Zen Life Programs

Retreats

Zen Life & Meditation Center has been offering and leading retreats for over 15 years. We conduct short retreats and long retreats. We conduct retreats that are informal, and we conduct retreats that are more traditional (include more formality and services). Whether you are a beginner or an advanced practitioner, you will find something here that meets your needs. We are firmly committed to the practice of doing retreats, and are convinced they can deepen your meditation practice and help rejuvinate and restore your energies that are often strained and stressed in our fast-paced modern world.

You do not need to be a member to attend any of our retreats.

To see scheduled retreat times, click here.
To register for a retreat, click here.

Day of Mindfulness

Zen Life & Meditation Center now offers a one day retreat. This retreat is conducted in silence. It is informal, includes little if any ritual, no robes and no services. It includes meditation (seated and walking), a talk, optional private interviews with teacher, work practice, light body work and a delicious home-made Zen meal and a closing council circle. This retreat is ideal for those of you who have never done a retreat of this kind. It's also ideal for anyone else wanting to spend a day in mindfulness in the pleasant company of other like-minded people

Two Day Meditation Retreat

Zen Life offers a two day residential meditation retreat that is conducted in silence. The retreat includes intensive meditation, a morning Buddhist service, daily talks by the teacher, optional private interviews with teacher, work practice, light body work, three meals a day and a room at the Zen Center. Almost anyone can do this kind of retreat. You'll find that the safe container we provide for this kind of retreat at the Zen Center makes it easier than you might have imagined.

Seven Day Traditional Zen Retreat (Sesshin)

This is a traditional Zen retreat. It is conducted in deep silence. It is residential and includes three meals a day. Robes are worn, and traditonal Buddist services and rituals are observed. It includes intensive zazen (medtiation), samu (work practice), Teishos (dharma talk) by teacher, dokusan (private interviews with teacher), light body work, and practice of immediacy (optional).

Workshops

Life Application Workshops

Zen Life & Meditation Center offers three different workshops, designed to be extensions for practicing class material taught in the Gateway Series. They are, Focusing Workshop, NVC (Nonviolent Communication) Workshop and Self Liberation Workshop. Any of these workshops are open to people who have completed the Gateway Series of classes. 

These workshop are designed to be hands-on learning opportunities for practicing these skill sets. Role plays we be the primary practice in the Focusing and NVC workshops. Facilitations with Joshin Roshi in Big Mind will be the primary practice in the Self Liberation Workshops. Workshops are four hours long. 

To see a schdule of workshop dates and times, please click here.

Advanced Zen Studies

For those wishing to explore a deeper Zen training, ZLMC offers complete Zen studies with it's teacher, Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse. This includes doing precepts study, taking the precepts (Jukai), koan study, regular dokusan (interviews) between teacher and student, practicing services and rituals and advanced leadership.

For more information on the nature of the teacher-student relationship, please click here. 

ZLMC is currently offering a Zen Leadership Training from January 24 to Oct. 2, 2010. This is only open to Advanced Members. 

All students entering into Zen Studies are asked to consider beginning classes in the Core Curriculum. It is not necessary to have completed the curriculum to become an Advanced Zen Member and begin studying with Joshin Roshi. 

To read some articles by Joshin Roshi, please click here. 

For more information, pleaes call our office at 708.445.1651 or email info@zlmc.org.