Yoga and zen practices are honestly the only reason I’m not completely losing my marbles in 2026 America right now.
I’m sitting here in my tiny apartment in the suburbs (think classic beige carpet, neighbor’s leaf blower going at 7:12 a.m. like it’s a personal vendetta), matcha going cold on the windowsill, and I swear the only thing between me and a full-on existential spiral is the weird little routine I’ve patched together from yoga and zen over the last two chaotic years.
How I Stumbled Into This Whole Yoga + Zen Thing
Back in early 2024 I was that person who’d do three sun salutations, feel enlightened for nine minutes, Yoga and Zen Practices then immediately doomscroll X for two hours and hate myself. Classic.
Then one rainy Tuesday I found this short article on Lion’s Roar about Zen and yoga intersections and something just… clicked. Not in a beautiful angelic-choir way. More like “oh maybe I don’t have to choose between stretching my stupidly tight hamstrings and actually learning to sit with my racing thoughts.”
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And finally, the rainy Tuesday click moment — cozy indoors, rain outside, yoga mat nearby, Lion’s Roar article open, actually sitting with the thoughts instead of fighting them:
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So I started doing both. Badly. Very badly.
What My Current Messy Practice Actually Looks Like
These days, a “good” morning looks roughly like this:
- Wake up 22 minutes later than planned because I hit snooze while dreaming about answering emails
- Trip over the cat while trying to unroll my yoga mat
- Do 10 minutes of very grumpy cat-cow + thread-the-needle because my shoulders are concrete
- Sit on my zafu (which has permanent matcha stains) for 12–17 minutes of zazen (zen sitting meditation)
- Spend at least 40% of that time thinking about whether I should have bought the more expensive organic ceremonial grade matcha
- End with three deep ujjayi breaths and the sudden, embarrassing realization that I feel… slightly less like a dumpster fire
It’s not pretty. But it’s real.
And weirdly — it works.
Studies actually back up why combining the movement of yoga with the stillness of Yoga and Zen Practices can be so powerful for stress reduction and emotional regulation. Check out this nice summary from Mindful.org on the science behind yoga + mindfulness — basically movement lowers cortisol first, then stillness helps rewire the default mode network. Whatever that means. I just know I cry less in traffic now.
Here are the two biggest things I wish someone told me when I started:
- You don’t need perfect posture. Zen teachers will say “sit like a mountain.” My mountain looks more like a tired potato. It’s fine. The point is presence, not Instagram aesthetics.
- The real practice happens in the screwing up. The second you notice you’re thinking about the Amazon package that’s late instead of your breath? That noticing is the meditation. Same with yoga — the second you realize you’re forcing the pose instead of breathing into it? Boom. That’s the moment.
The Weird Synergy I Didn’t Expect
Yoga gives my American-anxiety brain something to do, which is apparently very important. Yoga and Zen Practices then teaches me I don’t always have to do something. Together? It’s like one calms the body while the other slowly convinces the mind that it’s allowed to put the weapon down for a minute.
I still have days where I scream-cry in the car because interest rates and the price of eggs and my inbox are all conspiring against me. But now there’s this tiny, stubborn space that opens up afterward where I go: “Okay. Mat. Zafu. Breathe. Exist. Repeat.”
Final Thoughts (or whatever you call this)
If you’re reading this and thinking “that sounds nice but I could never,” I’m begging you to try anyway. Start stupidly small. Five minutes of stretching + five minutes of just sitting and breathing. That’s it. No special cushions, no zen master vibes, no needing to be a better person first.
Just a tired human in sweatpants trying not to set the world on fire for ten minutes.
