Guest Post by Esther Gokhale
Author, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back

Whether in Zazen or Valley Zen, sitting is very much a part of our lives. In Zen sitting, each muscle, bone and ligament has a natural place. The design of the skeleton, the end product of millennia of collaboration between gravity and structure, has a natural balance and harmony. When we restore that balance, the result is stillness and flow. No part of the body is pinched or pulled, no part signals the brain that it needs to shift, toss, turn, tighten or be protected. Structure informs function. Blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid and Qi circulate unimpeded. A myriad accumulated injuries and rogue events sort themselves out spontaneously.

If this is not the way you currently sit…