AboutStuart Resnick Expertise I'm a long-time practitioner in a Korean-style Zen school. I can answer questions regarding Zen, formal sitting meditation, self-inquiry, the practice of "koan" transmission, and offer the particular perspective of this school on the great life questions.
Experience 18 years of formal practice with the Kwan Um School of Zen, currently with the Empty Gate Zen Center of Berkeley, currently a "Senior Dharma Teacher" at this center, I give periodic talks and informally answer questions of students interested in Zen practice and teaching style
Question I have been reading books, watching videos, and searching the internet over and over because everything says the same thing and I try to meditate,being conscious of the breath,but I have a problem with knowing if im doing it right.I know Im not supposed to wonder because I would not be mindful,but how do you be mindful correctly. I have read some of your answers and they are hard to understand, so maybe you can answer this like im a dummy.when I meditate,or what i believe might be meditating,I breathe normally and follow it by feeling the air fill my stomach,and when thoughts come i notice it and return to my breathing.Do i think subconsciously,about anything,or focus on something while feeling my breath? My other question is, for example, mindful while working. How do I stock produce, or lets say apples,mindfully.Do I think at all,in order to focus on just the apple?Or do I not think, and just subconsciously know what im doing? Another way to put the question,how do I do something mindfully?I mean what do i think,what do i sense,what is it? Is it like being a ghost? and watching me,the apple,the place i put the apple, like being seperate from my body? I am very interested in mindfulness and have been at it for quite some time but not getting anywhere, i only end up being quiet and NOT myself from all the focusing all day on one thing at a time, until i just have to quit for a day or read more on it.(I am also rushed by my manager and I have anxiety,but take medication for it)So my mind is always on what to do next,you know,rushed and confused.I need mindfulness.But i need to understand how it is cultivated,exactly.
Answer Example: say that just now, you're stocking apples. When you're doing that, just stock apples.
While you're stocking apples, all sorts of thoughts and feeling will appear in your mind. Let them come and go without hindrance; treat them like clouds appearing and disappearing in the sky. Don't cling to any of these thoughts and feelings. Whenever you feel like you're entangled in thoughts and feelings, return to stocking apples.
Don't cling to any type of thinking or ideas, including ideas about "mindfulness." When you're sitting, just sit; when you're eating, just eat; when you're stocking apples, just stock apples. Just do it. That's all.
If you have great difficulty dis-entangling from thoughts, you can try repeating a mantra. When you feel entangled in thinking, repeat the mantra to simplify your thinking. That may make it easier to then return to just doing what you're doing (e.g. stocking apples).
