Since I started doing sitting meditation one of my legs (or both) would inevitably fall asleep and for the most part the sitting would evolve around staying with those sensations in the body. I know it is not harmful for my health and would probably pass with time so I just accepted it as something I could sit with and even learnt to appreciate as those sensations in the body helped me stay connected to it and the breath. With time those sensations built a background for my sitting, something I sort of knew would be there and I guess I started identify the sittings with.
Doing some yoga practice right before the sitting has proved to be very successful in helping me get grounded in the body and those sensations in the legs suddenly disappeared altogether. Now the body feels alert yet relaxed and pleasantly warmed up. However, I soon discovered that when the body is more comfortable the mind is more likely to wonder away and engage in daydreaming and I have to apply more effort to sustain concentration.
I find myself wishing one condition away in preference of the other only to find out that the latter is not at all as I imagined it to be.
Friend, please tell me what I can do about this world
I hold to, and keep spinning out!
I gave up sewn clothes, and wore a robe,
but I noticed one day the cloth was well woven.
So I bought some burlup, but I still
throw it elegantly over my left shoulder.
I pulled back my sexual longings,
and now I discovere that I’m angry a lot.
I gave up rage, and now I notice
that I am greedy all day.
I worked har at dissolving the greed,
and now I am proud of myself.
When the mind wants to break its link with the world
it still holds on to one thing.
Kabir says: Listen my friend,
there are very few that find the path!
From Ecstatic poems by Kabir, versions by Robert Bly
