Establishing a Comfortable Seat

“The first thing to pay attention to is the position of the body in zazen. The body has a way of communicating outwardly to the world and inwardly to oneself. How you position your body has a lot to do with what happens with your mind and your breath.”

-- excerpted from the Zen Mountain Monastery website

1. In Zenyasa, we sit for about 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each class, and you are encouraged to meditate at home as well (for perhaps 15-30 minutes at a stretch)
   

2. So learning how to sit comfortably is very important
   

3. Ideally, you should sit in a way that allows your legs to be firm, grounded and relatively comfortable (at least at the beginning... it is inevitable that some discomfort will arise when you sit for longer periods of time)
   

4. For the majority of Western students, it is recommended that you sit in either i) Sukhasana, ii) Virasana or iii) Siddhasana
   

1. Sukhasana is a basic cross-legged position, where one shinbone is placed in front of the other
   

2. Sit on a cushion, bolster, thickly folded blanket or yoga block
   

3. Cross the legs so that that shinbones are parallel to the top of the mat, and the feet are in line with the knees

   

   
   

4. If your knees are higher than your hips, increase the height of your cushion
   

5. •If your cushion is quite high to accommodate tightness in your hips, it can also be helpful to place a thickly rolled blanket under the shinbones
   

1. To sit in virasana, start off by kneeling on your shin bones 
   

2. Place a cushion, bolster, thickly folded blanket or yoga block between your feet, and then sit back onto the buttocks  
   

3. Place your knees a comfortable distance apart, and place your feet in line with your shinbones (mindful not to sickle the ankles, or to allow the feet to turn outward)

   

   
   

4. You may feel a stretch over the quadriceps and top of the feet
   

5. •if the stretch in your quadriceps feels intense or you have pain in your knees, try increasing the height of your seat
   

6. •if the stretch over the top of your feet feels too intense or the arches of your feet begin to cramp, try placing a couple of folded blanket underneath your shinbones and let the feet hang off the back of the blankets
   

1. Begin by sitting down on the cushion, with the soles of your feet on the mat
   

2. Draw one foot in toward the groin and place it on the floor with the shinbone facing down, then place the other foot in front, also with the shinbone facing down
   

3. After placing the legs, you will likely need to reposition the buttocks further back on the cushion so that you don’t feel like you are sliding off
   

4. For siddhasana, choose a relatively high cushion so that you can more easily orient the front of the shinbones toward the floor
   

5. •if you sit on the floor or your cushion isn’t high enough, the front of the shinbones will tend to face forward and the pelvis will tend to posteriorly tilt, causing the lower back to round
   

6. •If you have a thin mat, it may also be necessary to place a blanket down on top of your mat to cushion the shins, ankles and knees
   

7. •With the shinbones facing down, you’ll end up placing more weight on the shinbones and less weight on the buttocks, which can help prevent the legs from falling asleep
   

Anteriorly Tilt the Pelvis Slightly

1. Regardless of the seat your have chosen, anteriorly tilt the pelvis so that the weight of the body rests toward the front of your sitting bones
   

2. •the anterior tilt of the pelvis will allow your lumbar spine to move into its natural curve, which is slightly concave
   

3. •be mindful not to hyperextend the spine by overdoing the anterior tilt, or jutting the bottom ribs forward
   

4. Sit super tall by lifting the crown of the head upward, creating more space between each vertebra of the spine
   

1. Place your hands into dhyana mudra
   

2. The fingers of one hand rest upon the fingers of the other hand, with the palms facing up, and the tips of the thumbs touching lightly... forming rectangular shape
   

3. Allow the back of the hands to rest on the upper thighs, with the pinky fingers right up against the lower belly
   

4. The light touch of the thumbs becomes a secondary object of mindfulness...
   

5. •if your mind wanders the thumbs will tend to come apart
   

6. •if you are exerting too much effort, the thumbs will tend to press into each other to hard
   

7. •if you become lethargic or sleepy, the thumbs may droop and cause the open oval shape to collapse
   

8. •whenever you notice that the mudra has fallen away, come back to it
   

9. Maintaining dhyana mudra increases the flow of Qi within the body, which can help prevent dullness and lethargy when sitting for longer periods
   

Shoulders Back

1. Draw the shoulders back to broaden the collar bones
   

2. Keep the elbows slightly forward so that the arms are oval shaped (like a ballet dancer)
   

3. The head should be level and buoyant, lifting upward
   

4. Draw the top of the throat back, allowing the chin to lower ever so slightly
   

Cultivate Stillness

1. Once you have settled into a relatively comfortable posture do your best not to make any major movements
   

2. Maintaining stillness in your physical body generates energy for the practice; excessive movement dissipates energy unnecessarily
   

3. It takes some effort to maintain the posture, but see if you can “relax within the effort”
   

4. Scan your posture periodically, bringing the body back into alignment when you notice that it has fallen away