Experiment #6: Sitting Cross-legged

This week I started taking classical Indian dance lessons at a dance academy near Gandhi Ashram. The style of dance I'm learning is called Bharatanatyam, with its name derived from the words Bhava (expression), Raga (music), Tala (rhythm), and Natya (musical theater). This is actually my second attempt at learning Bharatanatyam -- the first time was when I was five years old, and I left the class crying after 10 minutes because the instructor was stern with me. I hope this time is more successful.

During my first lesson, my teacher, Maheshwariben, instructed me to sit in aramandi. This posture involves fanning your feet outward and sitting down low with your knees bent. "Knees out more!" Maheshwariben repeated several times. I could only look at her apologetically with sweat beading on my forehead. I was too embarrassed to explain that it was physically impossible for my knees to spread any further. After a few minutes of watching me struggle, Maheshwariben got the point.

"It's because you come from the west," she explained sagely. "You sit in chair too much. If you sit with legs folded like me, you have beautiful aramandi." She then proceeded to lead me through a series of yogic exercises to improve my posture.

Maheshwariben's observation about sitting in chairs is right on point. Even in preschool, I remember sitting at a desk all day, with just a brief period each day when I would be asked to sit on the floor "Indian-style". In India, chairs and desks are reserved for special guests and the elderly. When I visit the street schools in the tekra (slum), I'm fidgeting and achy after 15 minutes of sitting on the hard concrete floor, while the children around me are comfortable and poised.

Yesterday night, I joined a fellow volunteer from MS and about ten other young people for an evening of silence and meditation. For one hour, we joined in an apartment to close our eyes and meditate together, the idea being that our joint spiritual energy would produce a more favorable environment. After thirty minutes of sitting cross-legged and meditating, I tried my hardest to block out negative thoughts from my mind, but all I could think about was the strain in my hip and my foot falling asleep.

When it comes to comfort, this position doesn't seem like the ideal way to meditate, but according to Buddhists, sitting in this "lotus position" lets the energy from your feet rise upward into the rest of your body. If that's the case, it explains why people in this country are so well balanced and have such positive energy -- the energy from the soles of their feet is strengthening their awareness of soul.

While I'm in India, I'm going to learn how to sit cross-legged. I'm going to become more flexible, both in body and mind.