About This Answer
What is the best way to cope with numb legs and back pain in meditation? Ajahn Dtun describes two approaches. If the mind becomes peaceful before pain arises, pain is weaker, since attention rests on the meditation object. With skill in concentration, mindfulness and wisdom can separate the pain from the mind: the body is made of the four elements of earth, water, air and fire; the body is one thing, feeling another, the mind a third. Contemplating like this, the mind may return to concentration and the pain may vanish, or remain without shaking the mind, which stays apart from it like oil from water.
For those who cannot yet make the mind peaceful, the first tool is patience and endurance, perhaps five or ten minutes depending on one's strength, after which one may change posture or get up. One can also try holding mindfulness firmly on the meditation object. Practising concentration often lets mindfulness and wisdom arise to understand the body clearly. He adds not to worry: all the Buddhas and arahant disciples passed through this stage.