What is Zen practice?

Zen is an ancient way of showing up in the world with curiosity and kindness. It is something that we do and it is not something theoretical.

My own flavor of Zen is one that values love, healing, and inquiry. I am especially interested in inviting awareness to our thoughts and emotions. I work with students to explore clarity of thought, language and action with an intention of moving towards a life where our head, heart and bodies are in alignment with truth. I enjoy unpacking commonly used words like “trust”, “love” and “reality” to explore what we truly mean to us and how we our actions can express these things fully.

I find that most of us have an inner compass that is directing us to seek our best life. It is my path as a teacher to enter in with the student to become intimate with each person’s compass and then to help remove the internal obstacles that are blocking the student from that life.

Meditation, or the practice of stillness and noticing, is central to Zen, but meditation can look many different ways. It might look like sitting on a chair or a cushion, it might look like taking a walk or it might look like caring for your family. What is most important is to be curious, open and kind to yourself – your physical posture and your meditation technique can change as you evolve.

Some people who keep company with me as a Zen teacher are working with koans. Koans are teaching stories that act as gateways to freedom. By caring for a koan throughout the day we explore the landscape of awareness and we notice aspects of our self that might have been hidden or unappreciated.