Ango 2011 - Day 11

• Morning Zazen (60 Min @ 6am)
• Sat on G+ Hangout with Roky, Morelos & Bob
• Got a package in for ZMM and in it was some new incense.  Nippon Kodo Sandalwood.  It's really nice, much higher quality than what I normally burn.
• Shakuhachi Practice
• Like  a broken record, I still am struggling with kan register in Choshi...feeling a bit frustrated but know that it just will take time and more practice.
• Played it all the way through today and even though the middle sounded horrible, I tried to focus on my breaths and fingering and just ignored the 'noise'.
• Shobo Study
• Didn't read today and probably too tired to get anything out of it tonight.  Tomorrow is a new day.
• Alexander Technique
• Had my second AT lesson today and once again it was excellent.
• Today I worked on raising my fingers from my chest while laying on my back.  Crazy huh?  But you'd be amazed how something so simple can still cause you to tense up.  I could actually feel my neck (with the help of my teacher) tightening when I even *thought* about raising my fingers.
• So we practiced raising my hand up and putting it down over and over again trying to train me to not interfere with my normal mode of operation.
• We also spent some time working again on semi-supine technique which I am grateful for.  Been trying to use it before zazen to get my position fixed.
• Sewing Practice
• Spent about 2 hours sewing the zagu this evening
• Was able to get one en on and a second started.  had a few troubles with the corners (as always) so had to get a bit creative.
• Still think that Tomoe Katagiri's guide on this matter is somehow off measurement wise...
• Evening Zazen (30 min @ 8:30PM)
• Sat with Engyo & Ron tonight.