The two biggest questions I get are, “Should my eyes be opened or close? What position should I be in?” My answer is simple, “What’s your goal?” After that I encourage you to find a posture that works for you. In video below I go over the basics of posture from a lying down therapeutic posture to, to classic kneeling, and sitting, all the way to the benefits of a moving meditation practice.
Enjoy,
Hank
CC Transcript Below
CC Transcript Below
1
00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,000
Postures for Mindfulness Meditation
2
00:00:05,000 –> 00:00:09,000
So the first two big questions when it comes to mindfulness training
3
00:00:09,000 –> 00:00:13,000
a lot of times is Hank what position am I supposed to be in
4
00:00:13,000 –> 00:00:17,000
and are my eyes supposed to be open or closed?
5
00:00:17,000 –> 00:00:21,000
Let’s tackle both of those right now.
6
00:00:21,000 –> 00:00:25,000
7
00:00:25,000 –> 00:00:29,000
Alright, the bottom line is for both of these questions when it comes to
8
00:00:29,000 –> 00:00:33,000
posture or eyes open or eyes closed, it really matters
9
00:00:33,000 –> 00:00:37,000
well it’s really determined by what your goals are and what tradition
10
00:00:37,000 –> 00:00:41,000
you’re following. Because each tradition of mindfulness and mind training
11
00:00:41,000 –> 00:00:45,000
all have different goals or expectations of what that
12
00:00:45,000 –> 00:00:49,000
practice is supposed to you know bring about.
13
00:00:49,000 –> 00:00:53,000
There is why there is a lot of confusions along these lines because
14
00:00:53,000 –> 00:00:57,000
this guy does it that way, that guy does it this way and she does this way and
15
00:00:57,000 –> 00:01:01,000
I heard this teacher over here told me do it that way
16
00:01:01,000 –> 00:01:05,000
what’s your goal? Alright. So when it comes to posture
17
00:01:05,000 –> 00:01:09,000
the first thing that I say is get into a comfortable
18
00:01:09,000 –> 00:01:13,000
position. There’s not a right or wrong way, get in a comfortable
19
00:01:13,000 –> 00:01:17,000
position. That can be a seated position where you get to the
20
00:01:17,000 –> 00:01:21,000
the edge of your chair and your posters up, your shoulders are back
21
00:01:21,000 –> 00:01:25,000
your hands are nice and relaxed on your
22
00:01:25,000 –> 00:01:29,000
on your legs and your
23
00:01:29,000 –> 00:01:33,000
face is relaxed, and your chin, your head is in a nice comfortable position
24
00:01:33,000 –> 00:01:36,000
maybe your eyes are closed, maybe they’re open.
25
00:01:36,000 –> 00:01:40,000
Your feet are comfortable on the ground. And so in a nice upright
26
00:01:40,000 –> 00:01:44,000
posture like this we are sitting on our seat bones,
27
00:01:44,000 –> 00:01:48,000
we are aware, we’re comfortable but we’re not going to fall asleep.
28
00:01:48,000 –> 00:01:52,000
And that maybe a needed a thing for
29
00:01:52,000 –> 00:01:56,000
certain individuals for certain practices, for others it may not be.
30
00:01:56,000 –> 00:02:00,000
We can also go to a kneeling position. The kneeling practice is when you have a nice
31
00:02:00,000 –> 00:02:04,000
little space that you can call your own or maybe alongside your bed you can
32
00:02:04,000 –> 00:02:08,000
pull out your pad from underneath the bed and the
33
00:02:08,000 –> 00:02:12,000
the blocks of the seat that you may have there and take a moment
34
00:02:12,000 –> 00:02:16,000
to kneel and be there in that special place.
35
00:02:16,000 –> 00:02:20,000
36
00:02:20,000 –> 00:02:21,050
37
00:02:21,050 –> 00:02:24,050
Now we have lying down positions.
38
00:02:24,050 –> 00:02:28,050
okay with the lying down, you can go in wonderful Savasana
39
00:02:28,050 –> 00:02:32,050
and let the whole body lay out, maybe put up a
40
00:02:32,050 –> 00:02:36,050
blanket underneath your knees or support underneath your knees to take little strain
41
00:02:36,050 –> 00:02:40,050
off the back, you go to a bent knee lying down
42
00:02:40,050 –> 00:02:44,050
My favorite is the static back and
43
00:02:44,050 –> 00:02:48,050
we can go into a whole lot more of the benefits of that
44
00:02:48,050 –> 00:02:52,050
static back positions for flexibility to allow you to get a nice
45
00:02:52,050 –> 00:02:56,050
chance to relax and release your hips while you’re going through.
