Ep. 297: Sitting on 9-29-26 (following the breath / working with thoughts)

But they all begin with just first getting into a comfortable, upright posture.

And, you know, last time someone asked about posture and I gave a few tips, but said sort of like, you know, there's a link on my webpage you can look at for more detailed explanations of sitting posture.

I thought I'd just give maybe like tonight and other nights, just like a couple small tips that can be really useful.

So one is, you know, when you want your spine to be erect, but not rigid or stiff, right? So there are two different ways that I have found helpful to sort of achieve that sense of like lengthened spine, erect spine, but not rigid spine,

all right?

One is just imagining that there is a string that goes from the bottom of your spine, even like in your tailbone, runs up through the spinal column and up through the top of your head and actually all the way to the ceiling.

So you're visualizing this string that runs up through the spine, through the top of your head, all the way to the ceiling.

And just imagine that up there, someone is just gently pulling on that string.

Just feel the way that that invites your spine to just lengthen.

And you might even feel, you know, imagine that pull, that tug up on the string as you inhale.

And then as you exhale, just let your shoulders, let the rest of your body just hang on that spine that is erect now, upright in this way.

Maybe take another deep breath, feel the spine lengthen in this way.

And just let your body hang as you exhale slowly.

This may feel unusual to some of you because honestly, most of us walk around most of the time kind of slouched over and we just aren't actually this erect, you know, hardly ever, unless like you're a dancer or something, you know? So this just may feel unfamiliar, may feel weird to be this upright, but you get more used to it, more accustomed to it, the more you do that.

And another trick that can be helpful in achieving this kind of upright posture is, and this is very traditional in Japan, this instruction, which is to tuck in your chin and push the back of your head up a little bit.

Not in some strenuous, forceful way, but just tuck your chin and push up the back of your head, which kind of has a similar effect to what we just did.

It's like a slightly different kind of cue.

And then again, breathe in, feel that spine lengthen and breathe out and let the whole body relax, supported by your spine, which you can imagine being like a coat rack, upon which the rest of your body are just coats hanging, supported by your spine.

now that we have achieved this upright posture just whenever during the meditation you realize you slouched over you're leaning over to one side of the other or you're bent over just it's okay to gently sort of reset your posture in this way and then now please just bring your awareness to your breath.