Sitting cross-legged (Padmasana or Sukhasana)

cross-legged

Sitting cross-legged on the floor or on a mat is one of the almost preferred sitting postures for practising pranayama and meditation.

Any epitome that shows someone sitting in meditation is by and large in cross legged position (Padmasana or Sukhasana). This is not without reason. Sitting cross-legged position on flooring is based on primal arroyo of Yogic practices.

Content Table:

  • Benefits of sitting cross-legged
  • Reasons you are not able to sit down cross-legged
  • Is sitting on flooring: expert or bad?
  • How to sit with stiff back and tight hip joint?
  • How to apply a support properly?
  • Manner forward to open up upwardly your hip joint

What are the benefits of sitting cross-legged?

This is valid question asked past many students. The reason is, except for most of the people in Southern asia, sitting cantankerous legged doesn't come up naturally.

And so when yous try to sit cross-legged on the floor and yous feel that your knees are touching the sky and lower back curved is in an awkward position, it is more than mutual than you remember. Hence, the question practice come, what benefits do you become past sitting cross legged on the floor?

Until you have attended a beginner's course into exercise of yoga where you got chance to ask the teacher, information technology fails to make sense that why is sitting cantankerous legged such requirement in yoga do?

Reasons to sit cross-legged:

  • Sitting in cantankerous legged position particularly in padmasana (lotus pose)locks your legs and the lower dorsum. This is quite helpful to sit even so for prolonged elapsing. This helps in calming down the breath and the mind. Which in plow is helpful for both animate practices and meditation.
  • Your back posture improves. When you are able to sit comfortably in cantankerous legged position( means knees are shut to floor and there is no pain in knees or lower back) then sitting like this makes your sit straighter, which is the natural curve of our spine. It lengthens your spine and pushes back your shoulders, chirapsia all the common aches and pains that come with bad posture.
  • Every bit the lower body is locked and back is straight, it is more than constructive to do pranayama as your lungs get proper space for expansion and contraction.
  •  When you are sitting on chair, your thighs, knees are in such position that forcefulness of gravity pulls more than blood towards your anxiety and also your heart has to work little extra to pull back blood from lower areas of your torso, for sending it to lungs. Whereas when you are sitting on flooring in cross legged position, the supply to legs is restricted in proper fashion, thus the heart has to work less and deep breathing is easier to practice. Though, t his is also the reason that prolonged sitting in padmasana or lotus is not recommended.
  • And finally, as per classical texts (Padmasana is mentioned in HathPradipika) information technology is advised to sit closer to the basis for practicing advanced practices like pranayama and meditation. It clears blockages in the torso'southward energy channels (nadis) when done regularly.

At present that the query of why sitting in cross legged position is brash, the other oft asked question is: Is sitting cross legged bad for knees? Why sitting cross-legged and so hard?

Why are you not able to sit cross-legged?

The reason that sitting in cantankerous legged position (elementary or lotus pose) is that our hip joints and lower back muscles have tightened up over time.

Due to sedentary lifestyle and travel in cars, and lack of proper stretches causes reduced range of motion for our lower back and hip joints. This leads to less blood circulation in these trunk parts. Which leads to more stiffness so on.

You lot don't realise the level of stiffness yous have till one day either you attend a pranayama class or meditation class and asked to sit on the mat/floor in cross legged position. In such scenario, even when you attempt to push your knees downward, you will acute stretch in your inner thighs & lower back. These are the muscles which accept become stiff and brusk in length.

The proficient thing is, as this stiffness and shortness of muscles is caused due to lifestyle, it can be reversed with continuous practice.

Rarely, yous are born with such stiff muscles. If you observe a kid, you will encounter that a kid's muscle is easy and they are able to sit cantankerous legged with no effort at all.

And so, this is a matter of reversing the outcome of bad posture and limited movements on your lower back and hip joint. With constant do, and without putting in any special endeavour, you can sit in cross legged position in no time.

Besides, this process of working with your lower back, hip joint likewise leads to improved overall mobility of these joints and liberty from lower back pain.

Sitting cross legged on the floor, good or bad?

There has been a recent debate that sitting on the flooring in cantankerous legged position is bad for knees. Many people talk about someone they hear nearly who developed issues in his/her knees due to sitting in the cross-legged posture.

