Zen Essence
Modern Day Mindfulness
An 8-Week Journey into Zen Practices for Better Health, Wellbeing and Mental Clarity.
Build the right habits for better balance.
The practice of mindfulness has the power to transform our lives. Through cultivating a daily practice, we build the tools needed to live simpler, happier and more efficient lives. This has been known by the practicing few for millennia, and finally science is catching up with the empirical evidence behind it. Through simple, consistent practices anyone can yield these benefits. But only if we practice.
Like learning a musical instrument, a little practice every day is far more valuable than a whole heap once in a blue moon. That is what this course is designed for – to open the door to the innumerable benefits of a meditation and mindfulness practice in your lives by helping you cultivate simple, unobtrusive daily Zen practices. If you are curious of the benefits of Zen meditation in your life, if you are not sure where to start, or if you already have a practice but are struggling to find the consistency to go deeper, this course is for you.
Course Structure
-
An introduction to Meditation and Mindfulness, and the Zen Approach. We will trace the lineage of the practice, and explore the fundamentals for mindfulness.
-
In this module, we will explore how mindfulness can change the way we perceive stressors and remediate their effects on our nervous system and bodies.
-
In this module, we will explore meditative approaches to managing physical pain, and how to let the mental commentary go along the way.
-
In this module, we will explore the keys to working with emotional pain, and how mindfulness can help our perceptions of the world to navigate anxiety and depression.
-
In this module, we will explore how we perceive our roles in the world, and how this relationship to ourselves can further build the stress in our lives.
-
In this module, we will explore how meditation and mindfulness can build the fundamentals of our unique self-care needs across all aspects of our lives.
-
In this module, we will explore how a consistent mindfulness practice can elevate the function of our mind-bodies to achieve our fullest potential.
-
In the final module, we will explore how to embed all that we have learned into our day-to-day lives, underpinned by a Zen outlook to lead us on our mindfulness journeys.
This Zen Meditation and Mindfulness for Wellbeing course is accredited by the Zenways School (Zendo Kyodan) under stewardship of Zen Master Daizan Skinner, and draws on experience from the Rinzai Zen school amongst many other practices. While the course draws on the Rinzai Zen tradition, it is a secular course that is open for all wishing to explore meditation and mindfulness broadly.
Rather than live for ‘shoulds’ ‘woulds’ and ‘coulds’, can we instead learn to live with what is? Can we slow things down enough to notice what is happening, here and now, and dance with it long enough to appreciate that it is as much a part of us as we are of it?
Course Information
Dates: 26th September – 14th November 2023
Format: Live Online Course
Time Commitment:
1.5 hr Weekly Call on Mondays 7pm GMT
30 min Weekly Mindful Movement / Yoga Class on Fridays 8am (Optional)
What Do I Need: Internet access, a pen and a journal – mindfulness doesn’t require much!
Cost: I believe that mindfulness should benefit all, not just those who can afford it. As a result, I operate on a donations basis. As a guide, the recommended donation is £75-£120, so donate based on what you can afford. Contributing more allows me to share the practice of mindfulness with others who cannot afford it, and the more mindful we all are, the better life is for each of us.
Why Practice Meditation and Mindfulness?
Research is now supporting what sages have understood for millennia – that mindfulness practices can help improve both our emotional well-being and physical health, while teaching us better ways to handle life’s challenges. From Oxford to Harvard, research teams have noted connections between mindfulness practices and improved life outlook, lower levels of anxiety and depression, better health, and generally more satisfying lifestyles and relationships.
Yet still mindfulness is practiced by the very few, still often seen as a burden, a bit ‘woo-woo’, or not the quick fix our modern society demands. But mindfulness is for everyone. We do not have to become monks or exile ourselves into caves to benefit from mindfulness meditation – it is something we can shape into our busy lives. It is a simple and natural thing – there is nothing special or magical to believe in. We just do it. And by doing so, we can re-introduce what we have lost in our modern, busy lives - a mindset dedicated to our wellness and compassion above all else.
