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SRF Walrus

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SRF Walrus > SRF Teachings and Ideals > Back Tension in Meditation
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Asanananda Unregistered User (11/22/01 9:44 pm) Reply	Back Tension in Meditation MEDITATION POSTURE TEST -- HOW ARE YOU DOING? Sit in your meditation posture. Settle in and try to relax. Now -- put your right hand on your low back, the muscles right along the spine. Feel them -- how tight are they? They should be as soft as water balloon. If not, you are meditating with way too much tension along the spine. This is not healthy, not spiritual. WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THAT TENSION? You divert energy from the spine to the tight muscles. You will never go deep that way. The belly is usually held too tight also, since front and back always go together. You will feel that meditation is difficult. Progress will be slow or even regressive. As years go by you will feel increasing unwillingness to meditate. You will resist accepting this and will fight harder to "be willing" in spite of your body's many cries of protest. In time you may give up meditation and the Path entirely, just because you never properly learned one of the main prerequisites to meditation: ASANA or how to sit comfortably. It will sabotage your spiritual life.. RECOMMENDATION -- Stop practicing that bad habit, immediately. Meditate lying down, until you learn to sit comfortably erect without tension. Find a professional who can teach you to sit in meditation posture. Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method are two modalities that specialize in teaching functional sitting.
Broken up Unregistered User (11/23/01 10:49 am) Reply	back tension in meditation SRF has taught us how to sit up straight, but not how to relax, is that your point? You may be right, I find that I really don't easily relax while sitting SRF style. But, what can we do about this?> You can't sit slumped either, you don't breathe and it looks and feels horrble. Those muscle are tight on me. If I relax them I sort of collapse. So....??
Biologist Unregistered User (11/27/01 9:19 am) Reply	Back pain, a core issue Back pain is a core issue, for sure. For most body types, the "stomach in, chest out, shoulders together" advice is a quiet recipe for chronic back pain sooner or later. But even if the head is held correctly without being pulled backward by neck muscles (impossible in military posture), there will be considerable tension in most people. This is because the body is not naturally symmetrical in its distribution of steady-support versus quick-movement muscle cells! Not only are most people either right or left handed, they are right or left footed or "legged" as well, probably to facilitate throwing of objects in a hunt. Consequently, one side of the body is usually "torqued." In particular, the hip muscles running from the front of the hip down (very deep in the body) to the inside posterior of the thigh bone is usually tighter on one side of the body than on the other. This causes one hip to usually rotate forward, but you don't feel this; instead, you feel the compensation that the shoulders make and the neck pain that sometimes follows. The tense hip muscle also rotates the thigh bone laterally, causing the toes of one foot to point laterally when walking. (See this for yourself on any street corner). The problem is made worse by age, lack of exercise, and operation of a motor vehicle. These hip muscles are very powerful and are not relaxed by conscious visualization. They themselves are out of sight and out of mind. They can often be relaxed, however, by Maha Mudra, if practiced correctly. This appears to have originally been one of the primary purposes of Maha Mudra, for many people cannot slip into a full lotus (the traditional posture) while one hip is rotated forward, let alone meditate without the body being subtley torqued like a screw. However, Maha Mudra has to be practiced corrected, and the instructions in the present SRF lessons are, I believe, misleading. Traditionally, the heel of the foot is supposed to be held under the anus, not under the opposite hip when the other leg is stretched out. Do Maha Mudra both ways and feel the difference. You can stretch much further with the heel held under the anus. Most importantly, the thigh will then push up against the hip bone and force it into proper alignment. When this is done repeatedly on both sides, many can sit to meditate in a chair without being subtly torqued, spending endless hours readjusting themselves and wondering what's wrong. I don't think this result can be obtained from the SRF way of doing the technique, at least not with my body. Maybe others can test this. Also, if you stretch with the heel under the opposite hip, you are stretching not only along the direction of the muscle fibers of your back and leg, but transversely as well; much more so than with the heel under the anus. Combined transverse and longitudinal muscle stretches are considered injurious by some exercise physiologists. This could particularly be a problem for the elderly. The best position is, of course, the full lotus, which locks the hips in place for the duration of the meditation. But many people cannot do this position without injury. Of course, individual people also have specific back problems as well; these need individual attention from a competent instructor. There are other maneuvers that relax the hip flexors and which can be conveniently practiced in a chair. One particularly effective maneuver is found in a book now out print but probably obtainable through inter-library loan, if anyone is interested. As to why the technique is seemingly misdescribed in the SRF lessons, perhaps the word "anus" was just to explosive for the puritanical western audiences earlier in this century or perhaps some editor or transcriber just thought it was. Although the SRF restrooms are scrubbed to gem quality, the techniques themselves seem to lie in delapidation. I suspect this is due to the distractions of monastic "discipline." Do we really want to yoke the horse of Kriya to the monastic wagon? I talked to some of the Ananda devotees at the convocation and was surprised to learn that they were aware of the proper way of doing Maha Mudra. This is a sobering point.
Raja Begum Unregistered User (11/27/01 12:14 pm) Reply	Right on *Quote:* " Although the SRF restrooms are scrubbed to gem quality, the techniques themselves seem to lie in delapidation. I suspect this is due to the distractions of monastic "discipline." Do we really want to yoke the horse of Kriya to the monastic wagon?" Exactamundo! The SRF version of the technique was killing my ankle. You bring up another reaason why the lessons require an overhaul: it is not always in congruence with real science and physiology. Presenting SRF in a monastic paradigm when 99.99% of its members are and will always be householders is an abusive error. I suggest we overhaul the teachings ourselves if they won't.
4py Unregistered User (12/3/01 3:18 pm) Reply	Question Do people in Ananda get the same lessons from SRF? If so, how do they know the "correct" way to do maha mudra? Also, when I was in the ashram (SRF), I was taught a different way to do Hong-Sau. It is not written in the lessons, at least not the ones I received years ago. The Brother who showed me said he was taught by Mrinalini Mata who was shown by Master.
parvati Unregistered User (12/3/01 10:24 pm) Reply	the techniques Dear Friends, We at Ananda used to get the SRF lessons, but for obvious reasons most of us don't any more. I do still have my original set from the early 1970's. But please don't forget, we live with someone who knew Master and has passed on the subtleties of the techniques.
Narcissist Unregistered User (12/4/01 12:31 am) Reply	Rewrite the Lessons RB says : "I suggest we overhaul the teachings ourselves if they won't." Yes, let us do it, especcially that crazy lesson 3A; the most dangerus in the whole set as it has been mentioned here before. Let us begin piece by piece. Let us rewrite the Lessons and create "the Walrus Teachings" for the new era. The true Yoganada's teachings; interpretation by SRFwalrus.
Shivanath Unregistered User (12/21/01 3:55 pm) Reply	re: Back tension I practice meditation cross legged, on the floor, and find this allows my body to adjust to the most comfortable upright position. Also, another effect I have noticed is that as the flow of prana and pratyhara are induced following Kriya, the posture (asana) becomes increasingly effortless.
soulcircle Registered User (5/27/02 2:44 am) Reply	free of backs problems Walri, from the rumor mill it is being said that somewhere of this planet hurling through space, one of the folks practicing the lessons for 20 or 20 plus years...... ..yes that of all those practicing the lessons for 20 years, there is one person who has a back, free of pain soul circle
djali123 Registered User (6/8/02 1:48 pm) Reply	Re: free of backs problems Can anyone confirm that noticeable meditation results( life force, pratyahara etc. ) can be had sitting on a chair?

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