Posture and thoughts

[Mindfullness]

Hello!

I have a huge problem right now.

For meditation practice, I do Shamatha-Vipassana practice as described by the Irreverent Buddhist. For some reason, though, my posture is irritating the hell out of me. Whenever I sit,, I just cross my legs and keep my back straight while sitting on the edge of pillow. For some reason, this posture is driving me crazy. I always feel like I am doing something wrong in my head. The area between my upper legs and my lower stomach really irritates me when sitting like this and I can never be sure if my head is tilted in the right direction. I always feel as if I am not looking straight ahead, and that my head is too tilted to the right, but whenever I open my eyes to check, my head is, in fact, in the correct posture. I've come to think that this feeling of insecurity in my posture is, perhaps, reflective of my own self doubts of myself--maybe I should just observe any bad feelings(i.e. irritation between my lower stomach and abdomen) I'm having. Am I doing anything wrong?

[Andrew]

Hi nliyan25

If you are uncomfortable, keep experimenting until you find a comfortable position. I find at the moment my most successful is on the bed, sitting on pillows and a pillow behind my back on the wall. Very comfy and as long as I don't leave it too late, I don't fall asleep. I also sit in seiza, and cross legged, though my body doesn't like them much yet.

Make sure you have plenty of elevation under your backside so your knees can touch the ground when sitting cross legged (burmese style, that is, one foot in front of the other)

keep at it, you'll go through a few styles. I prefer to be closer to the ground, but like you I tend to get irritated, so I do these positions only because I want to get used to then in time. like running, or swimming etc it takes months for the body to adjust especially ligaments and tendons.

 I'm looking at getting on of these, but shipping is a killer to Oz.

http://www.spiritvoyage.com/yoga/Cosmic-Cushion/Yoga-Zone/SVB-00174A.aspx

Regarding your head position, I find this as well, I think it is the body trying to balance in an unusual position.

love

andy