MEDITATION RETREATS and Events

Zen Meditation Retreat with Debra Seido Martin

Zen West/Empty Field Zendo

Saturday, November 8, 2025

9:00 am to 4:30 pm

At Vista Hermosa Retreat Center, Prescott, WA

Sponsored by Walla Walla Dharma Sangha

Anchored in the Storm

In the stable stillness of zazen, we put aside our ideas of how we think the world is supposed to be and meet the moment as it is, unvarnished and ungraspable. If we are attached to our fixed views, we are easily tossed about by lifes unpredictability. As we become more intimate with our experience, we discover a profound source of resilience, the ready energy of yes that moves from willfulness to willingness. It is in that pivot where we leap beyond what blocks our full engagement and show up openhearted and empty handed ready to respond.

To register for the retreat, contact Kumi at ruth4russo@gmail.com. The cost of the retreat is

$ 25. Scholarships are available.

Please contact Janaki if you would like to join the carpool to the retreat (janakihoward@gmail.com) from Walla Walla.

Additional Events on the weekend of November 7-9:

Friday, November 7th: Exploring the Path of Zen

4:30 to 6:00 pm at Chris and Janaki house, 734 University Street

This class is for beginners, the curious, and anyone who would like some clarity on the practice they are currently doing. What is zazen and what is it pointing towards?

All welcome. Free. Donations accepted. Please email Janaki at janakihoward@gmail.com if interested in attending.

Sunday, November 9th: Public Talk 10:30 am to 11:30 am

Zen. The Undivided Heart.

at Whitman College, Reid Campus Center Ballroom

What does it mean to have an undivided heart in a divided time? Zen practice offers a nondual gate that is expressed in the revered poem the Sandokai, or Harmony of Difference and Sameness, that says grasping at things is surely delusion, according with sameness is still not enlightenment. What does this teaching have to offer our moment? Zen offers a third option beyond helplessness and conviction. One that embraces all things and conditions and moves into responsiveness from there. When put into practice, the teaching is endlessly subtle, endlessly life affirming.