Establishing the Path of Practice, Part One, Onsite/Online 1/25–3/20

The Zoom link to participate in this event will be provided at least 24 hours before it begins. Please call 415-354-0360 if you have any questions.

This program is designed to help participants develop or deepen a practice of zazen (awareness meditation) and mindfulness during daily activities and relationships. Meditation experience would be helpful but is not essential. There will be detailed awareness instructions throughout the course.

The course will have three parts that can be taken separately and are offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. This page is for registration for the first section.

• Part One: Establishing the fundamentals of practice (this section). The emphasis in this section will be on cultivating a daily practice of awareness meditation: awareness of body, breath, emotions, thinking, and the ability to bring awareness to daily activities.
   
• Part Two: Exploring self and relating to others (to be offered later in 2025). Through attention to habits of thought, feelings, actions, and reactions in ourselves and in our interpersonal interactions, we will explore how they arise in daily life and learn ways to practice with them.
   
• Part Three: Expressing practice in our lives (to be offered later in 2025). The main activity will be investigating how the insights we are realizing through practice can be expressed and embodied in all aspects of our lives, and how cultivating and practicing our intention can support this.

Each section will include meditation, contemplation, reflections, and suggested practices based on early Buddhist and Zen teachings. They will also include yoga and breathing exercises, and the opportunity to explore practice themes through experiential exercises and practices.

Participants will have the option of meeting regularly in a small group led by a teacher to discuss their experience in engaging with the suggested practices.

Each week there will be a hybrid (both in-person and online) 90-minute class on Monday evening at 7:15 pm PST and an online-only 90-minute class class on Thursday mornings at 11:00 am PST. The material presented on Monday evenings will be repeated on Thursday mornings but the Q&A will be unique to each class.

A three-hour opening afternoon event will begin the program on the afternoon of Saturday, January 25, 2025, and a three-hour closing event will be offered on the afternoon of Saturday, March 22 (times TBD). These will be hybrid events for in-person and online attendance.

The eight hybrid Monday classes will begin on Monday, January 27 and end on Monday, March 17.

The eight online Thursday classes will begin on Thursday, January 30 and end on Thursday, March 20.

You will also have the opportunity to join small discussion groups led by experienced practitioners at various times during the week, which will meet weekly for one hour.

For any part of this program that is hybrid, you are welcome to attend in person at City Center or online via Zoom. Some offerings, like the Thursday section of the class, are online-only.

The second and third parts of Establishing the Path of Practice will also be offered hybrid (in-person and online) and there will be a break of at least a month between sections. While the sections do build on each other, each section can also be taken individually. Join the cohort now as it starts, or jump in later this year when you can.

Registration deadline: Tuesday, January 21, 2025.