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Kathryn Rose
Instructor Aaron Gasper
Meditation MW 11:00-11:50
25 November 2014

I attended the morning sitting meditation practice at the Two Arrows Zendo. Two Arrows
is a Zen Buddhist community meeting place in downtown Salt Lake City. I am studying Zen
Buddhism for my Anthropology of Religion class that I am also attending this semester. Two
Arrows offers morning meditation from 7:00 am to 8:00 am Monday through Friday.
There are two rooms at the zendo. The main room has a kitchen, tables, couches, and
bathroom. This is where everyone goes first upon arrival to dump off purses, jackets, and remove
shoes in preparation for the meditation which takes place in the smaller room next door. Just
before the meditation is about to start I entered the room with three other people and the Sensei.
The room was dark, no windows, and incense was burning on a table in the middle of the room
that also had a statue of the Buddha on it. Everyone bowed to the Buddha and then found a mat
with a meditation pillow on it and bowed to the mat and then took a seat. I did the same. The
Sensei lit more incense and did a number of different bows towards the statue.
The sensei then guided us in sitting in the right posture for the meditation. He helped to
correct my posture by coming up to me and holding his hand above my head, telling me to touch
my head to his hand while sitting which straightened my spine out. He told me to sit on the front
one-third of the meditation pillow, pelvis on the edge of the pillow with my stomach slightly out
so that my spine was curved. Already I could feel the difference and ease in my posture. He said
that sitting in this way everything was able to just hang off of the spine instead of having to use
my muscles to keep sitting straight. He told me not to cross my legs indian style because they
would fall asleep, and that my knees needing to be touching the mat.
Once our postures were right we then focused on our breathing. The feeling of the cool
breath coming in through the nostrils and out as warm air. Feeling the breath flow down to the
diaphragm. He told us that once you have focused on the breath you can bring awareness to

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sounds, colors, and/or physical sensations. If thoughts keep drifting in you can count your
breaths from 1 to 10. If you lose count just start over. He said this helps teach us how many
thoughts we have and how rare it is to be present and aware.
We sat in silence for awhile. The first meditation is usually about thirty minutes long. A
gong rang three times and we all stood up and we bowed to each other and then to our meditation
mats. The Sensei instructed us to put our left (or right?) hand over our fist hand sitting just above
our navel and take one step per breath cycle. We all walked around the room slowly doing this
clockwise. Then we walked briskly. When the gong rang again we took a place at our mat and
sat again for another meditation. There was no guidance from the Sensei for this meditation.
During the brisk walking meditation people would leave the room and come back in. But
before they left the room they would stand between the two mats at the front of the room so they
were center with the Buddha statue, and they bowed to him, upon both leaving and entering the
room. There was a chant at the end of the meditation that everyone repeated numerous times in
unison. They almost sang it, there was a certain cadence to it that they all used. One of the lines
that they repeated that I remembered was about freeing yourself from desire.
After the mantra everyone bowed to the room again, and then each took a turn in the
center of the room bowing towards the Buddha statue before exiting the meditation room and
heading back over to the room where we left our shoes and belongings. This meditation
experience was my first meditation experience with incense, as well as my first meditation
experience with a group of people outside of our meditation classroom. The room was
completely silent and there was a feeling of respect and reverence that I felt from the members to
each other and to the Buddha. The only person that spoke the entire time we were in the
meditation room was the Sensei who was leading us. A member told me that the reason they each
bow to their own meditation mat is out of respect because that is where/how Buddha received his
enlightenment. The member also told me that we turn and bow to each other in the room out of
respect for each other. The walking meditation in-between the sitting meditations is to circulate
the blood flow in preparation for the next sitting meditation.
I focused on my breath and when I noticed thoughts creeping in I started counting my

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breaths up to ten and then back again, just as the Sensei instructed us. I followed this throughout
most of the sitting. I stopped counting and started to take note of sensations or other noises near
the end of the sitting but I found myself too distracted as I was in a new place and wondering
what was going to happen next, so I then went back to counting the breaths until the gong rang to
signal the end of the meditation.
I had only engaged in a handful of meditations before taking this meditation course. The
meditations were guided ones that I found online. I wasn't quite sure about the postures or the
importance of any of it or even the main goal as far as a meditative state or mind when I engaged
in those early meditations before I signed up for this class. I have really enjoyed learning about
the benefits and all of the many different ways in which to meditate. In incorporating mantras,
essential oils, stones or crystals, and mandalas, as well as the impact and benefit and importance
of stretching and massaging internal organs. I enjoyed that we had all of these many options and
ways to choose from and experiment with and to get to know what works best for us in certain
times or situations.
I read the suggested reading in the class and found that to make a huge impact on how I
viewed my life. The idea of mindfulness was not something that I was introduced to growing up
and I really connected to the entire philosophy in the book Wherever You Go, There You Are.
I introduced the book to my mother and one of my sister's when I finished the book and they are
really enjoying the basic ideas talked about in the book as well. I wish I had been introduced to
the book sooner!
Being comfortable in knowing how and why to meditate in my personal, and hopefully
daily, life has been a great gift. And along with setting aside time for meditation practice, the
knowledge that I can practice mindfulness throughout the day is something that I know, if I
continue to implement it, will affect my life and relationships in a positive manner. I have
already found times in my life recently where I have been able to recognize and stop myself from
getting carried away in thoughts and this has helped in my being able to respond to people rather
than react to them, as well as to enjoy the moment more fully and be more present in my life.