Stillness
also known as Zazen, practice period
Seated meditation facing a wall, in a room, on a schedule, with a form governing how you walk, eat and bow. Physically stricter than an insight retreat and less psychologically explanatory. Nobody will tell you what you are supposed to be experiencing, which is the point and also what people find hardest.
A sesshin is not an introduction. It is several days of zazen in periods of roughly forty minutes, separated by walking meditation, with formal meals eaten from nested bowls at your seat. The form is exacting and learning it is part of the practice rather than an obstacle to it.
The Western Zen centres worth knowing are monasteries that also take guests. That means you can usually arrive as a residential guest or short-stay work-practice student first, sit the ordinary daily schedule, and find out whether the form suits you before committing to a sesshin.
Zen is the tradition least interested in the states this site otherwise catalogues. If you want an experience, this will frustrate you. If you want a structure that holds up over years, it is the most robust thing here.
The shape of it
A representative shape drawn from how these are typically run. Use it as something to ask against, not as any one centre's timetable.
Where to do it
Chosen for institutional standing rather than atmosphere: a named founder, a registered charity or non-profit, a published lineage, decades of operation, a price you can read before you enquire. We have inspected none of them, and each entry says what its standing actually rests on.
Ventana Wilderness, Carmel Valley, California, USA
The first Zen monastery established outside Asia, part of San Francisco Zen Center. Fourteen miles down an unpaved road with no phone signal. The summer guest season is the accessible door; the winter practice periods are the real thing.
Mount Tremper, Catskills, New York, USA
Founded by John Daido Loori. Runs the widest introductory programme of any American Zen monastery, including weekends aimed squarely at people who have never sat before.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Founded by Roshi Joan Halifax, an anthropologist who worked on the early psychedelic-assisted therapy research with dying patients. The centre that connects most directly to the rest of this site.
No centre has paid to appear here and no link on this page earns us anything. If that ever changes it will be disclosed on the listing itself, not in a footer.
The other half
The retreat directory covers centres in the jurisdictions where the substance they serve is lawful, licensed or unscheduled. Read the contraindications first, because a lot of people who start there end up back on this page.
The dispatch
A brief, sent only in weeks when something changes: jurisdictions that shifted, listings added or revised, and the research worth reading. No hype, no sourcing talk.
Educational only. Not medical advice. Unsubscribe any time.