So, is sitting cantankerous legged bad for the knees?

In unproblematic words, unless yous strength yourself to sit in uncomfortable position for long, then in itself, no, sitting in cross legged posture is not bad for your knees.

Only, if your knees and legs are potent and so you strength yourself into the posture. So information technology is bad for your knees. The primary indicate hither is, this is truthful for all the postures.

The key is moderation. Yoga is based on the principle of avoiding the extremes. Yoga is the path of moderation.

Which means, yous try to the level which is comfy and and so improve from there.

Caution: Sitting in padmasana (lotus) puts the knees is little twisting position. Hence, unless your articulatio genus articulation and legs are comfortably flexible, don't push yourself to sit in this posture.

How to sit in cantankerous legged position with stiff legs and hip articulation?

When you endeavor to sit in a cross legged position with stiff legs, your knees will exist really high. This will put all the weight on your hip bones. An unstable and piffling painful position.

Plus, a ny cross-legged sitting posture, is stable only when knees are close to the mat or flooring.

One of the nearly constructive techniques that we have seen in our classes, is using cushions under hips.

There are plenty of choices available these days, like these:

sitting on floor

Meditation Absorber (click on paradigm to run into it on amazon)

cross-legged meditation

click to see it on amazon

When you utilize a cushion, your lower back and hips are lifted upward. This allows your knees to come down, without putting stress on lower back. Something you can see from the 2nd film higher up.

Another do good of using a cushion is that it provides actress cushion to your hips. This makes it easy for you to endeavour dissimilar angles of adjusting your posture.

Without the absorber, the floor or the mat may feel difficult on your sitting bones and thus you lot may tend to keep adjusting your posture in the middle of the practice. With the cushion, you have necessary cushion to keep yourself planted and focus more on better practice!

How to utilize a absorber for improving the sitting posture?

Until the time you are able to sit down comfortably in cantankerous legged position, utilize cushions under your hips. When you sit on a cushion, it raises your hip level, brings down your knees(closer to the footing, making them stable) and also straightens your spine.

The mutual query hither is:

  • What should exist the thickness of absorber?
  • Should I buy specific cushions or anyone the cushions will do?

The experience has been:-

There is no hard and fast rule about the thickness of cushions that yous tin can use. You can apply elementary cushions lying around at your home, or you can purchase peculiarly designed ones.

You can choose any base you want, rubber based or textile based. The main thing is it should make yous feel comfy for the time you are using that absorber.

Try this arroyo once, with different thickness based cushion, then try to stick with ane that makes yous experience stable and comfy. Slowly with practice, your hip joint and lower dorsum flexibility will increase, so you can reduce the thickness of cushion required. In finish, y'all can permit go of absorber altogether 🙂

How to open up your hip joint to be able to sit comfortably?

Truthfully, every asana which makes you bend (or stretch) your lower back in helps in increasing flexibility of lower back and opening upwards of your hip joint in someway.

Though to speed up your progress you can start with Suryanamaskar (Sun salutations)& Butterfly (Titli asana*notation at the bottom of the article). They can be done by nearly everyone at beginner's level.

Suryanamaskar is quite consummate practice inside itself when it comes to warming upward and opening upwards muscles and joints.

For hip joint, the i position that works directly is: Ashwasanchalan (Equestrian pose):

equestrian pose

~sivananda.org

Property this pose for few breath in slow circular of suryanamaskar, will assistance you focus on relaxing the right muscles and loosen the joint. Don't struggle by pushing unnecessarily. Keep practicing and you will encounter results.

Butterfly or Titli asana[At that place is a disagreement for naming this specific movement as an asana. And majority considers this more of as warm up or hip opening movement only]. Just search with name butterly or titli asana and you will get the paradigm/video for reference viewpoint.

The style to exercise it is, to move your knees upwardly and down, similar flapping wings of a butterfly ( hence the name). Doing it for 1 infinitesimal or so on daily ground helps in opening up the hip joint.

I would like to reiterate the bespeak that moderation is the key for improving your yoga practice. Don't test your body confronting your will ability. Do regularly and you will see progress.

Happy practising,

Om!

P.S. : If you have any query, please feel free to postal service them in comment department and I will gladly reply to that.