How To Do Zen (Zazen) Meditation!
What is Zen meditation called? How to do zazen meditation?
Hello, and welcome to the Ancient wisdom modern mind blog and today I will show you how to do Zen meditation called zazen.
Zazen is considered the heart of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
Zazen is the main meditation technique practiced in Zen Buddhism. It's a mindfulness meditation with a special emphasis on harmonizing the body, mind and breath. This Zen technique is a mindfulness meditation that emphasizes the harmonization of the mind, body and breath.
The essential aspects of zazen are fairly easy to communicate and are important for both beginning and mature practitioners. At the same time, a person’s experience of meditation can change profoundly if they practice consistently. With consistent practice, zazen transforms our mind, heart and life.
This is not a guided meditation, the aim of this recording is to acquaint you with the process of zazen meditation, and to help you to stay focused in the early stages of your practice, but is not designed to act as a meditation in and of itself.
In this audio I will go through all the instructions step by step. Once you learn how to practice Zazen meditation, you can do it on your own. So watch the full video and don’t miss any steps or you can download the audio version of instruction.Zazen is the main meditation technique practiced in Zen Buddhism. It's a mindfulness meditation with a special emphasis on harmonizing the body, mind and breath.
This Zen technique is a mindfulness meditation that emphasizes the harmonization of the mind, body and breath.
In this article I will go through all the instructions step by step. Once you learn how to practice Zazen meditation, you can do it on your own.
Zazen Simply Exists
Zazen meditation simply exists between and around our thoughts, and is more a lack of process than anything. Zen’s overriding principal is to obtain a harmony of the mind, while not holding to tightly and not wandering too much, not to strict, yet not too indulgent. It is in essence an application of the Buddha’s middle path for the mind.
Begin by finding a comfortable seated position in which you can remain up right, this could be on the edge of a bed, on a chair, cross legged on the floor, or any other arrangement in which you neither slump or gain support for your spine.
If this is not possible for you, lay as comfortably as possible with a straight back.
If you are seated mentally draw yourself upward as if pulled from the crown of the head, as you do this, systematically relax the rest of your body, making any minor shifts you need to feel comfortable.
Take a deep breath in through the nose, breathing into your belly and as you breathe out, relax your shoulders and neck, imagining any tension melting away, do this also for your arms, your legs and your face.
Although there are many nuances to this technique, a straight spine and observation of the breath are the core concepts that will guide all actions from this point.
In this simplified pure form of meditation, the aim is to exist in the gap between thoughts, through observation of the breath.
This time away from our thoughts has a multitude of benefits. Some of which you may perceive immediately by providing a sense of relaxation, and others will grow with your practice.
Meditation primarily is a way of entering into a state of heightened awareness, and zazen’s approach to achieving this state is to keep a sense of alertness while maintaining a straight spine.
This alertness will ultimately help still the waters of the mind and provide a sense of clarity and calm.
To begin take several deep breaths, and again straighten your spine while relaxing the rest of your body.
Scan for any areas of tension, and relive them through conscious relaxation as you gently breathe out.
As you gradually lessen the control of your breath, you’re aiming to observe the breath as you breathe in through the nostrils, feel the cool breeze of your in breaths and the gentle warm flow of your out breaths, the breath is the tool to support you in relinquishing your attachment to thoughts.
Now observe the breath for a couple of minutes, if you find your mind wandering gently draw it back to observation of the breath. You will find yourself having to do this fairly often. Beware of this and be gentle with your mind, treat your thoughts with indifference and gentleness as you withdraw your attention. They have occupied your mind for some time and will not simply disappear at your command.
So gently steer your attention away from any thoughts, never pulling or pushing, this will simply create more thoughts.
Observe your breath for the next few minutes.
If you find yourself distracted either by your own thoughts, it may help by counting the breaths from 1 to 10. And repeating the cycle until your focus strengthens.
We are nearing the end of this simple and short instruction, gently test the waters of your mind, what do you feel.
Zazen is the observation of the self, in this journey sitting meditation will guide tremendous introspection, for now sense the awareness and perhaps the clarity of your mind. As you end, observe any feelings or emotions that may have arisen, do you feel relaxed or perhaps you’re anxious. Do you feel contentment or maybe you feel exited.
All of these feelings are defiantly going to come up in your practice, learn to appreciate them and absorb them, the introspection gained in these moments can lead to moments of great self-discovery.
When you are comfortable begin this mediation alone without this guide, as you extend your practice your experience will deepen and you will begin to sense a growing stillness that pervades beyond your sittings.
Be gentle and try not to cling to tight, trying too hard to let go can create competition within your mind. In your mediation practice you cannot win and you cannot lose, every practice will bring you closer to harmony with your mind.
You want to practice this at least a few minutes every day for best results. What matters most is doing it consistently on a regular schedule, and this is the primary meditation technique of Zen. The other major technique is walking meditation, called Kinhin.
The Zen monks do Zen walking meditation in between Zazen sessions, and that's to anchor the meditative awareness into daily life.
If you would like to go even deeper with your meditation journey, I offer a guided version of the zazen meditation, so please consider downloading the full guided meditation audio so you don’t miss any steps, and I also offer a walking meditation instructional audio, plus a guided combination of zazen and Kinhin walking meditations. Follow the links for more details.
And remember the more you practice the deeper your sense of stillness will grow and the longer the effects will last.
Once you learn how to practice Zazen meditation, you can do it on your own. So if you like this blog, please SUBSCRIBE to the newsletter to get the latest updates and don't forget to, 👍 like, comment and share. Stay safe.
You can download the full 20 minutes Guided audio | Zazen Guided Meditation with detailed instructions on how to do Zazen Meditation. link below
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References
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