Family Practice
Dharma Heart Zen members and collaborators come together to offer support on the tender and transformative path of family practice. Rooted in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi and grounded in everyday family life, the SFZC Family Sangha provides an evolving network of practice spaces. These include seasonal daylong retreats at Green Gulch Farm, online spaces for parents and caregivers, gatherings to honor grief and loss, and summer retreats at both Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara. Together, these offerings invite families to set forth on a shared path of connection, contemplation, and collective healing. A glimpse into seasonal themes, teachings, creativity and resources are offered here for all.
Quote of the Season
“ Spring will come and the grass will grow on its own.”
~ Bassho
SEASONAL THEMES
THE DHARMA WHEEL OF THE YEAR
The Dharma Wheel is often used to show the interrelated practices of The Eightfold Path —teachings given by the Buddha for living a life of liberation. The SFZC Family Sangha held the first meeting of 2026 in the yurt at Green Gulch with the theme of “Land as Dharma Teacher,” sprinkled with the invitations to consider what aimlessness (apranahitta), non-striving, and trusting in buddha-nature and the light within feels like in this season.
The SFZC Family Sangha welcomes multi-generational families, parents, caregivers, self-partnered people, those caring for their elders, grandparents, aunties, uncles, siblings and niblings, foster parents, children of all ages, and anyone dedicated to healing their family lineages.
SFZC Family Sangha is supported by dedicated Zen practitioners, many of whom also practice with Dharma Heart Zen, a Branching Streams sangha in Sebastopol, California, under the guidance of founder and senior Dharma teacher Hoka Chris Fortin. We offer this Dharma Heart Zen Statement Affirming Our Bodhisattva Vows as a shared commitment to practice.
