Importance of Asana Options

Well, it seemed that I have a bony arse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) and I can only meditate in an asana "comfortably" for a max of 3 hours nonstop before I really have to -painfully- get up and try to get my leg and arse blood flowing again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/00000064.gif) In the end of my long meditations, one of my leg would be so damn cold, I lost feeling to it, pains, cramps and spasm, and I think any of you who meditate for a long time know what I am talking about here (IMG:style_emoticons/default/004.gif)

I need to meditate comfortably and for longer hours, and this does not seemed possible in a short time since I reckon I need more practice and leg stretchings. So I guess in the meantime, I need to find a way around this.

My temporary solution is to try the zen meditation benches below:
(IMG:http://www.samadhicushions.com/samadhi/images/benches_bar.jpg)

My question is, how important is asana to meditation? How does different asana (specificallly lotus posture) helps us? Does asana -only- helps to discipline the body and mind?

PS: and btw, I'd like custom order a cushion for my meditation since I have not find anything suitable yet. Any recommendation for the fillings please? I am thinking of kapok, since I am not aware of anymore available fillings comfortable for meditation cushions. I think I saw some kind of "beans" (saw it sold in local jap store years ago) used as a fillings in japanese matress/cushion but not sure what is the "bean" name and where to find this again. Thanks for any help.

This post has been edited by | Kinjo: Nov 21 2005, 03:52 AM

I have never used the postures suggested but sit in the recliner and put a pillow behind me for comfort; saying that, I have found it better to have my legs down rather than up for some reason - possibly because if I fully recline I tend to fall asleep.

The position has to be comfortable so that I can focus on the mental side and it has to be a warm place for me to relax too.

I doubt that posture is really that important. Keep a straight back. Since I broke my knee a while back it would be a problem for me to go 'full lotus'. Seiza (the 'zen' posture you pictured) can be done either on a bench or using a Zafu. I have a Zafu on order at the moment and will let you know what it is like. You want to choose a filling that is comfortable and yet will not compress with use.

Here is a useful link to get you started...

http://www.zafu.net/whichcush.html

This post has been edited by mediocracy: Nov 21 2005, 07:23 AM

Not sure about the cushions, but we used to have the zen meditation benches at a retreat house I used to go to and I could use them for a very short while; I found the benches better than the cushions.

From a yogi's view, asanas are more to gain the will from mastering your body. If you have properly achieved an asana, sitting in it properly, without moving, or your muscles fidgiting etc for 3 hours, then it is usually considered "mastered." The reason to master an asana, is because your body becomes accustomed to it, the body will no longer be a problem when meditating, and the first obstacle to meditation is that of your body, itching, fidgiting etc, such is why there are asanas. Most things in hatha yoga (asanas, pranayama) are used to help achieve raja yoga better.

One can go into it more though, the asana should preferably have a firm base (thus why you have padmasana, with your legs wrapped etc) because it is then considered that you can correctly and deeply meditate. Just as you should not expect to build a house without firm foundations, so you should supposedly not expect to meditate well, without an asana with a firm base.

The other reason is that the back should be straight. This goes into both physical and energetic concerns. Firstly, considering in deeper meditaiton you are subject to suggestion to a degree, you do not want to be slouching, lest you take it on as proper, how much better it is to sink into your mind that a straight spine is preferable. Not on ly that, but a slouching spine does after time, get uncomfortable, but then, so does a straight spine! Considering that the spine is also the main area of the central nervous system, which meditation seems to affect alot, you want it to be in it's best condition, so to speak.

To look at a specific example, my favoured asana is known as siddhasana, considered by many to be second to padmasana, and by a few, to be superior to it. The base is extended and firm, and the spine is 'straight', the left heel presses on the anus and PC area simulataneously, and the right heel at the base of the sex organs, ankles crossing directly over one another. Energetically if you look at that, one can notice that the heel closes the anus, an area associated with excretion, not only of faeces but of energy as well. Blocking this, is meant to prevent that from releasing, to add effect to this, the muladhara is also pressed and usually slightly tensed (pc muscle area) this prevents energy from leaving downwards, and any energy that is drawn from the atmosphere, through the feet, can also not escape, due to the tension, it is released upwards, through the spine and the chakras above it. That is why siddhasana has it's name, it was said to, when mastered, give the person many siddhi's. It is often associated with helping to awaken kundalini, and useful to those engaging in some form of celibacy, due to the sexual energies being sen tupwards, for more spiritual endeavours.

So yes, in a yogic thought, asanas are important to a fair degree, but then, it is more the control of the mind that is above the body. If you can achieve longer meditations without using an asana, then you should perhaps do it.

Thanks for everyone's answer. I'd like to add another reply I received by mail:

The zen asana may be used as a substitute--the chakras of the heels must somehow connect with the muladhara chakra and the spine must be erect but without strain.

