Dancing in the Dark Fields of Illness & Pain

This is a class, not a sesshin or retreat in the traditional sense — six sessions spread over six weeks, not a consecutive multi-day sit. The focus is practical: how Zen practice and community can support people navigating chronic conditions.

Zenshin Florence Caplow is a Soto Zen priest at San Francisco Zen Center. In this format, the teaching is conversational and peer-based. Participants share their own experience with illness and pain; the class explores what practices — meditation, but also perspective, ritual, connection — can help. This is explicitly introductory, so no prior sitting practice is expected.

The online format means you attend live sessions (or watch recordings afterward) from home. Optional readings and recorded sessions extend the material between class meetings, but attendance is not required to participate meaningfully. The six-week timeframe allows for sustained engagement without the intensity or commitment of a residential retreat.