Zen Mind, Yoga Body Retreats 
What People Are Saying About Zen Mind, Yoga Body Retreats

"Samantha and Robert have put together a marvelous, inspiring, thoughtful retreat that really integrates body and mind in extended periods of yoga practice and meditation. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and came home feeling fully renewed, relaxed, and with a panoply of new ways to approach both meditation and yoga. The balance of different intensities of yoga, zazen and outdoor meditation, dharma talks, and free time, was perfect, and the Green Gulch setting idyllic. 

As retreat leaders, Samantha and Robert's two styles compliment each other superbly - they're by turns serious and entertaining, as well as responsive, knowledgeable, compassionate and kind. This was reflected in the diverse group of people who attended the retreat, all of whom were personable, interesting, and lovely folks with whom to share a weekend."
 - E., UC Berkeley doctoral student and teacher


"What I found, in restorative yoga of the kind Samantha taught at the Zen Mind, Yoga Body retreat, was a deeper, more reflective series of poses that were challenging, but not so caught up in striving, straining, and looking good as the yoga classes I've taken before. 

The slower, more deliberative pace meant allowing us to sink into the breathing, and not lose track of it. It also allowed room for moving through the emotions that inevitably attach to holding a pose rather than running across the surface. 

It was more intuitive than yoga I've practiced before, more linked to breathing, more attentive to the shape, and limitations, and potential of our actual bodies, rather than a generic body. 

It was, for me, a profound experience in more fully integrating the good that yoga does in my life."

 -Douglas M. Foster, Author, Associate Professor, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism


"Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body Retreat brings about a quiet opening of your mind and body, which in turn, allows significant thoughts, messages, and life solutions to come through. In our busy lives, we don't often give ourselves this kind of time.

Robert and Samantha are skilled teachers, and balance each other beautifully in their abilities, and their gifts to the class."

-Donna M., Author and retired college program director


“The gentle and thoughtful approach of Samantha and Robert’s integrated teachings made this experience one that will stay with me. Samantha’s calming, easy suggestions helped me to integrate yoga into my daily sittings. Robert’s straightforward Dharma commentary helped me understand The Wisdom of the Body in a new way. 

It was a great course offering that made the overall experience feel intimate in a way that surprised me, an excellent use of a digital platform.”

—Dan, 2014 participant, Online retreat



“The retreat helped me get over the initial challenges of meditation. 
I’d tried in the past to sit on a regular basis and was never able to get past two weeks. With this retreat, somewhere in the third and fourth weeks, things started to click, and I began to relax into it instead of trying so hard and ultimately stopping. This made all the difference in me establishing a regular practice. 

I feel like I have a path forward now. Really, really great course and the online model worked very well for me. Thank you, Robert and Samantha.”

— Eric, 2014 participant, Online retreat



“This was such a profound experience for me. As a yoga teacher, it really helped me to deepen my own asana and meditation practice. I just happened to be working on a body-positive teacher training, and the whole experience just made me so much more aware and so much more in awe of this vehicle with which we experience our human condition.”

— Jennifer, 2014 participant, Online retreat


"I came to the Zen Mind, Yoga Body Retreat at Tassajara because I wanted to take my ideas about zen and to make them a practice in my life.  

I think that Robert does an excellent job of giving zen philosophy and meditation and practical significance and the yoga sessions by Samantha strengthened and stretched every muscle that was necessary in order to sit for meditation.  

Since the retreat, I have made mindfulness meditation a part of my everyday life.  I feel more mindful and happy and the retreat feels like one of the best things I have done for myself."
- Neil Medieros


"I very much enjoyed the weekend retreat “ Zen Mind/Yoga Body”. Of all the workshops we have taken, this was in my mind the best integration of bodywork and introduction to Zen. 

Samantha’s instructions were easy to follow and considerate of all levels of ability. Her aides did a very good job assisting with alignments and helping participants with adapting a posture to their own level of comfort. 

Robert’s talks were easy to follow yet provided thoughts for reflection. You physically, mentally and spiritually prepared us to sit Zazen (meditation)."
- Karin


"I had a fantastic time doing the retreat. It really helped center my mind and body before embarking on my new journey, and it definitely helped allay my fears about meditation. 

The times we spent at the end of yoga sessions just sitting were very rewarding. One of the things I liked best about the way you taught yoga is that, without exception, my body felt incredibly better afterwards. 

