One Continuous Thread: Home Practice Intensive—April

This retreat from Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM) adapts the traditional sesshin format for practitioners who can't leave home for a week. You sit zazen at home while accessing the livestreamed core of their in-person sesshin—teachers, schedule, the held container—plus optional Zoom meetings to connect with the group and teachers. It's not a recorded course or independent program; you're syncing with a live event happening in real time.

The appeal is practical: if a residential week isn't possible, you're still sitting alongside others on the same schedule, attending to the same practice. The limits are real too—no dokusan (private teaching meetings), no shared meals or work period, no physical presence with a teacher. What you get is structure, live instruction, and the steadying effect of group practice, even at a distance.

ZMM's Soto Zen lineage emphasizes shikantaza—sitting without an object of focus, just sitting. The sesshin schedule typically follows the traditional shape: early mornings, multiple sitting periods, kinhin (walking meditation), rest, formal meals if you're residential (you'd eat at home here). The optional Zoom meetings likely cover questions, encouragement, and the teaching dimension that makes sesshin more than just long sitting.

A good fit for someone with sesshin experience who can't step away, or for a practitioner wanting deeper structure than daily home practice without the commitment of traveling. New to zazen? This format makes it easier to try sesshin format without the full plunge, though having some sitting foundation helps.