Your knees will naturally rest on each other for support. To relax the legs, step your feet slightly wider than your hips, and aim your toes inward. Rest one palm on your chest, and the other on your belly. Maintain the natural curvature of your spine as you try to connect the back of your head, back of your shoulders, back of your heart, and the back of your sacrum to the surface below you. To meditate lying down in the semi-supine posture, lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted. Place additional support beneath your knees to let your legs relax. If this is the case, try lifting your shoulders higher or bend your knees and plant your feet. This inclined position can also accentuate the curve of the low back, causing uncomfortable pressure or pinching in the lumbar spine. Make sure the support spans the back of your head and the width of your shoulders to avoid over arching your upper back. Keeping your head slightly elevated above your hips may prevent the drowsiness that a fully supine pose can trigger.Īs you set up, be aware of the curvature of your spine. In this supported corpse pose, savasana, you use a wedge-shaped support made of blankets, cushions or bolsters to situate your torso at an incline. No matter how you set up, apply the general principles of beneficial meditation posture: Find a comfortable pose that promotes a long, neutral spine. If you decide to meditate lying down there are several ways to do it. Just as we bring nonjudgmental awareness to our mindfulness practice, we should do the same for the posture we choose. There’s no one reason to meditate lying down, and there’s no reason to meditate in the same posture every time you practice. Meditating lying down may be the best way for you to find the level of comfort and spinal alignment you need. Read more: If you do want to sit down for certain practices, read our tips for a healthy sitting meditation posture. The good news is, a neutrally aligned spine can be achieved sitting, standing, or lying down. Posture is related to mood, as confirmed by a 2017 study linking recurrence of major depressive disorder with excessively hunched backs. If alignment is compromised, energy potentially becomes trapped. About AlignmentĪn elongated spine promotes the free flow of energy, or prana, through the body. Read more: Learn what part discomfort plays in our personal and spiritual journey. There are no extra points in meditation for sitting with pain, nor for sitting upright in full lotus pose. Aggressive or acute pain might be more wisely handled by changing posture. Other times distraction is overwhelming and unnecessarily disrupts the meditation practice.Įach individual practitioner must define for themselves what their window of tolerance is. Some distraction is minor and can be overcome by working with mindful attention. If the body is uncomfortable or in pain, it will become a distraction. In meditation, what’s important is comfort and alignment of the spine. An upright posture simply isn’t the best shape for everyone all the time. There’s no one meditation posture with a monopoly on mindfulness. “when walking, the monk discerns, ‘I am walking.’ When standing, he discerns, ‘I am standing.’ When sitting, he discerns, ‘I am sitting.’ When lying down, he discerns, ‘I am lying down.’ However his body is disposed, that is how he discerns it…this is how a monk remains focused.” What’s important, Buddha says, is not the shape itself, but that The Buddha himself refers to four meditation postures sitting, standing, walking and lying down. In the Buddha’s discourse The Great Frames of Reference, the Maha-Satipatthana Sutta, we learn that mindfulness is not limited to any one posture, but can be practiced at all times. How To Meditate Lying Down: Supine Meditation For Comfort We explore when and how you should lie down to meditate. There are certain types of meditation where lying down may even be preferred. What’s important in meditation posture is to find a pose you can hold comfortably for a long period of time. You can meditate lying down any time you’d like to.
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