This text is an excerpt from my book The Secret Book of Zen.

With beginners, most sitting positions include mistakes in posture. These errors usually creep in during practice; therefore, you should constantly check your posture.

Incorrect sitting position
When seated on your pillow, always sit on the front part of the pillow and on your pelvic bones. In this way you will shift your weight forward and properly focus on the tanden, because the small of your back will be in the natural concave form. If you sit too far back on the pillow, this can lead to the so-called rounded back posture.

Rounded back posture
If you are not sitting upright with the small of your back naturally concave, your back will arch backwards and your stomach will automatically protrude. You literally slump down, and your shoulders are pulled forward. This is called the rounded-back posture, because the natural "S" position of your spine no longer exists. Instead, the shape of your spine is a "C" in the rounded-back posture.

Lower back too concave
This incorrect posture is the opposite of the rounded-back position. Now you are exaggerating the concave shape of your lower back. You will notice this by the fact that, for example, you are leaning your lower body too far forward. Back pain in your upper and middle shoulder areas may be the consequence, and pain can also occur in your lumbar region.

Incorrect alignment of your body
Also, verify the proper alignment of your torso. Imagine that your body, and specifically your upper body, is divided by an imaginary vertical line. This imaginary line divides your body into two perpendicular halves. Both sides of your body are oriented along this line. The line begins at your pubic bone and goes up over your belly button right to the middle of your body, then upward over your sternum, and your throat, chin, nose, and forehead and up to the crown of your head. You should always align yourself along this imaginary line. If your upper body tilts to one side, the other side would therefore no longer be in alignment with the first. The position would be wrong. Again, align your body to this imaginary line in order to balance the two halves. If problems or pain occur, verify that you are in the correct zazen posture before you turn to other solutions. Initially, it may help if you sit at home in front of a mirror with your upper body naked to check your posture. You could also draw a vertical line on a mirror, which you could use to align yourself properly. In this way you will without a doubt find the correct alignment right away.

Especially in the early days of the First Phase, difficulties can arise during your practice which go beyond the General Posture mistakes - as described in the section on the zazen posture. If such problems crop up during zazen, students are mostly left alone with them, even those students who are under the guidance of a teacher or master. The student is told that pain during zazen is normal, and he must learn to live with it. This is not very helpful, because when pain arises, the student usually does something wrong. The following list contains the most common problems encountered in zazen and the corresponding solutions; however, this list is not exhaustive. Usually, when problems arise, it is sufficient to cease counting the breaths, to scan the body and to correct the zazen posture. Should this not work, try one of the following solutions:

Problem: General back pain during zazen
Solution: Relinquish control and let go
Beginners often experience pain in the upper back. They try everything possible to stop this pain. They move the pelvis further forward, try different sitting positions, and throw slightly less strength into the tanden. Usually, the pain disappears only after they discover that they have not been observing their own breath, but have unconsciously been controlling it. They want, for example, to keep every exhalation as long as possible while saying “wonnnnnnn (one).” This, however, does not at all correspond to the normal breathing rhythm. Only when students finally let go, stop wanting to achieve anything, and let the breath breathe itself does the pain usually end abruptly. If you should encounter this problem, continue counting the breath, but do not control it by artificially increasing the exhalation time. The controlling, long “wonnnnnnn (one)” should be made into a shorter "wonn" until the breath has been exhaled quite naturally. The pain arises precisely because you are not yet relaxed enough, are unnaturally tense, are constantly manipulating yourself, and want to control everything. Letting go can sometimes also mean distancing yourself, with awareness, from the pain, and simply following the breath again.

Problem: Pain in the lower back
Solution: You may be tilting your entire torso, or only your pelvis, too far forward. Tilt it back again a bit to the rear. Settle again into the natural "S" shaped curvature of the spine. You might also be sitting too far forward on the pillow. A slouching posture results, which may also be the reason for you tilting too far backwards. You may possibly also be unconsciously tensing your abdominal muscles.

