Hi, When I meditate, and focus on my outer body and on my inner body, I feel as if I’m positioned crooked in my physical body. I always feel as if I’m sitting turned to my right but my physical body is facing straight ahead.
I’m practicing Kundalini yoga, is there any thing I can do to feel more aligned and forward facing, or should I not worry about it. It just seems to feel uncomfortable, like wearing crooked sunglasses.
Thanks ,
Sat Nam,
OMG! ME TOO! I’ve asked this question before myself. I feel like I am bending left though during savasana. My only explanation has been that I have loosened things up on that side.
Happy to be not alone!
You too Nicci? To what do you attribute that feeling in your body?
I had always attributed it to an inner imbalance as well as the challenge for me to relax into the pose. I mostly feel this in savasana. I try adjusting my body slightly while in the pose but I never [U]feel [/U]completely balanced with all the right points in touch with the Earth. I have read that this is actually one of the challenges of the pose!
In Leslie Kaminoff’s book, “Yoga Anatomy”, he writes:
"The corpse pose is said to be the easiest asana to perform, but the hardest to master. Whatever gymnastic demands the other asanas may make to your balance, strength, or flexibility, the challenge of completely releasing the tension from every part of the body and mind is perhaps the greatest test of the yogi.
Many people never fully relax in savasana because of an obsession with arranging the body in perfectly symmetrical shape, which they verify visually, but which conflicts with the body’s kinesthetic feedback. In other words, what [I]looks[/I] symmetrical is not what [I]feels[/I] symmetrical.
Because all human bodies are inherently asymmetrical, a certain amount of surrender to this fact is necessary to achieve a deep state of emotional, as well as physical, relaxation. To fully relax, you must accept your body as it is, not as you wish it to be."
Namaste Ladies,
You are not alone in your experience. I experience a pressing feeling usually in my left side during meditation, but it is not all the time and only occurs at a certain point. It really feels as if someone or something is pressing on my left shoulder, forcing my left side down into the ground. Initially I have found this to be distrubing to my meditation, but have learned over time that it is usually a marker for me that greater dettachment from my physical environment and the body would occur shortly afterwards.
I once read about an experiment scientist did with a few meditators using SPECT photography. It is basically a way of photographing the transcendent experience. They found that the prefrontal cortex, seat of attention, lit up. But it was an area that showed great inactivity that draw their attention. Neurons in the superior parietal lobe, toward the top and back of the brain, had gone dark. This region apparently processes information about space and time and the orientation of your body in space.
It determines where the body ends and where the rest of your would starts. The left orientation area creates the sensation of a physically delimited body and the right orientation area creates the sense of the physical space we occupy. This orientation ares needs sensory input to determine this, therefore if you block the sensory input to this area as you would during an intense meditation or relaxation, you prevent the brain from forming a distinction between the Self and the ego. Therefore the brain has no option but to perceive you as endless and interwoven with all creating this feeling of a crooked body perhaps.
Hope this helps a little, can’t remember everything I have read, but it made sense to me.
Actually both of those posts resonate for me. I have begun to notice that the feeling of being “bent” or asymmetrical often occurs just before I “let go” of myself and surrender completely. For some long while it would draw my attention so much I would be unable to fully relax, but its been happening for so long now I just accept it as part of my practice. I still wonder about it though.
I feel this in some poses and have always attributed it to some inbalance in my emotional state at the time. My instructor has told me when I question her that she has observed no physical misalignment in my positioning. I am fascinated at the similarities of human experience that we discover by sharing with each other.
The seat of the spirit is the belly (The Dan Tian in Taoist Tai Chi)
Your spirit is, however, formless in relation to the body. It takes its form from the body, not vice versa.
We are so dependent on physicality that for us everything must have shape, must have clearly defined borders.
That is not to say that your spirit apart from the body lacks definition, or that without the body, the spirit reduces to mush, but spirit is multi-dimensional, so its form and definition is difficult to comprehend by us human beings who try to define things by physical understanding.
Thus, the idea that your spirit is the shape of your body is spiritually childish. I do not mean that offensively, I am simply speaking true.
The way the spirit works, it is connected to the body by the Dan Tian, and six other lesser Chi-nodes which draw Chi from it. (Together these are the seven Chakras)
The reason that Zen meditation puts emphasis on contemplating the navel (Dan Tian) is that it is the spirit centre.
Like a string of lights, you can lay the string in any shape you want, and even make words out of the lights, but the electricity only flows along the path laid for it, but does not have the shape of its path by itself.
A river takes the shape of its flow (the path of least resistance or the lowest way) but it is liquid.
In the same way, the spirit seems to conform to the shape of the body through Chi, BECAUSE Chi flows through the body.
**
Now that I have said that…
No person is perfectly symmetrical. You will be left or right handed. You will be left or right footed (your stronger hand and stronger foot may or may not be on the same side of your body.)
One side of your body is more developed than the other, and this reflects in Chi flow. One side of your Chi flows weaker than the other.
This can create the impression of inner atrophy, or inner twisting.
It does not mean that your spirit is not aligned properly or that you have any problem with your Chi.
The person who has symmetrical Chi will be ambidexterous, and probably use both sides of his brain equally. It is extremely rare for this to happen.
So, really, you are feeling exactly what you should be feeling. It is normal to have a yin side and a yang side.
(People who do Martial Arts typically report their Chi-balance seems to shift towards centre, because in their art they are developing both sides of their body to equal strength and proficiency.)
Oh slythyr, what a beautiful description. Thank you.
Thanks for this great explanation, Slythr.
I have been thinking about trying Martial Arts as my next endeavor. My 3 and a half year-old son does yoga with me and also does Martial Arts. He inspires me. I long for his flexibilty and his high level of energy.
I’ve felt this same sensation and emailed my guru, a man who spent 25 years as a monk, extended periods in hermitage, and is in my opinion enlightened. His answer:
I and others have had this same sensation of feeling crooked inside.
I am not sure what it comes from. I believe there is both an anatomical
and energetic cause for this distortion. I have often corrected this
through imaging my chakras opening and my energy flowing towards the crown
chakra. I think however, that each person has to figure out how to correct
this distortion. I believe however, it is a very refined sense of self and
therefore requires a more refined sensitivity to correct it. It might just
be the universal energy inviting us to be more sensitive than we usually
are.
I hope that helps someone. I know it has helped me 