Learning To Take Your Time

The first class is all about learning and figuring out what is going to happen. What is vital is to take your time. You will have to calm down. Teachers talk in a calm manner about breathing and how important it is. Then, the class starts to breathe in its own rhythm. Much talking is done by the teacher with the purpose of calming the class. The idea is that you want to eliminate stress and negativity through breathing. If your day was particularly bad, you will have to spend more time to calm down.

Practice is always necessary. It will take time to control breathing and get the hang og everything. Do not get mad if you have problems. This is normal for most people. You will surely not be able to perfectly control your breathing and to let go of all your worries with just 1 or 2 classes. Do not judge yourself. The brain can easily keep chattering. If you take some time to acknowledge what happened throughout the day before the meditation class, it will be easier.

Trying New Things

Contrary to popular belief, no two Zen meditation sessions are alike. You will try brand new things with every attempt. You breath and then you may try alternate nostril breathing. This is sometimes done in yoga but unexpected in meditation. This is much harder to do than what you instantly think.

You need to keep an open mind and heart. As you keep meditating you will be able to do it much more regularly. You get to find more time and enjoy a deeper thinking. Even one meditation session can make you be more aware of what is going on around you.

Use Of Accessories And Extras

One thing that most people do not expect with the first meditation class is the use of different accessories and tools. For instance, you can see the teacher using a bell to mark when palms should be brought to your heart center. Using the accessories will mark important moments in the meditation. In most cases the student does not even realize how much time passes during meditation.

The Open Heart

Meditation is never similar for all people. There are various ways to meditate. Skeptics have many misconceptions; usually that chanting is always present in meditation. Mindfulness practices will help you to protect the meditation journey you will be on.

The post What To Expect In Your First Zen Meditation Class appeared first on Dzhingarov

What Is This Zen State?

From a first look online, we discovered that the Zen state can actually come from everything: the pleasure of writing, designing, making a business plan, discovering new food recipes and much more. Moreover, people seem to have developed a strong belief that anything that gives you the chance to relax and keep your mind at ease can be considered as a new way of achieving the Zen state.

Common Beliefs

The common belief is also that by doing something that you love you will never actually feel like working but rather enjoy a healthy working lifestyle that is never separated from your personal life. Working with pleasure while also having a perfect personal life seems to create that perfect balance that helps people feel more relaxed and enjoy life as it goes.

Setting the Record Straight

All of the above mentioned common beliefs sound really great and actually play an important role for us when establishing a lifestyle. However, a Zen state is actually much more than this and definitely not a habit, a state of simple peace nor the perfect destination. Furthermore, the real Zen state is not something that can just be achieved over night nor is it something like just living the moment and feeling happy for a little while.

The Real, Traditional Meaning of the Zen State

The actual traditional meaning of Zen is a wisdom custom that has strong, remarkable cultural and historic roots. It represents the path to full awakening meant to help you embrace the original nature. This is always present in our life right here and now. Zen is actually considered by spiritualists as the perfect essence of wisdom perfectly combined with compassion which embodies only in those great minds that manage to achieve perfect spiritual awakening. The Zen state is nothing new as many would like to establish but rather comes way back from the time of Buddha.

The Modern Definition of the Zen State

What is really new is the meaning that each and every person attributes to this traditional term for describing a healthy lifestyle. We may not all be spiritual masters but we can all control our mind if we want to. Tricking your mind to leave stress behind and focus on beautiful things that help us relax and feel good about ourselves may just be the modern definition of our own personal Zen state. Can this actually help us in life? Yes, it can and it will. Let’s see how.

Let Go of Things that You Cannot Control

We are all some sort of control freaks when it comes to things that we consider highly important in our life. There is nothing wrong with being highly-organized and in control of things in life but nothing should be taken to extremes. When we stress about everything all the time we will never feel like being in control of anything and this will only mean never being able to actually be happy. If the modern definition of Zen also means letting go of things that cannot be controlled and which are harmful for us, we should definitely embrace it. It can only bring positive things and feelings into our new life.

Always Focus on the Bigger Picture

Each and every person in this world has experienced at least one situation in which it simply could not seem to be able to let go of stressful, small details either at work or at home. Details are important, no one can deny it. But is it really worth living life through small details? Spiritualists say no to this. They recommend us to always focus on the bigger picture in our life. Why? Because putting things into perspective can actually help all of us balance the new way in which we perceive life. If this can bring happiness into our life, then why should we not consider it our new modern definition of personal Zen?

Constant Focus on Positive Things

When you work in a stressful environment thinking positive might seem impossible to do. What spiritual masters say is that we do not have to live in a positive environment all the time to be able to keep our thoughts clean and worth thinking. Of course, when something like a bad workplace seems to take over us the clear recommendation is to make changes. However, until we can establish these new things in our life, we can pursue a constant positive strategy thinking. The recommendation is to simply focus on positive things all the time, no matter what might happen around you and your life will change. We highly fancy this new definition of Zen because we believe that every one of us should be the masters of our own mind. This is the real road to change, freedom and true happiness in life.

Create Your Own Zen State

All in all, the traditional meaning of Zen is more likely related to those few people around the world who actually manage to become spiritual masters. We may not be one of them but we can really become a new person taking control on his/her life through a personal Zen state that keeps us strong. Let’s just appreciate the wonderful journey of life and focus on things that really matter. Dealing with feelings and facts in a positive manner can only bring great new things in our life and we are actually allowed to live a happy life in our own constant Zen state.

The post What Does Being In A ‘Zen State’ Really Mean? appeared first on Dzhingarov

The zen priest is normally a person that went to the temple, meditates and wears robes. There is no criteria that can be mentioned about this. The one real merit that appears in this case is normally commitment.

The term “ZEN MASTER” can mean so many different things. In most situations we refer to a teacher that now does not have a teacher. Zen is basically going to have an idea of transmission to the student from the teacher, in a direct way, all going towards connection with Buddha. Many argue that this is incorrect and that this does not exist but that is what we see in this religion. The main idea is that the teacher is going to teach someone until nothing can be taught and the student can go on without needing help.

A zen master is basically an individual that is “authorized” by a teacher, one that was “authorized” by his own teacher, to practice and teach without having to be supervised. Zen masters can thus open a temple without supervision. However, not all of them do that. Some do not want to teach as they do not feel ready.

Authentication should, in theory, imply enlightenment. This is where things get tricky. Not all those that promote themselves as being zen masters are actually legit. Some just want to take advantage of people. They will teach for money and do not really offer the spiritual guidance that the student would get from someone that is a true zen master. Because of this, it is really important that you are careful and that you only consider those zen masters that are legit and that can tell you about their teacher. When this is the case, you would receive a much better guidance.

Remember that in Buddhism the monks-nuns are required to take a vow for their entire life. This includes chastity, poverty and various other restrictions. Laity (commonly referred to as householders) imply such vows taken just for a short period of time. Priests are people that take vows seriously. Masters are priests that go to the next level so the vows should still exist.

The post What Does It Take To Become A Zen Master and Teach Others? appeared first on Dzhingarov