Integral Zen Meditation for Beginners

📅 Fri, Nov 6, 2:00 pm - Fri, Nov 13, 3:00 pm EST

📍 Online

👤 Led by: Chad Ebrahim (Kodo Aishi)

Description

There have been a growing number of requests for meditation instructions. These are traditionally given during retreats in the form of very brief general public instructions and then specific instructions privately, during a one on one interview from teacher to student. Covid-19, has required that we get more creative and explore some different methods.

This Introduction to Meditation course will be delivered over Zoom in 2 one-hour sessions, one session each week. We are limiting the initial offering to 11 students with a waiting list, so sign up quickly.

This course is given freely with optional donations.

Sessions

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Welcome and Introduction -

Welcome to the Shadow and Integral Theory Fundamentals Self-paced Course!

This course is designed as a more gentle introduction to shadows and integral theory than our Whole Spectrum of Shadows Course.

After completing this course, you willunderstand the basics of ego development, shadow formation, and integral theory levels and quadrants. You will be able to see the affects of your shadows on others, how their shadows affect you, and what integral color of development they emerge from.

This course consists of edited live videos of the original class, along with slides, notes, and homework. We have done our best to adapt the live class to a self-paced course, but some creativity will be needed to follow along with the exercises and homework review.

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Welcome and Introduction -

Welcome, to the Whole Spectrum of Shadows online self-paced course, Level 1.

In this series of webinars, we lay out this whole spectrum of shadows as a wholistic context. Anything less seems to lead to misunderstanding and confusion.

We begin with the karma that we inherit when we’re born as a human being. Then, we can move on to something that's a little closer to home, our family karma. When I'm working with a group, I always ask how many of you come from a family that has some seriously messed up family karma? Almost everyone raises their hand.

After karma we move into preverbal, developmental and shock trauma, as well as the early childhood issues that are illuminated by attachment theory and parental bonding patterns. Then we begin to explore the subpersonalities that are split off and disowned in light of the capacities that are trying to emerge and stabilize at each specific level of ego development. We must also include Instincts, archetypes, and all karmic habitual patterns. The whole spectrum of shadows must also include demons, angels, benevolent and wrathful deities, collective shadows and state shadows.

An Online Five Level Webinar

Level 01 – An Essential Integral Zen Framework - 6 sessions
Level 02 – The Scent of Wu – A Taste of Nothingness - 6 sessions
Level 03 – The Problems of State Shadows - 6 sessions
Level 04 – What Color are Your Individual Shadows - 6 sessions
Level 05 – The Karma of Collective Shadows - 6 sessions

This series consists of edited live videos of the original class, along with slides, notes, and homework. We have done our best to adapt the live class to a self-paced course, but some creativity will be needed to follow along with the exercises and homework review.

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Foundation of Shadows -

Foundation of Shadows

In exploring exactly what shadows are, we will first talk about the formation of the ego. Then, we move on to how shadows are defined according to modern psychology: personas/false selves, disowned subpersonalities, developmental trauma, and attachment theory. We also look at the roots of shadows, including kleshas, insecure attachment/ parental bonding patterns, developmental traumas, and shock traumas.

Shadow Tools

There are a number of tools we can use to work with shadows, and we will cover a number of those including Mondo Zen, the 3-2-1 process, The Work, nonviolent communication, and conflict liberation.

How do I know I have a shadow?

Once we know what a shadow is and are aware of tools to work with them, we are left with the question "How do I know when I have a shadow?". The answer is: look at people who bug you. When something about someone really bugs you, that's usually you projecting your own shadow onto them.

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Kosmic Address, Quadrants, and Levels -

Kosmic Address

The Kosmic address is a unique point that describes everything according to the various dimensions in Integral Theory. It is made up of a person or thing's location on the progression of Ego consciousness scale (Level), the state perception scale (state), the quadrants (I, We, It, Its), the line of development ( Emotional, Cognitive, Worldviews, Self-Identity, etc), and the type (Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Introvert/Extrovert, etc)

The Quadrants

The Quadrants arose from the progression of ego consciousness throughout history. As the ego progresses from 1st person, to 2nd person, etc, each new level provides a new way of seeing the world and a new definition of what exists in it....a definition that is more expansive as we move forward. After we reach a fourth person perspective, we have access to I, We, It, and Its, the four quadrants.

