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This second episode in the Meditation Misconceptions series is inspired by my unsuccessful search for stock meditation photos to include on the Mindful15 website. Although I’ve located thousands of beautiful photographs, I’ve had a difficult time locating imagery that’s suitable. Most photographs promote perspectives on meditation that, I believe, may be off-putting to potential practitioners.

There are three common scenes in meditation photography, and you will likely recognize all of them. The first features Buddhist monks in their robes.

 

Buddhist monks meditating

 

The second depicts a young, woman wearing yoga clothes. Most of the time the model is white. Typically, she’s sitting in half-lotus or full lotus-position, and her hands are held in a position that obviously has some special meaning (these are called mudras; more on them, below).

 

Meditating in the yoga tradition

 

The third common scenes is someone meditating on a beach, a mountaintop, a field of wildflowers or some other beautiful place. Again, most models are white and female, and they’re most often using a special hand position.

 

Inspirational meditation photos

 

Let me be perfectly clear. I don’t have an issue with any one of these photographs. I do not want to suggest there is anything wrong with any of them. Individually, they’re often beautiful, even stunning. Collectively, though, they create stereotypes that are inaccurate. They over-represent a specific type of meditation, practiced by a specific kind of person. They send a message that this is what meditation is supposed to look like - and that message is incorrect.

Images tell a story. Most stock meditation images tell stories that limit our understanding of who practices meditation and how they do it. I don’t know whether the imagery causes our limited beliefs, or our limited beliefs lead us to create specific imagery. Either way, I’m concerned that the limited perspective causes some to conclude that meditation isn’t relevant to them.

Let’s take sitting posture and hand position first. Both the lotus sitting position and the standard hand posture come from the yoga tradition. Again, it is not my intention to suggest that yoga-style meditation is wrong or bad. It’s an accessible and beneficial meditation style, but it’s not the only way to meditate.

Lotus and half-lotus position are wonderful postures for meditation, because they are highly stable. They allow the meditator to sit comfortably for long periods of time - if, that is, the meditator is flexible enough to sit in these postures. There are, however, many other options for those of us who cannot get into lotus position. We can sit in Burmese position. This is similar to a cross-legged position (an inherently unstable position), but the legs are laid one in front of the other. We can also kneel on a cushion or meditation bench, or we can sit in a chair. There are even other yoga positions suitable for meditation.

 

Burmese meditation posture, best done sitting on a cushion to elevate hips above knees

 

The hand position is called a mudra. Chantal M, from Mala Prayer tells us:

By definition, “mudra” is the Sanskrit word that translates into “seal”. It’s about connecting your chakras, aligning your sensory receptors and creates a deep connection with your mind, body, and spirit.

The “mudra” or rather, hand positions you use throughout your meditation will determine the flow of energy you receive throughout your bod...