Dignity

[lavina]

From "Wherever you go, there you are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn

When we describe the sitting posture, the word that feels the most appropriate is "dignity".

Sitting down to meditate, our posture talks to us. It makes its own statement. You might say the posture itself is the meditation ... When I use the word "dignity" in teaching situations, as in "Sit in a way that embodies dignity," everybody immediately adjusts their posture to sit up straighter. But they don't stiffen. Faces relax, shoulders drop, head, neck and back come into easy alignment. The spine rises out of the pelvis with energy. ... Everybody seems to instantly know that inner feeling of dignity and how to embody it.

Perhaps we just need little reminders from time to time that we are already dignified, deserving, worthy. Sometimes we don't feel that way because of the wounds and the scars we carry from the past or because of the uncertainty of the future. It is doubtful that we came to feel undeserving on our own. We were helped to feel unworthy. We were taught it in a thousand ways when we were little, and we learned our lessons well.

So, when we take our seat in meditation and remind ourselves to sit with dignity, we are coming back to our original worthiness. That in itself is quite a statement. ...

[Nichole]

That is really lovely.
Thank you for sharing this, and everything you share, with us Lavina.

With love,
Nichole