Tea & Mindfulness

This one-day retreat at San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm weaves tea ceremony into a day of sitting practice. It's a gentler entry point than a multi-day sesshin—you arrive in the morning, sit, learn, practice with tea, and return home by evening. The format lets you experience how Zen practice extends beyond zazen (seated meditation) into everyday activities like preparing and drinking tea mindfully.

Tea holds a specific place in Zen tradition, developed alongside zazen in the monastery. This retreat teaches that history directly, then grounds it in practice: you'll sit periods of zazen, receive instruction in mindfulness techniques, and participate in tea ritual itself—not as performance, but as meditation in action. The day moves between formal sitting and the focused, deliberate movements of tea preparation and ceremony.

Green Gulch Farm is set in Marin County's coastal hills, a working organic farm with a temple and guest facilities. The setting itself—rural, quiet, beautiful—shapes the day's quality in ways a city retreat cannot. You'll experience the property's rhythms: morning sitting often begins early, and the farm's daily work informs the day's pace.

Bring comfortable clothes suitable for sitting on a meditation cushion (zafus and zabutons are provided). The retreat is beginner-friendly; no prior sitting experience is expected. If you've never sat zazen or attended a Zen event, this day-long format offers a clear, bounded way to try it without committing to a longer period.