Events

Intro to Zen – Silent Illumination – Oct 9-30

Wednesdays, Oct 9 – Oct 30
6:30 – 8:00 pm

Join Zen priest Dainin Jesse Brunette for an introductory dive into the heart of Zen meditation and teachings.  Each week we’ll explore the hows and whys of this ancient technique with a period of meditation and group discussion.  This class is designed to give you an intimate familiarity of the practice of Zen meditation (Zazen). To help support your understanding we will also discuss the Zen perspective on why we suffer and how meditation gives us the space to make peace with ourselves. By the end of the class you will be able to confidently orient your mind and body as you sit down to meditate.

Suggested reading: Opening the Hand of Thought by Kosho Uchiyama

This offering is open to any meditation practitioner or those curious to learn how to meditate.

The group will be limited to a maximum of 12 participants.

No experience with meditation necessary.

Cost: Sliding scale ($95, $145, $175)
Student/low income: Pay what you can

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Jesse Brunette has been practicing and studying Buddhism for over 25 years. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2020 at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center. Currently, Jesse is the Ino at Stone Creek, manages the garden, and facilitates the Monday night discussion group.

Events

Timely Wisdom – Nov 2

Eyes Wide Open

What dying can teach us about living

A Benefit for Stone Creek Zen Center
Sunday, November 2, 2025 | 4:00 – 6:30 PM
(Doors open at 3:00 PM for tea and socializing)
Glaser Center | 547 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA

If you’ve been grappling with questions about aging, what truly matters, or how to meet life’s uncertainties with an open heart, this special gathering offers a space for reflection, connection, and insight.

Join two of contemporary Buddhism’s most trusted voices, Frank Ostaseski and Wendy Johnson, for an afternoon of guided meditation, shared ritual, and teachings grounded in the Five Remembrances.

The Five Remembrances invite us to honor who and what truly matters in this one precious life, to listen from the heart, and to draw on the wisdom of compassionate practice and the life lessons gathered in accompanying the dying. 

We’ll explore how to live awake throughout the stages of life as we and those we love grow older. We’ll learn how to meet changes in our health and relationships, experience loss, and face the inevitability of death with clarity and compassion.

These recollections wake us up to living with eyes wide open as we meet the challenges in our personal lives, and in our world.

Please join us as we come together in community for a very special gathering. All are welcome.

Reserve your seat

Events

Half-Day Sitting – September 6

Led by Barton Stone

You are invited to join this half-day sitting suited both for beginning and experienced meditators. The practice day will take place from 1- 5 pm, There will be alternating periods of zazen (seated meditation, usually thirty-minute periods) and kinhin (walking meditation, usually ten minutes).

Sliding scale donations, all are welcome regardless of resources.

If you have questions, please email info@stonecreekzen.org.

Sign Up Here

Myozen Barton Stone began his study of Zen Buddhism in the 1960’s while deeply engaged in peace activism. Early on he practiced with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, and he later lived and practiced at Green Gulch Farm for four years. Myozen’s unique perspective has made him a beloved teacher at Stone Creek, where he was ordained as a Zen Priest in 2010.

Events

Yoga with Corina – Wednesday Mornings 9:30-11:00

Ongoing Yoga Classes

Wednesday 9:30 – 11:00am
In Person and Online

Corina Stoicescu teaches classes in the Viniyoga tradition that focuses on meeting the unique condition of the individual. Using breath centric movement and pose adaptations, she helps students find integrity in all the poses. Classes are accommodating to a large variety of people and designed so students learn about their own bodies and minds and how the tools of yoga can serve them.

Every month when possible, she offers a series where students can experience the cumulative effect of going deeper in a particular subject.

Please, purchase a ticket before coming to class.

Register Here

Corina Stoicescu first started teaching yoga in 2005. After a bicycle accident, she discovered Viniyoga and and used Buddhism to help heal her body and heart. She is certified as both a 300 hour Viniyoga Wellness Instructor and 500 hour Viniyoga teacher. In 2020, she completed 1000 hour Yoga Therapy training and is certified by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Yoga therapy can address specific health and healing needs like preparing for surgery, post surgery care, osteoporosis, digestive issues, Parkinson’s, allergies, trauma, etc. using through the full spectrum of yoga tools. She has been practicing meditation and daily life mindfulness practice since 2002 and uses both the Buddhist and Yogic understanding to inform her perspective.

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