Levels (Progression of Ego consciousness)

Sometimes referred to as "stages". The levels represent the progression of ego consciousness and its ability to comprehend the complexity of the world. In various systems, these stages are labeled differently. In Integral Theory we use colors as shorthand: Infrared, Magenta, Red, Amber, Orange, Green, Teal, etc. Each one of these colors represents a level that transcends and includes all previous level.

These levels are also associated with the eastern concept of "chakras" and they appear in an individual throughout childhood and adult development.

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Introduction to Meditation -

What is meditation? Why do we do it? This introduction will help put your practice in context and fill in the basics before we talk about the different ways of meditating.

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What are shadows? -

A simple, direct explanation of what simple individual shadows are.

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July 31st, 2024 Heart and Fire -

Practice Session, Heart & Fire

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Deeper into the Quadrants, and States -

We review the idea of Kosmic Address and go deeper into the Quadrants using an example. Any attempt to change things that is not conscious of all four quadrants will fail. Using the issue of recycling, we talk about each quadrant individually and what needs to be present for recycling to be a successful initiative.

Deeper into the four quadrants

In the first quadrant, individual ego consciousness has a progression of stages: instinctual, magic, egocentric, mythic, achiever, sensitive, etc.

In the second quadrant, we see a corresponding outward manifestation of the first quadrant interior consciousness. We call those organic states, limbic system states, brain activity, etc.

In the third quadrant, lots of people at a certain level get together and culture emerges spontaneously. We can label these levels of culture as archaic, animistic, power, mythic order, scientific-rational, pluralistic, etc.

And finally, in the fourth quadrant, all of the interactions of all of the other quadrants have an outward manifestation on what society and the systems that make up society look like. Here the progression looks like forager, horticultural, agrarian, industrial, informational, etc.

Levels and Quadrants Review

Doshin reviews the same slides of how the levels and quadrants progressed throughout history, going into 5th and 6th person perspectives.

States

We introduce the idea of "States" and how they interact with levels in the "Wilber-Combs Lattice". These states we are pointing out are gross, subtle, causal, and non-dual, and Doshin goes through a description of these states from a Zen perspective.

Finally, we examine how these states interact with the four quadrants we learned about, which give us states, realms, bodies, and systems.

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Feeling, Finding, Seeing, and Owning -

In this session we go more in-depth about how shadows form and how we know when we've found a shadow.

Shadow Formation

We will dive into the intricacies of the formation of sub personality structures and also look at how this formation looks through a 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, etc lens.

Emotions as info

Emotions are an incredibly effective source of information about the existence of shadows. When we are feeling strong emotions, it is helpful to look below the emotion and see what information that emotion is trying to communicate.

When is it not a shadow?

It is also useful to know when something is not a shadow. Just like they are our signs and symptoms of shadows, there are signs and symptoms of the absence of shadow.

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Bonus meditation -

In this course, we will cover four different types of meditation: shamatha, vipassana, shikantaza, and a type developed at Integral Zen. For a beginner, this can often seem a bit overwhelming.

Sometimes, before we do any type of meditation or concentration practice, many of us need to work on some very foundational skills: discipline and self-awareness.

In this bonus meditation, we will give you an alternative to all of these types. In this alternative, we will cultivate discipline and self-awareness by observing how we respond to being put in a situation where we have decided not to move.

How does it make you feel? Do you start to panic? Do you start to rationalize why you need to move? You will learn a great deal about yourself and develop important skills that will make you better at the other types of meditation we cover in this course.

This guided meditation, given by Daicho, is in a downloadable .mp3 form and can be downloaded here: Integral Zen guided bonus meditation.

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How Shadows Form -

Doshin gives a simple example of how a shadow is formed.

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Shamatha (concentration) -

This session will cover the practice of Shamatha.

This practice is often mistaken for meditation, but it's actually a way to prepare the mind to meditate. All of the other forms of meditation we will cover are extremely difficult or impossible without this preparatory practice.

In Shamatha, the intention is to cultivate concentration.

Many traditions use many things that can be used as the concentration object: sound, images, sensations, or some use nothing. At Integral Zen, we recommend focusing on the breath, because focusing on the breath is often effective for people who have busy minds...and busy minds are very common in the west.

After a detailed explanation of Shamatha, there will be a short meditation and a followup with questions.

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Honoring our Shadows -

It may seem counter intuitive, but Doshin explains why we should appreciate and celebrate our shadows as we are integrating them into our whole personalities.

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Colors of Shadows -

In this section we will focus on some more integral theory fundamentals, using a "shadow first" approach.

Ego development

We will talk about how the ego develops and examine several researchers who have posited different theories of development, including Cook-Greuter, Maslow, Piaget, Kegan, and others.

