YOUR LIFE A-Z: ZAZEN

ZAZEN

“In our daily lives, ZAZEN provides us with a situation in which we can remove ourselves from external activities, turn our activity inward, and face ourselves. ZAZEN is not about achieving some particular state of consciousness. Rather, it is about discovering who you are and what your life is.” by T. Roshi & Sensei

ZAZEN is the actual practice of seated meditation Zen style.  The Twenty-Minute Coach is about assisting you with a daily bog that helps you actualize a lifestyle of meaning, positive choices, and emotional and spiritual practices that enrich your daily life.  ZAZEN is an emotional and spiritual practice that invites you to check out of the rat race and into yourself with a simple tool of breathing.  Breathing in and out is a mindful practice that allows you focus on following your breath out of your body and inhaling new breath back into your body.  By sitting in a relaxed lotus position your spine is erect giving your lungs and chest the space they need to breatheproperly.  Allow your thumb and fingers on each hand to connect to each other and rest gently in your lap.  Close your eyes and begin to count your breaths in and out and do this ten times.  When your mind wanders come back to breath number one and start over.  Once you master getting to ten breaths either start over naturally or continue to count forward.  This exercise will allow you to relax into the present.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:ZEN

SUFFER LESS- CONNECT WITH YOUR SELVES

ZEN

ZEN is one of the meditative arts and spiritual practices that began in China during the 6th century and moved south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea, and east to Japan.  ZEN de-emphasizes doctrine and emphasizes the meditative state of enlightenment, where all is well inside of your regardless of what chaos is going on outside of you.  ZEN is a state of being that is calm, aligned, confident, and centered even though your spouse may have just walked out or your car got totaled by an unfortunate accident. ZEN is important because it keeps our bodies in rhythm, our blood pressure normal, our heart rate perfect, and our fear levels within appropriate range.  The ZEN master that you might be familiar with is Thich Nhat Hanh.  This 87-year-old ZEN monk says, “Meditation practice can help us suffer less.”  The ZEN state is achieved through mindfulness, which is achieved through sitting.  When sitting in ZEN practice the goal is to stay focused on breath, now, being and noticing. If there is pain in your position breath into it, let it move out. If there is a negative thought, notice it and let it move on out to the horizon and drop off of the face of the earth.  There are many ways to practice and you can find your own way only if you set aside the time to sit and be.  You can read any of many books to help you, or you can look up a ZEN center on the web and go check out this important practice of inner peace.