Frequently Asked Questions

Don't think of following your breath but rather follow your belly - the muscles and physical sensations of your belly as it moves out and in. It is your belly that breathes and it is in the belly that the breath should begin. Don't breathe in your chest but train yourself to slightly push the belly forward as it takes in breath, then wait for it to release and wait again for it to take up the new breath, keeping your chest still. If this is still too vague, place a count of 1 to 10 on the breath, returning to the 1 whenever you get lost in thought or drift away.

Don't get into the trap of battling with your thoughts. Let them be there. They have a right to exist. The more you battle your thoughts, the stronger they get. Allow them to be there while choosing to return, over and over, to the rise and fall of the belly breath. When you are focusing on your breath you can’t be thinking at the same time. A simpler formula that we teach at Still Mind to help us detach from the thoughts (“detach”, not “get rid of”): Notice (your thought)  allow (your thought) and immediately breathe and …breathe and breathe and breathe and breathe and breathe. NOTICE…..ALLOW…. BREATHE. When you focus on your breath for a moment you can’t think at the same time. Zen is the art of developing this simple practice.

Don't expect the return to your breath to be perfect. Most of the time it will probably be muddled. Don't worry about this. It's a normal part of practice. It is what one could call the experience of “bothness” - both belly/breath attention and thoughts at the same time. Sometimes the breath wins out, sometimes it loses to the stronger thoughts. But as long as your intention is to keep bringing the awareness back to the movement of the breath and you keep striving to do this, you are doing perfect practice ––one that will continue developing naturally, as it should. If you stop believing the illusion that you have to come back cleanly and purely, that your enormously seductive thoughts should somehow roll over and go away; if you allow "bothness" to be present, slowly your strengthening awareness will make its way back to the belly and its breath, your thought will fade away by itself and your practice will be developing naturally, as it should. bringing the awareness back to the movement of the breath and you keep striving to do this, you are doing perfect practice ––one that will continue developing naturally, as it should.

Try not to criticize. When you discover that you have wandered off into thought or day dreams or drift once again, remember you wandered off unconsciously. You didn't want to wander off - it just happened. To criticize this unconscious action is not helpful.   However, criticism and judgement continue as they are part of our human nature.  What to do? NOTICE (the criticism) ALLOW  (the criticism) BREATHE..BREATHE..BREATHE. You can also the experience a still mind by RELEASING ALL THE  MUSCLES OF YOURBODY because thinking is connected to muscle tension.  It’s an excellent way to begin your sitting and to practice throughout the sitting and throughout your day.

Absolutely. Just hear the sounds but try not to name or follow them. Keep moving with the breath.

Again, don't fight it. If you're tired, that's your "just this." Just find your "not-tired." You do this first by straightening your spine and regaining your posture and then keeping it straight. The spine holds substantial energy. Then find your belly. When you lose this again (for you will) just repeat. If you are tired before a sitting, drink water to get oxygen into your blood. You do the same for pain, if it is normal, "I've never used those muscles" pain. If you are straining something or having severe difficulty, please speak with a teacher or the practice leader.

Try not to. It is part of the discipline to help you develop a still mind. Itching and needing to move are simply distractions brought on by your mind. However, if you are in pain, it's fine to adjust yourself discretely. If you feel that sitting on the floor for 3 periods is too hard - which it can be for all who begin Zen - please don't hesitate to switch to a chair. Just bring it into the zendo with you and fold it flat against the wall. Switch during kin-hin.

This often happens to people as they begin sitting on the floor, either on a zafu or even on a seiza bench. It means that you are sitting in a way that impedes the flow of blood in your legs. Try doing stretching exercises before sitting to develop your muscles. Also, you may need to sit a bit HIGHER on the zafu or bench. You can turn the zafu on its side for extra height or add a small pillow (pillows can be purchased from catalogs found in our library section). If the problem persists, please speak to one of the practice leaders or to a teacher.

The basis of Zen practice is to strive to be in the present moment because the present moment is the only place where reality is found. But our mind keeps taking us out of the present moment into either the past or the future. We rarely seem to be in the present. It requires discipline to remain in the present moment. The forms and structures that Zen offers are disciplined support tools to help us focus on being in the moment.

Part of our practice in the Zendo is chanting. Most of the chants are ancient Buddhist texts that may not make immediate sense. We invite you to join us in chanting those texts, but you are also welcome to simply listen as we chant them. And you are invited to discuss any questions you have about them with a teacher.

The altar is a metaphor for each of us. On it are found objects that represent the four elements of which we are all composed - fire: the candle; air: the incense; water: in the water bowl; earth: the flowers. It also holds the statue of the Buddha. Buddha means awakened one so it represents our awakened self. In addition, our altar holds the Remembrance Book in which we write the names of deceased people and those we know who are suffering and who we want to hold in our meditation. The Remembrance Book is found on the small table in the outer room before each sitting. More information on the Remembrance Book can be found on its front page.

All members- whether beginner or long-time practitioner - can meet with any of the teachers at any time. The meeting (called daisan) is for asking questions, receiving further instruction on a personal level and, above all, for receiving encouragement about practice. Daisan is available whenever the teacher is present which is usually the case and takes place in the daisan room while others are sitting in zazen. Information for newcomers receiving an initial daisan session can be found here and here.

Absolutely.  In addition to the weekly dharma talk given on Tuesday evening, we have hundreds of dharma talks covering a wide variety of Zen topics online and encourage you to listen to them. All in all, remember that Zen can seem muddled. We must be willing to be in the flux of such "awareness development" until it slowly, gradually sorts itself out by itself and then, by itself, holds us in the reality of just this as it is – not as it should be.