Engagement is an essential aspect of meditating. While some meditation styles may emphasize a ‘withdrawal’ from the present moment, our style does not. The goal of meditating is to slow this moment down to see it (and our awareness of it) more clearly. As an over-arching approach to our practice, Engagement takes a couple of basic forms:
- Our eyes are always open
- We are always considerate of our fellow sitters by sitting well, which means:
- Maintaining a good posture – sitting tall with gentle energy in the hands and elbows
- Restricting unnecessary movements –not shifting, scratching, or looking around
- Restricting unnecessary sounds – not sniffing, sighing, or clearing our throats
We can also view entering and exiting the sitting area, bowing, and kinhin (walking meditation) as essential forms of Engagement.