How do you eat?

How you eat is as important as was what you eat. 

Your thoughts and attitude towards your food determines its impact on your body, mind and spirit as much as the bio-chemistry of the food itself. Think about it. Food eaten in thanksgiving, joy and mindfulness versus food eaten in distraction, anxiety and non-caring.

Do you eat watching tv or do you eat watching the meal?

Experiment for yourself...notice the difference in your day when you eat your breakfast with mindfulness and thanksgiving versus the day you watch the early morning news and scanning your facebook account.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Red Rubber Ball

One of my favorite meditative/mindful techniques I use, especially when I find myself getting bored or overly excited, is the Red Rubber Ball. I learned this from an Aikido-ka about 22 years ago and I love it.

All you have to do is imagine you have a red rubber ball in your hara. This is three inches below your navel and three inches in, approximately. If you find yourself bored or nervous, like what can happen to me, just bring your focus to the red rubber ball.

Sometimes I breath into it and when I inhale I make it expand and when I exhale I make it contract. Now, if you want you can use different colors. Sometimes for a cooling, calm feeling I will pick green or blue and breath into it or let its energy bath me in calmness.  You are only limited by your imagination.

Over the years I discovered I could also 'magnetize' the ball and make it attract a healing, insight into a problem or even money. However you picture magnetization, imagine it and see it attracting what you want and how great it feels! The feeling of the healing or insight or money already being here is very important. It is the attractor factor inside the ball.

Well, off for a week of vacation.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Sanchin Speaks

Sanchin Kata used to keep me awake at night 'talking' to me. Yes, Sanchin speaks, if you listen. As I mentioned in my last post, Kata can teach us how to be mindful inside and outside of the dojo. It also has a lot of other lessons we can learn. Here are few in a nutshell:

1. Start with a bow and some meditation. This is how most katas begin. Bow in appreciation to all beings, sentient and insentient. Bow often...and start your day with some meditation.

2. Get grounded. In the opening moves of Sanchin the palms of the hands are pressed down to the sides. (see video at end of post). This is a time we use to 'root' ourselves and connect to the earth. During this rooting, the shoulders are also down and relaxed....when the shoulders are high, anxiety is present. In the martial arts, if we notice your shoulders are high we know you are nervous and most likely inhaling...a good time to attack you. If, however, shoulders are down and relaxed, it is best to say hi and be nice. As you go through your day, be aware of your shoulders and breathing. Are you breathing into your hara or your neck? Are your shoulders low or high? Keep them relaxed and low...your breathing will follow...and this helps keep your mind calm, centered and grounded.

3. Don't rush. When I was a young colored belt I had a tendency to rush through my Kata. Sensei Dean was always reminding me to go slower and pay attention to what I was doing. Good advice throughout the day as well...slow down, pay attention and move at a relaxed mindful pace. You would be surprised at how you can still get everything done.

4. Be aware of your feet, move deliberately and be aware. Sanchin is moving Zen. When outside the dojo, do the same. Walk with intent and deliberation...and awareness of your surroundings.

I have included a short video of two versions of Sanchin. I've posted this before, but it is a good review, and for those who don't know the kata, you can watch. Enjoy.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

All is Kata!

Kata, besides being a Karate series of self-defense moves, has a deeper meaning for us to learn. Kata means 'how you behave'. How you behave moment by moment is very important if you wish to feel the bubbling of the universal waters that give us life.

When performing a Karate Kata, paying attention to the details of the moves are paramount. It is an exercise in Zen mindfulness. At the beginning of each Kata performance, the name of the Kata is announced. For instance, if you are doing Sanchin, you say, "Sanchin Kata". If you are doing a weapons Kata like Kusanku Sai, you say, "Kusanku Sai"...and so on. Then you perform the kata.

Karate practice of your Kata does not end when you leave the Dojo. When leaving the Dojo you are practicing 'leaving the dojo kata' and then 'driving home kata'. Everything you do is a kata...it is how you behave...and just like a Kata in the Dojo, you should announce what kata you are doing and then pay attention, mindfully.

When brushing your teeth, announce to yourself, 'brushing teeth kata' and then pay attention to your taking off of the toothpaste cap, squeezing it on your brush, putting it in your mouth, brushing and so on until you move onto your next kata.

Whatever activity you are doing, announce it to yourself as a Kata. Then pay attention with full mindfulness of what you are doing, especially the small habits you do automatically, like throwing trash out, or taking a piss, or getting out of bed. With practice, over time, you will begin to see and feel a change in your life. Subtle at first, but then later you will feel the stream of life...the flow of Tao if you will.

Now to end my "Posting Kata".

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Mind-Arrows

Kyudo, the Art of the Bow, can give us many lessons from which to guide our life and to discipline our minds. As Budoka, the real target we are aiming at is self-knowledge and mindful behavior...and it all begins with our mind's intentions.

As in Kyudo, we set the arrow in the bow and aim at the target. Let's ponder this for a moment. What are we really setting in the bow? I contend the arrow we are getting ready to set sail is our mind's intentions...and it carries our wishes, dreams and hopes. I have to ask myself, "What type of arrows am I sending out into the world?" "Am I sending out intentions of joy, hope, faith, compassion or am I sending out intentions of greed, anger, delusion, distrust?"

As you become more mindful of your mind and your thoughts/feelings, I encourage you to be aware of your intentions...your desires....your cravings. What are you sending forth out into space? Are you aiming at anything specifically or are you just randomly shooting arrows?

These are important questions, we as Budoka, need to ask ourselves. Just as important for us to manage our mind-swords of imagination, emotions and faith...it is equally important to manage our mind's intentions....our mind-arrows.

What are you setting in your bow right now?

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Mindfulness, Cat Food and Coffee.

A senior teacher at a temple is teaching the monks when an earthquake hits. The teacher calmly gathers the panicking students and takes them to the kitchen, which is the strongest room in the building. When the earthquake stops, the teacher has a drink and says to the class: "Here you see the benefit of Zen training. While you students panicked, I was able to act logically and even enjoy a glass of water afterwards."

Student: "Teacher, that would be a convincing example except for the fact that you're drinking soy sauce!

I love this story. The above joke reminds me of one of my favorite Nonin stories involving mindfulness, cat food and the coffee grinder. During one retreat at the Nebraska Zen Center, Nonin was speaking about how such a wonderfully mindful and adept Zen teacher he is. He began to talk about how he came down to the kitchen of the temple to make his morning coffee. He was very tired and looking forward to a little caffeine pick-me-up. He likes fresh coffee so he poured his coffee beans into the grinder and turned it on. After a few moments he realized that he was not grinding beans. He had put cat food into his coffee grinder! Even Zen Masters have their moments.

What Nonin taught us more than anything was to laugh at ourselves and noone is exempt from being un-mindful, even Zen Masters. He noted he tried to recycle the cat food but Lola (the cat) didn't care much for the coffee flavor.

One more story for you to have a little laugh and think about:

A monk is walking back from a lecture at a distant temple and gets lost on the wrong side of the river. He needs to get across to get home but cannot find the bridge. Finally, he sees the Master who gave the lecture on the other side and yells out to him.

"Master, how do I get to the other side of the river."

The master replies: "Novice; you are on the other side of the river!"

Hands palm to palm

Shinzen