Khan's Castle

Just as a personal marker, the last few days have seen meditation without various muscles in my back knotting up, a most welcome change, and one that brings hope, too, that I can attend another sesshin without it being torturous. My fingers are crossed on that account. As for doing it at all, it's a delicate balance to apply enough force with the right muscles—the inner ones—to sit erect while leaving the other muscles—the outer ones—relaxed, something harder for me than I would have imagined. I find that to get it right I must be calm and well centered. Imagine that.

And while on the subject of meditation, I can't recommend it enough. It doesn't take any money or equipment to speak of and it is helpful, both to oneself and the people one comes into contact with. There are many kinds; I practice shikantaza, a type of meditation closely associated with Zen. With this, as in all things as I'm coming to understand, we all have to find our own path.

And speaking of paths, I could really rip one up on one of these things. Hah! I refuse to age out of this stuff!