My knees hurt when I sit. Should I push through the pain?
No. Pushing through knee pain isn't practice, it's stubbornness, and knees don't forgive easily. But look closely at what you call pain. There's the dull ache of a body not used to stillness, and there's the sharp, twisting signal of a joint being harmed. The first you can sit with, breathe into, watch rise and fade. The second you listen to, and you change position without shame. Nobody gets awake by ruining their knees. A chair is a fine place to sit. So is a bench, or a cushion piled higher. So in your next sitting, before you begin, raise your seat until your knees are lower than your hips. Then sit, and when discomfort comes, look at it for three breaths before deciding anything.
This was one stranger’s question. In the app, you sit, say what is actually going on, and the teacher answers you, in a voice, privately. The first dokusan is free.
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