Body Training

Zen is practiced with the whole body. At Fox Forest Zen Temple, Body Training is an integral part of Zen practice.

We do not seek to improve the body or attain a special state. We practice to release the habits of tension and effort that obscure our natural way of being. As unnecessary effort falls away, breathing deepens, the body settles, and practice matures naturally.

The Three Foundations

Breath

Practice begins with the breath. We do not seek to control the breath. We learn to free it. As the diaphragm, rib cage, and torso release unnecessary tension, breathing becomes natural, spacious, and unforced.

The breath settles the body. The body settles the mind.

Grounding

As breathing deepens, the body discovers the earth. Grounding is not something we do. It is something we allow. Supported by the earth rather than held together by effort, the body discovers stability, balance, and ease. From this ground, zazen becomes quiet and alive.

Kiai

When breath and grounding mature together, vitality naturally expresses itself. In the Japanese tradition, this living expression is known as kiai. Kiai is not created through effort. It appears when the body is no longer divided by unnecessary tension.

Hara

Hara is not taught. It is not another practice. It is the natural expression of breath, grounding, and kiai functioning as one. From hara, sitting, walking, working, and meeting each moment become one continuous practice.

Body Training is offered to members of Fox Forest Zen Temple as part of their ongoing Zen training. It is neither exercise nor therapy. It is the practice of returning to what has always been present.

The Way is not found apart from the body.

Lineage

Body Training reflects the integration of Zen practice, the principles of Aikido, and the body awakening methods of Integral Bodywork as transmitted by Everett O’Gawa. These teachings are offered in service of embodied Zen practice.

Body Training is offered as spiritual instruction and is not massage therapy, physical therapy, or medical treatment.