Neck pain during/after seated meditation

weighted

Greetings all. I'm new here, and this is my first post!

I'm fairly new to Buddhism and my practice, including meditation. I use a zafu but I almost always - after a 20 or 30 minute seated meditation session - experience pain in the back of my neck. I suppose my neck must droop or the chin tucks in without my realizing it. This can be especially troublesome as I sometimes feel conscious of the pain beginning, and then shift my neck and lose focus on the breath.

I've read that some physical discomfort when beginning meditation is normal, as our bodies aren't used to being still for long periods of time.

Do you think that's the case here, or does anyone have any recommendations for reducing neck pain during seated meditation?

Zero

Maintaining good posture is good - you should try to practice this even when not meditating - if you have bad posture daily, your muscles may already be under strain which is compunded (or manifests) when you sit still...

Flexibility is also good - something like yoga or regular stretches can help.

You may also have a weak back - our bodies are weighted towards the front and especially if you have a little (or large) belly and / or you do front body exercise such as pressups etc and not enough back exercises then this can lead to stronger front muscles which pull against your back (esp neck muscles) and cause you to slouch - good exercises are deadlifts, bent over rows, lat pulldowns etc (check out any weights website under 'back')

All assuming you dont have an existing back injury...

weighted

Thanks @Zero. I should have mentioned that I am physically very fit and practice yoga daily, so I don't think this is an issue of being weighted more heavily on the front or back of my body - at least I assume not.

I also have no existing back injury, but I often do find that by the end of the day my neck feels pressurized: I suppose it may be the place in my body where I carry the stress of every day life, and this is just manifesting itself when I'm sitting still in meditation?

federica

believe it or not, a lot of neck pain is due to our unconscious habit of scrunching our shoulders up.... lifting them towards the ears, even mildly.... I just had to relax mine now, in front of my laptop!

weighted

@federica, you're right: I think so many of us tend to carry stress and tension in our shoulders and necks!

Spaceless

As you often yoga daily, it shouldnt experiencing neck pain. it should be bad karmic reacting to your meritocratic path of seated meditation to pursue buddha enlightenment

person

It may just be your body needing to build up some endurance in those muscles if you are new. Or it could be like @federica said, holding stress in that area. Here's a good website that covers the ins and outs of proper meditation posture, maybe there's something there that can help.

http://www.wildmind.org/posture

seeking

I had troubles with neck and back pain as well when I first started meditating. For me simply using a crescent shaped zafu cushion was the biggest help. I was able to find a comfortable solid posture that way thus being less distracted.

weighted

@person Thanks for the link!

@seeking Did you try a regular zafu first, before realizing the crescent-shaped one was best suited for you? I wonder if trying a crescent-shaped one instead of the regular zafu I have would help me maintain better posture and alleviate the neck issues.