46
00:02:56,050 –> 00:03:00,050
47
00:03:00,050 –> 00:03:06,000
48
00:03:06,000 –> 00:03:10,000
So there is no right or wrong because you can
49
00:03:10,000 –> 00:03:14,000
even do your mindfulness practice in motion, in doing a
50
00:03:14,000 –> 00:03:18,000
walking meditation. Now it can be a little bit trickier
51
00:03:18,000 –> 00:03:22,000
if you’re looking to do guided meditations when
52
00:03:22,000 –> 00:03:26,000
having your headphones on if you’re walking, but depending on where you’re
53
00:03:26,000 –> 00:03:30,000
at and how you want to go about doing it, you know it’s definitely something
54
00:03:30,000 –> 00:03:34,000
that you can do, I call it moving meditation and there’s
55
00:03:34,000 –> 00:03:38,000
a lot of benefits that can happen because of that
56
00:03:38,000 –> 00:03:42,000
rhythmic movement of the arms and legs and what that does to the brain
57
00:03:42,000 –> 00:03:45,050
and how that allows your brain to get into sync and become mindful.
58
00:03:45,050 –> 00:03:49,050
So again there’s not a right or a wrong, the important thing
59
00:03:49,050 –> 00:03:53,050
is that you practice.
60
00:03:53,050 –> 00:03:56,050
61
00:03:56,050 –> 00:04:00,050
Now, when it comes to eyes open and eyes closed, again it’s
62
00:04:00,050 –> 00:04:04,050
really going to determine what are your goals and
63
00:04:04,050 –> 00:04:06,050
what is it that you’re trying to develop?
64
00:04:06,050 –> 00:04:10,050
Because there are strengths and weaknesses, for having the eyes opened and having the eyes closed
65
00:04:10,050 –> 00:04:14,050
and there’s going to be different practices over the next
66
00:04:14,050 –> 00:04:18,050
30 days here where some are open, some are closed.
67
00:04:18,050 –> 00:04:22,050
It’s not a right or wrong issue, it’s a what is the end in means
68
00:04:22,050 –> 00:04:25,050
that I’m looking to create, okay?
69
00:04:25,050 –> 00:04:29,050
So maybe you need to relax
70
00:04:29,050 –> 00:04:33,050
the eyes and the mind and the body and it’s time to relax
71
00:04:33,050 –> 00:04:37,080
so covering the eyes with an eye pillow or simply closing them may be the way to go.
72
00:04:37,080 –> 00:04:41,080
Other times maybe you’re trying to develop that ability
73
00:04:41,080 –> 00:04:45,080
to be focused and to disregard distractions so that you
74
00:04:45,080 –> 00:04:49,080
can be present no matter what’s going on
75
00:04:49,080 –> 00:04:53,080
and practicing with the eyes open, is a great way to do that.
76
00:04:55,840 –> 00:04:57,320
So again, when it comes
77
00:04:57,480 –> 00:05:01,080
to your practice whether you’re practicing any of these exercises
78
00:05:01,080 –> 00:05:05,080
seated, lying down, standing, eyes open,
79
00:05:05,080 –> 00:05:09,080
eyes closed, the important factor is
80
00:05:09,080 –> 00:05:10,660
that you practice.
81
00:05:11,040 –> 00:05:12,080
82
00:05:12,080 –> 00:05:16,080
What we are going to do for today’s practice, is bring back that
83
00:05:16,080 –> 00:05:20,080
diaphragmatic breath like we did yesterday and again I just want you to get your
84
00:05:20,080 –> 00:05:24,080
a favorite song, you know an empowering lift up
85
00:05:24,080 –> 00:05:28,080
song to make you feel good and not something to high and you know certain
86
00:05:28,080 –> 00:05:32,080
high energetic that it distracts you and takes you away, something that
87
00:05:32,080 –> 00:05:36,080
brings you into a good mood and into a good place
88
00:05:36,080 –> 00:05:40,080
and pick a posture, any posture. Walk if you’d like to
89
00:05:40,080 –> 00:05:44,080
eyes open, eyes closed it doesn’t matter. We want to do that
90
00:05:44,080 –> 00:05:48,080
diaphragmatic breath again. Now you choose to do a lying down posture
91
00:05:48,080 –> 00:05:52,080
highly encourage you to bring up that deck of cards again.
92
00:05:52,080 –> 00:05:56,080
If you choose to do a seated posture or kneeling posture, for the first part of the song
93
00:05:56,080 –> 00:06:00,080
I encourage you to put your hand on your diaphragm to
94
00:06:00,080 –> 00:06:04,080
kind of give yourself a little kinesthetic cue to get that breath
95
00:06:04,080 –> 00:06:09,010
opening and closing. Alright. Make it enjoyable.
96
00:06:09,010 –> 00:06:12,010
And then remember,
97
00:06:12,010 –> 00:06:16,010
it’s not a right or wrong answer here folks.
98
00:06:16,010 –> 00:06:20,010
99
00:06:20,010 –> 00:06:24,010