Posture and fasting

[SaintMatthew]

My most important question on meditation is if I am meditating for enlightenment and insight, how important is posture.

would it be a barrier to finding enlightenment if I'm praying a mantra or rosary, focusing on my breath, and keeping the mind still while laying in bed, compared to if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

Obviously the latter would be better as it is more disciplined, but would you say it makes a big difference or is crucial for experiencing the benefits of meditation.

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages from distant voices and souls in heaven?

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My most important question on meditation
.... if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in
order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages
from distant voices and souls in heaven?

Ok, you could be standing on your head in traffic and have a transcendental experience beyond anything before.
It's mostly about not falling asleep.

Fasting? Not necessary...however...for focusing the mind and your intention?
Whoa....I highly recommend it, yes, indeed.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My most important question on meditation is if I am meditating for enlightenment and insight, how important is posture.

would it be a barrier to finding enlightenment if I'm praying a mantra or rosary, focusing on my breath, and keeping the mind still while laying in bed, compared to if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

Obviously the latter would be better as it is more disciplined, but would you say it makes a big difference or is crucial for experiencing the benefits of meditation.

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages from distant voices and souls in heaven?

I think a basic straight sitting posture has benefits in the long run, and having a healthy diet lets the body become more vital, sensitive and more pleasant to experience.

[anthony c]

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My most important question on meditation is if I am meditating for enlightenment and insight, how important is posture.

would it be a barrier to finding enlightenment if I'm praying a mantra or rosary, focusing on my breath, and keeping the mind still while laying in bed, compared to if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

Obviously the latter would be better as it is more disciplined, but would you say it makes a big difference or is crucial for experiencing the benefits of meditation.

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages from distant voices and souls in heaven?

Hi Matthew

There are two reasons for sitting in Burmese, Half Lotus, Lotus and Seiza Position:

1. For me is that each position, there is an energy/feeling i feel from sitting in these positions that is stimulating to me and it helps with a deeper meditation state and the seiza position i have less backache and back is straight if you do it right.

2. The soles of the feet is upwards so you cant ground your energy so easy, so the kundalini energy can move upwards, which i believe is essential for enlightenment. Just be careful if your kundalini is not active to first learn about it and not to awaken it if your not ready, so study about the kundalini energy first.

The main thing is to be comfortable so do not hurt yourself and warm up before the time.

Also the hand positions is called mudra's. There are allot of mudra's and all have healing benefits or a reason behind it. The different sitting positions and the different mudra's are just nice extra's to help.

The sitting position is more comfortable and there is nothing wrong with it, you will get same benefits.

Hope this helps

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My most important question on meditation is if I am meditating for enlightenment and insight, how important is posture.

would it be a barrier to finding enlightenment if I'm praying a mantra or rosary, focusing on my breath, and keeping the mind still while laying in bed, compared to if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

Obviously the latter would be better as it is more disciplined, but would you say it makes a big difference or is crucial for experiencing the benefits of meditation.

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages from distant voices and souls in heaven?

I'm not able to do formal postures usually - because there are a lot of thought patterns in the world that define how you should react to each posture and I don't want to deal with all that so I just decided not to care.

But posture does make a difference in my experience. The times I've worked with the known postures it I've been able to 'resonate' a little easier. The best posture I found in the little bit of playing i did is kneeling in prayer BTW... But you may find yourself lost in the idea of what it is rather than trying to find your way, if you get too entrenched in the desire to find some 'perfect' posture.

That said, lying in bed IS a posture. And what I've found is that one posture makes some things easier and other things harder, while another posture makes other things easier and some things harder. Which postures will help you is going to come down to your choice of balance between your future goals for spirituality and what you want in the way of comfort now.

On fasting, again I can't do it too much but it does have various uses - the one that would interest me personally the most is that eating seems to cause a reconfiguration of the body... if I don't eat it configures another way. And depending on what exactly I do eat it configures different ways. So eating, not eating, you can learn a lot by trying different things.

