Coaching practices for Shikantaza Just Sitting at Work
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Shikantaza Just Sitting at Work, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My sits have gone quiet but kind of dead
- On the cushion I can find that open, present quality, but the instant I stand up it evaporates
- I’m tired of techniques and counting and focusing on something
- Even in meditation I’m secretly grading myself, chasing some better state, treating sitting as a means to an end
- A feeling shows up and I’m instantly grabbing at it or shoving it away
Practices that may help
- Shikantaza: Just Sitting
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated. - Silent illumination: the quality of awake stillness
Cultivate a stillness that is lit from inside — quiet and alert, not blank and dull.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Extending shikantaza to daily activity
Bring the same non-grasping, present awareness from formal sitting into ordinary tasks.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Shikantaza (just sitting)
Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
Zen Practice (Zazen and Beyond) - Shikantaza — "just sitting" in the Soto Zen tradition
Sit with complete presence and nothing to achieve — no goal, no technique, no observer separate from sitting.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Grounding in posture: zazen as the foundation
Let the body be upright, stable, and settled before everything else.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Releasing the object: sitting without a focal point
Let go of fixing attention on the breath, a mantra, or any other anchor — simply be present.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Practicing with a sangha (community sitting)
Sit with others regularly — group practice stabilizes individual practice in ways solitude cannot.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Study of Dogen’s writings alongside practice
Read Dogen’s Shobogenzo as a mirror for direct experience, not as philosophical doctrine.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting
Related concerns
- Shikantaza Just Sitting
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated.
- Shikantaza Just Sitting After A Loss
Cultivate a stillness that is lit from inside — quiet and alert, not blank and dull.
Silent illumination: the quality of awake stillness
- Shikantaza Just Sitting As A Caregiver
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated.
- Shikantaza Just Sitting As A Parent
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated.
- Shikantaza Just Sitting During A Big Change
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
- Shikantaza Just Sitting During Conflict
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
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