Find Harmony in Meditation
Judith Lasater, Yoga Journal September, 2015
It’s no wonder that when we begin to learn to meditate, most of us have trouble with back pain. We have developed poor sitting habits from years of sitting in improperly designed chairs. A quick look at the chairs offered to us in schools, offices, cars, and airplanes reveals little understanding on the part of chair manufacturers of how human anatomy functions in the seated position. But through education and vigilance, we can learn to sit with ease.
The key to sitting well is a harmoniously positioned pelvis. The pelvis, which literally means “basin” in Latin, not only holds and protects our abdominal organs but also serves as the anchor for the spinal column. The pelvis is the pot out of which the spine grows. Because of this relationship to the spinal column, the position of the pelvis is crucial to sitting properly.
Try this experiment. Whatever position you are sitting in right now, move the pelvis an inch in any direction. When you do you will find that your spine moves with it. Unless the pelvis is in a neutral position, the spine is forced to move from its neutral position in order to remain upright. This is how it works: The vertebral column consists of a series of long curves anatomists call “normal curves.” The lumbar curve at the back waist curves inward; the thoracic curve at the mid back curves outward; and the cervical curve in the neck curves inward like the lower back. There is the least amount of strain on these curves when they are in their resting or neutral state.
In order to sit well in a chair or to meditate with reasonable comfort, you need to create and maintain these normal curves. If any one of these curves is out of alignment, it affects the entire spinal column. It’s akin to stacking children’s blocks; if the second, third, and subsequent blocks are not lined up with the blocks below them, the column soon tumbles.
While we do not tumble when sitting, increased muscular activity is needed in order to keep us upright. We experience this increased muscular activity as tension, which interferes with our ability to meditate or work in comfort.
In order to maintain the spinal curves in neutral, you must place the pelvis in a neutral position. This means that the top rim of the pelvis is neither rocked backward nor forward. To discover this relationship, sit in a chair and place your hands around the top edge of your pelvis with your fingers facing forward and your thumbs in back. Sitting as I commonly do, when I place my hands around my pelvic rim, my thumbs are
much lower than the rest of my fingers. This means I am tilting backward, taking my spine out of the neutral position into flexion. This causes shifts all the way up my spinal column, which eventually can lead to pain and discomfort. On the other hand, if I sit in such a way that my fingers and thumbs are level and my pelvis is in a neutral position, then my lower back has its normal concave curve, and there is a greater chance that I will be comfortable.
In order to enjoy meditation and sit satisfactorily in chairs, we must also pay attention to the position of the thighs. One of the problems with most chairs is that they force us to sit with our thighs in a horizontal position, or worse yet, with our knees higher than our hip sockets. As soon as we raise the knees to the same level or higher than the hip sockets, the pelvis tilts backward, and the lower back rounds. Not only does this position of the lower back become uncomfortable because it strains the muscles, but it also puts pressure on the intervertebral discs, those plump sponge like structures which help keep the vertebrae apart, thus allowing enough space for the spinal nerves to pass through into the body. When we sit with a rounded back, we compress and flatten the fronts of the discs, putting pressure on the spinal nerves, which in turn can cause pain and dysfunction of the spinal muscles.
Meditation How-To
- Position your body comfortably.
There is no right or wrong: seated in a chair, on a cushion, or even lying down if you find that easier to hold still.
- Hold still to the best of your ability.
If you must shift, be kind to yourself and shift, but there is a lot to learn from simply learning to be slightly uncomfortable and nonreactive.
- Be the witness of your breath.
Know that you are breathing in, know that you are breathing out. When anything distracts you, no matter how far off-track you’ve gotten, simply guide yourself back to the breath. Kindly, gently, over and over.
Reacting to Pain-What We Can Control
Yoga Journal article by Christina Feldman, August 2007
Aging, sickness, and moments of pain are intrinsic to the life of all of our bodies. Bodily pain comes in many guises—some of it is chronic, some temporary, some unavoidable. Our first response is to resist it. We have numerous strategies to ward pain off, to avoid it, or to camouflage it with distraction. Aversion, terror, and agitation interweave themselves with the experiences in our bodies and we are easily lost in dread and despair. Our bodies may even be seen as enemies, sabotaging our well-being and happiness. When we are enmeshed in this knot of fear and resistance, there is little space for healing or compassionate attention to occur.
