Zenways

Zenways facilitates activities and practices that enhance wellbeing, balance and awakening in the mo

Zen meditation and teaching, retreats and workshops
200 hour intensive Zen Yoga teacher training
Meditation & mindfulness teacher training

30/01/2026

Alex came on our yoga 200 hr teacher training in 2014.

Our next course is 3-17 April near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Full details on our website.

200hrsyogateachertraining

17/01/2026

Join senior zen yoga teacher Mark Westmoquette for an online workshop & CPD course. He’ll be exploring the deep anatomical and energetic connection between the pelvic floor and the diaphragm through somatic movement, anatomical awareness and gentle breathwork.

24 January 2026, 9:30-12:00 (UK time). Details on our website or DM for more details.

Suitable for all who have an interest in deepening their yoga practice - including men and women, with or without a clear sense of their pelvic floor. Also great for qualified teachers wanting to deepen their knowledge.

14/01/2026

In the Zen precepts ceremony (jukai) there’s a point where we do san-ge.

San means to regret. In the preparation for the ceremony, the student writes out all their past misdeeds, unwholesome actions and behaviours that caused pain. Then during the ceremony the paper is burnt, as is happening here, as a way of helping the student let go of all that past karma.

Ge means resolve. They then make a resolve to be more skilful, kind and aware in the future.

Although this is a pivotal part of the jukai ceremony, it’s something we return to again and again in our practice, letting go more and more fully of those past regrets, feelings of guilt and misjudgments.

11/01/2026

Samu (mindful work) is the practice of bringing awareness and presence into everyday activities. It is work done in a spirit of giving and mindfulness.

Any regular activity works well, like cleaning, cooking, gardening, or doing the laundry or washing up.

🧹 Try to do *just* that one thing. When you are washing up, just wash the dishes; put aside thoughts about anything else or planning your next activity.

🧹 Move with intention. Moving slowly can help enhance attention , but it doesn’t have to be slow. Try to be fully present in what you’re doing.

🧹 Let go of results. It’s not about achieving, it’s about bringing Zen to life through action.

Gradually you can begin incorporating Zen and mindfulness into all your daily activities. Your 25mins practice grows to hours a day…!

05/01/2026

It’s been a few years since our primary focus shifted from our dojo in London to our increasingly world-wide sangha that join online. We like to think that your front room is an extension of our dojo.

Practice with us online - join for regular weekly zazen meetings, retreats, ceremonies, 1-to-1 meetings with our teachers and much more. We’d love to see you.

03/01/2026

Are you looking for a professional training that enables you to share the authenticated benefits of meditation and mindfulness practice, while at the same time supporting your own journey of development? Here’s a breakdown of how our mindfulness teacher training pathway works, and how our courses can help you develop as a teacher.

Our training path comprises a core foundation module plus two optional extension modules. Module 1 is stand-alone, and modules 2 & 3 are optional extension courses that will ultimately allow you to become an certified teacher with the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA).

We also offer an adjunct Zen Compassion Plus Teacher Training course open to any certified mindfulness teacher (from any school). This qualifies you to teach a stand-alone four-week course that introduces, shares and guides students through the four boundless meditations of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

Sound up your street? Find out more on www.zenways.org.

Find your truth, teach your truth, embody your Zen Way.

29/12/2025

When we receive the precepts (Jukai) we make a vow to live with more awareness, compassion and honesty.

They’re not judgments on your behaviour, or standards given externally, not is it ab out joining some kind of club. They’re invitations, questions, living koans that we meet freshly in every moment of our life.

The ceremony involves taking refuge, acknowledging past mistakes and receiving the 16 bodhisattva precepts. It’s just a milestone on your journey, not a finish line.

Some feel the ceremony isn’t important, some find it deeply meaningful. Either way, the real practice is how we show up moment by moment: living in a way that reduces harm, brings more kindness and compassion and living in a clearer, more wise way.

If you feel moved to take the precepts, we offer this both in-person and online. Get in touch.

21/12/2025

Precepts ceremony on the very auspicious night of toji (winter solstice) - the turning around of the year.

Symbolically toji represents the moment of kensho - the turning around of realising your true nature. In the deepest, darkest part of the year, or our life or our spiritual practice, there lies the potential of awakening, of realising the light of Buddha.

Happy toji!

12/12/2025

A flavour of our Zen sesshin retreat a few weeks ago.

Next year we’ll be offering shorter 3-day Breakthrough to Zen retreats throughout the year, both in-person and online. We’re running a trip to Japan in May, including a Zen sesshin and sightseeing. We’ve also got a weekend Zen retreat looking at money and finances in July, and our UK 5-day sesshin in November.

Details all on Zenways.org

08/12/2025

Happy Rohatsu! It’s enlightenment day today 8th Dec. We held our Rohatsu retreat last night where we meditated through the night until dawn in remembrance of the Buddha’s night of practice and great awakening 2500 yrs ago under the Bodhi Tree.

This is a photo of us in the dojo and those joining online at the end of the retreat this morning. Thanks all those who joined as part of the retreat or in spirit.

01/12/2025

Master Ummon said, “The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your seven-piece robe at the sound of the bell?”

Ummon (Ch. Yunmen Wenyan, 864-949) was a Chinese Ch’an master of the Tang dynasty. He turned into one of the towering giants of Zen in that early medieval time. Possibly the most eloquent of the old Ch’an masters, he became renowned for his strong and direct, yet often quite subtle and difficult to understand, teachings - of which this is one. We study it as a koan.

The seven-piece robe refers to the traditional outer robe, known as kesa (sewn together from seven pieces of cloth) that monks wear. So when the bell goes, why put on your robes and go to meditate? In this vast world, surely there’s so much else to do...?

Why do *you* meditate? Drop us a comment.

ummon koan

27/11/2025

What a wonderful sesshin retreat! 40+ people in-person and 8 people online (a first for this year) diving into Master Dogen’s teaching of “dropping off body and mind”.

Guided by Daizan Roshi’s talks and guidance through Master Keizan’s ‘Zazen Yojinki’ (practice manual).

Deep bows to all for your sincere practice. May our practice be of benefit to all beings.

Address

London
SE58RE

Telephone

+441698542677

Website

http://www.zenways.org/

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