I was introduced to Zen Buddhism in 1995; while living in Japan. I have spent the better part of…read morethe past 20 years traveling the world as a chef, and practicing Zen meditation-more or less-on my own with middling success. I have recently moved 30 minutes from the Vallejo Zen Center in Vallejo, and was very interested in coming for a meditation session for several months. Today was the day. There is a BEGINNER MEDITATION session on Saturday morning at 9:30am. Everyone is welcome regardless of race, creed, orientation, or personal place on one's journey in life. I arrived at 9:20am, and was introduced to Steve, who upon learning I was a "first-timer", took me under his wing and gave me a "what's what, and how's how" lesson before I was released on the general meditation session. He was very open, and friendly and helpful, thus I felt completely at home, and at ease when I got to the main practice session. We entered the seated meditation, followed by walking meditation (as an aside-I have never practiced walking meditation and Steve's instruction was so good that I fell right in, and settled into a calm state almost immediately.). After seated and walking meditation, there is a Dharma Talk- which I found amazingly helpful and informative (which I am attributing to Karma). Then there is a brief "work session" where every person is given a small, and joyful, and meditative task, of cleaning or helping out in the Zen center to ready it for the next session. After this, we all retired for tea and vespers (my personal fancy word for cookies-which as a pasty chef I will be personally be making for next week :-) ), and delightful conversation, and a bit more insight from the Priests and Instructors. I was enraptured with the depth, ease, and openness of the conversation. If you are new to Zen practice, or interested in Buddhism, or just curious about how meditation can benefit your life; I would like to seriously recommend the Vallejo Zen Center. It is a welcoming, relaxed, and restorative place in which any person (no matte their place on this journey in life) will feel welcomed.

Vallejo Zen Center, or Clear Water Zendo, is fully functioning temple with early morning zazen…read more(meditation), Saturday morning program including lecture, One-Day Sittings and multi day Sessions. There are scheduled classes and monthly Full Moon Ceremonies. This temple has been a big help for me. Daily zazen gets me off to a good start each morning. I enjoy learning the teachings of Dogen and more contemporary teachers. The temple is welcoming and the Sangha is there to help, especially newcomers. Abbess Mary Mocine is available to help students with their practice and how to apply it to our lives. We also have speakers from San Francisco and Berkeley Zen Centers. Vallejo Zen Center is a wonderful place to discover and develop a Zen practice.

This is a great place to learn meditation, or just drop in if you are looking for a free place to…read moremeditate that is beautiful and serene with friendly people. Some here also study the Tibetan Buddhist path but that is optional; beginners are welcome and free meditation instruction is offered several times a week. They serve refreshments at most of their events when the meditation session is over. While some of the regulars are older there are others who are younger, some from the UCD community and some families with younger and older children. Learning to meditate has been such a gift for me personally...

free instruction, breakfast 8-9 am on tue-thu, people i met there were sll friendly and kind, many…read moreare older but younget folks too, great outside patio

It's a beautiful place and the people are even better. It's not what I expected it's so much more.read more

As a former member of SGI-USA, I had heard a lot from them about "the Priesthood issue", which was…read morea covert way of referring to strained relations with Nichiren Shoshu. I was told the Priests are greedy, mean, and power-hungry. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The Priests are kind, warm, and approachable. The members are open, caring, and loving. The Temple and its administrators value the privacy of the members. I have taken many friends as my guest to the Temple, out of my pride and love for this Temple. It is a very comfortable, even transformative place to be. I find myself making excuses to go there weekly, all the way from Fremont to Pinole! If you are interested in creating peace, joy, and fullfilment in your life, the Buddhism of Nichiren Shoshu is for you! Come check out our Temple!!!

A Ggreat place to learn meditation or if you are already a meditator just to come and sit. It's two…read moreblocks off the Square. The people there are very nice and welcoming. A very open and low-key environment.

