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Shinzen Intro & Retreat Info

The place to start if you're new to meditation or Shinzen's teachings, and the place to find out about Shinzen's Onsite Retreats and the Home-based Practice Programs (mini-retreats).

Daily Practice Support

Many people find it challenging to meditate most days yet Shinzen recommends formal meditation "at least 10 minutes a day, but it could be much longer". What to do? Might it help if Shinzen joined you in your home on video every day? This playlist is here to assist you. Pick one or more of what seems interesting to you and go from there.

Mindfulness: Triple Skill-Set & Axioms

Concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity is Shinzen's definition of mindfulness. Our baseline habit of this "triple skill-set" gets elevated as the activity of mindfulness is practiced.

On Enlightenment

Shinzen answers questions about enlightenment that people have written in to this channel and talks about some obstacles on the path. See also "On Enlightenment: An Interview with Shinzen Young" at http://bit.ly/B4hOu.

"Five Ways" Overview

The Five Ways is a contemporary toolkit for classical enlightenment. Included in this set of videos are overviews and specific ways of working with the Five Ways.

The Human Sensory (TSSFIT) System

Shinzen talks about the many aspects of the human sensory system. Understanding and applying the touch-sight-sound-feel-image-talk system enables our meditation practice to deepen and ultimately helps our view of self and other to radically change by eliciting compassion as service.

Mindfulness, Psychotherapy & Transformation

When mindfulness meets psychotherapy transformation is potentiated. In this playlist Shinzen shares how he comes to a differential diagnosis in his capacity as a meditation teacher.

Pain, Sensory Challenges, Cancer & Healing

Shinzen talks about how to work with sensory challenges using "focus away" and "turn towards" strategies during meditation. This playlist also includes a 4-part series showing Shinzen guiding a person with some pain issues using mindfulness meditation, and a 3-part series on cancer and healing. See also the Dissolution, Dark Night, Don't Know, and Can't Sleep playlist for other sensory challenges.

Dissolution, Dark Night, Don't Know, Can't Sleep & Kriyas

In this playlist you'll find some of the challenges that can come up for students. In the three-part video set Shinzen discusses with a student some of the harsher aspects that can arise for some people in the process of dissolution, or bhanga. Shinzen then uses guided instruction in demonstrating some of the ways that this can be worked with. Other videos include Shinzen talking about dissolution (bhanga) and reciting some of T. S. Eliot's words to help illustrate how a poet might write about this. Shinzen also talks about what to do when experiencing "dark night" territory and the "pit of the void", emptiness, "don't know mind" and the need to work through the need to have meaning, and sleep interruption, and what to do when experiencing "kriyas". See also the Working with Pain and the Psychotherapy, Transformation & Mindfulness Playlists.

Big Picture Talks

Overviews of the spiritual path including Shinzen's interpretation of the traditional Zen ox-herding pictures, his model of Total Happiness and The Big Picture.

How-to's & Why's of Mindfulness

Shinzen shares much of the "how tos" and "why's" in his Basic Mindfulness training.

Sex, Birthing & Parenting

Industrial Strength

Deep and richly flavored with subtle details and the occasional geek alert. This is full strength dharma recommended for advanced practitioners and all people willing to do what has to be done.

Expansion & Contraction

Zen is expansion and contraction according to Shinzen's longtime teacher Joshu Sasaki Roshi. "Expansion & Contraction Graduate Level Version" is the advanced level of aniccha that Sasaki Roshi teaches - deep and detailed Dharma. "Paradigms of Change" includes a historical overview of aniccha or change from the Buddha up to and including the formulation that Joshu Sasaki Roshi uses. "Leonard Cohen, Sasaki Roshi & Love Itself" is Shinzen's interpretation of fellow long-time Roshi student Leonard Cohen's song "Love Itself" as it relates to Roshi's teaching (teisho).

Math, Science, & the Spiritual Path

Shinzen talks about the spiritual path using mathematical and scientific metaphors. Geeky and dharmicly deep.

Charles Tart on Meditation

In this 9-part series Professor Charles Tart shares his reflections on the nature of meditation with scholarly rigor, and from a charming and humorous personal perspective. The entire series is highly recommended. Anecdotes about Shinzen and his work are talked about starting in part 4, when Charles speaks of first meeting Shinzen, in parts 5 and 6, where Charles talks about progress in meditation and shares some of Shinzen's math formulae for meditation, along with Charles sharing what his meditation experience was like while using Shinzen's first version of his computer coaching program. In part 7 Charles encourages students to develop dissertation research projects around Shinzen's work and the meditation students using Shinzen's techniques. In part 8 Charles shares how Shinzen reframed his "sleepiness while meditating" into something much more interesting. Filmed at I.T.P. on Feb. 22, 2002, by Andrew Luce and his assistant. You can link to Charles Tart's work at www.paradigm-sys.com/cttart/.

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