A guide to meditation posture

Serious meditators know that good posture is essential to sustained meditation practice. When we sit regularly – in daily practice or on retreat – we want our posture to help our meditation, not hinder it.

To be sure, the best meditation position is one that allows you to meditate consistently. If you are bedridden, then meditate as you lie in bed. If the only way you can meditate regularly is by sitting in a chair, then by all means sit in a chair and meditate.  Using whatever meditation pose that works for you is better than not meditating!

The benefits of good meditation posture

Good posture has many benefits for meditators:

  • Good meditation posture promotes mental alertness
  • Good meditation posture prevents muscular fatigue and soreness, including backaches and neckaches, and lets you meditate for extended periods of time
  • Good meditation posture minimizes stress on joints and ligaments, and reduces the risk of back problems over the long term and discomfort in the short term

How to sit for comfortable, prolonged periods of meditation

Although the real work of meditation is in your mind, your body also plays an important role. Below, you’ll find a summary of what many physiologists, meditation and yoga teachers recommend for good posture while meditating.

Most of these tips apply equally well to sitting on anything, but this article is tailored specifically for meditators who want to sit on a meditation cushion or zafu rather than on a chair or meditation bench, both of which can also facilitate excellent meditation positions.

A good meditation position keeps the back straight and the rest of the body relaxed. Keeping your back straight on your own, without any support from a chair back or wall, helps keep you alert and prevents you from falling asleep. Relaxing everything else reduces tension and makes it possible to sit comfortably for even long periods.

  • Think tall: Good posture starts with intent. When you sit to meditate, try to think yourself as tall as possible. Try to elongate your neck and back. For some, it helps to imagine that they’re dangling from a string attached to the top of their head, barely touching ground. Others picture expanding spaces between the vertebrae in the spinal cord, or a stack of coins or blocks.
  • Align: Good meditation posture aligns your head, neck, shoulders, spinal cord and pelvis. Starting at the bottom and moving toward the top, experiment with each of the tips mentioned below to find the right alignment.  With just a little practice, all of this becomes automatic and good posture will be a natural part of your meditation practice.
  • Keep your legs symmetrical: Cross your legs comfortably at the ankles and tuck your feet towards your body. This is part of the firm base that keeps you sitting comfortably and stably. There’s absolutely no need to use a full or half-lotus position – unless you happen to find these the most comfortable way to sit. If possible, switch which leg is on top occasionally. If necessary, especially during extended periods of meditation during retreats, use a small cushion under one knee to lift it and improve the symmetry of your legs. If you’re sitting on a chair, keep both feet on the ground.
  • Sit on your sit bones: Yes, you have sit bones. These are the lowermost parts of your pelvis (the ischial tuberosities, to get anatomical about it). You can easily locate them: while sitting, place your hand between the fleshy part of your buttocks and the cushion or chair; the sit bones are they are the bits of bone that you can feel – the parts that protrude most. When we sit straight, we balance on these sit bones. For good meditation posture, try to rock your pelvis slightly back and forth when you begin sitting to be sure your weight is balancing as evenly as possible atop your sit bones.
  • Maintain a neutral pelvic tilt: To keep your pelvis tilted just right, engage your stomach muscles just a bit to help you rotate the pelvis into a neutral position. Sitting on a cushion, so your hips are higher than your knees, helps a lot. Too much posterior (backward) tilt of the pelvis makes you slouch. Too much anterior tilt (forward) tilt of the pelvis makes you overarch your back. You want to maintain the spine’s natural, ever-so-slight S-curve.
  • Lift your heart and let your shoulders relax: When you lift your heart, and the breastbone in front of it, let your shoulders fall slightly back and down. This will help keep your chest high and aligned with the rest of your torso, prevent slouching, and let you rest your arms. If lifting your heart reminds you to open your heart, it’s all good. 
    • Keep your arms parallel and let your hands rest: When you lift your heart and relax your shoulders, your arms will naturally fall fairly parallel to your torso and your forearms or wrists will rest in your lap or on your thighs. Different traditions recommend a variety of meditation hand positions, or mudras; choose whatever works best for you. The simplest thing to do with your hands is to let them rest in front of you, palms down.
    • Hold your head and neck straight: Line up your earlobes with the middle of your shoulders. This helps to keep your head where it should be, right above the trunk of your body, without leaning forward, backward, or to the side. Slightly tucking your chin helps to maintain the right head and neck posture. Being aware of your chin’s position can help your meditation. If the chin is tucked in too far your head droops forward, contributing to drowsiness and lack of concentration – in addition to a sore neck. If you keep your chin too high, jutting it into the air, your head is forced back, straining your neck.
    • Slumping is probably the commonest posture problem for meditators. It tilts the pelvis back, causing the lower back to tilt back, too, and forces the upper back forward to maintain balance. But it’s not a skillful or healthy balance. In addition to straining back and neck muscles, slumping compresses your chest to hinder easy breathing and increases drowsiness.
  • Relax
    • Shut your eyes (or do whatever else your teacher tells you to do with them)
    • Relax your jaw and mouth
    • Keep your shoulders gently rolled back, down and at ease
    • Let your hands drop naturally on or off your thighs, with palms facing downward; don’t support any weight with your arms