This is something I get asked quite often and it’s also something I wondered about quite a bit when I first started out.
Now we know that meditation in it’s most pure form is just being present with ourselves and nothing else around to distract us.
When you think of it like this then of course you can meditate lying down because the position you are in doesn’t affect your meditation practice.
Let me explain…
We’ve spent our entire lives training our body and mind that when we lay down it’s time to relax and go to sleep. We have ingrained this process so deeply into ourselves that it can completely derail your meditation sessions because sleeping is not meditating.
Initially this sounded like the perfect plan, lying down is so comfortable.
Very quickly I learnt that as soon as I start meditating and become relaxed I am 100% guaranteed to fall asleep losing all the great benefits of meditation.
There hasn’t been a single time I tried it where I didn’t also end up falling asleep. If this happens to you as well then ask yourself whether you should meditate in the morning or at night as that can make a huge difference.
However not all is completely lost because if I want to take a power nap I know that I can also get in a 5 – 10 minutes of meditation beforehand.
I’m not really sure if that short meditation has made much difference on my life or not but I do feel less guilty for taking a nap when I do it.
However lying down to meditate can be a great way to prevent back pain during meditation which is an issue for many people.
To meditate lying down, find somewhere comfortable, either a couch or bed and then take some deep breaths and allow yourself to fully relax. Focusing on slow, deep breaths is a great way to meditate lying on your back.
If you are just starting out then I highly recommend you try this if it sounds appealing, some people can do their meditation lying down and not fall asleep and get just as good results from it.
If you find yourself falling asleep most of the time you should stop lying down and start doing a seated meditation.
This doesn’t mean you should be uncomfortable.
I like to do my seated meditation on a really comfortable meditation cusion and place a pillow behind me and against the wall as a backrest.
I have found this to be exceptionally comfortable when doing meditation sessions of 1-2 hours and highly recommend it.
There is absolutely no wrong way to meditate other than trying to do it “right” in the first place.
That’s my personal belief anyway, as long as you are spending time in silence connecting to yourself then you are meditating.
No one can tell you how you the best way to meditate, you just have to try various different methods and techniques until you find what truly works for you.