What does it mean to hold your seat? This is a term we use frequently in meditation, but it is also a profoundly important practice in everyday life.
Holding Your Seat in Meditation
When we practice meditation, holding your seat means that your body stays still while you work towards allowing your mind to be still, too. It means choosing not to immediately respond to every little sensation and thought that comes your way.
The Itch: You might be sitting very still and quiet, and have an itch on your face. Before you scratch it, you pause and ask yourself: Do I really need to respond to what I’m feeling right now?
The Discomfort: You might have a little pain in your hip and immediately want to shift your position and adjust. Holding your seat means staying steady and simply observing the sensations.
The Thought: When a thought comes to your mind about something you have to do later, do you immediately respond and get up? Or do you hold your seat, stay steady, and wait for that thought sensation to pass?
That is the essence of holding your seat in meditation: observing without reacting.
Holding Your Seat in Everyday Life
This is the same practice we can bring to our daily routine, which becomes especially important when we are dealing with all the joy, busyness, and craziness of the holiday season.
It can be easy to go into reaction mode when dealing with stress, family demands, or social pressures. Yet, holding your seat in life means we stay steady:
We pause.
We observe.
We choose before we act or react.
