Does meditating for very long sessions affect physical health?

[An young being]

I do meditation for around 20 to 30 minutes in a sitting.I understand meditation benefits extend as much as I spend time on it mentally and spiritually but, going beyond that does sitting for long sessions cause any harm to body physically?

[KingCrimson]

You can sit for multiple hours without damaging your body. If your legs go numb, this is due to the nerves rather than the circulation being cut off as some people think, so don't worry about that. As long as you can stand up and feel normal again within a few minutes after ending your session there is nothing to worry about. I got this information from Shinzen Young and I guess he should know what he's talking about having done this for centuries. Maybe somebody else can give a little more detailed input.

Edited June 10, 2020 by KingCrimson

[An young being]

Thank you for your views. Once I was doing meditation cross legged for around an hour and after that I had walked a bit. After a day, I felt sharp pain in both of my knee muscles and it was there for a whole month. After that I stopped meditating for long sessions. But I feel this depends on our physical strength also since I was very weak at that time.

[KingCrimson]

If you have a hard time meditating cross-legged, there is nothing wrong with using a chair to meditate. The most important thing is that you have a straight spine and that there is no pain distracting you from your meditation. Having difficulty sitting in a cross-legged position can actually be counter-productive for the meditation. If you want to develop the ability to sit cross-legged, Yoga asanas are a great way to do that. If you experience pain that does not go away for a long time, I would consider consulting a medical professional, and always try to listen to what your body is telling you.

One more thing that comes to mind: I myself am not able to do the very advanced postures (full lotus position) yet, so I don't have personal experience with this, but I remember Leo mentioning in one of his videos that these very advanced postures can actually be damaging to your knees if you sit in them for too long, so be cautious with these once you get there.

[Nak Khid]

45 minutes ago, An young being said:

Thank you for your views. Once I was doing meditation cross legged for around an hour and after that I had walked a bit. After a day, I felt sharp pain in both of my knee muscles and it was there for a whole month. After that I stopped meditating for long sessions. But I feel this depends on our physical strength also since I was very weak at that time.

Just build up flexibility gradually.  If you have to stand extend you legs or stand for a minute it's ok, you can sit back down and return to meditating.   As Mr. Fripp noted you can once in a while do sitting meditation in a chair ( but you must not touch the back of the chair., not even once)  
because you are not having to deal with you legs you can't sit longer without interruption, try meditating in a chair or stool  with a timer for 46 minutes.  

Look at this thread where the Burmese and Seiza positions are discussed.    If you are outside you can see the advantage of not having to rely on a chair. However in the meantime using a chair or stool will allow you to do longer meditations (but keep working on the legs in different sessions)  

 

[An young being]

32 minutes ago, KingCrimson said:

If you have a hard time meditating cross-legged, there is nothing wrong with using a chair to meditate. The most important thing is that you have a straight spine and that there is no pain distracting you from your meditation. Having difficulty sitting in a cross-legged position can actually be counter-productive for the meditation. If you want to develop the ability to sit cross-legged, Yoga asanas are a great way to do that. If you experience pain that does not go away for a long time, I would consider consulting a medical professional, and always try to listen to what your body is telling you.

One more thing that comes to mind: I myself am not able to do the very advanced postures (full lotus position) yet, so I don't have personal experience with this, but I remember Leo mentioning in one of his videos that these very advanced postures can actually be damaging to your knees if you sit in them for too long, so be cautious with these once you get there.

Thank you. I don't have difficulty with lotus position ( because I am from India and sit often in the floor in a position similar to that), but sitting too long in that pose definitely hurts. Definitely, I will try normal sitting posture for long durations.

[hamedsf]

it's beyond the shadow of the doubt that if you maintain yourself in that long session, your body starts to gain some primal energy to fix things inside! 

