Special Events

The Zen Life & Meditation Center offers three special event on a regular basis. To view our calendar schedule of these events, please click here.

Empathic Listening Circles

Empathic listening circles are based upon traditional native pactices of sitting together in council and deeply listening to each other. We often use council circles in this way. Here we will concentrate on improving our active listening skills using very simple forms of feedback often used in Focusing and Nonviolent Communication. We will teach you these skills and then support you in practicing them through role plays and other experiential exercises.

To register online, please click here. You may also register by calling our office at 708.445.1651.

Cost: $15 for nonmembers, free for members

Friday's with Roshi

Once a month, our teacher, Robert Joshin Althouse Roshi gathers with friends and students to facilitate a public exploration of a Zen koan. In our Zen tradition, zen koans are stories that have been handed down to us. They are often taken from a dialogue or conversation a student had with their teacher. They asked the same kind of questions you or I might ask of a wise person. "What is the meaning of my life?" "How can I deal with death?" "How do I find my way in this chaotic world?"

We think you'll be delightfully surprised at how inspiring Zen can be. So please join us and bring a friend.

To register for this online, click here. You may also register by calling 708.445.1651

Cost: $15/nonmembers. Free for ZLMC members.

Self Liberation Workshops

This workshop will inquire into the nature of who we are. It will explore various voices you have within yourself. By bringing more awareness to your own experience in this way, you can gain insight into how you contribute to your effectiveness as a human being, and how, in some cases, you contribute to your own suffering and problems. Our teacher, Robert Joshin Althouse, Roshi uses the Big Mind process in this workshop. Big Mind was developed by Joshin Roshi's dharma brother, Dennis Genpo Marzel Roshi. Genpo Roshi has given Joshin Roshi permission to use the Big Mind process in his Zen teachings.

This workshop will help you

• Explore and discover new aspects of your self.
• Clarify your life.
• Access profound wisdom in a short period of time.
• Integrate self and "no self".
• Open to a rich, deep and larger view of your self.
• Open to a more compassionate and effective way of living.

To register online, click here. You may also register by calling 708.445.1651.

Cost: $35 for nonmembers. $25 for members