[Advaita-l] Sukhasana question

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 8 Sep 2018, Kartik Vashishta via Advaita-l wrote:

> I am only able to sit for prayers in Sukhasana, cannot do sarvangasana
> which is a panacea for blood flow.
>
> After about 45 mins -to 1 hr my legs go to sleep (numbness) while in
> Sukhasana, while the mind can still pray, the sleeping legs are a stopping
> factor, I have to get up from my prayers and give the legs some rest and
> then begin again.
>
> Is there some remedy to stop the legs from falling asleep, some old wives
> tale" or
> "Gharelu Nuska".
>
> Will the time period to sit in Sukhasana gradually increase by itself?
>
> Any advise, help will be appreciated. Thank you.
>

I sympathize with you.  During Shravana Masa I have been doing abhisheka 
for 3-4 hours and it is hell on my legs.

>From what I understand, increased flexibility (perhaps by practising yoga) 
can help somewhat.  Also if you are overweight you are more susceptible so 
losing weight could help and it is a good idea for other reasons anyway. 
But basically some people can manage to sit a long time and others cannot 
and if you are in the second camp like me there is no complete cure. 
What I do is to sit on a cushion (nothing fancy just a cushion.)  Or you 
can use a stool or some other seat.  As long as there is no disrespect to 
the Deities I see nothing wrong with it.  Also I get up from time to time 
when the vidhi krama allows it.  Again I don't see anything wrong with it.

Remember the point of any sadhana is to place yourself in the proper 
frame of mind.  If you are uncomfortable and disturbed, it is 
counterproductive and defeats the whole purpose.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>