There are countless techniques to control the body, to master the body, to shape it to our will in order to find health. This post is about a type of exercise and opening to a way of being which looks at the body in a different way. It emphasizes letting go of control, effortlessness, feeling…
Tag: consciousness
Zen Embodiment’s 5 Most Popular Blog Posts
Thank you for reading my blog! Below are the all time most popular posts. Breathing from the Belly: Tanden, a Great Rolling Ball Describing Traditional Rinzai Koan Training A great love affair Just standing around Zhan Zhuang, Standing Like a Tree Breaking Through: Sublime and Natural These are not necessarily my favorite. I will do…
The Classical Ideas Podcast Ep 108: Koans with Corey Ichigen Hess
I had a great time talking on the Classical Ideas Podcast again. This time, tackling the elusive, often misunderstood zen koan. Really fun! Please Share it if you like, and support Greg! Thanks! And please leave a comment if you feel moved to! From Greg Soden: Episode #108 with my friend (and returning guest), Corey…
Guidance of the Great Vow
Sentient beings are numberless I vow to liberate them The Head monk walked into the zendo on day six of Osesshin and announced that two planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center. This was on Whidbey Island. On the the right of me was one of my best friends, Chris, who I had…
Walking Emotional Energy Fields
We are walking emotional energy fields. When I came back from Japan, and Teresa was pregnant with Rose, we were living on a little herb farm in a cottage. Some friends from the monastery were visiting one evening, and we were talking about what was next in our lives. For me, it was a moment…
Ishin Denshin (Heart to Heart, Mind to Mind)
Ishin denshin means something like “Communication as if two people have the same mind.” This concept is a big part of my life, and in this post, I’d like to try to explain a bit about it. How can we become what we are doing more intimately right now? How can we remove…
Second Breath, Breath of Life: Craniosacral Therapy Meets Zen
“I can say that as the Breath of Life emerges from a depth of Stillness, one experiences heart-opening radiance and compassion, a sense of great spaciousness and peace, a depth of love and interconnection, and a perception of a Presence that seems to enfold, uphold and maintain life.” Franklyn Sills In this post, I’d like…
Simple Tips: Finding Joy in Daily Practice
My hope is to inspire people to find a way to daily enjoy engaging with their unique inner process. I’m talking about sitting down and feeling our bodies and being present. Or maybe, for some, it could be standing still. Or even with very simple movement. But to find a way to make it their…
Standing the in the Dark, Giggling
“Always now – just now – come into being. Always now – just now – give yourself to death. Practicing this is Zen practice.” Soko Morinaga Everyone wants to figure everything out. Everyone wants to have the real true thought to explain our lives with meaning. Most of us want some extreme, an absolute, to…
Breathing from the Belly: Tanden, a Great Rolling Ball
A friend recently asked me to help clarify the tanden, also known as lower Dantien. This is a big subject. I have written about it before here. I will try to briefly convey a sense of what it is like to feel the tanden, develop the tanden in sitting and everyday life, and what it…