And not only better and more limber, but also somehow more stable. My legs felt more connected to the earth, and more able to support the rest of me."
-Rudi


"Samantha, you and Robert are the real deal.  I was honored to study with you both for the day…  you were both so open and loving and gentle and real and knowledgeable, that I came away completely satisfied."
-TMF


"My experience of the weekend workshop Zen Mind, Yoga Body was very positive.  Samantha and Robert provided the group with an inspiring blend of yoga practice and zen meditation that was warm, non-judgemental and fun. 

They took great care to address everyone's needs, and encouraged each person to stretch their own comfort zone. At the end of the three days I returned home rejuvenated, muscles stretched and peaceful inside. 

Overall the retreat was a wonderful experience, and I thank you both for your mindful presence, good humor, commitment and wisdom."
-BR
Robert Thomas

Do-On Robert Thomas (Dharma name: Shi Zan Do-On; Lion Mountain, Path of Kindness), has spent the last 19 years intensively studying and practicing Soto Zen Buddhism with some of the foremost American Zen teachers in America. Robert is an ordained priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of the modern spiritual classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and founder of the first Soto Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.

Robert spent over six years training as a Zen monk at Tassajara, following the traditional monastic ango schedule of meditating 6 to 10 hours each day. At Tassajara he trained intimately with highly-respected Zen teachers Tenshin Reb Anderson, Zenkei Blanche Hartman, Shisan Edward Brown, Sojun Mel Weitsman, Ryushin Paul Haller and Zoketsu Norman Fischer. He was ordained as a priest by Zoketsu Norman Fischer in 2000, and received full certification as a Zen teacher (“Dharma Transmission”) from Zoketsu Norman Fischer and the Everyday Zen Foundation in 2009. Robert has completed 18 angos (multi-month practice periods) at Tassajara and San Francisco Zen Center, and was acknowledged by the Soto Zen Buddhist Association as a Zen teacher by completing the Dharma Heritage Ceremony in 2012.

As a Zen teacher, Robert leads meditation retreats, workshops, and gives public lectures throughout the year. His Buddhist practice and teachings are focused on helping people from all walks of life to realize the practical benefits of “zazen” (Zen meditation). He emphasizes bringing the awake, centered, and open qualities of this form of meditation practice into every moment of their day, especially into the workplace. Since 2004 Robert has teamed up with well-known yoga teachers to lead Zen and Yoga retreats, and since 2006 he has been leading Zen Mind, Yoga Body retreats with his wife, yoga teacher Samantha Ostergaard. Since 2012, Robert has been a visiting teacher at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in 2013 he will be leading two residential practice periods at Upaya. And in 2013 and 2014, Robert and Samantha are leading Yoga and Zen retreats at Upaya, Green Gulch Farm, Tassajara, Nepal and Thailand. 

Robert is also a long-time spiritual and administrative leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) sangha, the largest Buddhist community outside of Asia. For over seven years he has been serving the community as President and Executive Director, overseeing the running of all three centers (Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, and City Center) with overall responsibility for fundraising, facilities, people resources, communications and programming functions. He has also served on the Everyday Inc. Board for 9 years and has overseen the management of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. 

Robert has worked effectively with the SFZC Board to develop and implement a 10-year strategic plan (begun in 2008) that SFZC is using to clarify priorities and launch new initiatives to achieve its long-term vision to bring Zen meditation practice and the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha to the wider world. Robert has spearheaded recent efforts to raise $17m to improve SFZC facilities, expand dharma programs, and establish a first-ever endowment fund (projected to be $8m-$9m by end of campaign). In 2012, Robert became a member of the SFZC Elders Council which has responsibility for maintaining and guiding the spiritual direction of the community. 

Since 1993, Robert has traveled extensively in Asia, in Thailand, India, Nepal, Burma, Laos and Cambodia. While in Asia, Robert has studied Buddhism with well-known teachers in both the Theravadan and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and has practiced for short and extended periods of time at monasteries and practice centers in Thailand, India and Nepal. Robert currently lives in San Francisco, and with a university training in art and film, and a professional background as a filmmaker, magazine editor/creative director, and restaurateur, he maintains an interest in film, design, and food developments throughout the Bay Area. Robert also enjoys hiking, long-distance running and drawing.
Read an interview with Samantha about 
zen and yoga retreats

September 1 - 5, 2016 Tassajara Zen Center, Carmel Valley, CA
Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body
A Zen Mind, Yoga Body Retreat
Samantha Ostergaard and Do-On Robert Thomas
  
Discover how the body is the gateway to the clarity, connection, and freedom available to you in every moment.

