The great debate in meditation today – what to do with your arms and legs. 

The Devil In The Details

Once you go deep enough into something, the greatest battles always seem to be fought over the finest details. 

It works like this: If you care enough, and you know enough, the finest details are where you make your stand – where your personal opinion is hardest fought. 

The fine details are important. They’re often the turning-point between several vastly different things, so people fight hard. The fine details means a lot to people. It represents something. It usually represents themselves: 

The finest detail represents strong personal preference.

Further;

You firmly agree with what suits you best.

Once more;

The finest detail represents fundamentally different kinds of people.

Different Horses for Different Courses.

There are various opinions on how to sit during meditation. These opinions represent different values, different goals, different personalities, different anatomies, and different cultures.

When you ask your teacher why you sit the way you do in meditation, they’ll explain how their way to sit is best way to sit, and they should, because the masters of those meditation techniques knew that the dynamics and benefits of meditation are greatly influenced by seating-style. 
Seating-style really defines, and delivers, what you want out of your chosen meditation technique. 
Seating-style is also irrelevant, for a very long time. 

It’s more relevant for you practice daily to form a habit: 

– After you form a habit, take space to fully understand why you sit the way you do.

– After you fully understand why you are supposed sit the way you do, take space to question why you sit the way you do: Does it fit your values, goals, personality, anatomy and culture? Does it make sense to you?

Forget it. For Now.

In the end, the greatest debates are over the finest details, and the finer and finer we go into anything – the closer we come to ourselves. As subjective and objective blur, so does our judgement.

The devil is in the details, and we put the devil there ourselves. 

But, as a rule, it’s best to know what you’re dealing with before you start invoking Satan. And it’s probably best not to invoke Him right before you sit down to meditate. 
(Unless, of course, that represents your particular values, goals, etc… ) 

Summary.

When you first start meditation, it doesn’t matter how you sit; it matters how often you sit. 
(What to do with those arms and legs can come later.)