From Mushin:
One of the recommendations for starting a Zen practice is to include zazen, even for a few minutes in your daily routine. Then as you continue and experience how beneficial daily practice is, most of us find that we increase our meditation to a half or even a whole hour each day. It’s important to sit regularly, even if for not very long. The rhythm of a daily practice is part of awakening to the dharma treasure of your own life as it is. Many find it supportive to attend one, three, or seven day-long retreats. These contribute to the rhythm of practice and help us to deepen and discover how we weave the world.
Sangha Jewel is about to start its first Ango, which is translated as “dwelling in peace”, a three-month period of more intensive practice. This adds depth to the rhythm of our yearly practice schedule. It’s up to each of us how to increase our individual practice for this ango. Some add minutes to daily sitting, or chanting or bowing, for instance. We support our intention by making a vow, writing it out and placing it on our home altar. We’ll begin ango with a one-day retreat, a zazenkai, coming up March 21, where we share our ango vows, which strengthens our commitment to seeing them through.