How you can be seated in a

beneficial position on a chair (6)

1 Chapter 1 describes how to practice simple yoga when you’re seated on a chair with your feet supported on the floor like when you’re standing. This chapter provides detailed information about some aspects of being seated on a chair.
 
 The method of simple yoga is founded on the principle that every cross-legged position that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably in your present physical condition supports and improves your body thoroughly.  The method is applied here to being seated on a chair as much as the method can be applied to a position that’s not cross-legged. To experience a reliably beneficial position of your body when you're seated on a chair you need to be seated on the chair because you cannot sit cross-legged comfortably in your present physical condition or due to circumstances of your external environment.

A position seated on a chair is not sufficiently integrated that you can benefit from the position itself by maintaining the position still. A rudimentary seated position on a firm, flat support with your legs extended straight outward in front of your hips and a cross-legged position that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably in your present physical condition are the only positions that are described in this text that are sufficiently integrated that they can be reliably beneficial to maintain still as long as your breathing is free and the position is comfortable.

Some influences that might not interfere with the beneficial motion and rest of energy in your body when you’re moving can disrupt, block or spend the energy in your body while you remain seated still. Experiencing energy, effort, tiring and rest in the muscles that support your body upright while you remain seated still to benefit from the position of your body is described in Chapter 3.

Every position of remaining seated still that’s as near to a completely developed cross-legged position as you can experience comfortably in your present physical condition supports and improves your body thoroughly.

2 The natural condition of your weight being supported by your backbone and supported also by the effort of the muscles that adjoin your backbone when you’re walking and standing is replaced by a condition of most of your weight being supported by your backbone and much less of your weight being supported by the effort of the muscles that adjoin your backbone when you’re seated on a chair. You might feel like you’re supporting your backbone upright nearly effortlessly for a while when you’re seated on a chair but your backbone will become rigid and your position will become uncomfortable or numb.

The benefit of sitting on a chair is that your legs can rest from supporting all of your weight when you have only a short time to rest or when you cannot sit any other way at that time or place. You might be wearing clothing that’s too tight around your knees for you to be seated cross-legged. Any cloth pressed in the fold of your knees interferes with circulation.

3 Support your posterior (hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips) firmly directly beneath your hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips.  A concave (cup shaped) seat beneath your posterior, even a shallow cup shaped seat, presses the lowest level of your backbone forward harmfully and presses the ends of your thighs at your hips inward harmfully. You can place a low pile of folded natural fiber cloth on the support to raise the height of the support that will be directly beneath your hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips. Don't sit on the front edge of a chair because you might fall from the edge and suffer injury.

The support beneath your posterior and beneath your feet should be firm.  The seat beneath your posterior and the support beneath your feet should not contain even a thin layer of rubber, elastic or foam. Don't avoidably be seated on a chair that contains springs or sponge nor avoidably support your feet on a rug or mat that contains even a thin elastic layer. A mat made entirely of thin strips of dry grass woven together intended for covering a floor is available in some large stores. One or more of those mats provide good support.

Natural fiber cloth condenses to become a firm and comfortable support. Folded natural fiber cloth such as an ordinary cotton bath towel is not springy or spongy. Most synthetic fabrics and cushions don’t become firm when they’re condensed. The importance of using natural fiber cloth to provide firm and comfortable support beneath your body is described in Chapter 3.

The support beneath your posterior should be high enough so that your posterior is elevated higher than your knees if possible.  If the support beneath your posterior is too low you can raise the height of the support by placing a firm cushion or a low pile of folded natural fiber cloth on the surface of the chair. Don't support your posterior much higher than your knees.

Your hips should be level one side with the other as well as the support beneath your posterior allows.  The support beneath your posterior should be level (horizontal) although you can support your body beneficially when the support beneath your posterior is not level. If the support beneath your posterior is far from level, your hips will be far from level one side with the other and your backbone will curve toward one side. You can make the support more level by adding some layers of folded natural fiber cloth onto the lower side of the support.

Don’t press any level of your backbone forward with a cushion between your backbone and the backrest of a chair nor press the sides of your hips inward with cushions or folded cloth wedges beside them. The back of your body should be free from any pressure from the backrest of a chair or a cushion behind it and the sides of your hips should be free from any pressure from the sides of a chair or cushions beside them.

4 To maintain a beneficial position of your body when you’re seated on a chair both of your feet should be supported on the floor like when you’re standing, if possible.

Your ankles should be located directly below your knees, your legs should be vertical between your knees and ankles. Your ankles can be located forward farther than your knees if that holds your legs more firmly. Your legs might be more stable when your knees are located a small distance farther apart than your feet, or when one foot is located a small distance farther from your body or pointed farther toward the side. The positions of your legs should be stable and comfortable.

The support beneath both of your legs and feet should be firm.  If your feet are supported on a rug or mat, the rug or mat should be composed of natural fibers and should be firm, not springy or spongy. The rug or mat beneath your feet should not contain even a thin elastic layer.

If your chair is so high that your feet cannot reach the floor you can place enough layers of cardboard on the floor to raise the level of the support beneath your feet high enough to support your feet firmly. One or several layers of cardboard placed one on top of the other beneath your body condense beneath your weight as well as a rug or mat made of natural fibers that you might obtain from a store.

If your chair is so low that you cannot support your feet on the floor like when you’re standing, you need to support your posterior (hips and the ends of your thighs at your hips) firmly, and also support the lower sides of the ends of your thighs at your knees firmly on the surface of the front of the chair, and support your feet and ankles firmly. When the positions of your shins cannot be vertical you need to support the lower sides of your ankles firmly and comfortably. Your ankles should not bend sideways, not even minutely, or the unnatural strain will cause your feet and ankles to become uncomfortable or numb, and in time the joints of your ankles will sprain.

