What do you mean by this? What wrong advice’s did you take when you first came to the Dhamma?
Hum … maybe this might be worthy of a thread of it’s own. 
In short that to meditate one must be sitting on the floor, feeling pain or not necessarily comfortable.
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It has taken me more than 10 month of regular sitting (ranging from 2 to 6 hours a day in session of 5 to 30 minutes - because I work from home and now sit on a kid table at my desk!) to be able to spend 45 minutes on the floor without moving, feeling pain or slumping down.
The primary issue was slumping down, due to not enough muscle strength. But also pain in the feet, numbness etc.
So I guess that if others are at a similar starting point and get started with long sitting (and associated pain) that must not make up for a pleasant or encouraging…
It’s important to sit down, but it’s equally important to be at ease whilst maintaining a good posture (good meaning one that doesn’t lead to pain during or after the sitting).
The act of:
- squatting down,
- bending and folding legs,
- straightening back,
- position your head
is what good for your health. Sitting on floor you have to do that many times everyday, till 70 years old you should still be able to do that. Compared to people who never need to sit on floor for 30 years.
There’s nothing magical about floor, it’s the habit and lifestyle of sitting on floor that bring benefits. Sitting on floor is supposed to be comfortable but not too comfortable like a couch potato. However, if your knees hurt, it means you’re forcing it. Try yoga and various stretches that will make sitting cross legged comfortable, then you can start meditate from there, otherwise just sit and meditate on chair.
I also notice that the beloved lumbar curve is actually bad for sitting on floor. The belief that straight back = nice lumbar curve is why driving people to sit ramrod straight, which is unnatural. And sometimes they put too much of cushion just to get the curve.
Do you mean something like below?
http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/lumbar-lordosis-stop-sticking-your-butt-out/
I mean the normal lumbar curve during a normal stance, but having it while sitting cross legged, which is quite forceful. It does feel like lumbar lordosis in the making though.