Early on in my residency I received a personal teaching from Soryu about being in my body. It was a standard morning MAPLE except for one, weekly difference - I was on breakfast cooking duty.
Mornings at MAPLE are about being in your body. After sitting for close to an hour in meditation, we transition into our exercise period which is all about meditation in movement and bringing attention, awareness, and concentration into the body. However, once a week a resident is responsible for helping with breakfast. Because I was new, I hadn’t yet realized this responsibility also involved being in my body.
On this particular morning the transition from meditation to breakfast felt unusually sloppy for me. I'd lost time moving from the zendo (meditation hall) to the kitchen, but eventually made it. I rushed to get food out of the fridge, totally out of my body despite being very confident I wouldn’t make any mistakes. Well, after running all around the kitchen, pulling out the various leftovers and new food items, and after being totally lost and thought and making a mess while moving food to cooking pans, Soryu walks into the kitchen most likely to get his own food before leaving the main hall.
“It’s good to be in your body, you know.” he said, beaming mettā towards me and into the space. Soryu has a strange way of being like a soft care bear in the kitchen in contrast with his fearsome monk energy in the zendo. I nodded with a hesitant “Right.” having barely heard the clear instructions, the mind already on to the next task, the eyes already looking for the next object to cook. I went to get the lid to a large frying pan and in my frantic state lost grip immediately. It rolled across the floor, hit the stove with a loud bang, and then rattled on the floor for at least 5 seconds.
I looked up at Soryu in total shock and disbelief at my total lack of mindfulness. “You know you’re in your body when the hood fan is on.” he said with a smile, still beaming enormous mettā. He then flipped on the oven’s hood fan, got his food and left.