Squatting Meditation

At this time and stage of life, it is increasingly being recognized that the major themes involved in optimizing health and well-being, are lifestyle, diet and exercise -- all resulting in a greater integration with one another.  Improving lifestyle, boils down to increasing mindfulness (meditation) -- but not apart from the doing of anything else.  It is most valuable and productive, when that mindfulness is integral to the doing of anything -- and everything for that matter.

Then life is not this constant struggle against oneself -- but all the parts, are moving in unity and unison.  Then the parts magnify each other with greater synergies and effectiveness -- resulting in the more productive life.

That is the knock against yoga and other traditional forms of exercise (practice) -- because doing it, is exclusive of doing anything else -- and the real power of any exercise, is the doing of it -- and not something else.  One becomes very good at doing what one actually does -- and not something else.  That's why it is less useful to run a marathon -- when really, one wants to solve another problem -- and would benefit more, with that focus and presence of mind.

To do otherwise, is actually to become more scattered (fragmented) -- and obviously, less focused and effective.  Yet that is usually what we condition ourselves to do.  That's why it will be noted among the most astute and observant, that there is no substitute, for actually playing the game.  No amount of mental projection or visualization of the desirable outcome, suffices for the actual doing.

This fragmentation -- of practice from reality -- causes us to do something else entirely -- than that we really want to become good at.  In fact, we might do everything else -- but what we directly want to do.  And that is a huge problem in our education and conditioning programs -- they never address the challenges and problems of our actual lives and living -- and we have no idea what to do about that.  Because instea of actually solving the real problem, we do something else entirely -- and observe, mindlessly, that we're too busy doing something else, than what would be most productive and necessary at that moment.

Life endlessly gets put on "hold" in that way, so at the end of the day, or at the end of life, one feels they have not lived or done anything -- they actually wanted to do -- even as much as they have done, instead of it.  So constantly, they live in that feeling, of never having lived their own authentic lives -- but only something illusory.  Then towards the end of life, they become hopelessly delusional -- but most think it is normal for them.  That -- they explain, is the normal process of aging -- after living a life that way.  What else would one expect?

So one asks, what is the best way to achieve and practice that mindfulness -- by which we learn to do everything that way?  It is rather simple -- but difficult, if not impossible for many -- and that is simply sitting in a flat-footed squat position -- as many elderly, indigenous people do -- while conducting and performing many of their daily activities with that proficiency.  Yet in modern, contemporary culture, that is frequently the dividing line between the most able, and those we regard as disabled -- by this inability to get up and down frequently, easily and painlessly in that position.

This is visibly seen in those who occupy one position throughout most of the day -- whether that is lying, sitting, or standing.  Their difficulty, is moving into any other position.  Thus, change becomes a very difficult, if not nearly impossible, concept to entertain.  And in this manner, they become increasingly divorced from the movement and vitality of life in all its activities, and the world seems to pass them by.

The sitting squat should be one's mantra -- practiced to one's end -- as the greatest indicator of one's continued vitality.  It seem like such a simple thing -- because it is -- but for many, seemingly impossible to execute -- even if they can run marathons and lift more than their bodyweight.

How to regain those capabilities -- one thought was lost forever?  The best exercise for doing so, is to master the squat -- which for many older and disabled -- seems impossible to entertain, but it is far more valuable and productive to practice -- than any other exercise, or movement.  Getting up and down, is worth far more than going any distance, at any speed.

The practice of yoga, is largely the mastering of individual poses and positions, and even the flow from one to another, but one position not suggested, is just the full squat -- as the king of all postures.  Bodybuilders and weightlifters get into and out of this position as quickly as possible -- while the real power of it, is sitting and relaxing in the full squat for as long as possible -- and improving the range of that posture -- by relaxing even more.  Thus the better objective is not to discover how much weight one can "squat" with, but finding out how relaxed one can get into that position -- that restores the best alignment of the muscle and skeletal structures that misaligned, cause so much joint pain increasingly without such practice and maintenance.

How to begin:  No matter what one's present capabilities in this manner of performance is, the best way to begin is to squat (bend one's knees) as low as comfortably possible while holding the back of a sturdy chair (supportive structure).  Then practice moving lower until one has reached the absolute bottom position -- and rest in that position increasingly longer.  Shortly, probably within a month for most, one will achieve the low position -- previously thought impossible starting out.  And from there, one can simply relax into a meditation -- or mindfulness, of anything else one wants to contemplate.

Getting in and out of that position should be made as easy as possible -- and not as difficult as possible -- as people are conditioned to do everything -- until ultimately, they fail completely.