[An young being]

15 minutes ago, Nak Khid said:

Just build up flexibility gradually.  If you have to stand extend you legs or stand for a minute it's ok, you can sit back down and return to meditating.   As Mr. Fripp noted you can once in a while do sitting meditation in a chair ( but you must not touch the back of the chair., not even once)  
because you are not having to deal with you legs you can't sit longer without interruption, try meditating in a chair or stool  with a timer for 46 minutes.  

Look at this thread where the Burmese and Seiza positions are discussed.    If you are outside you can see the advantage of not having to rely on a chair. However in the meantime using a chair or stool will allow you to do longer meditations (but keep working on the legs in different sessions)  

 

Right, I think using a stool type chair is a better choice in between the cross legged and chair poses. Whenever I lie on my back, I drift into a very comfortable nap! And yes, I definitely have to improve my strength and flexibility.

[Nak Khid]

25 minutes ago, An young being said:

Right, I think using a stool type chair is a better choice in between the cross legged and chair poses. Whenever I lie on my back, I drift into a very comfortable nap! And yes, I definitely have to improve my strength and flexibility.

this bench has to designed properly.  It has an angle on it.   The same concept here with a spacial pillow 

Here is the pillow used to make cross legged easier 

Here we have the pillow used for this seiza position 

Big advantage, no device needed.     I recommend doing this over the other methods, it's much easier than the half or full lotus. So one could do this 4 days in a row and then on the fifth day sit on a chair or conventional stool so you can mediate longer without thinking about your legs.  
Asian people in cultures who use chairs less are already accustomed 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Nak Khid

[An young being]

Great, thank you for helping me out. Will try with the pillow and see the results.

[An young being]

1 hour ago, hamedsf said:

it's beyond the shadow of the doubt that if you maintain yourself in that long session, your body starts to gain some primal energy to fix things inside! 

Yeah, right, I am studying the mind illuminated book techniques for improving my meditation practices. I am in Stage 2 now, let's see how it goes.

[nistake]

Burmese position with support pillows. That's how I do it. It's pretty comfy once your legs get used to it, but I couldn't do more than 1 hour at the moment.

Om Swami said that he was convinced that he wouldn't be able to walk properly anymore after his long retreat. And yet, he continued meditating. Now that's determination

[An young being]

5 minutes ago, nistake said:

Burmese position with support pillows. That's how I do it. It's pretty comfy once your legs get used to it, but I couldn't do more than 1 hour at the moment.

Om Swami said that he was convinced that he wouldn't be able to walk properly anymore after his long retreat. And yet, he continued meditating. Now that's determination

Yeah, I believe doing meditation in smaller chucks of 20 minutes with little breaks comes closer to a full one hour sitting. I don't have such a strong determination like Om Swami, but I have enough to atleast sit for 20 minutes everyday. ?

[Nak Khid]

2 hours ago, An young being said:

Yeah, I believe doing meditation in smaller chucks of 20 minutes with little breaks comes closer to a full one hour sitting. I don't have such a strong determination like Om Swami, but I have enough to atleast sit for 20 minutes everyday. ?

Once you are at 20, you might want to use a timer and go to 25, that for 3 days and then add another 5.
You could stick with 30-45 or keep going. 
Once you can easily do 45 and have done it for a month then you could keep it or go back to 20.   Some people who do Transcendental meditation for 20 minutes for years. 

If you set a timer to a time, have a timer where the alarm alarms but it shuts off after a short period and you don't have to manually shut it off.    That way you can sit longer if you feel like it without having to shut it off.  

 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Nak Khid

[An young being]

2 hours ago, Nak Khid said:

Once you are at 20, you might want to use a timer and go to 25, that for 3 days and then add another 5.
You could stick with 30-45 or keep going. 
Once you can easily do 45 and have done it for a month then you could keep it or go back to 20.   Some people who do Transcendental mediation do 20 minutes for years. 

If you set a timer to a time, have a timer where the alarm alarms but it shuts off after a short period and you don't have to manually shut it off.    That way you can sit longer if you feel like it without having to shut it off.  

 

Sure, will try that.