After some 35 years of daily spiritual practice, if I’ve learned anything at all it’s this: it doesn’t work if you don’t do it. What we seem to need, especially when we’re just beginning, is something simple that we can do anywhere. Here’s my recipe for an easy-peasy morning practice.Choose Your SpaceIdentify a quiet corner in your home. If it is a corner that will let in a slice of sunlight, streetlight, or moonlight, all the better. Be creative—for some, the bathroom might be ideal. In this space, arrange a comfortable kitchen chair and light a small candle.StretchDo a couple of minutes of stretching. I suggest starting out with head-to-toe wiggling, the kind you did when you were a little kid and were too excited about something to stand still. If you can’t wiggle all of you, move the parts of you that you can. Follow this with a couple of “holding up the sky.” Reach as high as you can with both arms, keeping your hands flat as though you are balancing a tray. Hold the stretch for a count of 10, then let your arms and head hang down toward the floor.Finish up with some waist twists, letting your arms …
Geri Larkin is the founder and former head teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple, a Zen meditation center in the heart of inner-city Detroit. She is the author of many books including Stumbling Toward Enlightenment, Building a Business the Buddhist Way,Tap Dancing in Zen, First You Shave Your Head, and The Still Point Dhammapada.