What kinds of postural changes came from practice?

Right now I'm in a practice phase with the back left of my neck hurting a lot, and it's got me thinking about other postural things I have. On the retreat I had last April my posture found a really, really easy and clear orientation that I'm hoping will come back.

So I thought I would ask you guys what your experience has been with practice and posture.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, when I first started sitting practice (Zen style) I was pretty hung up on posture and particularly sitting in lotus (there is a great piece which discusses how padmasana is basically impossible without damage and why we want to do it anyway here ). I gave up on this after a while and started sitting easy posture on a cushion (I had to get a special forward-sloping cushion) but still eventually after doing enough retreats and combining this with walking meditation in small spaces I injured one knee, which is still a little dicky a few years later. These days I use a kneeling stool.

Now I don't try to hold still in meditation, though I think this was a really useful thing to do early on - usually I find my body rocking back and forth. I notice whether the sit bones are on the stool, and whether the lower back is collapsed or straight (trying not to value one over the other). Recently I realised how much i still have in my head the idea that there is some kind of posture that's perfection-stasis and I'm still looking for it and then will stay still in it - rather than realising that movement is precisely where everything is at.

I never really had anything related to my posture that seemed to be related to other aspects of my meditation though (like how some people say that certain pains or body tensions or whatever are characteristic of particular stages). Except in the very broadest sense that these things are never separate as such.

Mindfulness of posture and movement along with breathing was a big thing for me (for a year or so, consistently) before I started formally sitting regularly and I still find it a helpful anchor for mindfulness in daily life. Generally when walking around, sitting at the computer at work, jogging, playing music or doing chores I now default to mindfulness of posture, alignment, movement and breathing as an integrated dynamic field and it's the same when I sit. My baseline posture is much better now then before I made attentiveness to movement/posture/breathing a moment to moment practice and I have way less physical issues in general and apparently have 'grown' half an inch!

basicaly the principle for me is by bringing non-judgmental open attentiveness to (whatever-- posture, breath, mindstate) that phenomena naturally optimizes, it's inherant inteligence can self-organize better. So rather than intentionally setting out to change or adjust certain things I tend to let adjustments arise spontaneously in the light of relaxed, alert and friendly attention.

That's neat. I am curious about it just so I can have something to look forward to in the back of my mind.

Last week I had a moment where I was walking somewhere and all of a sudden I encountered severe back pain which lasted for 5 minutes or so, and as I was staying with it, miraculously my back adjusted itself and I felt more centered than I almost ever feel. My walking was easy, even though there was pain present. Then for the next few days up until yesterday I've had moderate back pain, but the ease of posture has gone away. It has something to do with holding my right hip square and also something to do with the right side of the back.

interesting! it's amazing all the things that are going on in our bodies and minds which aren't always conscious, and it's fascinating to me how simply bringing consciousness to these things can shift them in sometimes very unpredictable ways!