Quadrants and Levels

Part of the foundations of integral theory are quadrants and levels (sometimes called stages). We will talk about what these are, how they interact with each other, and how they are useful in explaining the world. We will look at primary selves and disowned selves in terms of what level they come from.

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Lines and Levels -

This week, we examine another part of the five-part integral framework: Lines of development.

Human evolution does not happen all at once in all areas. Instead, we have different levels of consciousness in different "Lines". For example, we may be more advanced in cognitive functioning, and less advanced at moral development or emotional development. There are many, if not infinite, lines of development, and any progress happens mostly independently to other lines (We say "most" because as Ken Wilber says, "The cognitive line leads").

After laying out the most important lines of development, we dive into specific researchers who have worked on one line or another and examine their models.

Finally, we took a look at lines of development through the prism of the levels we learned about earlier. Each line looks different at each level (red, amber, orange, green, etc).

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Lines of development, continued -

We continue our exploration of lines of development, looking at three very important lines: the cognitive line, the moral line, the emotional line, and the spiritual line.

When discussing the cognitive line, we will introduce the idea of the cognitive matrix, based on Jung's theory of types: thinking, feeling, intuitive, and sensing.

For the moral line, the emotional line, and the spiritual line, we will look at each line from the vantage point of levels and also from the vantage point of quadrants.

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Demons and Shadows -

The word Ego is a relatively new addition to our language. Our personalities and the cultural context in which our egos develop are much more complex today than they were a mere hundred years ago. A couple of hundred years ago people didn't have "shadows", they were possessed by demons. There were no shadows yet. The solution to the demon problem was to simply kill the host. Things have become much more subtle now days.

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Magenta, Red, and Amber Shadows -

This session is an in-depth look at shadows using the "persona first" approach.

Integral Theory levels

Color/Level	Voice
Infrared - Infantile	Infant / Victim
Magenta - Pre-ego	Magic / Shaman
Red - 1st person	Power / Controller
Amber - 2nd person	Rules / Conformist

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Vipassana (mindfulness) -

This session will cover the meditation technique of Vipassana, or mindfulness.

Vipassana is a meditation practice to cultivate awareness by observing all of the sense data entering through the senses in addition to one's thoughts.

The practice is quite simple: sit still and be aware of what arises. As sensations and thoughts arise, we observe them, see where they came from, and where they go when they fall away.

If you do this correctly, you will sometimes find yourself lost in a daydream or a thought. This is perfectly fine. Even experienced meditators find themselves lost in daydreams occasionally.

When you notice you are no longer concentrating on the object, just noticed that your mind was wandering for a moment, and return to concentration on the object.

It is important to mention the most common mistake in Vipassana is believing that the goal is to get rid of thought. This is not the case. Instead of getting rid of thought, we are observing and letting things be as they are.

After a detailed explanation of Vipassana, there will be a short meditation followed by questions.

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Orange and Green Shadows -

More Integral Theory levels

Color/Level	Voice
Orange - 3rd person	Reason / Winner
Green - 4th person	Feelings / Rescue

Victim/Rescuer/Perpetrator

We will also point to an interesting dynamic that emerges at green and appears everywhere in the world: the relationship between victims, rescuers, and perpetrators.

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Shikantaza (emptiness) -

Shikantaza is a meditation technique that is extremely simple, but often just as difficult.

This meditation technique is characterized by "not doing". We are not focusing on something; we are not observing and noting things. We just set our intention to do nothing, and then let it go.

Traditionally, one receives further instructions through one-on-one sessions with a teacher.

After an explanation of Shikantaza, there will be a short meditation followed by questions.

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The Ego Complex -

Finding our hidden shadows, can be as simple as making room to allow all our different voices, both seen and unseen, to find their voice and speak their truth.

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Types and Loose Ends -

Continuing our look at the Kosmic Address, we will cover "types" and also a few things we missed along the way.

Types are an important part of the Integral framework, and are the style with which someone interprets their developmental level.

Some examples of different types are male/female, the Enneagram, Jung's theory of types, and we can also use quadrants as types.

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Finding our Hidden Shadows -

Finding and owning our shadows and then withdrawing our projections is how we can integrate the parts of ourselves we have disowned. This is how we reclaim the parts we have split off that we desperately need to become whole. This is a path to authentic wholeness.

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Review of this Course -

Doshin reviews all of the material covered so far and takes questions.

