Zazen

Well, meditation isn't necessarily my thing, but I took the opportunity to socialize with some new friends and joined them for Zazen in Kamakura.

The preparation:

The email from the guides said that no shoes and socks are allowed. Ok, that's no biggie. So as not to scare off my new friends too soon, this information meant that I would need a pedicure STAT. However, a last minute trip to the beauty shop on base revealed that there is no such thing as a walk in pedicure here. Plan B? Well, my belly is too big to paint my nails without them looking like Cooper helped so I decided to rely on a lot of lotion and a prayer that nobody would glance down.

The morning of:

I was running late (shocker, right?). I had enough time to feed Coop and convince my mom to drop me off (Don't ask). I grabbed some of Justin's black socks and off I went. Upon arriving at the station I saw two of the ladies that I was going with. Sweet! That meant I wasn't as late as I thought. They were eating Subway and for a split second it crossed my mind that I hadn't eaten yet. I decided to slip into the convenient store and stock up on candy so at least my belly wouldn't growl during zazen.

Arrival at Kita-Kamakura (meeting location):

The surrounding area was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The email did mention that it was a 10-15 minute walk to the Shine. However, darn them for failing to mention that it was entirely on an incline. Since it was too late to back out, onward I pressed...

Zazen time:

Shoes off...Check. Socks off...not yet, but I should have since I later noticed the huge hole exposing my big toe. Maybe nobody noticed!

The monks led us to a large tatami room where the four of us and the others from the group picked out futons to sit on. They briefly went over the rules of zazen: how to sit, how to position your hands and most importantly, don't think about anything. Hmm....ok, folks, put it on record that I did try.

There are three mediation sessions and each were about 10 minutes...

Session one (mental dialogue):

Does anyone else think the noise made by the monks' feet while walking on the tatami mats sounds like potato chips?? Be quiet, brain. You're the only one breaking the thinking rule.

Session two:

Brain, please stop thinking about food and just focus on that grape mento hidden under your tongue.
Oh, shoot, did my new friend just fall asleep?! Don't giggle, Hannah, or they'll kick you out!

Session three:  

Some people took the monks up on the offer of disciplinary whacks on the back to help regain focus. I wasn't very focused so a few hits with a stick was probably not going to cure me. I passed.

Post-Zazen Tea ceremony:

Tea and a cookie?! YUM! Yes, I did stop by the gift shop on the way out and picked up a box of those scrumptious cookies.

All in all, it was an interesting experience and my new friends were a lot of fun. Can't wait to experience more of Japan!!

To see Zazen pictures, go to TeamAllenSanDiego.Blogspot.com