I can zazen on a hike. I can zazen on a bike...?

[Meian]

I do on a stationary bike, and during yoga.

Gassho, meian st lh

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[Shinshi]

I am a distance runner (just did my 12th marathon) and will run up to 50 miles a week in training. I find that there is a notable overlap between running and sitting - but they are also different. They are the same in that when you run there are many times when everything drops away. You are just running. Your mind drops away, your evaluations drop away, you and the process are just one thing. You become the run. I think the fact that running is a very rhythmic activity helps, you are breathing in and out and your steps beat out tempo. You flow through the run. I find this particularly true when running trails. You don't think about where you are going or how you are going to navigate the terrain. Your body just sees and does, no time for thought. You just run the trail that is in front of you as it presents itself to you.

Sorry, already too many sentences.

Gassho,

Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Onka]

I used to be a swimmer, swimming at least 6km per day and the rhythm you get into used to be incredibly peaceful, the only sound being the slapping of water. Without a word of a lie on occasions I felt so relaxed that I felt I could fall asleep distance swimming. Other experiences of being completely present and at one with everything is riding my motorcycle effortlessly finding gaps and lane splitting.
Gassho
Onka
ST/LAH

[Tosei]

I am a distance runner (just did my 12th marathon) and will run up to 50 miles a week in training. I find that there is a notable overlap between running and sitting - but they are also different. They are the same in that when you run there are many times when everything drops away. You are just running. Your mind drops away, your evaluations drop away, you and the process are just one thing. You become the run. I think the fact that running is a very rhythmic activity helps, you are breathing in and out and your steps beat out tempo. You flow through the run. I find this particularly true when running trails. You don't think about where you are going or how you are going to navigate the terrain. Your body just sees and does, no time for thought. You just run the trail that is in front of you as it presents itself to you.

Sorry, already too many sentences.

Gassho,

Shinshi

SaT-LaH

For years I ran ultras and often found as you do, Shinshi, that there’s a lot going on that’s pretty similar to what I experience in sitting. I’ll add a couple more—just for completeness—the times, the many times, where every fibre of your body mind is screaming ‘why am I doing this?’ and, ‘I think I’ll stop/no I won’t/I’m stopping/no I’m not’; or, the mantra ‘don’t need to win/just need to keep moving, hopefully forward, but I’ll take what I can get’, and finally, those days when the mountain trail unrolls beneath you, the smells of sage and grass come and go, the birds dance and dance away, and the sky is an ever-changing kaleidoscope of bright blue and gentle wisps of white cloud, there and gone again. In other words, yeah.

Apologies for meeting the technical standard of three sentences, while so clearly going beyond the spirit.

Gassho,

P

S/t

[Washin]

When I visit the gym (been doing it for the last 15 years) and do my mindful work out
it reminds me of Zazen. There's surely an overlap..and yet they are different.
Similar thing with Tai Chi.

Gassho,
Washin
sat today/LAH

[Jundo]

In fact, my daily exercise bike (I do a stationary bike for about 1 hour 15 minutes a day most days of the week) is my chance to catch up on TV shows (watching the most recent season of "Homeland" now, and recently the "Amazing Mrs. Maizel") and the monologue on America's "Colbert" show, plus "Last Week Tonight," Bill Maher and that kind of thing (I have political views ... just not here! ). It is my chance to play tv watching "couch potato," catch up on "culture" in my former country of the USA, while actually burning some calories!

(I learned years ago that even the big Roshis in the big Zen monasteries often had tv sets for their private time, cause even a Roshi needs to kick back ... but they often kept them discreetly hidden under a nice cloth or something at other times.

The car is the chance to catch up on podcasts (This American Life, RadioLab, Snap Judgement, mostly from the USA, the futurist "Singularity Podcast" from Canada, among my favorites, plus "No Such Thing As A Fish" from the UK, some Buddhist things like the Imperfect Buddha Podcast, Secular Buddhist and such ... not to mention the absolutely AMAZING "the ZEN of EVERYTHING!" featuring Kirk and Jundo! ).

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?140-ZEN-of-EVERYTHING-TREELEAF-Podcasts

There is a time to sit Zazen. A time to watch "Better Call Saul" or "Samantha Bee." All in its time.

(Sorry for running long with my entertainment recommendations).

Gassho, J

STLah

[Yokai]

I know it's outrageous, but I've taken up sewing as a kind of zazen!

Gassho, Chris satlah

[Jundo]

I know it's outrageous, but I've taken up sewing as a kind of zazen!

Gassho, Chris satlah

SHOCKING!

Actually that will be part of the topic tomorrow during Zazenkai of Zen Practice as partly physical embodiment, including our sewing.

September 18th-19th Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai - Embodiment

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?18164-September-18th-19th-Treeleaf-Weekly-Zazenkai-Embodiment

Gassho, J

STLah

[Kotei]

Running (in that slightly below 50miles a week category), sewing, practicing Shakuhachi and Samu in the large garden is what I find related to Zazen.
Autumn, the 50m3 of wonderfully coloured leaves falling over the next weeks and raking them together instead of using a leaf blower.
Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.