Your knees should be located apart far enough to maintain a stable position. Your knees should be located apart far enough so that your position is held in place as securely as possible by the muscles at the sides of your body. If your knees are not located apart far enough when you’re seated on a chair your position won’t be held in place securely by the muscles at the sides of your body and you’ll tend to fall toward one side.

Your knees should not be located too far apart. If your knees are located too far apart then many of the muscles that support your thighs, hips and backbone ordinarily won't support your position and the muscles that support your position will become tired soon.

5 You need to support your knees firmly in all of the positions for remaining seated still that are described in this text. When you’re seated on a chair as described here your knees are supported firmly because your feet are supported directly beneath your knees on the floor like when you’re standing. When your chair is so low that you cannot support your feet directly on the floor like when you’re standing, you need to support the ends of your thighs at your knees firmly on the front of the chair to support your knees firmly.

Don’t sit cross-legged on a chair. Sitting cross-legged on a chair does not support your knees. The discomfort and harm of remaining seated still in a cross-legged position without supporting your knees is described in Chapter 5.

6 Be seated on a chair that has a strong backrest to protect you if you fall backward accidentally. Don’t avoidably remain seated for a long time on a chair that does not have a strong backrest.

The backrest of a chair does not support any of your weight when you lean on it. The backrest of a chair provides a firm surface behind your body that you can lean on, but all of your weight is still supported beneath your posterior and feet when you lean on a backrest. Less of the muscles that exert effort to support your position upright when you’re seated on a chair exert effort to support your position upright when you lean on a backrest. When you lean on a backrest the pressure between your vertebrae increases and any excessive curves there might be in your backbone worsen.

7 Supporting your arms on the arm rests of a chair does not help to stand your backbone upright, although supporting your arms on the arm rests of a chair can help to support some of the weight of your shoulders and arms while you’re leaning on a backrest. Supporting your arms on the arm rests of a chair causes any excessive curves there might be in your backbone to worsen, and the excessive pressure between your vertebrae caused by sitting on a chair increases when you support your arms on the arm rest of the chair.

8 Don’t remain seated still leaning backward when you’re not leaning on a backrest because that will cause excessive tensions in your abdomen and chest. Remaining seated still leaning backward even slightly is harmful. The harmful effects of remaining seated still leaning backward are described in Chapter 5.

9 The benefit of leaning on the backrest of a chair is that your legs, hips and many of the muscles that support your body upright can rest while you lean on the backrest.

Leaning on a backrest for more than a short time causes tensions in the muscles that support your body and in your abdomen and chest.

You can prolong a session of remaining seated on a chair by leaning on a backrest for a while and then standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly again.

Don’t lean on the backrest of a chair if you don’t need to lean on the backrest.  It’s more beneficial to move or recline and rest completely if you can than to lean on the backrest of a chair.

10 When you lean on the backrest of a chair, lean your back a short distance below your shoulder blades on the backrest. Don’t lean a lower level of your back on the backrest.

Don’t lean a higher level of your back on a backrest than you need.

You can also lean your shoulders and the lowest vertebrae of your neck on the backrest. You need to lean your back a few inches below your shoulder blades on the backrest first, and continue leaning your back a few inches below your shoulder blades on the backrest while you lean your shoulders and the lowest vertebrae of your neck on the backrest.

Don’t lean your shoulders and the lowest vertebrae of your neck on a backrest, unless you lean your back a short distance below the level of your shoulder blades on the backrest at the same time.  If you lean your shoulders and the lowest vertebrae of your neck on a backrest when you’re not leaning your back a short distance below the level of your shoulder blades on the backrest at the same time, that will cause excessive pressure to develop between the vertebrae in the inward curves of your backbone and will cause accumulating tensions to develop in your abdomen and chest.

Lean backward on a backrest with the smallest pressure that you need.

After you have leaned the levels of your back on the backrest that you want to lean, stand the higher levels of your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly as well as you can. Don’t lean your head on a backrest, not even for a short time, unless the backrest extends high enough and forward far enough so that you can lean both of the lower levels of your back on the backrest as described previously –while you’re leaning your head on the backrest.

Don’t lean on a backrest any longer than you need. Leaning on a backrest longer than you need will cause excessive pressure between your vertebrae and tensions in your abdomen and chest.

11 To experience a reliably beneficial position of your body when you’re seated on a chair, you need to stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward far enough to press the ends of your thighs at your knees downward, whether spontaneously or by deciding to do it and then standing your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward slightly.

You cannot stand your backbone upright and curved or leaned forward at the same time that you’re leaning on the backrest of a chair.

You can experience a beneficial position of your body for a relatively short time when you’re seated on a chair because the muscles that support your body upright will become tired soon, then your position won’t be beneficial any longer.

12 To verify that the upright position of your backbone is beneficial, contract the muscles of your abdomen inward to exhale – Exhale thoroughly by contracting the muscles of your abdomen inward by their own strength. Don't contract the muscles of your abdomen inward by pressing your abdomen with your hands.

Then relax the muscles of your abdomen to inhale effortlessly.

If the following inhalation is effortless you can be confident that the upright position of your backbone is beneficial. When you cannot contract the muscles of your abdomen inward to exhale so that the following inhalation will be effortless you should improve your position or rest. This is described in Chapter 1 and described in detail in Chapter 8.

You can maintain a beneficial position seated on a chair even when you can maintain your position comfortably for only a few cycles of inhaling and exhaling your breathing. You don't need to remain seated still for a long time to experience the benefits of an integrated position of your body. Even a moment of experiencing the best position of your body that you can is beneficial.

You can improve your comfort, energy and awareness during many experiences when you maintain a beneficial position seated on a chair.

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Kneeling (7)