Category: Zen practices
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Breathing In… Breathing Out… One Movement
Read time 1 minute. A uniquely subtle but important reframing of breath awareness practice as movement and transition. Breath awareness practice. The foundation of mindfulness.There are many methods. Here’s one you might not have considered. Something simple: Forget counting breaths.Forget inhale.Forget exhale. Forget the names entirely. Consider, instead, the qualities within a breath. Pressure.A subtle…
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The Spirituality Problem— How To Avoid Endless Seeking
Read time 2 minutes. A quiet reflection on what often gets called “spiritual seeking.” The spirituality problem isn’t about presence or enlightenment, but the habit of standing outside our own lives, watching and trying to fix them Do you sometimes feel like an outsider in your own life?Do you find yourself struggling to feel complete?…
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Everyone Meditates: A Different Way to Understand Meditation
Read time 2 minutes. Meditation isn’t something you add to life. It’s what happens when you stop interfering. Do you meditate?Everyone meditates.Just not in the way we might think. If you’ve ever sat with a decision instead of forcing it—if you’ve ever let an idea breathe—if you’ve ever watched something unfold without touching it—you were…
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Just a Little Peace | A Greatfruit Meditation
Read time 2 minutes. A short meditation for when your mind refuses to cooperate. Just a Little Peace is a stand alone article in our BeToKnow series. You don’t need a quieter mind. You need a bigger cathedral. There’s a voice in your head.“In your head?”Says who? And that voice…Sometimes loud.Sometimes subtle.Always offering commentary no one asked for.And…
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Calming Breath Practice: Tongue Tricks and Tranquility Juice
Read time 3 minutes. A calming breath practice or three to help dissolve the ego. Long before I knew much about Zen, I stumbled upon an interesting practice. One night, for reasons I can’t remember, I tried to imitate Tibetan throat singing with childlike sincerity. The deep rumble filled me until it felt like my…
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Uncle Bob, Zen, and the Leftovers – A Micro Zen Practice
Micro Zen practice?It’s just this simple: MindfulRebellion Want the entire story? Read: Practice Takes Practice: Energy Awareness. Choose your own adventure:
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Practice Takes Practice: Energy Awareness
Read time 3 minutes. Learn a simple yet powerful energy awareness practice that helps you break the emotional feedback loop. Ahead lies a deceptively simple practice.But it only works if you’re willing—truly willing—to stop fighting what is.You don’t have to like what’s happening.You do have to stop arguing with it.Perhaps you find yourself struggling with…
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The Ripple Behind the Illusion of Self
Read time 2 minutes. What is your true nature? It lies beyond the false self.
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Unknowing Into The Peace of No-mind: Who Knows?
Read time 7 minutes. Unknowing is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. We have been winding our way through the endless dualities that rise up in Zen thought and practice. Each step reveals how overlapping, how intertwined, these ideas actually are. Such is the case with today’s topic: no-mind. I like to think of…