Pain in the leg

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Brian Stanford, modified 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 6:46 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 6:46 PM

Pain in the leg

Posts: 4 Join Date: 12/20/11 Recent Posts
I know that this has got to be a question that folks new to meditation often ask...what about this pain in my leg?

I am currently working on developing the concentration practice, I sit Burmese style, and at about 30 minutes in, I get a pretty strong pain in my forward leg. It becomes very distracting, usually to the point of my mind screaming to look at the watch and see how much time is left in the session...which I tend to break down and do.

Is it better to sit through this, or reposition and continue with the session without having to be so damned focused on the leg?

By the way, this is my first post here after a bit of lurking...it is good to actually be getting involved. Happy New Year from Austin Texas!

-Brian
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Daniel Johnson, modified 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 7:26 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 7:26 PM

RE: Pain in the leg

Posts: 401 Join Date: 12/16/09 Recent Posts
Just curious:
Is it a solid pain? or pulsing? flashing? stinging? Sharp? Dull? Aching? anything else to describe it?
Does it go away when you get up? Does it bother you when you're not meditating?
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josh r s, modified 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 7:32 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 12/31/11 7:32 PM

RE: Pain in the leg

Posts: 337 Join Date: 9/16/11 Recent Posts
id say definitely reposition, with a strengthening of mindfulness just before during and after the slow-moving repositioning. for me it really doesn't seem to break my concentration, at least it doesn't if i'm at a level of concentration in which the pain is an issue.

what's more distracting a brief movement or lasting intense pain? experiment. for me it definitely appears to be intense pain. there's definitely a little meditator/buddhist pride which tells you "you suck unless you can deal with any amount of pain with a happy smile" but there is a reason the buddha taught jhana, a pleasant abiding here and now is really conducive to concentration and insight.
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Brian Stanford, modified 12 Years ago at 1/2/12 4:12 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/2/12 4:12 PM

RE: Pain in the leg

Posts: 4 Join Date: 12/20/11 Recent Posts
Thank you for the answers.

The pain was pulsating, sharp, and radiated in vicious waves from my hip to mid calf. It goes away almost immediately when re-adjusting or rising from the cushion. It starts soon after my foot has fallen asleep to the point to where I can not even move a toe. At no other times (i.e. not sitting) does it bother me.

Interestingly after considering the advice to re-adjust and reading the section on attaining 1st jhana in MCTOB (i.e. not making meditation a grinding displeasure fest) I sat last night and experienced no pain. Beginning the session I told myself that if things hurt I would just readjust and I also focused on getting into the pleasure of breathing per MCTOB instructions. Before I knew it the bell had rung, I had actually experienced some bliss and expansiveness, and no leg pain. It will be interesting to see what happens with my session today.

Do you guys think this was a mental thing? In a certain sense I think that relaxing mentally about sitting really helped. My previous sitting experience has been zen and the suffer through it and "no effort" mentality made sitting something that I dreaded doing.
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josh r s, modified 12 Years ago at 1/2/12 4:46 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/2/12 4:46 PM

RE: Pain in the leg

Posts: 337 Join Date: 9/16/11 Recent Posts
could have been due to a muscle which you stopped tensing, relaxing mentally translates into relaxing physically

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