City Refuge Retreat

This is a compact three-day commuter sesshin, which means you sit during the day and return home each evening. The format includes the core elements of Zen practice: zazen (seated meditation), kinhin (walking meditation between sits), oryoki (formal eating practice), work practice, and dharma talk from the teacher. Three days is short enough to fit into a summer weekend, long enough to settle into the rhythm of practice.

Because it's non-residential, there's no early wake-up or overnight commitment—you come for the sitting hours and leave. This works well for people with jobs or caregiving responsibilities, though it means you don't have the immersion of a residential sesshin. The requirement for prior zazenkai experience (a full-day sit) signals this isn't an introduction to Zen; the teacher assumes you know basic posture, what silence means in practice, and what to expect from a formal schedule.

Oryoki is formal mindful eating, done in silence as part of the practice itself rather than a break from it. If you haven't practiced it before, arrive early to learn the form—it's not complicated, but it's precise.