Meditation is something everybody should be doing daily. The advantages are so varied and vast that the practice highly improves the lives of its practitioners and the ones around them. A few different postures are available and they’ll give you different results. Let’s talk about meditating while lying down.
Can You Meditate Lying Down?
I know many people who think that in order to practice meditation, you have to sit in a lotus position and stay still for a long period of time, focusing on your breath. And this scares off a lot of people.
Such beginners may soon find physical difficulties in maintaining in the lotus position while keeping focused. Some may even have physical ailments to start with. But that’s only one of many postures for your practice. More relaxing meditation positions like lying down or reclining to a chair are something that people experiencing certain pains or turbulent minds should definitely try.
Benefits of Lying Down Meditation
In addition to being a good start for the beginners, meditation while lying comfortably on the floor has many other benefits that might be important for you. This technique is known to be the best choice for those who have a particularly stressful life or have certain psychological conditions such as ADHD, anxiety disorder, or depression.
This comes from the fact that this is the most relaxing meditating positions, when your mind tends to slip into this comfortable and secure state, similar to the one just before sleep. However, for some this can be just too soothing a state, so it’s definitely not for everyone.
More on that note, meditation lying down is a great way to deal with sleeping disorders. Giving yourself 10 min of meditation before trying to fall asleep works as warming up your muscles before a workout. Relaxing and shifting your mind from the intruding thoughts back to your mantra, your body sensations, or, better yet, nice deep breathing is what it usually takes to successfully fall asleep.
Being in full control of this shift to sleep gives your resting time the highly rejuvenating quality that you deserve. Lying down meditation posture is also something you want to try to transition your mind from the sleeping state to wakefulness. Even a couple of minutes will bring you positive energy that will empower you to face the day with a smile.
Lastly, this kind of practice might be the best, if not the only, option for you if you have long-lasting pains in your back, your legs, your shoulders, or any other part of your body. If the pain occurs only when meditating while sitting down, you may want to work with those unpleasant sensations by breathing into those areas or adjusting your position ever so slightly. But if that pain is following you unrestricted to the session times, it can be too distracting and eventually more damaging.
How to Meditate Lying Down
The best way to meditate lying down is to lay a yoga mat or a towel on the floor and assume a so-called corpse position or a savasana. Lay down on your back completely relaxed, meaning your legs are a bit spread to the sides about hip distance apart and your arms spread about a foot distance away from your hips with your palms facing the sky.
Your back must be fully aligned with the floor, trying to make a nice straight line, keeping all of the vertebrae in touch with the ground. If that feels too unpleasant for you, you can bend your knees and ground your feet fully touching the floor. It’s also a good idea to have something like a thin cushion to put under your head for better support and to keep your back straight.
As you are much more likely to doze off while meditating on your back, it’s better if you keep your eyes fully or slightly open. Focus your gaze on a blank space on your ceiling or have a decoration hanging high above you. Of course, if you meditate before falling asleep, keeping your eyes shut is not a problem.
You can start your session by tensing up all of your muscles, holding for a few breaths, and then letting go with ease. Try this for a couple more times to let your body sink in. After this, proceed with your meditation as you normally would in any other position, be it loving-kindness or mindfulness meditation, or any other practice that gives you the most joy.
