What is the issue that keeps you from enjoying your meditation session more? Is it the difficulty of finding a quiet location? Is it the lack of time to schedule it into your day? Do constant interruptions keep your meditations elusive? Or the intrusion of thoughts that have a mind of their own?
For me two things were obstacles between me and effective meditation.
1.Trying to find a comfortable sitting position and
2. Getting rid of intruding thoughts.
I learned to meditate back in my college days in the 1070's. Sitting in a library conference room at the University. (Interesting tangent warning: The room was crowded with a variety of eager, fresh faced co-eds, however, it thinned out considerably when it was announced that anyone who had smoked cannabis within the last 30 days, would have to come to the class next month after abstaining for 30 days! It's funny that this memory came to me just now while recalling my intro to meditation but has nothing to do with this article.)
We learned: the importance of breathing, a mantra, and the number of times a day and how many minutes to meditate. I recall talk of meditation being simple but not easy and warning that falling asleep during meditation although not "bad" was a sign of "not getting enough sleep at night" (duh...we were college students in the era of disco, heaven forbid!!) It was stressed that a straight spine was key to success and a cushy comfortable chair, the enemy. Basically it was encouraged to sit in a quiet space wherever you could find it but remember to keep the spine straight.
Starting with this brief initiation, over the years I experimented with a lot of different meditation techniques. I especially like the idea of the Native American meditation technique because in order to insure maximum grounding, they lay flat on the ground. You might guess the problem inherent in that method.
1. finding a place to lie flat on the ground year round here in Norther Michigan and
2. When the ground is found that is warm in a quiet spot, the warning about not getting enough sleep the night before comes to remind you, you are in the perfect position for a nap, not meditation.
As the years came and went, offspring were born and grew to adulthood, meditation seemed to get more difficult instead of easier so I then experimented with other forms of meditation. Most methods promising to help me meditate like a yogi who had spent the last millennium in a cave. (for the small price of just $49.95 per month or $499.50 for the next installment of instruction.) You know what I'm saying. After believing these bold statements and investing my hard earned cash into my spiritual development I was understandably perplexed as to why the thoughts never went away, not even for a second.
Well, I'm here to tell you, It turns out that in order to quiet the mind in meditation, you first need to quiet the body. There is a posture that will facilitate this that no one ever told me, and I feel as though it's one of the little details left out to make effective meditation more elusive. Are you ready to hear this elusive secret to highly effective meditation? Pay attention, here is the simple truth: Position yourself so your knees are resting comfortably below the level of the hips.
I always thought the purpose of a meditation cushion was to..well..cushion the bottom. In reality, the simple cushion is there to get the knees lower than the hips.
Try it, you'll see. Whether sitting in a chair or on the ground, a fairly high firm cushion allows the knees to rest below the plane of the hips and like a magic formula kept secret for generations, the pelvis tilts slightly and the spine from top to bottom is straight and with just a few days practice becomes effortlessly so. There are wonderful wedge shaped meditation cushions that support the legs as well as the bottom (and are a godsend to folks with hip or knee challenges)but a simple rolled up blanket will do the trick of getting the knees lower than the hips and position the spine into a straight conduit to ground out your thoughts. It seems a rounded spine will trap the thought you want to shed. So get into the position, knees below hips. Before you know it, blissful, quiet, enlightening, rejuvenation, energizing meditation. Good luck and God bless.
~Laura Skallerup has been practicing meditation since 1975. She lives in beautiful Petoskey Michigan where she has been doing therapeutic massage since 1997. Recently after becoming aware of the benefits of using meditation cushions she opened a web store to help others easily find and utilize quality meditation cushions made in the U.S.A to help them progress their meditation practice. Who knew it could be so simple! Please visit http://www.meditationcushionsonline.com/
Invest in yourself and give the gift of happy sitting to your friends and family.
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