{"id":22786,"date":"2025-06-15T20:30:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T20:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=22786"},"modified":"2025-06-16T06:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T06:30:19","slug":"how-to-sit-and-meditate-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/meditation\/how-to-sit-and-meditate-well","title":{"rendered":"How to Sit and Meditate Well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Or: seven friendly reminders for those who like to sit <\/em>in meditation <\/em>but don\u2019t always know how<\/em>.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Meditation isn\u2019t about looking serious or pretending you\u2019re levitating from the knees. It\u2019s about being truly present \u2014 in body, in breath, in openness. You may sit cross-legged on a cushion or sit on a chair, in a zendo or on a mountain. What matters is how you relate to your sitting. That\u2019s what these seven pointers are about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

1. Balanced Imbalance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People often think Zen sitting means being still like a statue. But you are not a statue \u2014 you are alive. Your body wants to move, and you should let it \u2014 subtly, gently. Think of gravity not as your enemy but your partner. Like the moon continuously falling toward Earth, let your posture be in a state of gentle motion. One part of your body falls, another rises, and this creates balance in<\/em> imbalance. It\u2019s a solitary dance \u2014 very slow, almost invisible. To me, it feels like capoeira in slow motion. It\u2019s not something you have to think about. Just let it happen. Let gravity help you fall \u2014 endlessly. You might call this endless falling<\/em>, or balanced imbalance<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Empty Breathing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Breathing advice? I\u2019ve read the books. I remain loyal to one thing: your breath is your breath. Abdominal, thoracic, shallow, irregular \u2014 whatever it is, it\u2019s yours<\/em> now. No need to tweak it. Breath isn\u2019t a volume knob on your spiritual machine. It\u2019s more like the flame on a stove \u2014 the real control lies elsewhere: in your deeper self. You can invite the breath to calm down \u2013 maybe three gentle breaths \u2013 but then let go again. When your breath becomes calm this way, it\u2019s truly your<\/em> calm. It\u2019s not about controlling the breath. It\u2019s about letting it be empty \u2014 of judgment, of force, even of itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. Ascension to Heaven<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A living spine is not a set of vertebrae \u2014 it\u2019s a single, beautiful organ. And it shouldn\u2019t be forced into straightness. Rather, it reaches upward naturally. Imagine an elastic cord from the crown of your head stretching infinitely skyward. It pulls you gently, letting you relax into uprightness. There\u2019s grace in that upward movement \u2014 like a woman walking well in heels, or a gothic arch, or a fish swimming upwards through water. Your spine becomes a vertical dance. It\u2019s not rigid \u2014 it\u2019s aspiring. Ascension to Heaven<\/em> isn\u2019t a fantasy. It\u2019s a posture, and a state of being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. The Cushion Kickbox<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tension in muscles? Don\u2019t just relax it away. First, listen. Explore it. Ask it \u2013 silently \u2013 why it\u2019s there. Accept it, and feel when it can go. It might leave with the pain. Or it might stay a while. That\u2019s okay too. Then there are the tiny contractions \u2013 small muscular contractions <\/em>\u2013<\/em> which often go unnoticed. These can build up quietly and do harm over time. So let life move through you, even in stillness. Stillness isn\u2019t a lack of motion. It\u2019s harmony<\/em> with motion. The deeper you let go, the closer you come to the edge \u2014 the place where ego hesitates. Still, abandon. Imagine an adversary ready to strike \u2014 your muscles relaxed, your body alert, entirely ready. You are fully here. This is stillness within strength. This is the cushion kickbox<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. Sitting in the Eye of the Needle<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAm I doing it right? Am I good enough? Am I close to enlightenment?\u201d The ego wants to rush, compete, compare. Meditation offers another voice: Let it be.<\/em> As the Beatles sang, and as many wisdom traditions echo: acceptance isn\u2019t passivity \u2014 it\u2019s spaciousness. In deep acceptance, you are no longer just yourself. You become part of something wider, more intimate. Not me and you<\/em>, but Me in You, and You in Me<\/em>. That\u2019s the eye of the needle \u2014 so small no ego can pass, yet once you\u2019re in, it\u2019s vast. You\u2019re not outside looking at the gate anymore. You are<\/em> inside. And it\u2019s beautiful here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6. Escaping the Wheel of Samsara<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThoughts come and go.\u201d That\u2019s what they say. But actually \u2014 they don\u2019t. Thoughts emerge<\/em> and dissolve<\/em>. Like clouds in the sky, they are made of the sky itself. Even when absent, their form still echoes. Meditation doesn\u2019t make thoughts disappear. It lets them influence each other in far richer ways. A myriad of patterns happening in parallel, beyond conscious reach \u2014 this is no-thinking<\/em>, the fertile emptiness Zen speaks of. In this state, you are not caught in time, or dualism, or rebirth. You are just being<\/em>. You escape the wheel \u2014 not by fleeing it, but by no longer needing it to turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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7. No Escape. The Final Frontier.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In meditation, there is no room for choice-making. You\u2019ve made your decision already: to sit. During meditation, further choices pull you away. Ego loves choice \u2014 it feeds its illusion of control. But real choice is made before<\/em>. Ritual helps: the bow, the hand mudra, the shared posture. These don\u2019t control the deeper self \u2014 they invite it. Like saying thank you after the sitting \u2014 even after a \u2018bad\u2019 one. Especially then. A good \u2018thanks\u2019 after a bad sit is a gift. You put your heart on a little plate, offer it, and say: This is what I have. I give it to what is.<\/em> This is surrender. This is no escape<\/em>. This is the final frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And that\u2019s it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven gentle invitations \u2014 not commandments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need to master them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You only need to notice<\/em> them, from time to time, while your breath continues and the world turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy sitting.<\/p>\n

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Or: seven friendly reminders for those who like to sit in meditation but don\u2019t always know how. Meditation isn\u2019t about looking serious or pretending you\u2019re levitating from the knees. It\u2019s about being truly present \u2014 in body, in breath, in openness. You may sit cross-legged on a cushion or sit on a chair, in a Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

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