[hawkreborn]

Posture is as important as you think it is. Your posture is probably already messed up anyway, why would being in a specific stance change the effects of your meditation. One should strive to be ever present throughout the day anyway and you aren't in any particular posture then.

Also, if you feel like fasting do it. If you don't then don't. Whatever you believe to be your way to achieve 'insight, enlightenment, etc' then you shall find it.

There are no rules. Only what you believe and the stronger you believe in it the stronger your limitation will be.

[Rise and Shine]

I am pro chair meditation - simple easy , no pressure. I uses a chair in a special corner and I only meditate in it but that's not a big issue.

Fasting can help - if you find comfort in that place of not being hungry but having enough energy. I smoothie fast for a week every couple of months and I feel energised and refreshed.

Actuallly the fasting / change of diet / detox is beneficial to new understanding in my experience. But not at the time - in the week after. As new cells generate and old toxins leave

My clearest refresh was when I had Dengue fever - which ( without too much detail) involved 10 days of heavy physical release. It took a week or 2 to hydrate and feel normal - but I gained much clarity

So fasting can help , but maybe not with direct results

[SoulsInMotion]

For posture, in terms of beginning to have a deeper or higher awareness, I think it's primarily important to be comfortable. Be in a position where you can't feel yourself too much. Sitting or laying down may both be fine, usually when it's later I try to sit rather than lay down so I don't fall asleep.

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My most important question on meditation is if I am meditating for enlightenment and insight, how important is posture.

would it be a barrier to finding enlightenment if I'm praying a mantra or rosary, focusing on my breath, and keeping the mind still while laying in bed, compared to if I was sitting up in the lotus position , with hands clasped in prayer , (or palms up) with a straight back.

Lying in bed and meditating is not advocated as it usually leads to sleep.

It is better to sit in the lotus position, or in a sitting position on a chair and meditate.

It is said that sitting in the lotus position for some time results in attaining alertness and clarity of mind speedily, and this has been my experience as well. This is true at any time and not just during meditation.

Even if you are worried about a problem, if you can sit for some time in the lotus position, it has a calming effect on one with greater clarity of mind.

Originally Posted by SaintMatthew

My second most important question is how important and essential is fasting in order to achieve insight ,enlightenment, or to hear messages from distant voices and souls in heaven?

Fasting results in greater prana or chi, which in turn boosts awareness or meditation. Meditation during a fast brought about faster progress in my personal experience.

It is also considered as an austerity and helps to bring about greater self-control and mental strength.

Fasting and at the same time preparing food to serve the hungry and poor is considered to be a great austerity.

It is also considered very good for physical health , as the digestive system gets a break and much of the energy or life-force expended in digestion is used for healing the body. Fasting is considered a potent medical tool in naturopathy and eastern medical systems for several diseases or general ill-health. This is something which should be advocated to all, imho, due to its inexpensive nature. Imo, most diseases could be cured or reduced by a good fast instead of stuffing in medications, which may create other issues in the long run. This is something that should be researched into by health specialists.

However care should be taken not to overdo fasting due to misplaced zeal, and it should be conducted under expert guidance , or else one may damage one's health leading to hallucinations, poor clarity of mind and resultant misapplication.

[Delsol]

When hugely pregnant I could not tolerate sitting crosslegged on a mat or cushion very long, and so meditated lying down instead - and yes - often fell asleep! Ha ha. I felt bad about that briefly, but then reminded myself that we can only do what we can do - and meditating while reclined is better than not meditating at all. Right? It is best to sit erect (lots of excellent explanations as to why already spelled out above) but some people have back problems, or other physical constraints, and they just do their best. If sitting crosslegged is too distracting or uncomfortable, try a chair. Keep your back away from the back of the chair. If you realize you are slouching, just gently correct your posture and continue. Don't worry about it. The back muscles will strengthen over time. The main thing is to keep at it!