Meditation Posture: Hands
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Your arms weigh a lot. If your hands are not supported, then your shoulders have to carry all of that weight. That means either that your shoulders and back will tense to bear the weight of your arms, or your shoulder muscles will be overstretched. Either way it’s going to be uncomfortable.
Make sure your hands are supported.
If you’re in a low cross-legged position, then you may be able to rest your hands comfortably in your lap. However, you may want to have your hands supported higher.
This will allow your shoulders to roll back further and be more relaxed. If you’re sitting in a chair, you can usually rest your hands on your thighs, but some people with long backs may need something to support the hands. If you’re kneeling, using cushions or a stool, then you may need to have some substantial support for your hands. In this case another meditation cushion, or perhaps a sweater or blanket tied round the waist, can be used.
If you feel knots of tension gathering between your shoulder-blades while sitting, this usually means that you need to have your hands supported higher. The knots are forming because your back is making an effort to stop the weight of your arms from pulling your trunk forwards.
Depending on factors like the relative length of your back and arms and your muscular flexibility, you may have to have your hands supported as high as just above the navel. To achieve this it’s usually necessary to have a blanket tied around the waist.
If you live in a climate where it gets hot then a blanket around the legs may not be practical (it certainly isn’t in a New England summer, although I’ve used many a blanket on Scottish “summer” retreats) then a scarf tied around the waist may be a more acceptable alternative. Make the knot behind you, keeping the scarf snug, but not so tight that it constricts your breathing. And then slip your hands between the scarf and your belly, preferably with your hands in dhyana mudra. If your hands feel a bit crushed then loosen the scarf a little.
Comments
Comment from terence
Time: March 28, 2008, 6:58 am
in this picture (’meditation posture: hands’), the left hand seems to be resting on the right hand–the opposite of what the text says. am i seeing backwards?
Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: March 28, 2008, 2:31 pm
HI Terence,
Well spotted! While it’s traditional to have the right hand on top of the left, not everyone does this all the time. In fact when I’m very tired I sometimes sit with the left hand on top because the difference is enough to be gently stimulating.
Also, the photograph may have gotten reversed at some point!
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
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