> Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 08:18:26 -0500
> From: "Milena Adams" <milena@...>
>
>Can anybody of you explain about the different postures used in qigong
>meditation? I know, there are sitting, cross-legged (lotus), standing
>and other forms. But, which of them is the best and the most important
>in achieving fast results in meditation?

I'm curious about sitting postures too, but from a different angle.

Even 35 years ago when I was a 105-pound high-school gymnast I couldn't
manage the lotus position simply because my legs were like tree trunks even
then; they were just too thick to fold up neatly.

I've never had "thunder thighs"; it's just that my legs have always been very
muscular. In fact, because I carry so much of my weight in my legs, my
physical center of gravity has always been somewhere around my hip joints
even though I'm very short-legged (I'm 5'5" but I take a 27 or 28" inseam; I
tell people that from my butt up I'm 5'11"!)......

To give you an idea of just how much muscle and power I've got in my legs, I
also ran track - *sprints*! - my freshman year in high school and did pretty
well, and used to get a kick out of amazing my friends who *far* outweighed
me by grabbing them around the hips and lifting them off the ground (if only
2 or 3 inches).

Almost no upper body strength though, no matter how many pushups and pullups
I tried to do, so that combined with my very low center of gravity made me a
whole lot better at track than gymnastics.........

Even back in high school I could barely manage a half-lotus; Now that I'm a
165-pound couch potato, even that's totally hopeless!

Any alternative suggestions?


Sparks