when we're engaged in activity, like driving, or walking or brushing our teeth and doing those things, all the while, caught up in thoughts. Say thinking about a conversation that hasn't even happened yet, but we're envisioning will happen. Yeah, we don't know we're not even aware of what's what's going on in our body. At that moment. We're, we're so caught up in our head, that, in effect were disembodied. In in both of the fields of philosophy and religion, there's this classic dualism between mind and body, or spirit and matter. And in some belief systems, there's even a revulsion against the body against the flesh. It's seen as impure, as if the cognitive or mental realm is far more valuable, more noble or virtuous than the physical. And the same goes for when experiencing emotions, which do involve bodily responses and bodily sensations. So often treated as something that we need to keep under control. We might think to ourselves that if we don't keep our emotions in check, we'll be judged as weak or unstable. But then when we suppress or try to hide our emotions, we run into all sorts of problems. Not just with our own sense of well being, but with our relationships with others. Storing away grief, anger, fear. Doing that may help us cope in the present. Especially when we feel incredibly uncomfortable, or we feel that it's unbearable, to experience such emotions. But at some point, most of us need to allow ourselves to experience those kinds of emotions and in sitting can help with that. But not because we're trying to it just, it's just part of the process. And so can therapy talk therapy. But neither is a substitute for the other. And despite all our difficulties in this area, you know, being able to think and to feel, that's what's, that's what makes us human, distinctly human. That's what places us on top of the animal world. So it's believed it's what sets us apart. And yet, there's plenty of research that shows that many other animals are capable of solving problems, creating and using tools and also feeling and expressing emotion. And while they may not speak a language as complex as ours, some animals communicate, they do by sound. How else shrieks, chirps are other kinds of vocalizations, and some with bodily gestures. There's also a great deal of evidence, scientific as evidence that shows that the physical matter of the human body are our biology or chemistry, and the trillions upon trillions of microbes that live both inside us and on our skin. impact our emotional states, and how we're reacting to our environment. Not just how we feel, but even how we think. And so much so that scientists have come to refer to our microbiome as our second brain. I recently was listening to a podcast on microbe research. And the narrator said, if you if you touch your face, you're not merely touching your face. You're touching this this massive universe of 1000 species of micro organisms, just by touching your face. So from a scientific standpoint, it's pretty clear that mind and body are interwoven. And even though we think of our body as our own body. In fact, it's an ecosystem that is inseparable from the environment that surrounds us. And that we even resort to using words like body and mind, let alone my body and my mind, is problematic because it reinforces the notion that they're separate. And in Zen, we often refer to bodymind, as one word or with a hyphen, which helps to convey that they're integrated, but it's still just a word it doesn't get at are the pure, direct lived experience of being in a body. And, likewise, we can talk and read and listen to words about Zen, and gain, gain some inspiration from that. But in the end, Zen is a practice. That's what it says on the Center's website. It's not a belief, it's a practice. And as a practice, it's a whole body experience. For most of us, the experiential nature of Zen begins with learning how to sit, learning, the various postures, the various elements that make an effective posture for concentration, the ideal positioning of our hips, our head, shoulders, the limbs, and together, they do enable us to create a stable and relaxed Foundation. The Latin word for concentration means to collect together There to gather at the center as in the horror of the body, which is located about an inch or so beneath the navel. And yet in our ordinary consciousness, our typical thinking, grasping calculating mind, we can easily misconstrue concentration for a mental activity. But it's really not. It's a state of awareness that involves our body just as much as our mind. And so taking a beginner's mind look at posture can be very helpful. And this happens naturally for people who are new to practice. But for us folks who have been doing it for a while, it requires us to have an openness to looking at our posture, taking an honest look at it and considering to what extent it might be helping or impeding our practice. Our bodies do change over time, this is something I'm discovering more and more. So there's always room to to adapt and improve. Whether it's because of aging or an injury or some other condition we need to adapt.