Dear Fellow Sitters,
I always recommend this teacher's excellent advice on finding the balanced, stable, comfortable, upright posture(s) for sitting right for YOUR particular body, by being aware of how YOUR body feels (rather than a "one size fits all" approach so common in the Zen world). This is especially good advice for an "at a distance" Sangha like ours where I cannot adjust everyone's posture and, in any case, YOU are the best expert on YOUR body by how YOU feel than any other person can ever tell judging from outside:
His advice works for cross legged posture, seiza bench or chair (and I would add, much of it even for folks who need to recline for health reasons).
I don't go for all he has to say when he starts talking about "energy flows" and such, but I feel that ... if you combine his wise advice on finding the stable and balanced postures suited to your own body, combined with Okumura roshi's advice on radical goallessness such as in the following, sitting in the completion of Zazen, sitting for sitting's sake (to counteract any "goal" oriented sense remaining in Johnson's recommendation, even though he also emphasizes just to "let go") ... you will have one heck of a wonderful practice going.
Will Johnson also has an excellent book which I have reviewed here:
Book Recommendation: - THE POSTURE OF MEDITATION
Gassho, Jundo
STLah
I always recommend this teacher's excellent advice on finding the balanced, stable, comfortable, upright posture(s) for sitting right for YOUR particular body, by being aware of how YOUR body feels (rather than a "one size fits all" approach so common in the Zen world). This is especially good advice for an "at a distance" Sangha like ours where I cannot adjust everyone's posture and, in any case, YOU are the best expert on YOUR body by how YOU feel than any other person can ever tell judging from outside:
His advice works for cross legged posture, seiza bench or chair (and I would add, much of it even for folks who need to recline for health reasons).
I don't go for all he has to say when he starts talking about "energy flows" and such, but I feel that ... if you combine his wise advice on finding the stable and balanced postures suited to your own body, combined with Okumura roshi's advice on radical goallessness such as in the following, sitting in the completion of Zazen, sitting for sitting's sake (to counteract any "goal" oriented sense remaining in Johnson's recommendation, even though he also emphasizes just to "let go") ... you will have one heck of a wonderful practice going.
Will Johnson also has an excellent book which I have reviewed here:
Book Recommendation: - THE POSTURE OF MEDITATION
Gassho, Jundo
STLah
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