Join us as we awaken the body’s innate wisdom by becoming intimate with the moment-to-moment experience of the body and cultivating the fundamental Zen practice of mindfulness as open awareness. 

Together we will discover how an embodied yoga and meditation practice helps us to realize our interconnectedness with everything around us. 

The yoga sessions will be by turns invigorating, therapeutic, and restorative, and will guide you to find a grounded and focused relaxation while also preparing you for sitting in meditation posture without discomfort. 

You will discover a greater sense of connection, wholeness, and well-being so that you can open to the boundless possibilities of your life.

Registration is here
Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA
Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body
A Zen mind, Yoga Body Retreat 
Samantha Ostergaard & Robert Thomas

Dates for 2016:
July 8 - 10 (Friday-Sunday)
November 11 - 13 (Friday-Sunday)

​Have you tried to meditate and found that physical discomfort prevented you from being able to concentrate?

Or maybe you were frustrated by your inability to slow down your thoughts or settle your mind, and were never able to get past this? 

Many people come up against these difficulties when they try to meditate. 
But the solution is not that you need to try harder to concentrate, or do something special to get rid of your thoughts, or that you need to meditate for longer periods of time. It’s much simpler and more direct than that. 

In these retreats, Samantha and Robert skillfully guide you with alternating sessions of yoga and Zen meditation practice that make it possible for you to experience a deeply settled state of being, and manifest the innate wisdom of your body and mind. 

The yoga practice will focus on preparing your body and mind for meditation through hatha and restorative sequences. 

You will experience how yoga makes it possible for your body to sit in an upright meditation posture without discomfort. 

You will learn how to create the conditions for your thoughts to slow down and naturally settle, so that you can access and enjoy the internal clarity, freedom and spaciousness that is available to you in every moment. 

Through the profound insights of Zen Buddhism we will explore what it is to accept our experience and fully meet the present moment. You will be encouraged to wake up to a wider sense of possibility in your moment-to-moment experience. This awakens the body and mind as one being, and allows you to connect intimately with your true, original nature. 

Returning to the experience of yourself in the present moment, your practice unfolds naturally, guided by your body’s innate wisdom. 

With a Zen mind, yoga body practice you will discover a greater sense of connection, wholeness and well-being, so that you can open to the boundless possibilities in every moment of your life.

Beginners are welcome! Experienced practitioners of yoga and meditation may discover a refreshing new perspective.

We invite you to attend one or more of these retreats. 

For more information and to register, visit the Green Gulch website here
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“Of all the workshops we have taken, this was in my mind the best integration of bodywork and introduction to Zen. … 

You physically, mentally and spiritually prepared us to sit zazen.”

— Karin P.

“Since the Zen Mind, Yoga Body retreat, I have made mindfulness meditation a part of my everyday life. 

I feel more mindful and happy and the retreat feels like one of the best things I have done for myself.”

— Neil Medeiros
“Samantha and Robert have put together a marvelous, inspiring, thoughtful retreat that really integrates body and mind in extended periods of yoga practice and meditation. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and came home feeling fully renewed, relaxed, and with a panoply of new ways to approach both meditation and yoga. “

— E., UC Berkeley doctoral student and teacher
"Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body Retreat brings about a quiet opening of your mind and body, which in turn, allows significant thoughts, messages, and life solutions to come through. 

In our busy lives, we don't often give ourselves this kind of time."
                     -Donna M.
PAST RETREATS

Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body Online Home Practice Retreat


The Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body Online Retreat features powerful teachings on how to bring the body and mind together in daily practice taught by skilled teachers and supported by a community of fellow practitioners.

The Manifesting the Wisdom of the Body Online Retreat will show you how to establish and integrate fundamental body and mind practices that support you to make positive changes in your life, including:

  • Increasing your awareness of the moment-to-moment experience of your body and mind, giving you a sense of stillness and freedom in each moment
  • Reconnecting with your deepest intentions through discovering a meaningful, daily personal practice
  • Discovering a greater sense of connection, wholeness and well-being so that you can open up to the boundless possibilities of your life

This retreat is open from June 27 through Sept. 24, 2016.  ​

For more information or to join this retreat, go here
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Samantha Ostergaard  Acupuncture & Yoga Therapy