knee pain nirvana
If we get uptight about feeling uncomfortabe in meditation, just remember this simple instruction- give careful and kind attention to whatever arises.
Do you ever find yourself feeling uncomfortable in meditation after just settling in? If your mind could text you, what would it say?
Lately, mine would text:
Oh, no- not my aching knee again.
just part of the meditation experience
From the perspective of mindful awareness, an aching knee is simply part of the meditation experience.
So is dozing off, the tingling sensation of one leg falling asleep, feeling bored or restless.
When the inevitable discomforts arise, some folks “wait out” that session, gritting their teeth until the bell rings.
holding still vs settling into stillness
The next time this happens, rather than waiting out or ending a session, try to see the difference between what Jack Kornfield calls holding still and settling into stillness.
Holding still is like gripping your seat until the plane lands; there is some underlying fear and aggression going on.
Settling into stillness, explains Jack, happens when you pour a little compassion on the painful areas. And you relax enough that you are willing to truly feel knee pain, or drowsiness, or boredom, as if from the inside.
getting comfortable, for now
If you are new to meditation practice, it takes some trial and error until you find the most comfortable posture. But even when you find that magic meditation set-up, the initial feeling of settling in and feeling comfortable doesn’t last long.
Soon enough, something itches here, or there’s some new weird throbbing there.
We are always experiencing these minor aches and pains, but we are not usually aware of them, as we unconsciously go through our day adjusting our posture frequently.
If we feel dismayed about discomfort while meditating, just remember this simple instruction- give careful and kind attention to whatever arises.
kindness is essential
This kindness is essential to our practice, as Cheryl Huber explains:
It’s not so much what happens as it is how we are with ourselves regardless of what happens –that makes the difference in our lives.
There is Nothing Wrong With You
As focus and clarity improve, you notice the crucial difference between physical and emotional discomfort. Once you nail this, there’s no going back to your old ways of avoiding or manipulating your life circumstances.
The work here is simple: allow physical pains, aches and tensions, to come up on their own, and observe how they reveal themselves in the moment, with kindness.
The healing of your body and heart is always here, waiting for your kind attention.
My former teacher Sharon Salzberg has the last word this week. This is how she explains why we practice in this way:
It’s not the point to suffer; it’s the opening that’s the point. It is that lightheartedness, that bigness, that spacious mind and love that can hold the suffering and accommodate it and integrate it and understand it.
The Power of Loving-kindness
As we open more and more to discomforts, they open us in increasingly profound ways.
