Dean Ornish

Sitting in a certain posture and keeping your body relatively still for meditation mirrors back to you every impulse and distraction. You get to see how fidgety your body can be — and how hyperactive your mind can be, which is actually the source of your body’s restlessness. For every plan or intention running through your mind, there’s a corresponding impulse in your muscles and skin.

There is an approach to meditation known as mindfulness, which is moment-to-moment awareness of your experience as it unfolds. Mindfulness combines concentration (highly focused awareness) and a more receptive awareness that simply welcomes whatever arises. Ultimately, the goal of mindfulness meditation is to develop the capacity to be fully present for whatever is occurring right here and now.

If you sit meditating in the same position for an extended period of time, you’re going to experience some physical pain or discomfort, no matter how much stretching you do! An ache in your back here, some knee pain there, a twinge in your shoulder, pins and needles in your foot — the list of complaints is potentially endless.

Some people have difficulty sitting and meditating for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, so if you’re not one of those people, you’re lucky! For those that do have trouble with back issues or discomfort while meditating, try these yoga poses to help prepare you. These stretches will open your hips and make them more flexible.

Many people ask what they should do with the parts of their body that are generally restless during meditation. This is especially difficult for beginners. Some people become obsessed with the “right” positioning of their hands, mouth or eyes. Once you forget about them, they won’t bother you again. To save you similar confusion about your eyes and other salient body parts, consider the following guidelines: Eyes: Initially, you need to decide whether you want to sit with your eyes closed, wide open, or half open.

As meditation and the emerging field of mind-body medicine remind people— and yogis and sages have been saying for millennia — your body, your mind, and your heart form one seamless and inseparable whole. When your thoughts keep leaping from worry to worry, your body responds by tightening and tensing, especially in certain key places like the throat, the heart, the solar plexus, and the belly.

When you’re settled into a comfortable meditative sitting position with your pelvis tilted slightly forward, you can turn your attention to straightening your back. Of course, straight is a misnomer when used to refer to the spine because a healthy spine actually has several distinct curves: one at the lumbar region or lower back, another at the thoracic area or midback, and a third at the neck or cervical spine.

If you can sit in meditation for 10 or 15 minutes each day without discomfort, congratulations! You needn’t spend any additional time learning how to stretch and strengthen your body — unless, that is, you’re so inclined. But if you’re like most people, sooner or later your body will start clamoring for your attention.

Meditation is like most things in life. Everyone experiences it differently. Developing and directing your awareness may be the foundation of effective meditation, but like any good foundation, it’s only the beginning. The next step is to build your house brick by brick, meditation session by meditation session, discovering what works for you and what doesn’t, until your practice is grounded and stable.