Grasses, Trees, and the Great Earth Sesshin
With Amy Kisei, Sensei, Sara Shinei Monial and Myoyu Haley Voekel
August 11 - 17, 2025
Earth body, sky heart. Rooted and flowing. Luminous and open. We are made of earth and sky, of wind breath and rain song, our lives woven from the teachings of the natural world.
This retreat is an opportunity to re-connect and relax into the wild, ancient, wisdom of the Grasses, Trees and Great Earth. We will spend time learning from each of the five elements, as they manifest in our experience. Deeply exploring and releasing into our interconnection with the living, breathing body of the Earth, waters, energizing air, bright fiery sun, and vast spacious sky.
This retreat is held at Great Vow Zen Monastery. Due to this retreat being held mostly outdoors, we are not planning a Zoom option for attending this retreat.
Lodging is dormitory style, however for this retreat we will open up a tent camping area. Please bring your own tent and sleeping bag if you would like to sleep outside.
Sesshin is a rigorous and, at times, challenging silent meditation retreat that is not recommended for beginners. In order to attend in person, we require that you attend one of our silent weekend retreats or a five-seven day silent retreat at another Zen Center before registering for our longer zen retreats. For more information about what to expect when attending a sesshin, click here.
Please plan on attending the whole sesshin.
About the Leaders
Amy Kisei, Sensei
Amy Kisei, Sensei is an authorized Zen teacher, zen priest, spiritual counselor and mindfulness instructor. She has been practicing meditation for almost 20 years. Kisei has 12 years of monastic training and teaching experience from Great Vow Zen Monastery, and holds a BS in Earth Science and Gender Studies. She is trained in Mindful Eating […]
Learn more about Amy Kisei, SenseiSara Shinei Monial
Sara Shinei Monial is a Zen priest who completed her novice training at Great Vow in 2020. She has been practicing meditation intensively since 2007, and has practiced closely with various teachers including Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi, Hogen Bays, Roshi, and Satya Vayu. Shinei has a BA in Education, but left the field years ago […]
Learn more about Sara Shinei MonialMyoyu Haley Voekel
Myoyu attended her first meditation retreat in 2006. Following that, she took a dive into Zen practice and also yoga training. She began practicing with ZCO in 2013. She ordained in 2019 as a novice priest, following her vow to serve ZCO and to deepen her own practice. She is currently the Training Director at […]
Learn more about Myoyu Haley Voekel