The mind must indeed be alert but the asana has other important effects than creating alertness--it builds upon the energies in the root chakra (union of the minor chakras at the heels and the major root). When this "cup" overflows it should overflow to the next chakra and so on.

Energy building-wise, I'd have to concur with what the above and KiwiKid posted as I do sense some kind of energies (usually warm, tingling, and occasional shiverings) when I do a cross leg meditation (when doing a mantra japa).

Quote from The Yoga System on the subject. It is quite lengthy, but worth the read:

How does Asana help one in meditation? The relation between the individual and the universal has to be brought to mind in this connection.
There is an organic tie between the individual and its environment, and the purpose of Yoga is to rouse to consciousness this inherent harmony. This is to be brought about in successive stages. Whatever one is, and whatever one has, should be set in tune with the universal. This is Yoga, ultimately. When the personal individuality is attuned to universal being, it is the condition of Yoga. The individual begins with the body, but there are many things within the body, as there are in the physical cosmos. There are Prana, senses, mind, intellect, etc., encased in the body. All these things within have to be in gradual union with the universal. The mind cannot be so attuned when the body is in revolt. Yoga requires union of everything in the personality with the universal. Asana is the initial step in Yoga, whereby the bodily structure is set in unison with the cosmos.

When an individual thinks in terms of the ego, which is self-affirmation, with a selfish attitude towards the things of the world, there is internal disharmony. The more is one unselfish, the more also is one concordant with reality, and the more is the selfishness, the more also is the discordant note struck in one’s life. Yoga is a systematized process of establishing permanent friendship with Nature in all its levels,- friendship in the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual levels. It is all love and friendship, and no enmity anywhere. This is Yoga. The Yoga system is an exact science which takes into consideration every aspect of life, in a slow process of unfoldment. The lowest manifestation is the physical or the bodily personality.

The Asana should be firm and easy. It should be steady and not cause discomfort of any kind. It should not make the student conscious of the body through tightness, tension, etc. It should be a normal posture in which he can sit for a long time. The Yoga prescribes certain minimum requirements in Asana, though a long rope is given when it is merely said that it is the firm and comfortable. Within the limits of the rule, one may have freedom in Asana. What are the limits? The extremities of the body should be locked, and the head, neck and spine should be in a straight line. These extremities are the fingers and the toes. If they are left exposed, the electric current generated in meditation may leak into space. Also, one should not sit on the bare ground, because the earth is a conductor of electricity and the energy may thereby leak again. A non-conductor of electricity is prescribed as good material to spread on the ground. In olden days a dry grass mat was used, called the Kusa Asana over which a deer-skin, and a cloth, both nonconductors of electricity, were spread. The Gita prescribes that the seat should not be too high or too low. The student may fall down if the seat is very high, and if it is too low, there is the likelihood of insects and reptiles creeping into the seat. The spine, too, should be kept straight. It should be at right angles to the base. One should not be leaning against any support or be bending forward. The reason is that if the spine is straight the nerves get relaxed and no part of the body exerts influence on another part. The flow of the Prana through the nerves is smoothened. If the body is twisted, the Prana has to make effort to flow through the limbs. There is a free movement of energy in the body when the whole system is in a state of relaxation.

Apart from the spine being straight, and the extremities being locked, the legs are to be bent in three or four ways. There are Padma-Asana, Siddha-Asana, Svastika-Asana and Sukha-Asana. One can choose any of these postures for meditation. The purpose of a fixed Asana is to enable the mind to slowly forget that there is a body at all. The body will attract attention, somehow. But the mind cannot, in meditation, afford to remain conscious of the body. The student gradually loses sensation of the limbs.

He forgets that he is seated, that he has a body or the limbs. The first sign of successful practice in Asana is a sense of levitation. The body is felt to be so light that it may appear to be ready for a rise. This sensation comes when there is a thorough fixity of posture. This is the test. One will begin to feel a creeping sensation as if ants are crawling over the body. That should show the student’s readiness for a rise above body-consciousness. Together with these sensations, he will also realize a kind of satisfaction, a happiness, a delight that comes due to lightness of the body in Asana. If one sits thus for two to three hours, one may not have any feeling even if someone touches the body. The Prana is so harmonious that it does not create sensation in the body. It is disharmony that creates sensations of things. When the highest harmony is reached, there will be no external sensation. With extremities locked; with fingers kept one over the other, or locked; with spine straight; head, neck and spine in one line, and at right angles to the base of the body; the Asana is perfect.

The Asana should be effortless. There should be no effort not only in the body but also in the mind. Absolute ease of relaxation is the sign of perfected Asana. The student should be in a most natural condition in which he is not conscious even of his breathing. If there is pain, jerk, or a pinching sensation, it should mean that the Asana is not properly fixed. There is a prescription given by Patanjali to quicken fixity of posture. And that is ‘attention on the infinite’. Steadiness is nowhere to be found in the world.

