Michelle Brandt Sensei (True World)
Michelle came to Zen in her early twenties and took Buddhist vows in 1989. In 2016, she received dharma transmission as Sensei from Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi in the Pacific Zen lineage. Since 2005, Michelle has been studying Japanese tea ceremony (Urusenke) as an extension of her Zen practice. She has also trained to provide interfaith spiritual direction, intrinsic coaching, medical qigong and hypnotherapy. She is currently working with the Harmony Union School District in Occidental and has a wonderful hypnotherapy practice in Santa Rosa.
Michelle’s teaching is grounded in beauty and curiosity. Her experiences with Zen consistently reinforce the wonder and joy of everyday things and she values the healing, grounding, and perspectives the Zen koan tradition offers.
She explains, “The Way meets you right where you are, as you are. Can we do the same? This practice asks us to attend to our lives and to ask questions. If you are curious by nature and willing to cast a light on your own mind, relaxing your notions of how things are or ought to be, your life can reveal itself to you in unexpected and welcome ways. As a person who lived through and with illness, abuse, anxiety, depression, criticism and fear, I was drawn to the unencumbered, “clean slate” of Zen. I wanted and expected understanding, clarity, even mastery, but what I’ve received is a deep gratitude for life and a foundational experience of belonging. Being here is a gift, everything around us confirms it.” Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi says, “Michelle reveals the beauty and awakening that can be found in the intimate moments of life when you're able to meet this moment as it is.”
Michelle is a regular speaker at CityZen’s Monday night meditation and offers 'Meetings With a Teacher' by appointment.
Gary Brandt Sensei (Community Dragon) Gary is a Santa Rosa native and writer of fiction. He has worked as a bartender, bookseller, editor, and teacher, and holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts.
A 30-year practitioner of Zen, Gary first doing koan work with John Tarrant Roshi and Joan Sutherland Roshi. He began practicing with CityZen in 2011 and received authorization to teach as Sensei from Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi in 2023. Gary was given the dharma name Community Dragon.
He is keenly interested in the way the koan curriculum—an uncanny literary tradition in its own right—enlists the imagination to route us back to our native joy. He believes Zen is essentially a practice of the heart.
Gary is a regular Monday night speaker and offers 'Meetings with a Teacher' by appointment. He also leads quarterly walks in nature 'A Walk in the Park' as a silent dharma practice.
Chris Bell Sensei (Dragon Song) Chris is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister with a lifelong interest in religion and spiritual matters. He grew up in a liberal Christian church in Cleveland, Ohio and was introduced to Zen and Taoism by his mother, a spiritual seeker in her own right. He earned a B.A. in religious studies from Cleveland State University in 1993, and a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School in 2005. He started practicing Zen in 1995 under the instruction of Richard Baker Roshi at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado. He was introduced to the Rinzai koan curriculum in 2001 by Rev. James Ford and the teachers of Boundless Way Zen in Massachusetts. After moving to California to become the minister of the local U.U. congregation, Chris connected with his current and lasting teacher, Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi. Roshi Rachel invited Chris to begin giving dharma talks in 2017, and in 2023 she gave him dharma transmission as Sensei in the Pacific Zen lineage.
Chris’s teaching emphasizes the joyful insights and playful activity of Zen. “Once we’re released from the snares of opinions, stories and pre-conceived ideas, we’re free to respond in a fresh and vital way – then life, even with its undeniable hardships, can be fully embraced. It’s beauty and creativity may be truly savored. We might even find that we’re having fun.” The koans themselves assert this truth repeatedly, Chris says. “They delight in playing with language, occasionally enjoy shocking us, and are sometimes even slapstick. ‘Wake up, sleepy-head!’ they laugh as they poke us in the ribs with the stick.”
Chris lives in Portland, Oregon, leads grief groups and holds monthly meditation for a church group of Trinity Cathedral.
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