Zen Practice

Zen Practice is the craft of a bodily-minded realization through the experience of stillness and non-duality. Through the practices of meditation and inner and outer attentionality, we open ourselves to a vibrant and vast experience of shared aliveness.

Through meditation and mindfulness, I have found an interior freedom. Sometimes it is a relatively unobstructed interior freedom. When it is not there, when I feel obstructed, I know how to make my way back to this interior freedom. Through Zen practice, I have a physical feel for the mind of freedom. And I know it is always there, even when I don’t experience it. If I can be alert and patient, I find that obstructions usually precede an increased clarity, openness, and newly relevant thinking. Then there is the refuge of breath, of the bliss of breath, and of a stable field of mind.

- Zentatsu Baker Roshi

Below you find our Zen Practice Events in 2025. We offer monthly meditation weekends (Zazenkai), Practice Weeks, and Work Practice Weeks. If you would like to stay for longer and participate in the daily monastic life, make sure to also check out our options for Student Stays or Residency.

Guest Season Volunteer

Our Summer Volunteer Program runs from mid-May until the end of September. Throughout the Summer we will open our facilities to welcome external retreat leaders and their groups. The volunteer program offers room and board in exchange for helping with our Summer Guest Season.

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Residency

Residents join the daily life of the monks and teachers at CMZC. Our daily schedule includes meditation, time for self-guided study, communal meals and work periods. There are also Dharma talks and Question and Answer sessions.

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Residency at Crestone Mountain Zen Center

Student Stays

To be a student at CMZC means to join the resident monks and lay practitioners in following the schedule completely. This includes meditation and work periods, talks and discussions, and community meals.

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Student Stays at Crestone Mountain Zen Center

February Sesshin 2026

2/7/2026

With Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi.

Sesshin means to gather the heart-mind: A profound willingness to become intimate with our experience. For five days, we live within the forms of practice-sitting, walking, sharing meals, working with our hands, listening to the Dharma.

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Monastic Training Weeks 2026

2/14/2026

With Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi and Zentatsu Baker Roshi.

The Monastic Training Weeks at Crestone Mountain Zen Center are an intensive immersion into the living teachings and practices of Zen. It is a time of gathering and expanding the mind.

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April Sesshin 2026

3/31/2026

With Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi.

Sesshin is the traditional, 'Seven-day Meditation Intensive' of sitting and walking meditation, three-bowl (oryoki) meals, daily Dharma talks, and personal interviews (dokusan) with the teacher.

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May Zazenkai 2026

5/7/2026

With Senior Practitioner.

We invite you to join us for our May Zazenkai (sitting intensive).

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Zazenkai at Crestone Mountain Zen Center

Spring Sangha Work Week 2026

5/26/2026

During the Work Week, the Sangha comes together to ready and plant the garden, complete fire mitigation, make improvements in landscaping and buildings and to prepare the campus for our Summer Guest Season.

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June Zazenkai 2026

6/11/2026

With Senior Practitioner.

We invite you to join us for our June Zazenkai (sitting intensive).

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July Zazenkai 2026

7/16/2026

With Senior Practitioner.

We invite you to join us for our July Zazenkai (sitting intensive).

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September Zazenkai 2026

9/3/2026

With Senior Practitioner.

We invite you to join us for our September Zazenkai (sitting intensive).

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October Zazenkai 2026

10/2/2026

With Senior Practitioner.

We invite you to join us for our October Zazenkai (sitting intensive).

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Fall Sangha Work Week 2026

10/13/2026

During the Work Week, the Sangha comes together to harvest and winterize the garden, complete fire mitigation, make improvements in landscaping and buildings and to prepare the campus for our Fall Guest Season.

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