And yet we can learn to touch discomfort and pain with an attention that is loving, accepting, and spacious. We can learn to befriend our bodies, even in the moments when they are most distressed and uncomfortable. We can discover that it is possible to release aversion and fear. With caring and curious attention, we can see that there is a difference between the sensations occurring in our bodies and the thoughts and emotions that react to those sensations. Instead of running from pain, we can bring a curious and caring attention into the heart of pain. In doing so, we discover that our well-being and inner balance are no longer sabotaged. Surrendering our resistance, we find that pain is no longer intimidating or unbearable.
No one would suggest that learning to work skillfully with pain is an easy task, however, or that meditation is a way to fix pain or make it go away. Sometimes we are overwhelmed and we can learn to accept this too. In moments when the intensity of pain seems unbearable it is fine to take our attention away from it and connect with a simpler focus of attention such as breathing or listening for a time. When our hearts and minds have calmed and feel more spacious, it is the right moment to return our attention to the areas of pain in the body.
There are also times when it is often possible to dissolve the layers of tension and fear that gather around pain and to embrace it with greater spaciousness and ease. We may even find a deep inner balance and serenity in the midst of pain. These are moments of great possibility and strength. Working with pain, learning to accept and embrace it, is a moment-to-moment practice in which we release helplessness, despair, and fear. This is in itself healing and teaches us the way to find peace and freedom within the changing events of our bodies.
Yoga for Transformation
Change (Parinama) and transformation is the natural state of the universe as it is creating, manifesting and refining life. Our common response to change is fear, resistance and agitation. But we can choose to embrace change by trusting in the work of the universe and knowing that all change is for our highest good. We can also meditate on the change we perceive all around us to see and identify with the one thing that does not change: our true Self. When we are centered in the Self our attachments melt away and life flows effortlessly around us.
The Tiny Two-Minute Tool
A simple belly massage to stoke health and happiness
A key part of our happiness toolkit lies in the enteric nervous system, or belly brain. This special nervous system, stored in sheaths of tissue in the esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon, regulates mood and immunity.
Tight abdominal connective tissue can cause inflammation, changes in the gut microbiome through an increase is stomach acid, and a corresponding fight-or-flight response. This nourishing massage helps release tension we may be unaware of. The fringe benefits: it primes stress resilience. It also offers us a chance to “befriend” a part of the body that often elicits judgment.
It also stimulates the vagus nerve, one of twelve cranial nerves that originates in the brain, travels down the back of the neck and into the chest and heart, and then moves down into the abdomen and digestive tract. Its resume is extensive: It regulates heart rate and digestion, and it’s the primary medium through which our belly brain regulates mood. It’s the main communicator to our rest-and-digest system, which helps us to relax more deeply. It also elicits our tend-and-befriend system, enabling us to reach out and connect with others. This is a critical factor in long-term stress resilience and, research shows, in happiness.
And there’s yet another bonus you can cram into 120 seconds: This massage mirrors the path of digestion, and helps enhance digestive motility.
How to do it:
Start in Supported Bridge Pose with a block beneath your sacrum. Breathe through your nose; this lowers heart rate and activates the rest-and-digest (or parasympathetic) nervous system.
Place your palms on your belly, starting at the lower left corner just medial to (or slightly to the right of) your hip bone. Apply gentle pressure with your finger pads, the heels of your hands, or your palms.
Move in a circular motion or rest with gentle pressure over areas of inflammation or tenderness. Continue at your own pace moving across the abdomen toward the lower right side. Gradually, move up the right side to the area just below the rib cage.
Continue with the massage or light pressure and gradually sweep to the left, so that you’re at the abdomen’s upper left side. Then continue down to the lower left, your starting point. Repeat as desired. Notice when spots feel tight or sore, and see if they feel different on your next “lap” across the belly. Use oil or moisturizer to make sure your hands glide more easily.
Your Will Sends Thoughts into Energy
