Connecting With the Body and Breath: An Online Workshop with Shogen Jody Greene

The practice of “Just Sitting” is foundational to the Zen school. Given the emphasis in all Buddhist traditions on working with and training the mind, it’s easy to forget that ours is at root a physical practice—a practice of body and breath. In this workshop, we’ll engage in some simple practices that help to open the body and connect with the breath in preparation for a period of zazen. In addition, we’ll review the basics of posture, whether we are sitting on a cushion, on a bench, or in a chair. We’ll intersperse short periods of sitting between our exercises, in order to have an opportunity to explore the effects of each practice on our experience of zazen.

Come to practice in loose, comfortable clothing. If possible, try to have a space on the floor that is about 6’ x 6’, with a blanket or other protection between your body and the floor, as some of the movements will be done lying on the floor. Have your zafu, cushion, blocks, bench, and/or chair nearby so you can play with sitting posture. If you have a laptop or tablet, it may make it easier to see than if you use a phone.

Program Fees: $60 members / $80 non-members

As always, AZC is committed to making the teachings available to everyone. To request financial assistance from our Scholarship Fund, or if you would like to donate to the Fund for others to be able to participate, please email or call AZC administrator Julie Strahan at 512-452-5777.

Shogen Jody Greene came to Zen practice through attending a Tassajara work period in September 2001. She received Jukai (Lay Ordination) from Sobun Katherine Thanas in 2005 and completed three Tassajara practice periods since 2008. She served as head student (shuso) with City Center Abiding Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman for the 104th practice period at Tassajara in Fall 2019. Her teachers are Daijaku Kinst and Leslie James. Jody is Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Professor of Literature and Feminist Studies, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she has also been active in the fields of Queer Studies and Contemplative Pedagogy. In 2016, she became the founding Director of the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning at UCSC, bringing resources, advocacy, and support to UCSC’s faculty and graduate students in a rapidly changing educational environment. Jody has taught meditation, yoga, and other contemplative practices at Tassajara, Esalen and, annually since 2013, in Ladakh, India.