Joyful Ease, Your Own True Body

This is a hybrid retreat that brings together two distinct practices—Iyengar yoga and Zen meditation—in a single four-day arc. Rather than treating them as separate activities, the retreat frames them as complementary approaches to embodiment: the precision and alignment work of Iyengar asana alongside the stillness of zazen, both aimed at waking up to your body as it actually is.

San Francisco Zen Center's Soto tradition emphasizes practice-based realization. Soto sesshin typically follows a traditional daily schedule of zazen periods (usually 25–40 minutes each, alternating with kinhin or walking meditation), work periods, meals, and Dharma talks. Living in silence supports the inward focus. Here, the addition of yoga asana in the mornings or afternoons shifts the rhythm slightly—you're moving and stretching as well as sitting—but the underlying principle remains: direct attention to your own experience, without commentary.

Green Gulch Farm, located in Marin County just north of San Francisco, is a working organic farm and retreat center. The natural setting—gardens, open space, relative quiet—creates conditions that support both the introspective work of zazen and the body awareness that asana develops. Iyengar yoga, known for detailed alignment cues and often the use of props, pairs well with Zen's emphasis on precise, embodied awareness.

Residential means you stay on-site, typically in shared rooms. Meals are included and eaten in silence. What you'll need to bring is minimal—comfortable clothing for both yoga and sitting, toiletries, any medications. The retreat operates under noble silence: minimal speech, no eye contact beyond greetings, phones and screens off. This isn't austere—it's practical, designed to keep attention inward and reduce the social noise that usually fills our days.