“Sit up straight!” we tell our kids or remind ourselves. But that assumes we know what straight feels like. Most of us probably don’t.
The hotel bed I slept in last night has a very tall headboard. During my morning meditation, I sat cross-legged and leaned against it. But instead of just pressing my back and shoulders into it the way I usually do, this one allowed me to rest my head against it, too. So I did, and it felt strange.
But the headboard is a flat surface. If I sit upright and maintain full contact with it, that’s the vertical equivalent of lying down flat on the bed—straight, in other words. Clearly, however I usually hold my head while meditating, it’s not necessarily how I’m supposed to hold it for good posture. “Huh,” I thought. “So this is straight?”
Often, we assume we know what words mean solely because we—and everyone else—have been using those words for a long time. But eventually, we must admit: Most of us are just pretending, because with so many others already “in the know,” it would have been embarrassing to start from scratch.
Well, it’s okay to start from scratch. In fact, it is the point—and every time you learn something previously assumed, you should share it with those around you. Including what it truly feels like to sit up straight.
