Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Meditation Posture

Published by

Matt Stone

2005-10-04

What posture should Christians adopt in meditation?

If you read the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or the teachings of Zen Masters you’ll find detailed instructions on posture. Yet when you read the Bible the silence is deafening. Why is this?

It is not as if meditation is alien to the Christian tradition. There are plenty of references to meditation in the Psalms, and to training of the mind in the letters of the New Testament. So I suspect this silence is itself saying something to us, and that something is that there is no prescribed posture for Christians.

Where the ancient writers of the Bible placed emphasis, was not on technique, but on attitude. I suspect this was to guard against our natural tendency to treat God like a divine dispensing machine: put the coin in hear and the experience comes out there. But Christians see God in personal terms, not mechanical ones.

The apostle Paul once said, “Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible—but not everything is constructive” (1 Corinthians 10:23). I think his words are instructive for us here. The context of his instructions was a query about how to relate to things appropriated from the pagan Romans, things which were good, but problematic because of the alternate religious connotations attached to them. A situation not unlike the one we have here.

I think this is the most appropriate way to approach the issue: Christians have freedom to assume any posture they please, but are called to exercise discernment as to what is constructive. Some postures are more helpful than others, and the posture of the heart is the most important of all.

Tags Buddhist, Meditation, Yoga

3 responses to “Meditation Posture”

Dan

2005-10-05

I think the silence allows for variation in culture and time. When I was young I could, with great struggle, barely do the lotus position. I tended to prefer the Japanese style of kneeling and sitting on my heels. Now that I’m an old fart, all these postions are too difficult. Now I just sit in a chair or lay down and meditate.

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Fr Timothy Curtis

2005-10-24

Christianity does suggest postures, not only through the practices of hesychasm, as these links suggest
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/symeon_threeways.html
http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=195
God bless
Fr Timothy+

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Matt Stone

2005-10-25

Thanks for the links.
Yes I recognize that advice on posture is offered in a number of Christian traditions, but the question I am really asking is their biblical grounding.
I have searched the scriptures at length and there are numerous passages on meditation. But none I am aware of seem connected with any instructions on posture. I have noted that there are passages on prayer and worship which recount variant postures but these are not explicitly linked to meditation in the texts and the passages tend to be descriptive rather than proscriptive anyway. I am therefore compelled to conclude that the Bible leaves this question open ended.
Now if all traditions we have on posture seem to be post-Biblical developments then critical contextualization thus comes into play. As with Dan I believe that the scriptural silence allows for cross cultural variation provided discernment is exercised and I approach the Hesychast tradition as a non-authoritative resource rather than a Christian teaching for all eras and places. Personally I go for sitting in a half lotus or in a straight backed chair as I tend to fall asleap if I lie down and my back aches if I assume a hunched over posture for longer than fifteen minutes. I find walking meditations ok but spin out with a standing-hands raised style. In short I approach the subject pragmatically and if other postures work for other people that’s fine by me. I thinks its an issue where freedom with discernment applies.
The only issue which I have any concerns with is hand placement. In Buddhist and Hindu traditions these ‘mundras’ have very specific meanings which are somewhat incompatible with Christian understandings of God. Some reinterpretation is required here I believe if the practice is to be called Christian. Not an issue I place a huge amount of weight on though.

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