Bay Area Hybrid Sesshin 2025

On Monday evening, March 24, we’ll gather online via Zoom to begin our fourth annual hybrid Everyday Zen Sesshin. Over the course of the next six days, we’ll wake early and practice till evening together with the in-person sangha at Villa Maria del Mar in Santa Cruz, following the sound of the bells.

On this page, you will find the Zoom link and password along with links to resources to support you in your practice.

We’re very grateful to Juliet Oberding and May Xu for generously offering to serve as Zoom hosts during the sesshin. Please bear in mind that, like you, they are sitting this sesshin and not able to assist with participants’ personal technical issues. Deep thanks to Shuffy for coordinating this and for providing training.

In signing up to participate in sesshin online, you have made a commitment to follow the schedule and the guidelines of the Inos and Zoom hosts. At the same time, we realize that not everyone will be able to follow the schedule in sync with the in-person sangha. If you need to adjust the schedule, whether for your timezone or other circumstances, please, create a modified schedule for yourself in advance and to follow it for the duration of the sesshin.

To get set up and orient yourself to our sesshin on Zoom, please read Norman’s Notes on Sesshin Adapted for Zoom and the Zoom Etiquette Guide before sesshin starts. You might also want to refer to them over the course of the week to refresh your understanding of the forms and intentions for our practice together during sesshin.

For daily use, please locate the Everyday Zen Chant Book, the Online Sesshin Chant Guide (with page numbers), and the all-important Online Sesshin 7-Day Schedule which includes Monday evening and Sunday morning and also notes the days and times of special services and ceremonies. Please consider downloading these in advance and either printing them out or saving them on your computer in a place where you can easily find them.

For practice discussion, Mary Mocine, a priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage and Founding Teacher of the Vallejo Zen Center, has generously offered to lead Practice Discussion Groups for online participants. Details will be provided during the online orientation Monday evening. Unfortunately, online participants will not be offered the opportunity for dokusan with Zoketsu Norman Fischer or individual Practice Discussion with a senior ​Everyday Zen teacher during sesshin.

In the spirit of sesshin, we ask that online participants take care of themselves and manage sesshin links and resources as independently as possible. Technical support will not be available apart from limited assistance that the Zoom hosts and other online participants may be able to provide.

The Zoom hosts will post the link to this web page into the Chat window every morning before/after breakfast. From there, we will trust you to find your way to the documents and information you need to navigate and participate in the schedule.

Thank you! We look forward to practicing with you.

Dana

Sesshin teachings are offered freely, without charge. A contribution (dana) to support the teacher and our shared practice environment is the custom and greatly appreciated.

We encourage you to donate online.