frank k wrote: ↑Sat Mar 26, 2016 2:46 pm
I remember from (indian) yoga class long ago when getting up from sivasana (corpse pose lying on back), they said before sitting up first roll over on to your right side, explaining that it puts less pressure (body weight) on the heart.
from taoist yoga, they have something similar to the lion posture of the suttas, called coiling up like a dragon.
in lion posture, you lie on the right side, legs are straight and on top of each other, right hand under right side of head, left arm straight left hand on left hip.
in the coiled dragon posture, one leg is slightly bent, one is straight (they didn't say which leg is which, so i assume both permutations are acceptable).
right hand on right side of face, left arm curled and left palm on your dan tien (near belly button). the purpose of this posture is two fold, one is to prevent wet dreams, one is to stay awake, alert, mindful. by keeping mindfulness near the head area, it keeps consciousness from sinking below the dan tien and falling into the unconscioussness/sleep state. they say the "perfect man" does not fall into sleep, maintains lucidity of mind while resting in this lying coiled dragon pose. naturally if one is lucid and mindful, wet dreams cease.
I assume the buddha had the same reason for teaching the lion pose. i've done lots of testing on myself over the years, i do find that lion posture or dragon pose is better than lying on the back for maintaining lucidity and consciousness.
the drawback is my right elbow and right arm can get a little numb. so i usually alternate between lying on the back and lion/dragon.
differences between lion and dragon pose:
1. in dragon, with one leg just slightly bent, it keeps the knees from getting a little sore from the near bone to bone contact.
slightly bending on leg gives you some meat to cushion each knee.
it also makes it easier to balance lying on the side, otherwise it can feel like you can tip over more easily.
2. the left hand on dan tien and right hand under face (i make sure to have skin to skin contact for both hands) feels energetically
better, the same principles of full lotus and half lotus having your energy all return to the center, and connecting left and right sides of the body.
you can try yourself the difference between standing meditation, sitting meditation with cross legs. sitting feels energetically stronger, more connected.
standing feels like your energy at as consolidated, with the energy expanding to fill your legs, maintain balance, etc.
another great benefit of lying meditation not mentioned in suttas:
the first time i got jhana was from lying down, could not do it sitting, because of tight muscles and connective tissue.
but lying down those tight tissues opened up enough to allow free energy flow and jhana to happen.
for a couple of years, i could only get jhana while lying down. then gradually, i could do it in a sitting posture, but the energy
flow wasn't as good. over time (years), as body tissues softened, blockage in body were cleared, then i can get jhana
in any posture.
also, during the early days when i could only get jhana lying down, i could feel quite a difference between lying on my back
and lying on the right side in lion or dragon posture. jhana bliss was more than 50% stronger lying on the right side.
lying on the back compresses the back tissue, hinders qi flow more than on the right. i believe that's probably the main reason the
buddha really pushed on the lion posture.
on difference between lying on right side and left side:
one thing that i've heard from yoga (can't remember if it was indian yoga, chinese yoga, or both),
is that lying on the left side is the coarse practice of lay people having intercourse (man lies on right side).
i don't know if missionary position or lying on the side was more common, but with men being stronger with their right
hand, right arm, it makes sense they'd want to lie on the left side to keep their right arm more free and available
to steer.