1. What Do We Do in Zazen?
In Zen Gestalt Zazen (seated meditation), what we value is noticing “what is happening in me right now.” Calming the mind, getting rid of stray thoughts, thinking of nothing at all: you may picture Zazen this way, but there is no need to make any of these your goal.
Even when we are simply sitting, all kinds of phenomena arise within us.
Shallow breathing, pain in the body, memories of the past, a train of thought that starts out of nowhere. Sometimes boredom comes; sometimes a sense of ease spreads through us. Without forcing these away, we look at each moment just as it is.
In this program, we begin with a body scan to bring awareness to bodily sensations. Then we settle the posture and the breath and move into the practices of susokukan (counting the breath) and zuisokukan (following the breath). From there, we let the field of awareness widen naturally, from the single point of the breath to the processes of feeling and the movements of the mind.
2. Noticing the Body
We begin with a body scan. In this practice, we turn our attention to each part of the body in turn and take in the sensations arising there.
The soles of the feet touching the floor, the weight of the legs, tension in the lower or upper back, tightness in the shoulders, the state of the muscles of the face.
Warmth, coolness, heaviness, pain, or perhaps a neutral state of “not feeling anything.” Without evaluating them or controlling them, we simply watch the sensations as they arise.
As we turn our attention to them, we may suddenly notice a tension we had been overlooking. And as we observe, the sensation itself may change. The aim is not to relax the body. It is to see clearly what is happening in your body right now, how it shows up, and how it is changing. From here, we move into the practice of posture and breathing.
3. Sitting Posture and Tanden Breathing
You may sit on the floor or on a chair. On the floor, use a cushion or something similar to stabilize the pelvis; on a chair, place the soles of your feet on the floor. Let your torso remain upright and balanced, let the spine lengthen naturally, and let go of extra effort in the shoulders and arms. Keeping only the minimum effort needed to hold the posture, we release whatever tension is unnecessary.
During Zazen, we also practice tanden breathing. The tanden is a place inside the body a few centimeters below the navel. Breathing with our attention gathered there is called tanden breathing. We explore, by actually moving, how the diaphragm works together with the rest of the body, and how to use the body so as to release excess effort. At first, we practice regulating the breath deliberately. There is no need, however, to force it to lengthen. Please avoid any strained breathing that leaves you short of breath.
In the practice that follows, we move from “a stage of deliberately guiding the breath” to “a stage of letting go of that guidance and noticing the natural breath.” Guiding it yourself, and leaving it to itself: we experience firsthand the difference between these two ways of relating to the breath. The specifics of posture, how to use the body, and how breathing works will be explained in detail during the session.
4. Susokukan and Zuisokukan: Changing How We Relate to the Breath
There are many views and methods of Zazen and meditation in the world, beginning with those of Buddhism. In Zen Gestalt, we use the following sequence because it fits well with the Gestalt approach.
The aim here is to savor the change in how you yourself relate to the breath, moving from a stage of deliberately guiding it to a stage of gradually letting that guidance go.
Susokukan 1: Drawing Out the Out-Breath with the Count
In this method, we sit while counting the breath. As you breathe out, count silently, “o-o-one.” With the next breath, “tw-o-o.” When you reach ten, begin again from one. At this stage, we consciously control the breath, as though the count were drawing out the out-breath. There is no need, however, to force a long exhalation or to keep breathing out until it becomes uncomfortable.
Susokukan 2: Placing the Count at the End of the Out-Breath
We stop guiding the breath with the count. The breath goes out naturally, and where that wave comes to an end, we gently “place” the count. We keep counting, but rather than controlling the breath, we simply set the count down lightly at its end.
Zuisokukan 1: Letting Go of Counting
The zui of zuisokukan means “to follow” or “to go along with.” We stop placing the count as well, and simply follow the wave of breathing out and breathing in. Without using numbers, we follow the process of breathing itself. At this stage, it is fine if some sense of controlling the breath yourself still remains.
Zuisokukan 2: Noticing the Breath That Repeats Itself Naturally
We let go of the deliberate act of breathing out and breathing in itself. Breathing goes on naturally, without our having to command it. Without trying to control it, we simply notice the breath that is naturally repeating itself.
Whether the breath is shallow or deep, we simply follow it as it is.
The feeling of air passing through the nose, the rise and fall of the chest or belly: anywhere you can naturally sense it is fine.
These four stages gradually shift the relationship between the breath and awareness: guiding the breath with the count → placing the count with the breath → letting go of the count → allowing the breath to flow naturally.
What matters is not how far you have progressed or how skilled you have become. It is noticing, in each phase, what is happening in your breath and body, and how “your way of relating to the breath” is changing. You do not have to move in one direction only. If you notice that it isn’t going well, you may return to an earlier stage at any time.
5. Expanding Awareness: Bodily Sensations, Feeling-Tone, Emotions, and Thoughts
As we follow the breath in susokukan or zuisokukan, sitting on the cushion for a while, many experiences other than the breath begin to arise: tension or pain in the body, pleasant or unpleasant sensations, feelings such as anger or anxiety, thoughts that branch off from them, urges to move or do something.
In Zen Gestalt, we widen the field of observation from the single point of the breath to these phenomena of body and mind. In doing so, it can help to see your experience as four overlapping domains: bodily sensations; feeling-tone (the quality of an experience as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral); emotions such as anxiety or anger; and thoughts and urges. This makes it easier to sort out what is happening right now.
For example, suppose you feel tension in your chest (bodily sensation). You recognize that you are experiencing that tension as unpleasant (feeling-tone). You also notice anxiety arising alongside that tension (emotion). Caught up in that anxiety, you start thinking about something, or struggle to make the anxiety go away (thoughts and urges).
These experiences do not arise in any fixed order, and there is no need to analyze them or search for causes. If they arise, we relate to them as follows:
- If something faintly appears and fades away: There is no need to do anything in particular. Simply return to the breath.
- If something appears clearly and pulls your attention: Rather than forcing your attention back, stay with that experience for a while, and look, just as it is, at how it feels and how it changes.
There is no need to keep chasing a single sensation. When it has changed and faded, and your attention has naturally moved away, return to the breath again.
Nor is there any need to dig deeper when strong emotion or distress continues. You might return to the breath or to the feeling of your body being supported by the floor, open your eyes, change your posture, or rest. Choose whatever helps you feel safe and supported.
Following the breath. When something appears, noticing it. If needed, staying with that experience for a while. Having seen it change, returning once more to the breath.
Through this repetition, we deepen our awareness of the many-layered process of “what is happening now, and how it is changing.”
6. Not Trying to Sit Well
“I can’t concentrate.” “I keep thinking about things.” “I don’t feel anything.” Even when you think this, there is no need to try to do it well.
When you notice you have been thinking, simply know, “I was thinking just now.” When you feel restless, look at that restlessness just as it is. When you feel nothing, value the experience of “feeling nothing” just as it is.
Susokukan and zuisokukan are not tools for reaching a special state. Whether you are deliberately guiding the breath or allowing it to flow naturally, noticing what is happening in you at that moment is itself the aim.
7. In Daily Life, Too
This practice is not limited to the time we spend sitting on the cushion. Walking, eating, working, talking with others: in every moment of the day, all kinds of things are happening in us.
When someone’s words make you flare up, you notice, before arguing back, “my body has gone stiff.” When you are worrying about something, you become aware that “I’m going around and around in the same thoughts.”
Noticing this does not necessarily change the situation right away. Even so, the outline of what is happening in you becomes a little clearer. Noticing what is happening in you not only in the quiet time of Zazen but in the course of everyday life: that is the practice of Zen Gestalt.