Family Sangha Retreat at Tassajara

This is Tassajara's dedicated family retreat format—a different shape from the standard adult sesshin. Rather than silent sitting periods, the schedule weaves together practice, group activities, and family time across five days. Children stay with their families in residence; the center offers age-separated practice groups (young children, school-age, teens) that run parallel to adult zazen and dokusan.

The retreat frames family practice explicitly as lineage work—sitting together as a way to address inherited patterns and wounds. This is rooted in the Soto Zen view that practice happens in relationship, not just individual insight. You'll be at Tassajara, the famous mountain monastery in the Los Padres National Forest, which means the setting itself is part of the container: isolation, natural rhythms, communal meals, time outdoors.

Practically: families lodge together. Meals are communal (oryoki style). There's less silence enforced than a regular sesshin, and the schedule accommodates children's needs. The younger kids have their own teachers and activities; it's not childcare during adult practice, but parallel engagement with Zen form adapted to developmental stages.

Currently waitlist-only, which typically means the retreat has reached capacity and you can join the waitlist for cancellation space.