Suffering during meditation (use of cushons etc.)

[Ampresus]

You can skip the entirity of my backstory and head straight to the bold questions down below if you aren't interested in where I am coming from.

This topic is something I think all of us are familiar with. That moment during meditation where your legs start screaming, your back starts yelling and stress levels are rising.

At least for me that has happened quite often back when I meditated 40 minutes a day. At some point I couldn't handle the stress any longer and quit for a long time. Now I am back on it.

Specifically: I am meditating for 10 minutes every morning sitting straight on my bed. The thing is that my legs start screaming around 7 minutes. When I tried to meditate again for the first time I recalled how much I hated this. The pain makes ''looking at your thoughts'' so much harder.

Now I do have a solution for this: sitting on a cushon. To be more exact sitting with your ass on the cushon. My legs still touch the ground. This is perfect for me, but I recall Leo saying something like:

''You know sitting on you cozy cushon for 10 minutes a day won't do much right? Why do you think all those Zen guru's are sitting on rocks? Because of the suffering!''

Not exactly what he said, but something close to it. Now my questions are:
Is using a cushon to meditate a yes or no?
Will 10 minutes every morning make much difference?

Hey Leo! I remember that you used a lot of cushions to meditate on during one of those solo meditation retreats! Does it only count when you meditate all day?


 

[How to be wise]

J@Ampresus It’s good to start with 10 mins. In the end what will work is two things: consistency (doing it daily) and sustainability (keeping the practice for at least one year without seeing results). If you take care of those two, chances are you will find your way to extraordinary meditation sessions and huge progress. 

[Forestluv]

@Ampresus I know a lot of meditators have a “no pain, no gain” mindset - yet I’m at the point in which I don’t resonate with forcing my body into static positions for extended periods that aggravates chronic knee and back pain. That may be great for some, yet I’m not willing to risk a herniated disc.

I would highly recommend trying Yin Yoga. Each position is held for 4-8 min. Some positions are uncomfortable and involve letting go and surrender - yet they are not painful. Each position is held long enough to relax deeper and deeper - mentally and physically. The positions rotate through the entire body and offer deep therapeutic relaxation and stretching of muscles, ligaments, tendons and fascia. I’ve reached very deep meditative states of consciousness. And get this. . . it’s actually super healthy for the mind and body. . . And with yin yoga, I’m now able to do 30min. traditional sitting postures pain free.

[lmfao]

@Ampresus I used to meditate sitting on my bed with no cushion as well. When u sit in ur bed like that, your weight causes the mattress to dip such that there's extra strain on your back to keep your posture. I felt like there was a torque trying to get me to fall over and lie down on my back when meditating. I just sit on a pillow on top of my bed, it's much easier. 

As for how long you want to meditate... Its entirely up to your goals. If you are serious about changing something or making progress youll have to just do a high volume of mindfullness. If I sit on a cushion it takes longer for my legs to hurt as well. 

For making progress, here's a quote from shinzen 

"My standard answer for both of these questions is to suggest that people utilize what I call the Three Accelerators: Trigger Practice, Duration Training, and Challenge Sequences. The Three Accelerators have the effect of “pushing the envelope” of one’s practice."

https://www.shinzen.org/duration-training/

 

[Garuda]

sit on a chair?

[passerby]

just do seiza position with a meditation bench, folded towel under knees, and rolled up towel under your ankles. you could stay like that for hours. if the zen masters sat on rocks for the suffering, why not sit on a cactus instead?

[fryingLotus]

Nothing wrong with a meditation cushion to lift the pelvis so your back stays straight. 

My ideal home setup is a round cushion under my ass, positioned to keep back straight and then I use a large V shaped cushion which goes under each of my knees to keep them supported. 

Either way you will experience pain. I did a vipassana retreat sat like this and jesus christ the devil was in my back and legs having a whale of a time. 

[hamedsf]

Meditating on the rock? hahaha what a ridiculous idea! 

you're meditating to focus on your inside and you impose yourself to the rock and you'll wind up focusing on the external thing instead of meditation!!

meditation is a practice which should be comfortable and convenient to forget about the external things and turn inwards, therefore any position that suits you is the best!

although we could say that meditation in and of itself could be painful for majority of people because they don't want to be in their inside, in the darkness. that's the real pain not the pain from the cushion or a rock!