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Integral Semiotics -

On our final session on the Kosmic Address, we start by looking at the cognitive, emotional, moral etc lines of development through the four quadrants.

We introduce the idea of the "pre-trans fallacy", where we mistake a level of higher evolution as instead a level lower. And we also introduce the "level-line fallacy", where a line of intelligence gets stuck and we mistake that for the center of gravity.

Next, a short introduction to Integral Semiotics, what the components are, and how it would help.

Finally, we wrap up Level 1 with an in depth look at a real world problem and how we apply all of these ideas.

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Integral Zen Unified Field Meditation -

In this session we will give you a taste of a meditation style created at Integral Zen.

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Collective Shadows and Prejudices -

Collective shadows are simply prejudices. The question is not do you have prejudices? Of course you do, we all do. The real question is can you see what your prejudices are and can you articulate what their impact is upon others?

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End of this Course -

Now that you know what to do, all that is left to do is practice. Keeping a regular meditation practice is the most important thing you can do.

Here are some things you might look at next:

The only person at Integral Zen who is paid is Doshin. He has put many hours into creating this course, and if you feel it was of value please consider a donation to support our efforts.
We welcome feedback on the course at info@integralzen.org.
Please be aware we have live Dharma talks every Sunday, morning meditation sessions, saturday Chi-gong, and priests available for 1 on 1 meetings to help with your meditation practice.

Deep gratitude to you all.

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End of this Course -

Thank you for the hard work and discipline needed to make your way through these last six sessions. This is not easy material, and remember to leave yourself alone: you will get what you need and let the rest of it go.

Here are some things you might look at next:

The only person at Integral Zen who is paid is Doshin. He has put many hours into creating this course, and if you feel it was of value please consider a donation to support our efforts.
We welcome feedback on the course at info@integralzen.org.
The next class to take after this one is The Whole Spectrum of Shadows - Level 1, which is a more advanced series on the same topics.
Also, don't forget we have live Dharma talks every Sunday, morning meditation sessions, saturday Chi-gong, and priests available for 1 on 1 meetings to help with your meditation practice.

Deep gratitude to you all.

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End of Level 1 -

Here are some things you might look at next:

The only person at Integral Zen who is paid is Doshin. He has put many hours into creating this course, and if you feel it was of value please consider a donation to support our efforts.
We welcome feedback on the course at info@integralzen.org.
Our series continues with Level 2. Take a look at the "Retreats and Courses" page to see if registration is still open.
Also, don't forget we have live Dharma talks every Sunday, morning meditation sessions, saturday Chi-gong, and priests available for 1 on 1 meetings to help with your meditation practice.

Deep gratitude to you all.

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The Archetypal Foundations of Shadows -

The ego complex, the archetypal foundations of consciousness must be taken into account when doing deeper shadow work. Today, the very problem of evil has been disowned and cast into the shadows.

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Integral Zen and a path of Shadow Integration -

What does Integral Zen bring to the work of Shadow Integration? What is the deepest truth of who we are? The fear of death and the freedom of a direct experience of nothingness can lead to a path of Shadow Integration which includes: Waking up, Growing up, Fucking up, Cleaning up and Showing up as awake, compassionate, authentic human beings.

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Tools of Shadow Integration -

Integral Zen's Tools of Awakening and Liberation include: Conflict Liberation, Mondo Zen, 3-2-1-0 Shadow Work, Integral Voice Dialogue, Parental Bonding Patterns, Attachment Repair and various forms of Trauma Work.

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Take it in and throw it away -

Take in everything that has been articulated in this series and then throw it all away and follow your deep heart which includes your gut knowing. Deep gratitude for listening...

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End of this Course -

Thank you for starting the hard work that is necessary to begin to integrate your shadow. This is often not easy material, and remember to leave yourself alone: you will get what you need and let the rest of it go.

Here are some things you might look at next:

The only person at Integral Zen who is paid is Doshin. He has put many hours into creating this course, and if you feel it was of value please consider a donation to support our efforts.
We welcome feedback on the course at info@integralzen.org.
The next class to take after this one is the Shadow and Integral Theory Fundamentals Self-paced Course, which is a more in depth class on the shadow.
Also, don't forget we have live Dharma talks every Sunday, morning meditation sessions, saturday Chi-gong, and priests available for 1 on 1 meetings to help with your meditation practice.

Deep gratitude to you all.

Past Sessions

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Session two - Nov 13, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST

View videos and materials

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Session one - Nov 6, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST

View videos and materials

Event Details

Integral Zen Meditation for Beginners

Description