A Million Thoughts: Learn All About Meditation from a Himalayan Mystic

Posture in meditation has a direct impact on channelizing vital energies in your body. The ten vital energies are detailed in the appendix to this book. Before I elucidate the eight key elements of a good posture, I would like to draw your attention to Patanjali, one of the greatest meditators to walk on our planet in the last five thousand years. In his aphorisms, he places great emphasis on the quality of posture. He uses the term asana siddhi, perfection of the posture.

According to Patanjali, it is only after perfecting one’s posture that one advances on the path of yoga. Breath regulation (pranayama), withdrawal of senses (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana) and realization (samadhi) are only possible for a meditator if he is able to perfect his posture. I concur with this view. Perfecting your posture is a great challenge and majority of the meditators quit at the rigors it poses. By perfecting I mean to reach a state where you can sit unmoving in one posture for as long as you want without experiencing pain or numbness in your body. Your body is bound to experience a certain tiredness but without the aches.

On the question of what posture one should sit in, Patanjali states sthiram sukham asanam. It means any posture you are comfortable with. This does not mean that you can completely ignore the basics of posture. Whether a student writes with a fountain pen or a ball-point pen, they may be left-handed or right-handed, the teacher may have no problems provided what they scribble is legible. So, any posture you choose is okay as long as you respect the eight elements of a good posture. They are absolutely critical for the serious practitioner.

Mastering correct posture is one of the most difficult aspects of meditation. Once again, if we are talking about meditating for a few minutes to feel good, posture perhaps wouldn’t even matter. You could lie down, curl up, sit on a tree, float on a river, hang upside down and be meditating. But, when you look upon meditation to lead you into a state of extraordinary bliss and supreme union, there’s absolutely no shortcut. You will have to champion the correct posture. You may be a Mozart or a Beethoven, if you want to produce good music, you have to spend time at the piano.

I remember a time in the Himalayas when I thought I would never be able to walk normally again. My knees used to hurt so bad that I couldn’t even move a step without the support of a stick. This was the result of prolonged meditation where I would sit still for a minimum of ten hours to a maximum of twenty-two hours at one go. It was the most difficult thing I’d ever done in my life, but I persisted. With that excruciating pain in my knees I sat down for meditation each day. A few months later, those aches and pains first subsided and then went away completely. I began to enjoy sessions of deep meditation because my body was no longer an impediment.

In the earlier stages, you experience aches and pains in different parts of your body. You can overcome some of those by doing yoga or stretching regularly, but for the most part, the only way to get past this hurdle is by persisting with your meditation. I reiterate, body pain is not an issue for an amateur meditator because such a meditator ends his or her session whenever they encounter a hurdle. It is only an issue when you tread the path of meditation with seriousness and dedication, continuing to build the intensity of your practice.

Correct posture is about perfect stillness of the body. Think of an archer, a chess player, a mathematician, a scientist; how still they are when they are busy in their respective vocations. Stillness of the body fuels stillness of the mind and in turn stillness of the mind helps you be more still physically. They complement each other. When you progress on the path of meditation, ultimately, there should come a point when you are able to rise above the body consciousness. Then alone, you’ll truly feel that this body is an instrument, it is supposed to serve you and not the other way round. Perfection of the posture is essential for a serious meditator. It’s the prana of meditation.

This does not mean you have to sit still for several hours and bear the tremendous pain like I did (unless you want to walk the extraordinary path of meditation). But whenever you do sit down to meditate, it could be just for fifteen minutes, make it a point to sit like a rock, like dead wood. This will allow the energies in your body to be still. Calmness will start to envelope you automatically. The act of meditation will become more joyous and the rewards will come quicker. I cannot overstate the importance of correct posture. I could not stress it enough.