There is only oscillation and fleeting of things everywhere. Fixity is unknown, as it is all motion in the world. There is only one thing that is fixed, viz., the infinite. All finites move and change. If the student can concentrate his mind on the infinite, he would imbibe certain qualities from it, the first being fixity.

Here concentration is to think nothing in particular but all things at once. Though no one can think of the infinite as it is, one can think everything in the sense of inclusion of everything that comes to the mind.

This is the psychological infinite. The imagined infinite created in the mind helps the student in fixing himself in an Asana and in stabilizing his emotions. Contemplation on the infinite is thus a means to perfection in Asana.

When this bodily control is achieved, there comes freedom from the onslaught of what are called the ‘pairs of opposites’, such as heat and cold, hunger and thirst, joy and grief, and so on. Anything that creates a tension in one’s system is a pair of opposites. These are overcome by a perfected practice of Asana. The pairs of opposites become active in our system when the Prana becomes restless. The restlessness of the Prana causes hunger and thirst. When the Prana is poised, there is a lessening of the feeling of the pairs of opposites. The Prana is calmed not only by the practice of Pranayama but also by Asana. When the body remains in a state of balance, the Prana too tends to be harmonious, even as the mind becomes tranquil when the sensations are harmonized. Distracted sensations disharmonize the thoughts. What the senses are to the mind, the body is to the Prana. As harmonized sensations create a harmonious set of thoughts, the harmonized body ushers harmony of the Prana. There is always a connection between the outer and the inner.

Also, we are asked to face the East or the North in meditation, because of certain magnetic currents produced from these directions, due to sunrise and to the effect of the pole of the North. The place selected, too, should be free from distracting noise, from gnats and mosquitoes, etc., and from the chirping of birds, and the like. A temperate climate is desirable (which means to say that one cannot engage oneself in the practice when it is too hot or too cold, because of chances of increase in body-consciousness thereby).

When the student is seated in Asana, with a harmonious flow of the Prana through the nerve-channels, he has already entered the gates of meditation.

Asana has a spiritual import. One knocks at the door of the palace of the immortal, here. While in Yama and Niyama one is in preparation, in Asana the gates of Reality are reached, though they are yet to be opened. The soul is there ready to meet the Sovereign of the universe. This is the first step in actual Yoga.

The Yoga prescribes at least three hours of daily practice in a steady posture, when one is supposed to have mastered Asana (Asana-Jaya). The body is the vehicle of the nerves, the nerves are the channels of the Prana, the Prana is an expression of the mind, and the mind it is which practices meditation, in the end. There is this long linkage, and so the moment a harmonious posture is assumed, the mind receives an intimation thereof. The body is at once calmed down in its metabolic process, and hunger and thirst are lessened. The forces of hunger and thirst are symptoms of an agitation of the Prana, and when the Prana is set in harmony, the agitation should come to a minimum. Hence, the student’s hunger and thirst are reduced to the least. The cells of the body find more time to construct themselves rather than deplete energy and make progress through mellowed emotion. Even emotions can be subdued by Asana, for here one inhales and exhales calmly, and so the cellulary activity of the body comes down, the nerve-channels are opened up for a rhythmic flow of the Prana, and a rhythm sets in everywhere. Yoga is rhythm. Asana is therefore the beginning of Yoga, wherein one starts relating oneself to the cosmic order.

Ok, so Buckwheat hulls are the best next thing to Kapok fillings. However, I found a supposedly the next best thing to buckwheat hulls cushions: these guys from The Monestary Store claims to have the most comfortable zafu/zabuton.
(IMG:http://www.dharma.net/monstore/category_content/mseat/images/posture.gif)

The Mountain Seat zafu combines a layer of viscoelastic foam with a sturdy, buckwheat hull base, covered in a durable cotton/poly shell. The foam layer conforms to your body contour, eliminating many complaints caused by more traditional kapok or cotton-filled meditation cushions. Because of its structural memory, the foam will provide years of maintenance-free support.

The Tibetan Mountain Seat is a popular rectangular meditation cushion that was designed specifically for Western practitioners by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

When sitting on the Mountain Seat's layer of viscoelastic foam, your weight is more evenly distributed, eliminating painful pressure points. As the foam flows and accommodates to the contours of your body, your spine, back, hip joints, knees, ankles, and even your skin are relieved of unnecessary stress. Unlike traditional cushion material, the foam is virtually indestructible, and has a structural memory that allows it to return to its original shape within minutes of each use.

A bit pricy though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I have bad knees, I guess. I can't sit for longer than a half hour before real pain sets in. Dammit, and I'm only 23 years old!

If you find Asanas hard to do you can always just lie on your back. Death pose!