The lie down is a homework instruction given to students in the AT. It's a truly wonderful thing and I think Zen students should consider doing them also.
I'm not sure if there is a point at which the lie down is not still recommended. But I can say that my AT teacher, with many years experience running a teacher training program, still does it regularly.
Physically, it is pretty straight forward. Lie on your back with a paperback book under your head. A firm surface is best, padded enough not to be uncomfortable but firm enough to provide clear feedback. I use a yoga mat or a carpeted floor. Knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Eyes open so that I can see some of my body.
From there, I can have read a variety of instructions. Robert Richover has an interview podcast with a teacher who gives what sounds like a guided meditation.
It has also been recommended to me that I run through the basic directions: "Let the neck be free to let the head go forward and up, let the torso lengthen and widen, let the knees go forward and away, release the ankles to let the heals drop."
I've also heard a recommendation to release any tension or holding that might be found. I've tried that but I always get confused and tired after a while. I end up asking questions such as "Is this really tension?" "How do I get rid of it?" "What is so bad about tension anyway?" "Can I really trust what my opinions are of what I'm feeling?" But my real problem with trying to relax some part of me is that another tension inevitably pops up. Smack down one and another pops up somewhere else. But truly, I have very little insight. Perhaps I'm too lazy to try to relax. Maybe I'm just too old to bother, and I don't even have enough self respect to care. Oh well...
Here is what I do. I start with inhibiting of any end-gaining. And then I recite the directions as above. But then I focus on trying not to do anything. And if I think I've managed to do that then I try not to do that either. But to say I don't do anything is not quite accurate. I'm not doing much, and it may be easy for you, but it seems a bit tricky to me.
I'm not sure how often to do the lie downs, I do this once or twice a day. I've heard that it is important that it be done twice a day. But if you don't have time to do it two times a day, if you are simply too busy, then you must do it three times a day. It seems to work best if I do it before I do something, because if I try to do a lie down after I do something else I end up not doing the lie down at all.
I love the lie down. The more I do it the more I like it. You would think that since I'm lying flat on the floor, totally supported, that there would be no muscle tension at all. Just some effort, now and then, to breath. But there are all kinds of odd things going on. I don't really trust my ideas about what those sensations mean, but it feels like muscles tightening and relaxing. Mostly in my shoulders and back and neck. A lot of the sensations produce a stimulus to do something, in particular to relax. So it's really fun to try just to watch the sensations and to watch the impulse to do something. They come and go and never seem to last very long. After a while there is the sensation of "ownership" or "investment" in my body as a whole. A few times it has felt as if my body was flattening out over the whole floor. In any event, I think the whole lie down thing is fun.
At first, there is often a recurrent thought that "Is it time to get up yet? Isn't that enough?" Sometimes I just get up spontaneously. Mostly, I try to not get up until I don't care any more. Soon after the idea that I could lie here forever pops into my mind, I get the idea that this would be a nice time to take a nap. And this just isn't a nice place to nap - I've tried - so I get up. So usually I'm up after five to 15 minutes.
Standing after a lie down is a delicious experience. I feel so tall, and it's always very obvious that the lie down is a great thing to have done.
That's my experience. Maybe I'm an odd duck as some have suggested. I've recommended the lie down to my brother, who has recurrent low back pain. Most people consider him well adjusted. He says he tried it briefly, but he says it's too boring. That is shocking for me to hear. I don't think it's boring at all! All these thoughts! Emotions! and a symphony of bodily sensations that is ever changing! And it takes a lot of work to resist the impulse to do something. I get the impulses to concentrate my mind, impulses to try to relax some sensation I think is undesirable, impulses to get up and get back to work, impulses to try to straighten something that feel crooked. There is lots going on! I've never felt bored.
Doing the lie down between long sittings is wonderful. If I put my body on a cushion for a long time, exposed to constant gravity, any shortening or narrowing seems to become "locked in". As this becomes chronic I'm not always aware of it. I do get pain, usually, at some point, but it is not always clear to me where the shortening/narrowing is exactly. The lie downs are so nice because the spine is in the same, "upright" position, but there is no gravity. Without the stimulus of gravity I respond and use my self differently. I can look at my use with fresh eyes and give up unnecessary effort. In effect I reset myself. It's really wonderful. I suppose one could do zazen while lying down in between sittings, but hey, this is break time right? Take a breather, yo.
The most interesting part of the lie down, for me, is observing the unity of mind and body. I first noticed this durring a lie down that I was doing in between sitting during a seven day Zen retreat a few years ago. I was lying down and I started thinking about something, probably chocolate cookies. Suddenly I would realize I was swept away with my thinking. At the point that I realized I was thinking - at the point I "woke up" - I obtained a retrograde memory of my shoulder becoming tighter and tighter as I was thinking about cookies. In fact, partly it was the sensation of my shoulder getting tighter that awakened me out of my cookie preoccupation. And as the thinking residue from the cookies evaporated out of my brain, the sensation of tension resolved in my shoulder.
Since then, I have repeatedly noticed the co-arising of a thought, an emotion, and the sensation of muscular tension. In fact, I have never noted any significant mental or emotional activity that is not accompanied by the sensation of shortening and narrowing. And this goes for not only the lie down but also while doing zazen (zazen for me is the same as a lie down except that I'm in full lotus and somehow more formal). I have concluded that shortening and narrowing, thinking, and emotions involvement are all part of the same process. This is just so amazing to me. I guess it reflects the deep seated assumptions I have about the duality of mind/body.
I should also mention I love the lie down because I stand a lot at work (I have a stand-up desk, see previous essays on the dangers of sitting). After a few hours it's just nice to lie down for a few minutes. It's rejuvenating Yes, my co-workers do roll their eyes and shake their heads when they see me lying on the floor in the office. Ok, the truth is I feel a bit self-conscious. It's not the lying down that is a bit embarrassing, it's that I'm doing nothing.
So I love the lie down because:
-it has taught me about the lack of utility in seeing the mind as different from the body.
-it's rejuvenating.
-it's fascinating and very entertaining
-it has helped me give up some of my shortening and narrowing.
-it is completely safe and easy.
-I'm complying with my AT teachers recommendations.
-along with a walk, it is the most wholesome way to spend a break during days of long zen sittings.
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