Take back your time

Based in Seattle, the Take Back Your Time (TBYT) organization advocates an examination of America’s time deficit. Developed four years ago as an initiative of The Simplicity Forum (an alliance committed to achieving simple, sustainable ways of life), the group encourages people to consider their time as significant, to spend it well, and to take a stand against institutional forms of time deprivation.

As part of the initiative, the organization designated October 24 as the annual Take Back Your Time Day to bring large-scale attention to the time famine. The event helps participants in the United States, Canada, and Europe address their stress with various ideas for enjoying life — rather than rushing through it. TBYT invites you to celebrate on October 24 in the following ways.

Sleep late
Cancel something
Celebrate your spiritual tradition
Ask an older person about his or her life
Set aside one night a week for a family dinner
Enjoy some poetry
Listen carefully to children’s ideas
Reflect on the balance of labor, leisure, and consumption in your life

adapted from Body + Soul, October 2006 by Jodie Jordan

Bowl Gong Timer and Alarm Clock for a Gentle Wake UP

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Kiyonaga Torii, Beauties Listening to Bonsai Vendor Ukiyo-e Woodblock Print

How can we save the world from growing intolerance, how can we stop the spiral of violence? ‘ Silence is often the best answer,’ says the Dalai Lama.  More and more experts are admitting he is right.  This is not the time for analyses, reports and threats.  We now need to stop and take the time to really listen to one another.  Of course, listening is not always easy, but a growing number of initiatives are aiming to help people master this difficult art. The International Listening Association declared March to be International Awareness Month. 

As part of their campaign they gave tips on how to listen.  ‘Count to three when the person you are speaking with has finished talking.  That person will often take this to be a signal to go on talking. You will be surprised at how much extra information you get.  If you are interrupted, do not get irritated, do not attack and do not lecture, but simply say: “Please listen for a moment, I am not finished yet.”

The American psychologist Michael Kahn wrote a book that includes the topic of  listening:  The Tao of Conversation (Rainbow Pockets, 1998).  He describes people entering a conversation with the intention of winning, people that only feel better if the other person feels worse.  ‘We so badly want to be heard and confirmed that we think it is worth having an argument. ‘ The listener is the one who is catching his breath after having presented his view. 

Peonies, c. 1900 unknown

Kahn explains what a relief it was when he discovered a conversation does not have to be a contest.  Like the Tao, it can flow calmly and peacefully and still be very powerful.  Kahn’s tip: ‘Engage in a conversation as if you were making love to someone.  Your good mood depends on how good the other feels.  Or is your idea of a conversation a jam session, where musicians listen to each other and are inspired by each other?  Ask yourself:  Do I want to learn or do I want to win?’

Listening, true listening, heals. This was beautifully described years ago in Michael Ende’s classic Momo and the time savers.  Because she is the only one in a hurried world who has time to really listen, the little vagabond girl Momo steals the hearts of all.  Even children – taking after their parents – have less and less time for stories and games. In the end, Momo saves the city from the gloomy oppression of the grey men who are stealing everybody’s time. Listening as the solution to the world’s problems seems so simple, but in practice turns out to an enormous challenge.  It is time we learned that history only repeats itself because nobody was listening the first time.

Bamboo Digital Chime Clock, a calming timer and alarm clock made from natural materials like bamboo, walnut, and maple

adapted from Ode Magazine, April 2003 by Tijn Touber

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

koi

    “I wish I could show you

     When you are lonely

     Or in darkness,

     The astonishing light

     Of your own being.”

                                          -Hafiz

Honey Japanese Maple Leaves Zen Alarm Clock, calming alarm clock

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Ryoanji Zen Garden, Kyoto, Japan

Steve McIntosh, Inventor of the Zen Clocks and Tehya (his wife) were most fortunate to visit the Ryoanji Zen Temple in Kyoto, Japan before their son, Peter McIntosh was born.  It was a most peaceful and memorable trip.  Below is a description of the ancient site:

Ryōan-ji  is a Zen Temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan.  The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder.

Ryōan-ji

 Japanese gardens are a living work of art in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons.  As they grow and mature, they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience; hence, a Japanese garden is never the same and never really finished. The underlying structure of a Japanese garden is determined by the architecture; that is, the framework of enduring elements such as buildings, verandas and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills), and stone compositions. Over time, it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning. Part of the art is to keep the garden almost static, like a painting.   

Ryōan-ji Temple Bell

Mindfulness

Takaragawa Onsen in Japan

An onsen is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs.  As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth.

Onsen come in many types and shapes, including outdoor and indoor baths. Baths may be either public run by a municipality or private often run as part of a hotel, ryokan or Bed and Breakfast.

Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe, NM

Onsen are a central feature of Japanese tourism often found out in the countryside but there are a number of popular establishments still found within major cities.  They are a major tourist attraction drawing Japanese couples, families or company groups who want to get away from the hectic life of the city to relax. Japanese often talk of the virtues of “naked communion”  for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the relaxed homey atmosphere of a ryokan with an attached onsen.

The presence of an onsen is often indicated on signs and maps by a kanji,  (yu, meaning “hot water”).

One of Now & Zen’s favorite Japanese onsen is called Ten Thousand Waves, located in the mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Taking time to view the Koi fish at Ten Thousand Waves Onsen

In the larger scheme of things, our days on this planet are few and precious, so it seems fitting that we should begin each day with grace and beauty.  Used as an alarm clock, your Zen Clock thus serves as a useful reminder that each day is a new and sacred opportunity to live life to its fullest.  But in addition to its use as an alarm clock, your Zen Timepiece is also an aesthetically-sophisticated timer that enhances practice activities and social gatherings. It can also serve as a “mindfulness bell” that periodically calls you to stillness.

We often bring our Digital Zen Timer with us as a ’Travel Alarm Clock’ when we go on a journey so that we can use it to meditate in a lovely hot spring like Ten Thousand Waves.

Practice Mindfulness at an Onsen

Timer in Bamboo by Now & Zen, Boulder, CO

The Practice of Mediation- Communing with Divinity

The Practice of Mediation-Stillness

In the practice of meditation, there are many forms and theories of meditation, two basic approaches emerge.  These two basic types of meditation can be characterized as “meditation with form” and “meditation without form.”  In meditation with form, the practitioner focuses on contacting his or her Higher Self, or communing with Divinity.  Meditation with form can also involve creative imagery and visualization.  Meditation without form concerns going beyond thought into emptiness––transcending the ego-self.

But no matter which type of meditation you choose to practice, meditation is more than simply entering into a dream-like or alpha state.  In the practice of meditation you will inevitably progress through a series of developmental stages as you become more adept at journeying deeper within yourself.

The Practice of Mediation- Japanese Leaves Dial Face in Burgundy Finish by Now & Zen

The first and most basic use of the Zen Alarm Clock (a chime clock) in your meditation practice is as a signal of the end of your allotted meditation time.  If you want to meditate for 20 minutes, simply set the alarm 20 minutes into the future and begin your meditation.  When the first chime strikes you can choose to end there or continue your meditation for about three and a half minutes until the next chime, or even longer.  Many meditators find that a “three and a half minute warning” is a perfect interval in which to gradually conclude their longer meditations.  The first chime signals the final phase of the meditation and the second chime its conclusion.

The Practice of Mediation- Stillness

The beauty of the chime is that it compliments rather than disturbs the meditative state while acting as an effective timer.  No matter how you use it, the sonic clarity of the chime provides an appropriate conclusion to your stillness.

Please visit us in Boulder, CO:

Now & Zen Headquarter Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383 or (303) 530-9028

Chartres Cathedral, France

Zen Monks

The use of metal alloy bowls for devotional purposes can be traced back to the beginnings of metallurgy in China prior to 1,000 B.C.  The bowl that comes with our Zen Timepiece is modeled after a Japanese “rin gong,” or Keisu, that is periodically struck with a stick to punctuate sutra-reading in Buddhist temples.

Bowl-gong Clock has a long-resonating chime sound

The bowl that comes with the Zen Timepiece is made from the following five metals: copper, zinc, lead, iron, and tin.  It has been formed using the same forging techniques that have been used in Asia for two thousand years.  Unlike hand-hammered Himalayan-style bowls, our Zen Timepiece’s rin gong bowl is made using methods which first appeared in Japan in the first century.  Following these traditions, our bowl’s long-resonating tone has been carefully selected to bring beauty and harmony to your environment.

Now & Zen Headquarter Store, 1638 Pearl St., Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Flower of Life

The Zen Timepiece can also be more actively incorporated into your meditation practice as a form of “mantra” or “yantra.”  Mantra is a sanskrit word which means “mental protection.”  In Eastern meditation traditions, a mantra takes the form of a word or sound which is chanted to occupy the mind and keep disturbing thoughts from distracting the meditator.  A yantra is used in Eastern meditation traditions as an image upon which the meditator concentrates until it “disappears.”

Zen Timepiece by Now & Zen, Boulder, CO

The Zen Timepiece’s bowl strikes can be used as a sort of external mantra or sonic yantra.  The clock’s countdown mode repeat function (the interval timer) allows the bowl to be struck repeatedly at any set period, so that as the strikes repeat, they serve to bring you back to the focal point of concentration.