Zazen and walking meditation sitting and kinhin in turns

What is zazen?

Zazen is seated meditation as practised in Zen Buddhism: you sit still in an upright posture, eyes half open, and let attention rest on the posture and the breath or on nothing in particular. The Japanese word combines za, sitting, and zen, meditation. In Zen it is not a technique for getting somewhere else; sitting itself is the practice.

The Japanese teacher Dōgen (1200–1253) trained in China under Tiantong Rujing and, on returning to Japan in 1227 or 1228, wrote the Fukanzazengi, "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen". He founded the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan and later the temple Eihei-ji. His short text is still the classic instruction for how to sit.

Zazen sessions in a meditation hall, the zendō, are traditionally opened by a bell rung three times and closed by one or two rings. Long sitting periods may alternate with kinhin, walking meditation, which is the second half of this page.

Soto vs Rinzai zazen: shikantaza and koans

The two main Japanese Zen schools sit in the same posture but differ in what the mind does. Sōtō favours shikantaza, "just sitting": no counting, no object, no question, only full presence in the act of sitting. Rinzai usually combines zazen with koan study, where the student holds a paradoxical question from a teacher during sitting.

The difference is visible in the hall:

Koan work is done with a teacher, so it is not something a timer can guide. Shikantaza, or simply following the breath in the zazen posture, works on your own. The timer's cue for the sitting stages is the plainest version: sit upright, follow the breath, let thoughts go.

Zazen posture: how to sit, hands and eyes

The zazen posture is a stable, upright seat: legs crossed, spine erect, hands in the cosmic mudra, eyes half lowered. This description, taught by Shunryu Suzuki among others, is the core of the tradition, and the details matter less than a seat you can keep still for 20 minutes.

• Seat. Sit on a firm cushion high enough for both knees to rest on the floor.
• Legs. Cross them, for example in the full lotus, half lotus or Burmese position (both shins on the floor, one in front of the other). Kneeling in seiza, on a bench or a cushion, is equally traditional. A chair is fine too: feet flat, back away from the backrest.
• Spine. Let the back be straight and the head balanced, as if the crown were lifted gently upwards. Upright does not mean rigid.
• Hands. Form the cosmic mudra: hands rest in the lap, palms up, one on the other, thumb tips lightly touching near the navel.
• Eyes. Keep the eyelids half lowered, eyes neither fully open nor shut, resting on the floor or the wall a little way ahead.
• Breath. Let the breath find its own pace. Do not control it.

No study has compared these postures for meditation outcomes, so choose the one your knees and back can keep without pain. If a leg falls asleep, move quietly; stillness is a direction, not a test.

How to do zazen step by step

To do zazen, take the posture, settle for a few breaths, and then simply sit, returning to the posture and the breath each time you notice you are lost in thought. The timer gives you 30 seconds to settle before the first gong, longer than on the other technique pages, because folding into a cross-legged seat takes time.

During the sitting, thoughts will come. The Zen instruction is neither to chase nor to push them away: notice the thought, let it pass, and come back to the spine, the hands and the breath. Beginners often follow the breath at the belly as an anchor. Counting breaths is a separate technique with its own page.

When the gong ends the sitting, do not jump up. Unfold the legs slowly, rub the knees if they are stiff, and stand up carefully before the walking starts.

What is kinhin? Walking meditation in Zen

Kinhin is the walking meditation done in Zen between periods of zazen, partly as a break for the body after long sitting and partly as a continuation of the same practice in motion. Practitioners usually walk clockwise around the zendō in a line, one behind the other.

The hands are held in shashu: one hand makes a loose fist, the other covers it, and both rest against the chest or upper belly. The gaze stays lowered, as in zazen. The pace varies by school and by moment: very slow, about one step per breath, or brisk.

Walking meditation is not only a Zen practice. In the Theravāda and Vipassana traditions, practitioners walk back and forth along a straight path, attention on the feet, sometimes silently noting "lifting, moving, placing" with each step.

How to do walking meditation (kinhin) step by step

To do walking meditation, stand up, hold the hands in front of the body, and walk very slowly with full attention on each step and breath, keeping the same calm as in sitting. The timer's cue for the 5-minute walking stage is to walk slowly, about half a step per breath in and out.

• Stand behind your cushion or chair and take a moment to feel the feet on the floor.
• Bring the hands into shashu: a loose fist, covered by the other hand, held at the chest.
• Lower the gaze to the floor a little ahead.
• Breathing in, slowly move one foot forward; breathing out, place it. Let the next breath move the other foot.
• Keep the attention on the soles of the feet, the shift of weight and the breath.
• At home, walk around the room or back and forth along a short line, turning slowly at the end.
• At the gong, return to your seat and sit down for the second zazen period.

How long should you sit zazen? Typical Zen schedules

In many Zen centres a zazen period lasts 30 to 40 minutes and is followed by about 10 minutes of kinhin; this is common practice, not a rule. Published schedules, read on 1 October 2026, show the pattern:

The timer starts with shorter periods because 40 minutes of cross-legged sitting is hard for most beginners. You can lengthen each stage once 20 minutes feels easy. If 45 minutes in total is too long, sit a single 20-minute period on the main meditation timer page; the hub covers what research says about session length in general.

Walking meditation benefits: what studies found

A few small trials found that walking meditation lowered stress and depressive symptoms more than waiting or plain walking. No meta-analysis of walking meditation was found, so each study has to be read on its own.

The studies differ in who took part and what they compared with, which the table shows. Two patterns stand out: walking with meditation did better than walking alone in two of them, and the one trial in people with chronic back pain found no benefit.

For zazen itself, the seated half of this page, no dedicated study is cited here; it belongs to the wider family of meditation practices whose general evidence is summarised on the main meditation timer page.

Bells in zazen: why the timer uses a gong

In a Zen hall, a bell rung three times opens a period of zazen and one or two rings close it; the bell tells everyone when to sit and when to stand, so no one has to watch a clock. The timer does the same job for one person, with a gong as the default sound.

The order of strikes is reversed from that tradition: the timer strikes once to start and three times to end, on every page. A single gong also marks each change between sitting and walking. If you prefer a softer sound, switch to the singing bowl or the wood block.

The bell is a signal, not a treatment. No study has found that a bell sound itself improves meditation; its value is practical, letting you stop checking the time.

Knee pain, sleepiness and other problems in zazen

Most problems in zazen are ordinary ones: sore knees, a numb leg, sleepiness or restlessness, and they usually have simple practical answers. Knee or hip pain is a sign to change the seat, not to push through: use a higher cushion, a kneeling bench or a chair. A numb leg is common in cross-legged sitting; the walking stage exists partly for this.

For sleepiness, a common tip is to open the eyes a little more and straighten the spine; for restlessness, the walking stage gives the body something to do.

Meditation can also bring unpleasant experiences. A 2020 review of 83 studies (Farias and colleagues) found that about 8% of participants reported one, most often anxiety, including people with no history of mental-health problems. If sitting makes you feel worse, shorten it, open your eyes fully, or stop, and talk to a professional if the distress lasts.