Communication, Connection, Heartbreak and Forgiveness—Sangha Week

This is a themed sesshin — not a traditional silent retreat, but a structured residential week designed around a specific inquiry: how do heartbreak and forgiveness function as teachers in sangha (community) life. It combines standard zazen practice with somatic work (Qi Gong, Iyengar Yoga) and what the description calls "devotional work practice," suggesting that daily tasks like cooking and cleaning are part of the teaching, not just logistics.

San Francisco Zen Center's Tassajara monastery is a working retreat center in the mountains south of Big Sur — one of the few places in the US where residents practice year-round in a traditional monastic setting. A week there means you're in an established practice community, eating meals together (likely oryoki style, the formal Zen meal practice), and working alongside both long-term residents and other retreat participants.

The inclusion of yoga and Qi Gong signals this retreat is not austere. It's structured around emotional and relational work, not just sitting. If you're coming to explore how to navigate conflict, disappointment, or estrangement within community — or if you're curious how meditation touches the heart as well as the mind — this week seems designed for that. The emphasis on connection and forgiveness suggests a contemporary angle on traditional practice: how Zen addresses what actually matters in how we live together.