Ouch! My knees hurt - Pain during longer periods of meditation

[Rob06]

Hi all!

This week, having more spare time than usual I planned a little stay-at-home meditation retreat. It was my plan to meditate for a total of about 16 hours, devided over monday till friday. So that's a little over 3 hours per day. I devide them in sits of 2 times 20 minutes each.

The problem I encountered yesterday on the first day was that my knees started hurting quite badly. I sit on a high meditation cushion (I'm 188 cm) on a blanket on the ground. Because of the pain I decided to quit after meditating for 2 hours devided over the day. 

I heard that pain and discomfort often disappear after a while when you meditate for long periods of time during a week long period. But of course I don't want to damage my body.

What to do? Is this normal? Does the pain go away after a while? Should I sit through it? Or should I stop when it hurts to bad? Any tips from experienced meditators are welcome!

 

[AlwaysBeNice]

Chairs work just as well imo

[molosku]

So are you kneeling and sitting (and that is putting pressure on your knees) or do they ache from a lotus-like posture?

In any case, the point is to meditate, not to sit in a particular posture. However, you should always be in a posture that feels natural, allows for a natural spine position (not overly slouched or arched), and where you feel alert and present. Do some experimenting! Reinforce your position with pillows and stuff like that, and then gradually start to use less of them (if you wish) as you get more accustomed to meditating.

3 minutes ago, AlwaysBeNice said:

Chairs work just as well imo

Also that ^

[Rob06]

@AlwaysBeNice  Haha, I guess you're right!

@molosku  Thanks, I'm going to experiment. I'm used to sitting in a regular cross legged position. When I just meditate for 20 tot 40 minutes a day this isn't a big problem. It starts getting painfull when I meditate longer than that.

[ADD]

Just sit on a chair. It doesn't make a difference, except for our spiritual ego. ;D