Can one succeed in meditation by sitting on a chair in the beginning? Can one be concentrated if they sit on a chair? I think it’s more comfortable than sitting leg crossed on the cushion
Are we supposed to just sit leg crossed and ignore the pain and just focus on the breath/kasina? Or are we supposed to sit in a way where we feel no pain like on a chair until we get access concentration?
I am with ajahn brahm on this. Meditation is not training the body, it is training the mind. Sit however it is that makes it painless for a long time.
Of course, if you’re still young, it’s easier to train on the legs as well, but not required.
There’s a book of Jhāna manual where the author said in relaxed sitting position, not crossed legged, he went into cessation of perception and feeling.
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Is that a Commentary or some recent author that has this attainment?
This is the case
it is quite complicated matter, so a few things should be taken into consideration such as: physical and mental comfort, health issues and age.
yes, physical comfort is very important, when sitting, but we should understand that mental comfort comes first. thats why if we are mentally used to sitting in a particular meditation posture, we should stick to it. and if we don’t have that we should train. sometimes, pain can just be an excuse to take the easy way out.
now let’s talk about age and health. so if you are under 30 and you should be able to maintain posture for at least 15 minutes, if not you should visit a doctor. if you can but still experience some kind of discomfort in your muscules, joints or tendons, then the gym and good trainer are waiting for you!
if you are like 40-60 and have the same issues you should visit a doctor in any case and then consider going to the gym or get some medical treatment.
if you are over 60 you can choose the posture you like, but at least try to sit in a crossed leg posture. but anyway consider visiting a doctor.
finally there are at least 5 sitting postures that can be used for meditation such as: lotus, half-lotus, burmese, american (sukhasana) and samurai (sitting on your heels) postures. you can also practise walking meditaion, standing and lying. but lying is for skilfull yogis because you may fall asleep very quickly, or only when you are out of options.
Hope that will help you!
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