About

Information about our group and what to expect during a practice session

Our Group

Wednesday Sangha was originally formed by members of Heart of London Sangha and Wake Up London Sangha with which we remain affiliated (sangha is a traditional word for a Buddhist community). There are other zen sanghas in London too, meeting both in-person and online. 

All of us are part of Plum Village UK, which in turn is part of a global sangha practising in the Plum Village tradition.

This tradition was founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, who was a Zen Master exiled from Vietnam due to his peace activism during the 1960s.

Following his exile, he founded Plum Village monastery in France, from where be continued to teach, to write and to lead retreats, offering a form of zen grounded in ancient wisdom while remaining relevant and accessible to people living today.

Zen Practice

How To Sit

Sit with the back naturally erect and all muscles relaxed. If you find sitting or kneeling on a cushion uncomfortable, it is fine to sit on a chair. 

If on a cushion, ensure you have both knees on the floor (or on a cushion if you find this difficult), as most of us need support from three points of contact, like a tripod, to remain comfortable and stable during meditation.

Add or remove cushions to find a comfortable height. Too low causes slouching forward, too high arching back. If in doubt slightly too high is preferable.

Aim for a posture where you can be happy, grounded and comfortably still for twenty to thirty minutes. Stillness is the starting point for sitting meditation.

While aiming for stillness, please move if experiencing any pain to avoid harming the body. It often takes experimentation to find what posture works best for each of us. If you need to lie down that is ok too. 

Guided Meditation

Guided meditation exercises can help us develop our understanding and go deeper. Each exercise uses the vehicle of conscious breathing to carry images which evoke various responses within us.

As we listen to the sound of the facilitator's voice we follow our breathing. We do not need to think about or analyze the words of the meditation, rather we let them fall into our consciousness, like a pebble falling into a deep, still pool.

Walking Meditation

When we practice walking meditation we coordinate our steps with our breath. We are aware especially of the contact of our feet with the ground, and the wondrous nature of the present moment.

Upon hearing the bell to start we take an in-breath and make the first step with the left foot. On the out-breath we take another step with the right foot. We adjust our pace and our length of step to the natural flow of our breathing.  

If we become lost in thoughts while walking, we gently bring our attention back to other sensations - such as the feeling of our feet on the ground, our bodies gently moving and our breath flowing.  In this way we can generate a lot of peace. 

Silent Meditation

Once we have sat down and are comfortably settled and still, we can begin mindful paying attention to our breath. We gently follow each in-breath and each out-breath with our full awareness. We do not aim to control our breathing but rather allow it to deepen as we relax into the practice.

When distracted by thoughts, feelings or physical sensations, we let these go without dwelling on them, returning to our breathing.

With regular practise, this can become easier to do, and a deeper sense of peace, joy and ease becomes available to us, along with a calm clear mind.

Reading Together

Each week, we choose a few pages about zen practice and how we can apply it to our lives. This will be from one of Thich Nhat Hanh's books or by someone else in the zen tradition. We pass the book round the group and anyone that wishes to reads a paragraph then passes it on.

Sharing From The Heart

We sit silently creating a meditative space into which members of the group can speak if they wish. 

When someone is speaking, we listen deeply, giving them our full attention, without judgement. If we speak later ourselves, we do not reply directly to another's sharing. It is a listening space rather than a discussion. By sharing from the heart this way, we contribute to the collective insight of the group. 

If we speak ourselves, we base our sharing on our own experience rather than abstract ideas and theoretical topics. We may realise that many of us share similar difficulties and aspirations.

Everything shared is confidential. Even if we wish to discuss someone's sharing with them later, we would first check with them that they wish to revisit it.

It is a good practice to own what one is about to say, to hold one's own suffering, and to look deeply to see if it's the right moment to share specific things because of the impact one's words may have on others.