What does Zen meditation have to do with therapy?
Great question. A member of my former Zen koan meditation group in San Antonio, Texas, once said, “Zen practice has supercharged my therapy!” That’s been my experience, too.
If we strip away all the Buddhist cultural and religious trappings, Zen meditation is a practice that teaches us how to listen to the world from a place below the usual noise in our minds.
Think of it like this: it would be nearly impossible to make out a bird call while standing at a busy intersection in downtown Los Angeles. Too much noise! But deep in the stillness of the San Joaquin Hills, with only lizards and scrub brush for companions, the call of the Song Sparrow is crystal clear.
It’s no different when we do the introspective work of psychotherapy, whether we’re focusing on anxiety, depression, or past trauma. Together, we’re listening deeply to the bird call of your inner life. What do you hear, see, feel? What is asking for attention? What do you know to be true?
The beloved Sufi poet Rumi wrote,
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
Doesn’t make any sense.
He could have been writing about Zen. Or psychotherapy.
My own Zen practice comes in handy here. It helps me arrive at each session with an open heart and a sense of curiosity. If I don’t take issue with whatever appears in my own mind and heart when we’re together, maybe you don’t have to either. When we’re discussing your life, we can be like two friends at an art gallery: “Oh, what do you think about that one? Wow, look the colors!”
What I have found through my own experience–as well as my clients’–is that having a regular meditation practice makes it easier to tolerate difficult emotions, helps us gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of our minds, and makes us more aware of new possibilities for engaging with life. It’s like exercise: you don’t have to be good at it, just do the thing and changes will begin to happen.
Even if you don’t take up a daily meditation practice, I can help you bring a Zen attitude to therapy. It’s just a sense of openness, like kids have. What will we find today, when we look inside? Maybe something new, if we’re open to it (even if we’ve been talking about the same issue for the last ten sessions!).
Take good care of yourself and I hope to see you soon.
-Jesse