From the owner: At the Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center of Sonoma, we offer a friendly, uplifted environment in…read morewhich to practice meditation. Our center offers free meditation instruction on Sunday mornings and path of practice and study. All our offerings are meant to help people of every description awaken their innate wisdom, compassion, and sense of humor. Shambhala is a community in which people from all spiritual traditions, or no tradition, are welcomed to practice as a community. It is a safe and friendly place to find out if meditation and the Shambhala teachings resonate with you. Why Meditate? We meditate to make friends with ourselves and our world. The practice of meditation strengthens the part of our mind that observes itself and brings greater appreciation for our true nature as human beings, which we hold to be basically good. History The founder of the Shambhala community, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was a holder of both Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shambhala teachings that he brought to the West contain the essence of these ancient wisdom traditions yet are tailored to the specific challenges of modern living.

so the old man is a buddhist. for the record i am not. but i adhere to buddhist principles. and…read morewe met at a buddhist retreat center. and we got married at said retreat center on a stage built for his holiness the dalai lama. so when it was time to pick a wedding favor for our guests...we decided to make our own tsa tsa's...or mini molded buddha statues. we took a class on how to mix and pour the molds and they gave us a key to the studio so we could drive up from santa cruz whenever we wanted to make them. we chose to make medicine buddha statues because we got married at land of medicine buddha and were able to able to make them the beautiful royal blue color. it wasn't cheap, but it was a great experience to make our wedding favors from scratch together and we had a lot of fun. they even supplied the boxes and helped us print up little cards to put inside. it is a lot of work but it was worth it.

This is a great, welcoming place with nice people and free and easy-to follow guided meditation…read moreevery week.

From the owner: Diamond Way Buddhist Group Davis belongs to an international non-profit network of over 600 lay…read moreDiamond Way Buddhist centers of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by Lama Ole Nydahl and under the spiritual guidance of H.H. the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje.

Some of the groups are really well facilitated.... Wonderful offerings and I recommend keep…read moreexploring until you find a group you resonate with

They have many different weekly meditation groups to choose from, as well as special events. The…read morestaff/volunteers are friendly and welcoming. And the space itself is comfortable and calming.

I highly recommend Erica for Shamanic healing. She is a highly skilled practitioner and her work…read morehas provided me with expert guidance that has had long lasting benefits for me and my family. I had tried many therapeutic approaches (therapy, group seminars, audio books, etc.) but still felt that there were clear patterns that were holding me back. I felt like I was "hitting a wall" with respect to my growth, and wasn't sure what to do about it. I decided to try a soul retrieval with Erica because she was able to really help a friend of mine who had been struggling to heal from some past trauma. The days leading up to the soul retrieval, Erica asked me questions to gain familiarity with my life circumstances, and what kinds of issues I was dealing with. We began the ceremony in a very intentional way, setting the stage for me to completely relax and invite Erica to perform the retrieval for me. Through this ceremony I was able to see clearly, three "underdeveloped" aspects of myself that needed attention. She helped me to engage and strengthen these aspects in a new way I had not done before. I also continued to work with her doing phone sessions for integration for a few months following my session. I am glad I did because it helped me really make some progress. In the weeks after the session, Erica advised me to meditate regularly on the feelings and states of consciousness associated with my newly found aspects of self. My wife reflected that I quickly become less reactive and angry, and I noticed that I had a greater sense of what was upsetting/triggering when it was happening, and could therefore calm down much more quickly. I also feel that I have been freed up to think more creatively, and consider options that I wouldn't have considered before. I have more optimism about what is possible. I'm more flexible, and more accepting of my limitations, as well as those of others. It feels like these shifts have become more profound as time has gone by. It feels like magic because in the past making a big leap seemed to require a lot of work on my part, but I really just needed to meditate and notice what was happening which felt incredibly easy.

I wanted to do a follow up review to say that two years later, and I still talk and "meet" with…read moreErica. I not only feel different; I can quite literally measure and review the progress I have had from two years ago until now. I have switched to monthly check ins, but Erica's guidance was a life saver and life changer.