Zen is the art of connecting oneself with the nature. It focuses on awareness through the practice of meditation. Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. It gives more energy, more concentration, more peace, more love, more joy, more presence, more kindness.
What is Zen?
Zen is a state of mind which leave stress behind and focus on beautiful things that help us relax and feel good about ourselves. “Being Zen” is essentially a state of being at peace with your own thoughts, and being self-aware of your place within the universe, inconsequential (and simultaneously essential).
The term “Zen” is a long-standing form of traditional wisdom, which has had an impact on billions of people all over the world. Before we can understand what “Zen” actually means, we should look at the history of this enigmatic idea. The word Zen is derived from the Chinese word Ch’an, which is directly taken from Indian sanskrit word dhayana, which means meditation. It centers on a personal relationship with your own mind, and a higher, undefined entity outside of yourself.
How is Zen Practiced?
1) Mindful Wakeup: Start with a Purpose
This is the best practice to do in the morning, before checking phones or email.
1. On waking, sit in your bed or a chair in a relaxed posture. Close your eyes and connect with the sensations of your body. Make sure your spine is straight, but not rigid.
2. Take three long, deep, nourishing breaths—breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Then let your breath settle into its own rhythm, as you simply follow it in and out, noticing the rise and fall of your chest and belly as you breathe.
3. Ask yourself: “What is my intention for today?” Use these prompts to help answer that question, as you think about the people and activities you will face. Ask yourself:
How might I show up today to have the best impact?
What quality of mind do I want to strengthen and develop?
What do I need to take better care of myself?
During difficult moments, how might I be more compassionate to others and myself?
How might I feel more connected and fulfilled?
Setting an intention—keeping those primal motivations in mind—helps strengthen this connection between the lower and higher centers. Doing so can change your day, making it more likely that your words, actions and responses— especially during moments of difficulty—will be more mindful and compassionate.
4. Set your intention for the day. For example, “Today, I will be kind to myself; be patient with others; give generously; stay grounded; persevere; have fun; eat well,” or anything else you feel is important.
5. Throughout the day, check in with yourself. Pause, take a breath, and revisit your intention. Notice, as you become more and more conscious of your intentions for each day, how the quality of your communications, relationships, and mood shifts.
2) Mindful Eating: Enjoy Every Mouthful
- Come to the table with an appetite— but not when ravenously hungry. If you skip meals, you may be so eager to get anything in your stomach that your first priority is filling the void instead of enjoying your food.
- Start with a small portion. It may be helpful to limit the size of your plate to nine inches or less.
- Appreciate your food. Pause for a minute or two before you begin eating to contemplate everything and everyone it took to bring the meal to your table. Silently express your gratitude for the opportunity to enjoy delicious food and the companions you’re enjoying it with.
- Bring all your senses to the meal. When you’re cooking, serving, and eating your food, be attentive to color, texture, aroma, and even the sounds different foods make as you prepare them. As you chew your food, try identifying all the ingredients, especially seasonings.
- Take small bites. It’s easier to taste food completely when your mouth isn’t full. Put down your utensil between bites.
- Chew thoroughly. Chew well until you can taste the essence of the food. (You may have to chew each mouthful 20 to 40 times, depending on the food.) You may be surprised at all the flavors that are released.
- Eat slowly. If you follow the advice above, you won’t bolt your food down. Devote at least five minutes to mindful eating before you chat with your tablemates.
3) Mindful Pause: Rewire Your Brain
The Power of Pause
We are starving for stillness and silence in our culture. Doesn’t it seem like there is noise and chaos everywhere? The truth is that the world is not going to slow down and get less noisy simply because you want it to. You have to commit to taking time to pause. I’ve grown to appreciate that pausing truly is golden. Taking breaks settle me in a matter of minutes. I didn’t always feel this way. I used to surround myself with noise. I’d fall asleep with the television blaring, have pop music playing in my car and home, and talk, talk, talk until my throat was sore. Now I seek silence every day and I encourage you to do the same.
You should not react to all the events in your life, rather stop for some time and think about the situation, before responding to it. Mindful pause exercise stresses the importance of taking a moment to stop what you are doing so you can check how you are feeling & become more focused.
4) Mindful Workout: Activate Your Mind and Your Muscles
If you’ve ever laced up your running shoes and covered a few kilometers in the great outdoors, you’ll likely understand the simple joys a good run can bring: the feeling of fresh air in the lungs, appreciating the beauty of nature, perhaps even finding that elusive flow state.
Being mindful involves paying attention to our breath and physical sensations, as well as how our emotions and thought processes are responding. For runners, this means they concentrate on the physical sensations that they are in control of. This includes their breath, but also their posture, gait, where they look or focus while running, and their overall form.
When we run, it can be easy to become overwhelmed with the pace you’re going at, how far you’ve run and how far you might still have to go. Mindfulness helps runners to keep the focus on the exact moment they’re in and bring their attention to the moment at hand.
- Release yourself from external distractions and daily pressures.
- Really listen to your body: your breathing, your postures, and your senses.
- Use your breath to aid you. Mouth breathing is related to stress responses, so try to focus more on breathing through your nose.
- Connect with memories associated with your body, past injuries or experiences relating to running. This can help you create deeper internal connections.
- Keep the internal conversation between you and your body, not societal expectations.
- Don’t worry about anchor points, timings, tracking devices – just listen to your body.
5) Mindful Driving: Drive Yourself Calm, Not Crazy
Mindful driving is an application of mindfulness outside of a closed/controlled environment, with the goal of being present in each moment, fully attuned and immersed in the flow of action while maintaining a sense of calm observation.
It takes practice, but as you do this you are training the mind to be present. When your mind controls you, it is very stressful; but when you are able to control your mind, it can be very relaxing. A mindful commute will help you become more focused, relaxed, and effective once you get to your destination.
It sounds so obvious and, in many ways, may well feel like a boring legal disclaimer, but it’s not; it’s much more than that.
When we drive a car we need to be 100% present with what we are doing and not thinking about anything else, not even a mindfulness exercise. I’m pretty sure most people can think of times when they have gone several miles or more in the car and then suddenly realized they were lost in thought. It almost feels as though we have just woken up. Funnily enough, that’s how we spend a lot of our life, we just tend to notice it a bit more when we are confronted with the potential dangers of driving a car under the influence of a wandering mind.
The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.
Pollyannaism 