Why you should not cross your legs while meditating

Wonderful meditation-class with this zen buddhism Priest in the Shunkoin Temple in Kyoto. Sitting on the floor, crossing our legs, waiting for the Priest to arrive - he surprised us all by commenting on our crossed legs.

"Why do we cross our legs when we meditate?" he asked, then quickly got into a thought-spiral about why we do things the way we do it, and why we have so many certain and locked ideas of what is "normal" and "common sense".



So, his message was partly; always ask why you believe something is normal? Is there ever any such thing as normal behavior or normal thought? You probably have those ideas from where you grew up, or something someone told you, or some picture you have in your head based on nothing but stories.



"Sit how is comfortable, not how you think you are supposed to sit, when meditating", he said.



And I guess that goes for life as well; do what feels good and what is good for yourself and others. There is no point in sitting in a really uncomfortable position while your legs fall asleep.