Letter from a Zen temple
Some of you know Patricia from her regular classes and workshops. She’s been a part of the MCY family since 2014 when she joined us for her first ever Ashtanga class! When she told me she’d decided to leave Glasgow to spend an extended period of time living and practising in a zen temple in Sweden I felt excited for her adventure, curious about what life would be like there and of course sad that I’d be without her steady presence and wise insight.
I’m delighted to be able to share her recent letter giving us a glimpse of life there!
Dear Judi and my MCY family, I hope you’re all doing well?
I can’t believe it’s already been eight months since I left Glasgow!
The training here at Zengarden in Sweden is intensive but so transformative. It’s really changing me, and is affecting the way I see and interact with the world! I thought it would be nice to share some of my experiences with you but I’m finding it really difficult to put into words so I thought I’d start by sharing a little bit of our daily life…
Our days start early, around 5.50am, and end around 9pm. We begin with one hour of zazen sitting meditation followed by chanting. Then we have a 40 minute break before breakfast which I use for my pranayama practice!
After breakfast we have the first work period of the day. During these work periods we’re supposed to be with our practice so there’s not much talking. The focus is to bring our practice to whatever job or task we are assigned to. When you first arrive at a Zen temple you’re usually assigned simple and repetitive tasks (doing dishes, dustings, weeding, etc.). The purpose of this is to facilitate your practice as it’s easier to stay with the practice while doing simple activities.
Around 10.30am we have another hour of sitting meditation followed by a second work period until we break for lunch at 12.30pm. Lunch is taken in silence and some ritual is involved.
After lunch we have a third work period until 3pm when we go to the zendo (meditation hall) again for another 30 minutes of zazen. After this we have two hours of free time until dinner at 5.30pm. This is when I do my Ashtanga yoga practice and sometimes have time for a walk too.
At 7.30pm we go back to the zendo for the evening sitting until 9pm.
As you can see our day is structured in blocks of zazen, work periods, meals, rest, zazen, work, zazen, rest. And this goes on and on all day, day after day, month after month…
Once a month we have what’s called sesshin, an intensive one week retreat. Our schedule in sesshin is different - much more intense with more zazen hours, less work, daily teishos (teacher talks – dharma teaching) and the opportunity to have a private interview with the teacher (dokusan) three times per day.
During sesshin there are around eight hours of formal zazen but most people do zazen during breaks too and even at night (yaza), so some people meditate between 10 and 20 hours per day!!!
We also have one and a half days free every week and I’ve been taking the opportunity during this time off to teach yoga! I’m teaching Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga, pranayama and fascia workshops to the residents and during sesshins to bigger groups of up to 45 people.
This is a hard and serious training, but it’s wonderful too. I feel really privileged to have been able to stop everything else and focus on deepening my practice under the guidance of the wonderful Zen masters who live here!
In fact, the training and life here is having such a huge impact on me I’m seriously considering prolonging my stay. I will be visiting Glasgow in July though so I really hope to see you all. One thing that I am REALLY missing is the mysore room at MCY!
Lots of love from Sweden
Patricia x
If you’ve not met Patricia, here’s a little more about her…
Patricia was introduced to yoga in 2008 when she began practicing Hatha Sivananda yoga at the Sivananda Yoga School in Madrid, Spain. Asanas, meditation, pranayama and kirtan quickly became a part of her practice.
After moving to Scotland in 2012, Patricia practised other styles of hatha yoga for a few years. Then in 2014, she took her first ever Ashtanga yoga class here at MCY! She immediately loved it and has been practicing Ashtanga yoga ever since, completing the CYS Glasgow 200 hour yoga teacher training programme in 2017.
In 2019 Patricia travelled to India to continue her yoga studies and training at Swami Krishnananda Yoga Vidyapeeth where she graduated with her Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in Integrated Restorative Yoga, 300 hour programme accredited by the Yoga Alliance.
The feeling of wellbeing and spiritual growth she has experienced throughout her yoga journey is something she passionately wants to share with others.
Patricia is also a qualified Mindfulness and Meditation teacher (200 hours) with over a decade of meditation experience. Her school, Zenways, is accredited by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA).
She says “Practice in Zenways is like taking the lift in your meditation practice if you already have one. It is also perfect for beginners as we work on the foundations to bring more awareness to our lives, moment by moment, through different techniques that are very easy to follow and practice.”
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