What's all this Zen stuff?

Darbella and I have been serious students of Zen for some years. I've even written a book, "Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall," to share some of our insights. We claim no expertise in Zen, (which is, in and of itself, very Zen.. ) but rather work from the open and curious minds of "simple Zen students."

A few years back, I started to incorporate more Zen stories, thoughts, and directions into my practice. Our focus on letting go of clinging to the stories we tell ourselves has been amazingly helpful for my clients.

Dar and I have studied many Martial Arts, and in particular (around 1990) we began to explore Tai Chi, Ninjitsu, and Qi Gong. We're also students of Iyengar Yoga (since 2005). We have incorporated these physical practices into our workshops, retreats and seminars, and lately, into our work with injured workers, through the program we call, "Alternative Pain Management." That, in turn, led to the development of our 56-day video course, the Zen Life-Flexibility Program.

We just want to note that we see Zen as a way of living—it's certainly not a religion — and Zen might be described as a way of understanding the workings of both the mind and the world. We live our lives with this approach being mostly present, and catch ourselves when we go off track. We do not shove Zen down the throats of the unsuspecting—we simply offer it as, in our opinion, the only approach to whole, clear, and present living that actually works.

ALTERNATIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT

In 2008, Darbella and I began to work with injured workers, referred to us by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) here in Ontario, Canada. We created an 8-week program that incorporates all of the above—yoga stretching, meditation, Qi Gong, and Zen based approaches to living, pain and suffering, and communication. This project is ongoing—if the remaining pilot projects work well, we'll be looking at taking the process province wide. In the mean time, we've rewritten the entire package, and made it available as a download - online — read about it, and order the DVD-Book package.

STRESS RELIEF

I've been teaching techniques for stress reduction for decades, and recommend breathing, meditation, and Bodywork as helpful tools. I was interviewed about Breathwork a few years back, and this section of our site has that interview and links to other stress relieving ideas.

SIMPLE ZEN GUY Project

It's true—if you "Google" simple Zen guy, you get me, on the first page! Hardly the point, but neat anyway. Because of our Alternative Pain Management project, we decided to build a new website. Our Zen Life-Flexibility Program is the first completed project -- it's a membership site dedicated to helping you to achieve a Zen based, focused and healthy way of being. Stay tuned, subscribe to our BLOG, and we'll keep you posted!