beoman Posted March 7, 2010 Hello all, When I sit in half lotus position, one of my legs (I forget if it's the top or the bottom leg) becomes numb after about 15 minutes. It takes 30s to 1min to recover once I exit the pose. Is this normal, or am I doing the pose wrong? Right now I only meditate for ~20 mins at a time, but would it be healthy to keep the leg asleep for 2 hours, for example? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joeblast Posted March 7, 2010 If its the top, then perhaps the ankle isnt up on the thigh enough - if your foot is bent too much at the ankle (i.e. too low and not up on the thigh) then too much bend there can cause this (amongst other things like strained ligaments in the foot/ankle.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beoman Posted March 7, 2010 i did notice that my ankle is bent a bit. is it supposed to be fully straight when in the pose? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted March 8, 2010 Which part of the foot is numb? The top, bottom, or entire thing? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gendao Posted March 8, 2010 When I sit in half lotus position, one of my legs (I forget if it's the top or the bottom leg) becomes numb after about 15 minutes. It takes 30s to 1min to recover once I exit the pose. Is this normal, or am I doing the pose wrong? Right now I only meditate for ~20 mins at a time, but would it be healthy to keep the leg asleep for 2 hours, for example?If your leg is falling asleep, your kua is too tight. Ideally, if your kua is open, your legs should not be under a lot of tension and falling asleep.. You may want to add some kua stretching in to help this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beoman Posted March 8, 2010 Which part of the foot is numb? The top, bottom, or entire thing? It's definitely the top foot. The whole thing becomes numb. The numbness passes within a few seconds, then it feels normal, and then I get the "pins and needles" feeling for 30 seconds or so where if I touch it at all I get very uncomfortable feelings/vibrations down the leg. I usually just lie still until it goes away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beoman Posted March 8, 2010 If your leg is falling asleep, your kua is too tight. Ideally, if your kua is open, your legs should not be under a lot of tension and falling asleep.. You may want to add some kua stretching in to help this. What is kua? I haven't heard of this term before. I'm doing the stretch identified in , the wide angle bend. I think it's the T-stretch you're talking about. I'm nowhere near touching the floor at the moment, which is why I'm not trying full lotus yet. Someone else on this forum said that their masters' legs would become purple after two hours of full lotus, and he found it normal. Is that the case, or should you have full circulation in the pose? It implied that cutting off circulation is part of the reason why it's a good pose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beoman Posted March 8, 2010 I tried the half-lotus again. This time I tried to place the top leg far up on the thigh so that the ankle would be straight. However, the only way I could do this was to rest the ankle itself on the other leg. This time both my legs became numb after about 15 minutes. Now that I paid more attention to the numbness, only my ankles and the top of my calf muscles were numb. My upper leg wasn't numb at all, and I didn't feel too much in the middle of my lower leg. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SingaporeGuyHere Posted March 8, 2010 Hello all, When I sit in half lotus position, one of my legs becomes numb after about 15 minutes. It takes 30s to 1min to recover once I exit the pose. Is this normal, or am I doing the pose wrong? Right now I only meditate for ~20 mins at a time, but would it be healthy to keep the leg asleep for 2 hours, for example? hihi...i just want to say that both events are very normal ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites