Meditation Tip #1: Finding your Seat
Sitting for meditation is a personal practice, as is the posture we do this in. There’s the ‘right’ way - the way we often see in images of people meditating, sitting cross-legged on a cushion or just the floor, sometimes in lotus, sometimes not - but what if that’s not what’s accessible to your body?
Whether your practice is five minutes or an hour, I wanted to outline a few considerations that might help.
The actual process of meditation creates an energy (known as prana in Eastern traditions like Yoga)) within our bodies , an energy that we want to build up and conserve in order to heighten the benefits of our practice. To aid this it’s good to keep in mind that the feet should be covered in some way. In your practice your hands might be in a particular hand gestures (known in Yoga as a ‘Mudra’ or Seal), in your lap or on your knees, but the soles of the feet might get over-looked. All three of the postures pictured here ensure that the feet are not ‘leaking’ energy.
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Some ideas for making your seated practice comfortable:
In the first image (on the left), Miriam is sitting on a chair with her feet flat on the floor. She’s demonstrating that if one can’t sit on the floor, meditation is, of course, still possible. Take care not to slouch back but to sit up tall as Miriam is here. This will stop you from falling asleep and keep the energy flowing effectively throughout the body.
In the centre image, Fil is sitting with her shins either side of a bolster. Here, she has her feet covered by a blanket. This is a lovely way to sit for meditation if you have any issues with hip mobility. As in the first image, her knees are lower than her hips (another consideration to make), meaning that it’s easier to keep the spine straight and protect the lower back.
In this one, I’m sitting in the ‘traditional’ posture, on a bolster with my knees lower than my hips and the soles of my feet tucked under my thighs. Here, as in the other images, my feet are covered.
The most important thing when trying to start and/maintain a meditation practice is that it’s comfortable. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look like how you think it ‘should,’ it’s about what’s accessible to your body.
Enjoy your practice, beauty!
Helen x
