Discover Four Different Meditation Positions

Meditation has been practiced since ancient times for the advantages it brings. Incorporating meditation into your daily life can have a dramatic affect on your peace of mind and attitude toward life. There are as many forms and techniques of meditation with many different postures or positions that you can take during your practice.

Cross Legged Position
One of the most well known positions for meditation is the cross legged position or lotus position. This posture is taught in many meditative traditions with the instruction that the spine must be kept straight and tall. You must avoid slouching because it can disrupt the free flow of energy or life force through your body.

Seated Meditation Position
Another well known position and one that is generally more comfortable for Westerners is sit on a chair with legs uncrossed and feet planted firmly on the ground. Your hands can lay comfortably in your lap or with your palms facing upward. Again, you must keep your back straight and tall and your head in alignment when taking a seated position.

Kneeling Meditation Position
This posture requires the meditator to kneel while seated on the backs of his or her heels. The hands rest on his or his thighs. Once again, this position is one that is often difficult for Westerners and if you're not used to it, it can cause damage to your knees.

Lying Down Position or Corpse Pose
It may sound morbid but this position is known as the corpse pose in Yoga. The meditator lies on their back on the floor, preferably on a carpet or yoga mat and allows their arms to rest at their sides and their palms to roll upward. Their legs are straight and their feet are gently turned outwards. This is a wonderful meditation posture for stress relief but it is much easier to fall asleep in this position.

One can also add to their meditation practice by incorporating hand positions. One common example is the right hand resting on the top of the left hand with thumbs touching. Another is form a circle with the thumb and index finger of each hand. You can further induce a state of deep meditation by using a mantra or by focusing on your breathing. There are many ways of meditating born out of many traditions. Meditation is simple but it's not easy so find what resonates with you and stick with it for several weeks before deciding to try a new technique.