Monday Night Meditation Calendar

2/19 Gary Brandt Sensei Zoom
2/26 Deanna Hopper Sensei Zoom
3/04 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi, in person and hybrid Zoom
3/11 Deanna Hopper Sensei Zoom
3/18 Gary Brandt Sensei, in person and hybrid Zoom
3/25 Chris Bell Sensei Zoom
4/01 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi, in person and hybrid Zoom
4/08  Michelle Brandt Sensei Zoom
4/15 Deanna Hopper Sensei Zoom
4/22 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi, in person and hybrid Zoom
4/29 Chris Bell Zoom

Email Zenappt@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link or directions to the In Person mediation evening location.

SEVEN-DAY WINTER SESSHIN is full!

JANUARY 26 - February 2 2024
Full or part time attendance 
Scholarships available

St. Dorothy’s Rest
Occidental, Sonoma County

Sesshin is an ancient Zen tradition; it’s a special environment built to help you discover your own awakening. Often in your daily life, the light of your attention goes out from you into the world; during sesshin you turn the light back inward into your own heart/mind. 

We are so looking forward to meeting in person again for our Great Winter SesshinCityZen’s senior teacher, Rachel Mansfield-Howlett, Roshi will be giving dharma transmission to Gary Brandt on Sunday afternoon.

We practice in a relaxed traditional form of sesshin, with lots of dharma talks and opportunity for meeting individually with the teachers. Our silent retreat is held at St. Dorothy’s Rest in Camp Meeker, with stunning views of the redwoods and rolling hills and featuring exquisitely made hearty vegetarian meals.

We wholeheartedly invite you to join us for this practice intensive.

Please contact:  gbrandt@sonic.net, for more information about accommodations and registration.

Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi is a koan master in the Pacific Zen School lineage and the Founder and senior teacher at CityZen in Santa Rosa CA. With degrees in botany and law she is also a public benefit environmental attorney and law professor. She is a contributor to The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan and The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. Rhowlettlaw@gmail.com

Calendar

Zoom Sessions and in person Santa Rosa Meditation Evenings with Hybrid Zoom.

Sept 11 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi (in person meeting)

Sept 18 Deanna Hopper Sensei (in person meeting)

Sept 25 Zoom Rev. Chris Bell Sensei


Oct 2 Zoom Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi

Oct. 9 Michelle Brandt Sensei (in person meeting)

Oct 16 Zoom Deanna Hopper Sensei

Oct. 23 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi (in person meeting)

Oct 30 Zoom Rev. Chris Bell Sensei (Ancestors)


Nov 6 Zoom Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi

Nov 13 Gary Brandt Sensei (in person and hybrid zoom meeting)

Nov 20 Zoom Rev. Chris Bell Sensei (Taking Stock – gathering in)

Nov. 27 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi(in person meeting) (Gratitude)


Dec 4 Zoom Rev. Chris Bell Sensei (Shakyamuni Buddha's Story – from birth to enlightenment)

Dec. 11 Zoom Deanna Hopper Sensei

Dec 18 Rachel Mansfield-Howlett (in person and hybrid zoom meeting) (Winter Solstice Celebration – practices for the dark)

Dec 25 Closed Holiday


Jan 1 Closed Holiday

Email Zenappt@gmail.com to receive notices about our meditation evenings including links to the Zoom meditation sessions and directions and details about the location for our in person Monday night meditation.


In person Fort Bragg CA twice a month meditation evenings led by Deanna Hopper Sensei are held at Evergreen UMC at the corner of Corry and Laurel at 6:00pm. Contact: deannarhopper@gmail.com 

Upcoming meetings will be held on:

Oct 11
Nov 8

Dec 13

In person Portland OR meditation led by Rev. Chris Bell are nondenominational meditation mornings from 9:00-10:30am on the 4th Saturday of the month through Trinity Cathedral. Contact: chrisbzen@gmail.com
Upcoming meetings will be held on:
Sept 23
Oct 28
Nov 25 
Dec 23

Please email rhowlettlaw@gmail.com to receive the zoom link for the location of our in person meetings.



In-person sittings with hybrid Zoom have begun in Santa Rosa!

We're very excited to announce that after an over 3-year hiatus we've resumed in-person sitting on some Monday nights in Santa Rosa and the balance of the time we'll continue to hold our meetings via Zoom. Our goal is to offer 2 in-person and 2 Zoom evenings per month. It's a beautiful space and we're very grateful for this opportunity for the renewal of our sangha in a physical location.

If you have friends you would like to invite to join us please ask them to email Zenappt@gmail.com for details about the location,


Our Zoom evenings are and will continue to be very important to us—we will absolutely continue to offer our meditation evenings in this format. Over the Zoom years we’ve been able to include some folks who don’t live in the area or have mobility issues, which has enriched our sangha immeasurably. We will continue to offer a full evening program via Zoom.


If you would like to join the list group and receive our notices, the links to Zoom and other practice opportunities please email Zenappt@gmail.com.


If you live in Fort Bragg CA or the Portland OR area, please go to the teacher page for more information about the programs held there.





 Sesshin January 2023


SEVEN-DAY WINTER SESSHIN
JANUARY 20-27 2023
Full or part time attendance 
Scholarships available

St. Dorothy’s Rest
Occidental, Sonoma County

Sesshin is an ancient Zen tradition; it’s a special environment built to help you discover your own awakening. Often in your daily life, the light of your attention goes out from you into the world; during sesshin you turn the light back inward into your own heart/mind. 

We are so looking forward to meeting in person for the first time in a long while at our Great Winter SesshinCityZen’s senior teacher, Rachel Mansfield-Howlett, Roshi will be giving dharma transmission to Deanna Hopper and Rev. Chris Bell on Sunday afternoon.

We practice in a relaxed traditional form of sesshin, with lots of dharma talks and opportunity for meeting individually with the teachers. Our silent retreat is held at St. Dorothy’s Rest in Camp Meeker, with stunning views of the redwoods and rolling hills and featuring exquisitely made hearty vegetarian meals.

We wholeheartedly invite you to join us for this precious week.

Contact Zenappt@gmail.com for questions and registration. 

Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi is a koan master in the Pacific Zen School lineage and the Founder and senior teacher at CityZen in Santa Rosa CA. With degrees in botany and law she is also a public benefit environmental attorney and professor of law. She is a contributor to The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan and The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
Nothing has ever been hidden. 

In W.G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn, there's an interview with an English farmer who at one point says:

“I have always kept ducks, even as a child, and the colours of their plumage, in particular the dark green and snow white, seemed to me the only possible answer to the questions that are on my mind.”

Your right place is always just beneath your feet.
Fish don’t run out of ocean,
And birds enjoy the endless sky.
How will you be any less fortunate?

Rachel Mansfield-Howlett