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Hank DeGroat

YOU WERE BORN TO THRIVE - PAIN AND PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS SOLVED

POD – 2 Posture

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

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Postures for Mindfulness Meditation

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So the first two big questions when it comes to mindfulness training

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a lot of times is Hank what position am I supposed to be in

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and are my eyes supposed to be open or closed?

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Let’s tackle both of those right now.

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Alright, the bottom line is for both of these questions when it comes to

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posture or eyes open or eyes closed, it really matters

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well it’s really determined by what your goals are and what tradition

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you’re following. Because each tradition of mindfulness and mind training

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all have different goals or expectations of what that

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practice is supposed to you know bring about.

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There is why there is a lot of confusions along these lines because

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this guy does it that way, that guy does it this way and she does this way and

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I heard this teacher over here told me do it that way

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what’s your goal? Alright. So when it comes to posture

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the first thing that I say is get into a comfortable

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position. There’s not a right or wrong way, get in a comfortable

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position. That can be a seated position where you get to the

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the edge of your chair and your posters up, your shoulders are back

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your hands are nice and relaxed on your

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on your legs and your

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face is relaxed, and your chin, your head is in a nice comfortable position

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maybe your eyes are closed, maybe they’re open.

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Your feet are comfortable on the ground. And so in a nice upright

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posture like this we are sitting on our seat bones,

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we are aware, we’re comfortable but we’re not going to fall asleep.

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And that maybe a needed a thing for

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certain individuals for certain practices, for others it may not be.

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We can also go to a kneeling position. The kneeling practice is when you have a nice

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little space that you can call your own or maybe alongside your bed you can

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pull out your pad from underneath the bed and the

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the blocks of the seat that you may have there and take a moment

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to kneel and be there in that special place.

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Now we have lying down positions.

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okay with the lying down, you can go in wonderful Savasana

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and let the whole body lay out, maybe put up a

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blanket underneath your knees or support underneath your knees to take little strain

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off the back, you go to a bent knee lying down

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My favorite is the static back and

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we can go into a whole lot more of the benefits of that

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static back positions for flexibility to allow you to get a nice

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chance to relax and release your hips while you’re going through.

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So there is no right or wrong because you can

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even do your mindfulness practice in motion, in doing a

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walking meditation. Now it can be a little bit trickier

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if you’re looking to do guided meditations when

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having your headphones on if you’re walking, but depending on where you’re

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at and how you want to go about doing it, you know it’s definitely something

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that you can do, I call it moving meditation and there’s

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a lot of benefits that can happen because of that

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rhythmic movement of the arms and legs and what that does to the brain

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and how that allows your brain to get into sync and become mindful.

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So again there’s not a right or a wrong, the important thing

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is that you practice.

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Now, when it comes to eyes open and eyes closed, again it’s

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really going to determine what are your goals and

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what is it that you’re trying to develop?

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Because there are strengths and weaknesses, for having the eyes opened and having the eyes closed

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and there’s going to be different practices over the next

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30 days here where some are open, some are closed.

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It’s not a right or wrong issue, it’s a what is the end in means

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that I’m looking to create, okay?

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So maybe you need to relax

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the eyes and the mind and the body and it’s time to relax

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so covering the eyes with an eye pillow or simply closing them may be the way to go.

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Other times maybe you’re trying to develop that ability

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to be focused and to disregard distractions so that you

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can be present no matter what’s going on

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and practicing with the eyes open, is a great way to do that.

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So again, when it comes

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to your practice whether you’re practicing any of these exercises

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seated, lying down, standing, eyes open,

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eyes closed, the important factor is

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that you practice.

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What we are going to do for today’s practice, is bring back that

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diaphragmatic breath like we did yesterday and again I just want you to get your

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a favorite song, you know an empowering lift up

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song to make you feel good and not something to high and you know certain

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high energetic that it distracts you and takes you away, something that

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brings you into a good mood and into a good place

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and pick a posture, any posture. Walk if you’d like to

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eyes open, eyes closed it doesn’t matter. We want to do that

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diaphragmatic breath again. Now you choose to do a lying down posture

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highly encourage you to bring up that deck of cards again.

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If you choose to do a seated posture or kneeling posture, for the first part of the song

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I encourage you to put your hand on your diaphragm to

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kind of give yourself a little kinesthetic cue to get that breath

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opening and closing. Alright. Make it enjoyable.

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And then remember,

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it’s not a right or wrong answer here folks.

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Filed Under: Blog, POD - Daily Practice, Solutions, Stress Less Tagged With: POD Series, Solutions, Stress Less

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