Author: jared612
Forum: Frequently Asked Questions

I am new to meditation and it seems that everytime I meditate my left leg goes very numb and starts to hurt to the point that it disrups my meditation. I have very breifly talk to people that have been meditating longer and they suggested that I do yoga, but I do yoga about 3 to 6 times a week. Any suggestions....

Try different postures of all kind. The only thing you really need to consider with posture is: "how well can I concentrate in this." Thus, you're looking for a posture that excludes distractions: pain, numbness, sleepiness, and so on. Although all of these may happen to some degree if you meditate for a long duration. You may just need to switch postures mid-way through. For example, half lotus for half an hour, then to burmese for half an hour.

The point is not to be dogmatic about positions, you can just chill out in a straight back chair if you want. Find what works for you and go with it.

Peace,
Trent

Yeah, what he said. Just go ahead and change the position of your legs and keep sitting. Posture is irrelevant in the long run. Continue to meditate regardless. That's the point. I'm not shy about moving my legs from time to time if I'm meditating for several hours straight. But pain and numbness aren't really a big deal either, investigate these and you'll discover that there is nothing to really be afraid of. Just avoid long term damage, but unless you're sitting immobile for days on end, I wouldn't particularly be worried about it.

Author: crkrishna77

I have been doing vipassana meditation (s n goenka) since 1997. Although I have done several 10 day retreats and sat hundred of hours, even today I get severe pain sometimes. In this tradition, during retreats,daily there are 3 one-hour sittings of "adithan" during which the meditators are encouraged to sit in any convenient posture but without changing the posture for the entire hour.
Sometimes, the pain is really excruciating.

i change positions about every 30 minutes. i try full-lotus sometimes (which offers best firm back support) on a chair, then switch to chair pose. i keep my tailbone on the inner edge of the chair (but of course not leaning) i worked on a lot of 'sun salutations' yoga to develop strong back posture and stamine, which i think is needed with 'the 3 characteristics stage'



but eventually 'sloth' or low metabolism can get to me, with doing a lot of sitting, so even walking meditation is something i had to learn
i've tried to force myself to doing (a bit of) stricter practices, i think it has its uses in developing equanimity. so i guess, you dont 'really' have to suffer that much! but you can if it is beneficial in itself, as a means to discipline