pretty new to the idea of all of this.

But I certainly had that image in my head of the austere monk in the robes, seated right on the floor with this impossibly straight spine.

And I felt so fortunate to stumble upon this community at a time in my life when I really, really needed it.

And Yoshin, David Radin, the director of the Ithika Zen Center, is the most joyful, approachable, loving human you could ever imagine.

And sitting with him and hearing his Dharma talks started to break down my expectations of what this environment could be like.

And being in the Zen Center with so many different types of people, with so many different levels of experience, and seeing all the different ways that they positioned their bodies to be comfortable, and that they continued to adjust their bodies as needed throughout meditation was really inspiring and eye-opening for me.

I saw people sitting in sort of what we often picture the classic crisscross applesauce position.

And then also with the legs spread out just a little more, one foot resting in front of the other, this is the burmese seating style.

And then also people kneeling, sitting right on their heels, or on a cushion.

This is the Seiza position.

And a lot of these people were up on one or two or three or four pillows.

So their hips were lifted quite a bit higher than their knees.

There were lots of people on meditation stools, which facilitate the shape of kneeling, but with more support.

And there were lots of people in chairs.

And this experience was also the first time that I encountered kinnhin or walking meditation, which is interspersed throughout the periods of sasen.

So you sit for a time, then you move into this very rhythmic walking practice that you do together outdoors.

I'll dive into that a little more deeply in a future episode.

For now, I really want to focus on this idea of seated meditation posture and how that shows up for a lot of different bodies and why it might be a problem for so many of us.

unless we are a type of person who spent a lot of time in young adulthood continuing to squat or continuing to sit on the floor, sitting in a cross-legged position does not come naturally.

It's actually fairly difficult to get the spine and the hips in a neutral, comfortable position.

So if we are in an environment where we get the idea that this is the goal, and we sort of force ourselves to sit here, even though it's maybe not the most natural for our body, it's quite likely that we're going to end up with some discomfort or maybe some pain.

Where this often shows up for people is in the low back, because we haven't created a space where the body can fall into natural alignment.

So we're trying to force and hold ourselves in that straight back.

And if we are not used to that, those muscles are going to get very tired, and it's going to be very uncomfortable.

We also might have discomfort in the hip joints or in the knee joints.

And then if we are in this uncomfortable shape and we're having pain, we also might start to see compensations in other areas of the body.

So if we're stressed out, maybe we're holding our shoulders a little higher.

Maybe we're clenching our jaw.

Maybe we're furrowing our brow.

And then we might start to have tension or pain or discomfort in those areas.

Another thing that's really common, this happened to me before I had the aha moment that I could sit up on cushions, is losing sensation in the lower body.

So, if we're sitting with this deep crease at the hip, and that's not something that our body either has the alignment for or we're not used to, cutting off circulation, and you might end up with numb feet or numb legs.

And then there's also the possibility for these seated shapes to maybe exacerbate the symptoms of other underlying conditions.

So, if there is some arthritis, for example, back problems, bone density considerations, we may be increasing the level of awareness of the discomforts of those things that are already going on.

If seated meditation is something that you would like to work toward, how can you adjust your seat, adjust your position, use props to create a seat where you can find neutral spine and neutral pelvis?

I mentioned neutral spine, neutral pelvis once already.

What does that mean exactly?

So I also referenced earlier this idea of holding myself in an upright posture versus creating an alignment where the joints are stacked so that I can rest into an upright posture.

So what I would like to do today, instead of a meditation together, I would actually like us to play with finding neutral spine and neutral pelvis.

For today, we will set aside the idea of a seated shape briefly.

We will play with finding neutral spine and pelvis standing up, and then lying down.

And then next week, after we've done that body exploration, we'll come back to the idea of how to adjust our body, how to use various props to create that same ease in a seated meditation posture.

So what I would love for you to do today is I would like you to find a comfy flat surface where you can stand with your feet slightly wider than your hip joints and your toes turned out, just a little, and a slight bend to your knees.

If it feels more helpful, more supportive for you, you can do this in some stable footwear.

Or if it works for you, your body, your sense of balance, you can do this in bare feet.

And as you come into this shape, I'd like you to first just rock, move, sway on your feet a little bit.

Until you find a space where you feel like you're fairly equally connected through all surfaces of both feet.

Check in again with the position and angle of the feet.

We've got middle toe, ankle, knee, and hip joint pretty much pointing all in the same direction.

The knees are long but not locked.

And then I'd like you to rest your hands at the front of your pelvis, moving any tissue out of the way that you need so that you can get your palm to rest at the front of your hip, that part of the pelvic bowl that sticks out in the front, your two little headlights on either side shining forward.

