The Simple Trick that transformed my Meditation practice

I’m a perfectionist. I love getting things exactly right. So when I got interested in meditation, I had a lot of questions about how I should be doing it: How long should I meditate for? Eyes open or closed? Should I focus on the breath or chant a mantra? Visualise chakras or empty my mind completely? I tried all these things. But somehow, no matter what I did, I felt like I was never quite getting it right. Meditation always felt like hard work to me. It was uncomfortable; It particularly exacerbated the tension in my neck, shoulders and back, and often it left me feeling anxious, scattered and cut off from my body. But meditation is supposed to be hard, right? It was nothing like my asana practice (yoga poses). Doing asana was a reward in itself, a rich, full and enlivening experience. When I was doing asana I had glimpses of what it felt like to be fully embodied. I was able to sense, work with and release tension and blockages. Asana helped me to feel alive in my body and my humanity; Meditation made me feel dull and deadened. Then I came across a startling and simple idea that revolutionized my meditation practice. The idea was this: That it’s OK to meditate lying down.

Yup. Lying down to meditate is a legitimate approach. It’s not ‘cheating’, and it’s not just for the old and the infirm. In fact, for those of us who come to yoga or spiritual practice cut-off from our bodies (read: most of us) lying down to meditate might just be the best way into meditation.

I came across this radical idea in Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body, a book written by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Reggie Ray. He says,“When we lie down we assume the posture of the infant, supine and relaxed, but open, awake, and alert – and intensely ready to learn… When we lie down, we can move through the relaxation and the letting go to discover the full range of possibilities for learning about our body and developing our awareness.” When I lie down to meditate my body immediately opens, and my mind opens too. I’m able to bring a much greater awareness to the practice. The tension in my back and shoulders is gone. My meditation practice actually helps to release the tension, rather than making it worse. I don’t fall asleep when meditating in this way; I feel awake, very relaxed and very present in my body. I meditate every day, and I look forward to it. So yes, I am the yogi who meditates lying on the floor under a pile of blankets (or my sleeping bag if it’s really cold). I love my meditation practice, and I love that I love my meditation practice. Will I always meditate in this way? Maybe not. Does it serve me at this moment? Yes! And that’s what my yoga practice is all about, going beyond ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, and discerning what I need in this moment. It’s usually not what I expected.