Zen Soft Ointment Meditation

A 25 min guided Zen soft-ointment meditation (Nanso No Ho), read by Daizan Skinner Roshi. This is a 'naikan' (transformation) practice originally taught by the famous Zen master Hakuin (1689-1768) as a way of encouraging grounding, relaxation and healing.

Transcript

We're going to be exploring a practice that's called in Japanese,

Nansonoho,

The soft ointment or soft milk meditation.

This is one of the practices the hermit taught Hakuin up in the mountains when he was sick.

So firstly,

Getting comfortable in your sitting place,

Finding your familiar grounded triangular base,

Your feet or knees and your sitting bones pressing downwards and your upper body lifting,

The back of your neck long,

A sense of a soft rubber ball or an orange beneath your chin,

Hands in your lap,

Eyes soft and lowered,

Tongue resting against the roof of your mouth,

Your body relaxing and very gently rock your body,

A little bit side to side,

A little bit backwards and forwards,

Finding your sweet spot,

The most effortless place.

As your body relaxes,

Allowing also your breathing to relax,

Allowing the lower part of your abdomen to be involved in the breathing process,

But keeping it all as effortless and natural as possible.

So as you can settle into your comfortable upright position,

Imagine yourself experiencing a ball the size of a duck egg,

A beautiful fragrant soothing ointment or milk on the top of your head,

And the heat from your head causes this ball to begin to melt.

This ointment or milk is unusual in that not only does it run over your body,

But it can also run down through your body as well.

Feeling the heat of your head melting the ball,

Starting to melt,

Starting to soak down,

Melting down through your head,

Melting over your forehead,

Over the sides of your head,

Over the back of your head.

Cool fingers' ointment running down through all the little muscles around your eyes,

Through your temples,

Through your brain,

Melting down over the sides of your head,

Over the back of your head,

Around your cheekbones,

Cooling,

Soothing,

Restoring,

Melting down through your jaw,

Over your jaw,

Down into your neck,

Down through the vertebrae of your neck,

Down through your throat.

Melting down over the surface of your neck,

Your throat,

Down over your shoulders,

Cooling fingers of healing ointment,

Penetrating through your shoulders,

Dissolving any tight places,

Any overheated places,

Melting down over your upper arms,

Down over your upper back,

Over your chest,

Through your chest,

Cooling your heart,

Soothing,

Penetrating your spine,

Washing away anything that shouldn't be here,

Melting down through your stomach and the organs below your lungs,

Over your mid-back,

Melting down through your elbows,

Your forearms,

Your wrists,

Even all the way down into your fingers,

Your thumbs,

Melting,

Cooling,

Soothing and healing,

Melting down through your belly,

Through the inner organs of your belly,

Over the surface of your belly,

Over your lower back,

Your spine,

Melting down,

All the way down to the tip of your spine,

Down through your pelvis,

Over your pelvis,

Down into your legs.

An even more ointment melting down from your crown,

Slowly running down over your head,

Your face,

Through your head,

Your neck,

Your shoulders,

Your upper back,

Your upper arms,

Your chest melting down through and over your spine,

The whole length of your back,

Your front.

Down cooling,

Restoring,

Down through your pelvis,

Over your pelvis,

Down into your upper legs,

Around your hip joints,

Cooling ointment penetrating even into your bones,

Melting down through and over your thighs,

Your knees melting down,

Your lower legs,

Your shins,

Your calves,

Your ankles,

Your feet,

And even more melting down,

Washing down from your crown,

Down through and over your body,

Your head,

Your neck,

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

Down through your chest,

Through your spine,

Down into your lower trunk,

Your pelvis,

Your abdomen melting down,

Melting down through and over your thighs,

Your knees,

Your lower legs,

Down through your feet,

Your heels,

All the way into your toes,

Washing downwards,

Your whole body filled with this cooling,

Soothing ointment,

This healing milk restoring,

Releasing,

Melting even more,

The heat of your crown melting away,

Down through your brain,

The back of your head,

The sides of your head,

Down over your face,

Your forehead,

Melting down,

Your throat,

Your neck,

Melting down,

Through and over your trunk,

Your abdomen,

Your arms,

Down into your hands,

Down into your thighs,

Your knees,

Down through your lower legs,

All the way down through your ankles,

Down into your feet,

And now imagining that your whole lower body is actually hollow,

Your feet,

Your legs,

Right up into your abdomen,

And as this healing ointment runs down,

It can begin to fill your feet,

Filling your ankles,

Your lower legs,

Your knees,

Filling into your thighs,

All the way up into your hips,

Your pelvis filling,

All the way up even still to the level of your navel,

And just sensing how this cool ointment nevertheless can very often enable your lower body to feel warm,

And noticing how you can feel now in your feet,

Your ankles,

In your calves,

And into your shins,

Filling all the way up through your knee,

Left and right,

Through your thighs,

Through your pelvis,

Filling all the way up to the level of your navel,

And sensing how solid,

How grounded you can feel in your lower body,

And at the same time how open,

How light,

How spacious you can feel in your upper body.

Thank you.

And taking some time to settle into this feeling,

This grounded lower body,

This light,

And spacious upper body.

Welcome to the Thank you.

And as you settle into this feeling,

You may find any final areas of holding on can just be washed away.

And as you settle into this feeling,

You may find any final areas of holding on can just be washed away.

And as you settle into this feeling,

You may find any final areas of holding on can just be washed away.

And as you settle into this feeling,

You may find any final areas of holding on can just be washed away.

And as you settle into this feeling,

You may find any final areas of holding on can just be washed away.

When this can become really familiar,

Really comfortable for you,

Very gently becoming aware of your fingers,

Your toes,

Starting to move into your fingers,

Moving into your toes,

Swaying your body a little bit side to side.

Gently,

Smoothly allowing your eyes to look and sensing how this feels for you.

Nansonoho,

The soft ointment meditation.

Reviews

Love this. Beautifully and clearly guided; really helpful.

Lovely peaceful presence from the teacher, thank you

Such a gentle and relaxing experience. Thank you! 🙏

Very gentle guidance. Well-paced and expertly delivered. A peaceful experience!

Really like it.. guided yes.. but I like the way how💜🙏🏽

This must be the deepest meditation I have ever done, thank you 🙏

I love this meditation, it's a body consciousness one resembles 61 point tonglen meditation. Very effective. Healing, relaxing, raises vibrational energy. Greatful.

This is a very effective visualization for relaxing and grounding. My new favorite!

This was such a powerful relaxing, centering, and peaceful meditation. Thank you! 🙏💗🙏

Amazing start to the day. Excellent balance of silence and guidance. Gratitude for creating and sharing, be well ✌️🙏🕊️

Very grounding and centering gradual body awareness.

Really supported me to let go and rest within the body. Thank you 🙏

Thank you!!! Very profound Meditation.
The Voice so gentle...

The voice so gentle.....

So soothing and grounding. Great for calming and balancing the energy in the body.

Fantastic, thank you, this meditation was a next level in my personal improvement to calm down my constantly running inner dialog. Totally relaxed my mind and body. 🙏🌈

Beautiful, thank you

Grounding practice with very clear and soothing voice. Thank you

i really enjoyed this practice. exactly what i needed in this moment. thank you so much.
beautiful content, voice, pace... thank you!

So deeply soothing at a rather difficult time today - thank you so much for this sharing - Namaste 🙏 😊 ❤️

All the Zenways meditations are fantastic. this is like a wonderful energy detox.