Apple Blossom Sesshin

Apple Blossom Sesshin is a standard six-day residential sesshin — the core format of Zen practice. You'll sit zazen (Zen meditation) in extended periods throughout the day, typically 40–50 minutes per period with short walking meditation (kinhin) between. The schedule runs long: 7–10 hours of sitting daily, which means early mornings (usually 5 or 6 a.m.) and evening practice that extends into the night.

The retreat includes formal meals (likely oryoki, the Zen practice of eating in the meditation hall in silence), chanting services, work practice in the temple, and dokusan — private meetings with the teacher for guidance or to work with a koan. You'll maintain noble silence (no talking except with the teacher) for the duration. This creates the conditions that make sesshin distinctive: the sound of many people sitting together, the rhythm of bells and wooden blocks marking the day, the simplicity of a contained schedule.

The location at Fire Lotus Temple in New York City means you're in an urban center, though the practice itself is insulated from that context. If you're new to sesshin, expect to be sore on day two or three, to have moments of mental clarity and moments of restlessness, and to experience something genuinely different from daily meditation practice — the depth that comes from sitting continuously with others over several days.