And then let your fingertips rest at the top of your pubic bone.

In a neutral pelvis, our palms aren't further forward than our fingertips, and our fingertips aren't further forward than our palms.

So we'll play with this a little bit.

With your palms, again, at your aces, anterior, superior iliac spine, you do not need to remember that.

It's just those two parts at the top of the pelvis on either side.

And your fingers at your pubic bone.

See what it would feel like to extend your palms over your fingers.

So this is an anterior tilt.

If your pelvis was a bowl, you're now spilling water out the front anterior.

Notice what that does to the rest of your spine, especially the curve in your low back.

And then start to draw your palms back and send your fingertips further forward than your palms.

So now your pubic bone is reaching forward.

This is a posterior tilt.

If your pelvis were a bowl of water, you're now spilling water out the back posterior.

Notice what that did to the rest of your body, your torso, your spine, especially the curve in your low back.

And then rock back and forth a couple times.

Anterior tilt, fingertips and pubic bone come in, top of the pelvis, palms out.

And then the other way.

And then try to settle into that space right in the middle.

And of course, there are individual variations.

Maybe it's not perfect, but we're looking for that place where the fingertips and the palms are fairly level.

If you were standing right in front of a wall, your pubic bone and those pelvic bones are about the same distance from the wall.

Notice how that feels in your spine.

Torso, ribcage, for most of us, there's just a little curve to the low back, and we're stacked in a way that we have neutral curves to the spine, and we can rest here fairly easily.

So go ahead and release your hands, do a little shake out of the legs, a little shake out of the arms.

You could do some hip swivels if you like.

And then we're going to play around with this same movement on the floor.

So now you'll find a place where you have enough space to lie down on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet on the floor.

I'll give you a moment to get yourself there.

And as you come down into this lying shape, the knees are maybe about a 90-degree bend or the feet are out a little further.

We don't need the heels to be really close to the bum.

And ankles and knees are about the same width apart as your hip joints.

And then bring your hands to the front of your pelvis, moving whatever tissue you need out of the way.

So you can rest your palms fairly close to those top parts of the pelvis in the front, and your fingertips to the top of your pubic bone.

And then imagine that you are going to try to press your low back firmly down into the floor as you lift your pubic bone up towards your torso.

This is that posterior tilt.

Notice what that does to the rest of the body, to the spine, and then pull your pubic bone away from you reaching it toward your feet.

Maybe this creates a little more space between low back and floor anterior tilt.

How does that change the sensation in the rest of the body?

And then find that slow rock back and forth a few times between your posterior tilt and your anterior tilt.

Allow yourself to settle into that space right in the middle.

If we were to measure the distance from pubic bone to ceiling, hip points to ceiling, they'd be about the same.

Hopefully we've created neutral curves and ease in the spine.

And notice how you feel here.

Moving into a short mindfulness meditation practice together, stay here or come back to standing.

I'll give you a moment to go ahead and adjust yourself.

You can relax the hands wherever is comfortable.

If you're choosing standing, maybe they're hanging down at your sides.

And whether you are lying down or standing up.

Take a moment to notice the feeling of your spine slowly traveling all the way from the base of your skull down through your neck, between your shoulder blades, down your mid back, into your low back, and your tailbone.

How does your spine feel in this moment?

What information does your spine have to share with you?

Without any expectation or judgment, just a simple, gentle noticing.

Let that awareness travel to your hip joints.

Gentle awareness.

What information do your hips have to share with you today?

How are they feeling?

Is there anything that you could adjust in your position, standing or lying down, to find a little more comfort, a little more ease in your spine, ease in your hip joints?

And allow your awareness to broaden out, to hold your entire body.

And for a moment, keep your awareness anchored here, staying open to any and all sensations throughout your tissues, your joints, your bones, your breath.

When distractions or doubts arise, notice without judgment, and come back to the experience of your body in the here and now.

Take a moment to notice gently if the mind wandered.

If it did, that's okay.

Bring yourself back to noticing your body in this moment.

Start to bring some movement back into the body.

Maybe turn the head side to side.

Circle the wrists.

Maybe move through a big full body stretch.

If you close the eyes, go ahead and gently open the eyes, reorient yourself to your space.

How are you feeling?

I think that lying down and standing, or even moving, are wonderful options, wonderful alternatives to seated meditation postures.

Whatever we're choosing, we're really zeroing in on this idea of finding that neutral shape to create ease in the body.

So next week, we will take this idea of neutral hips, neutral spine.

We'll bring it back to a seated shape, and we'll play around with a variety of props and stools and cushions and foot positions to see if, for you, for your body, you can find a seated meditation shape that works.

Until then, have a most wonderful week, and I will see you next time..."