Back Pain During Meditation

[Erixoon50]

How do you deal with that? I usually meditate in cross-legged position sitting with my back touching the wall. After 10-15 min I start to feel pain somewhere in the middle of back, and than it becomes difficult to focus on the practice. I would be grateful if you have any tips

[purerogue]

meditate lying down? 

 

[Forestluv]

@Erixoon50 I have a similar issue with static meditation postures causing stress to joints. I no longer have the "no pain, no gain" mindset or that the physical pain is part of the meditation exercise (e.g. surrender to the physical pain). There may be some truth to that in small doses, yet I'm just not into physical pain over extended periods that starts to harm the body. I'm more into taking care of my body.

One thing I found helpful was to get a variety of sitting objects. I have a low zafu, higher blocks and a chair. For my practice, it is important that I am not constantly fidgeting for the perfect comfortable posture to relieve minor aches and pains. Yet, I will shift my body when the pain starts to become sharp or strong tingly sensations.

Another thing I found helpful is yin yoga. Traditional meditation has one static posture for around 20-60 minutes. Yin yoga shifts positions every 5 min or so. This allows for a more balanced distribution of stress to the body. And the positions are held long enough that one still needs to surrender the monkey mind and go into deep meditative states. Most importantly to me, is that yin yoga is actually good for the body. Rather than causing harmful stress to the body via extended sitting, I am doing something good for my body. Yin yoga is a deeper level then muscle stretching. It gets into the ligaments, tendons and fascia. It would probably help your back condition. As well, it allows deeper and deeper surrender and relaxation - both physically and mentally. It also allows for subconscious issues to arise as well as insights and realizations. 

These days, I rarely do formal static sitting meditation over extended time. About 90% of my meditation practice is yin yoga and 10% kriya yoga -  my mind and body feels sooo much better. Yet just like traditional meditation, yin and kriya yoga involve intention and effort. If I do yin yoga with a TV show on it the background and I'm immersed in thought stories - it defeats half the purpose. Then it is simply stretching without the meditative benefit. 

[Amilaer---]

• Try Kriya Yoga which involves some movement and of course as was mentioned - yin yoga. As 30 minutes of normal meditation brings me slight pain in the area you described, Kriya is painless. 
• Work out your back muscles in the gym.
• I believe more than 50% of back pain is mental, on the last day of  my-5-days-serious-meditation-challenge, simple thinking about sitting caused sth like tingling on my back. 

Hope it helps a bit. 

[Space]

@Erixoon50 Use a comfortable chair.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Space

[IndigoGeminiWolf]

It may be Kundalini rising. Not sure, but that's usually in the spine.

It can cause pain as it rises. I get it at times.