full vs half lotus

[0range]

i'd love to be able to do full lotus, but not yet. in time though, i will.
from what i read this position offers the best balance

[Astral1t1]

For those who achieved full lotus position can you tell me how to stretch my legs properly? I googled something but it's not very well described. Also found this book Becoming the Lotus: How to Achieve the Full Lotus Posture, but have no money to order it...if someone have it in electronic form I will be much appreciate that.

[darron]

i do stretches ive learned throughout my teachings in martial arts, so try looking in that area.

[Seeuzin]

I noticed something the other day that might pertain to your question. I was getting an influx of good energy from the universe through my crown, but it was draining right down my arms and out of my palms. So to stop this, I grabbed my own arms, so that my palms were flat against my forearms. I immediately noticed an increase in retention of the universe energy.

I can't sit in full lotus, so I'm not sure, actually, but I imagine that sitting with your feet against your own legs, with the soles not touching the floor, might have a similar effect for retention. I don't think it's necessarily good to be retaining energy in this way all the time, though; humans function better as conduits than as batteries. But it definitely seems like it could have its uses. Just some conjecture on my part.

[Craft]

I've been practicing ZaZen meditation for about a month now, and immediately I jumped into using the half-lotus position (I have a buckwheat Zafu and Zabuton, the round cushion placed on top of the big flat square pillow) while gradually working my way up from a fifteen minute meditation to a thirty minute meditation. Recently, due to the thirty minute meditations, the half-lotus position has, uh...slightly damaged my legs. At first, since my left leg is far less flexible than my right for some reason, I worked with the left leg up more often. Now, I get knee pains in my left leg whenever I bend it all the way, regardless of whether or not I'm actually in the half-lotus. After my left leg got bad, I've switched to my right leg (to give the left as long of a break as it needs), which is still healthy (and was better in the first place, so that might have something to do with it). I find that half-lotus is much more balanced for me than Burmese, or cross legged meditation, but again it could just be because I have gotten used to it. To practice with your flexibility to achieve full lotus (which I plan on arriving at eventually), use the "butterfly" stretch. For some very odd reason, though, the longer I practice the butterfly stretch the harder it gets to do the same action, and the less flexible I get...I figure I'll work through it eventually though, and have decided to work extra slowly to get to where I need to go. During my butterfly stretch, I'm usually able to press my heels very close to my base, bring my knees down as close to the floor as they go, and drop my chin to my toes and hold it there. I was able to put my chin to the floor in front of my feet and hold it for half a minute a week ago, but no longer. :cry:
Anyways, I've been told that full-lotus is the most balanced of all the sitting poses, and clears out your energy pathways the best. After enough daily practice, your legs stop falling asleep (normally they'll fall asleep at almost exactly 20 minutes, but I've noticed that my right leg now is getting less and less asleep-sensations as I continue)