The Peace That's Always Within You — Guided Meditation by Zen Master Henry Shukman

Zen Master Henry Shukman guides a meditation emphasizing the 'backward step' to access an intrinsic, unconditional well-being and a timeless, peaceful awareness always present within.

• Recede into your own awareness through the 'backward step' for intrinsic well-being.

• Practice physical non-doing to allow a different, peaceful awareness to emerge.

• Disengage from daily life to access a timeless, restorative inner calm.

This meditation explores an ancient Zen teaching to 'take the backward step that shines the light inward,' which means resting into the fabric of one's own awareness and disengaging from the external world. This practice helps reset the nervous system, include stress rather than fight it, and allows an intrinsic, unconditional well-being to emerge. By consciously receding into ourselves, we can discover a peaceful, calm ease and a broader, timeless perspective on life that is profoundly restorative.

The Backward Step

• 00:00:38 The core of this meditation is an old Zen teaching: 'Take the backward step that shines the light inward.' This concept involves finding a way to rest back into the heart of one's experience, into the fabric of awareness that underlies all perceptions. It encourages disengaging from daily activities to tap into an intrinsic, unconditional well-being known to great meditation traditions like Zen.

Cultivating Body-Wide Rest

• 00:01:38 To facilitate the backward step, it is important to assume a comfortable seated position and allow the entire body to become completely floppy, like a 'ragdoll.' This physical non-doing, or 'body-wide rest,' is a secret that allows a different quality of awareness to emerge, akin to the deeply creative possibilities found within stillness and restfulness.

Disengaging from the World

• 00:04:42 Life often involves forward-facing engagement with the world, but taking a temporary break from this is profoundly restorative. By taking a 'micro step backward' and disengaging from external activities and the stream of clock time, one can come back into themselves. This deliberate disengagement illuminates a quality of awareness and a peaceful nature that is always present within us.

Timeless, Peaceful Awareness

• 00:05:38 The backward step allows a peaceful nature within ourselves to be illuminated, revealing a wider sense of peace, calm, and ease that spreads through life when noticed. This restful awareness is not an accomplishment but an ever-present part of our nature, offering a broader view, a different vantage point on life that feels less bound by time, providing a taste of timelessness.