Problem: Pain in the upper back
Solution: You are controlling your breath, or your hand position is too tense. The cause may lie in the fact that your pelvis is tilted too far forward or too far back. Perhaps, instead of tensing the diaphragm, you are unconsciously also tensing your abdominal muscles.

Problem: Pain in the shoulders
Solution: You are pressing your hands together too tightly. This pressure makes its way up through the upper arms to the shoulders, thereby causing pain. Are your hands lying on your thighs? If so, lift them up again. Here, too, the slouching posture can be the cause of the problem. Pay attention to your naturally concave lower back.

Problem: Pain in the hands
Solution: The hand position is not relaxed enough. The hands should be relaxed and lying on top of each other without pressure. The thumbs should just touch. Pain in the thumbs arises when you squeeze them too hard against each other. This in turn can also lead to pain in the arms, shoulder and neck.

Problem: Pain in the neck
Solution: One possible solution has just been presented. Neck pain can, however, also be due to an incorrect head position if the head is being pulled upwards with too much effort. The slouching posture may also be the cause of the problem here. Try to restore the natural concave curve of the lower back.

Problem: Pain in the pit of your stomach
Solution: A cramped feeling in the pit of your stomach is usually caused by a slouching posture. Restore the natural concave curve of the lower back and straighten up your torso.

Problem: Pain on the forehead
Solution: Including in the esoteric field, this point is usually called the Third Eye. If you experience burning pain in this area, the problem is that you are not focusing on the tanden, but on the third eye. You think that your Buddha-nature resides there. However, it resides in the tanden. Focus again on the tanden, and breathe into it.

Problem: Pain in the knees
Solution: You should not ignore this pain, because it can lead to serious damage. Usually, such pain is caused by a sitting posture that is too advanced and for which there has been no appropriate practice. The half and full lotus positions are really postures for long-term practitioners; they put too much weight on the knees of a beginner. Should the knee pain originate from this cause, namely that from the start of your practice you have been sitting in these positions, use the Burmese seated position, the kneeling position, or sit on a chair or a meditation bench. If the knee pain should persist, stop and please consult a doctor immediately.

Problem: Fatigue
Solution: Sleepiness arises chiefly when you have not properly activated the tanden and are not maintaining any tension in the diaphragm. Sitting straight up, tilt your pelvis slightly forward again; while inhaling, push the diaphragm down, and breathe into the tanden. Do not tense the abdominal muscles, and maintain the natural concave curve of the lower back. You can also vary the breath-counting exercise and count the inhalations. When exhaling, let go.

Problem: Eyelids close
Solution: Check and correct your posture. Usually your eyelids close because you become tired, and this often occurs when you are sitting in a slouched position. Pull your head slightly upwards; this straightens your upper body. Once again, feel your breath in the tanden. Fatigue can also often occur because you are simply once again following the monkey mind. Draw your attention back to your breath and start again to count your breaths.

Problem: Your gaze gets blurry or you experience double-vision
Solution: The cause is usually fatigue, which may result from the aforementioned causes. Also focusing your eyes on infinity in too strained a way, which can lead to double vision, may be another reason.

Problem: breath counting does not work
Solution: If you have problems with counting the breath and cannot count the exhalations only, you should start by counting both the inhalations and the exhalations. This means that you count the inhalation while saying "wonnn (one)," notice it in the tanden, and then also count the exhalation: "wonnn (one)." You continue this way until you have reached ten, and then start over again as described in the breath-counting exercise. If you can take on the role of observer at some point, leave this special breath-counting exercise again and continue with the normal one. The solution to this problem should therefore be only a temporary interim exercise.

Should none of these solutions work when there is pain or fatigue, the only thing that may help is to observe the pain or fatigue itself. Count your breaths and if you notice pain or fatigue, focus your attention on those phenomena, thereby making them the subject of your meditation. Observe what the pain or fatigue looks like, where it is situated, and how it also changes over time and may even cease or disappear. Then return to counting the breath.

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